Robert Gates

• Born: September 25, 1943
• Place of Birth: Wichita, Kansas

Service in the Bush Administration

Gates became the first secretary of defense to serve under presidents of different political parties. Under his leadership, the United States made significant changes to its approach to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Gates proposed new approaches to defense spending that set in motion a reshaping of the goals and capabilities of US armed forces.

Robert Gates was asked by President George W. Bush to become secretary of defense in November 2006, shortly after midterm elections produced Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress. The election sent a strong message to the White House that the public was displeased with events related to the ongoing war in Iraq. The selection was unusual but not unprecedented. Gates had a successful twenty-six-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency (including two years as director), and had served on the National Security Council. Some were surprised when he accepted President Bush’s offer. A year earlier, he turned down the opportunity to become the nation’s first Director of National Intelligence, indicating that he preferred to remain as president of Texas A&M University, a position he assumed in 2001. In March 2006, Gates agreed to join the Iraq Study Group, organized to provide advice to the president on the conduct of the war. This position gave Gates a working knowledge of conditions in Iraq. An equally important factor in the president’s decision to choose Gates was the fact that he was both temperamentally and ideologically different from the outgoing secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. It is likely that in selecting Gates, the Bush administration was seeking a culture change, one that would replace Rumsfeld’s terse and aggressive nature.

When Gates became secretary of defense on December 18, 2006, the United States had reached a low point in its war in Iraq. Continuing attacks on US military personnel by local insurgents and elements of al-Qaeda in Iraq had overshadowed the successful overthrow of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. American forces continued to conduct operations from strongholds isolated from the Iraqi population, foraying into cities and villages to ferret out enemy combatants, and then returning to secure base camps. Gates moved rapidly to change the course of the conflict. He named General David Petraeus, the Army’s foremost expert on counterinsurgency operations, as the new commander in Iraq. Gates also championed a surge, or temporary increase, in combat forces in Iraq. US troops were repositioned to Iraqi population centers to help root out pockets of enemy resistance, and speed up transition of all operations to Iraqi forces. Gates responded promptly and honestly to congressional leaders skeptical of the new strategy.

Gates became known quickly as a no-nonsense leader, who demanded accountability from high-ranking military officials. When he discovered serious problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the hospital’s commanding general was fired. When remedial actions did not proceed quickly enough for him, he removed the Army’s surgeon general and the secretary of the army. Gates took similar action against Air Force officials who were hesitant in supporting his plan to shift strategic priorities from conventional conflicts to asymmetric warfare. Following an embarrassing incident in which the Air Force lost track of several nuclear warheads, Gates fired the Air Force chief of staff and the secretary of the Air Force. By 2008, he had begun to unravel the Defense Department’s aged procurement system, and challenge the long-held notion that the United States should continue to prepare vigilantly for conventional, land-based warfare. Gates’s actions brought praise from Democrats and Republicans in Congress, who appreciated his ability to make substantive changes within the Pentagon bureaucracy.

Service in the Obama Administration

After his election in November 2008, President Barack Obama surprised many in both political parties by asking Gates to remain as secretary of defense in his administration. Gates accepted, and at Obama’s request, moved to close down military operations in Iraq and ramp up action in Afghanistan. Gates proved willing to make hard choices to accomplish his goals. Not satisfied with progress in Afghanistan, in 2009 he relieved General David McKiernan, who had been in command for only one year, and selected General Stanley McChrystal as his replacement, a career special forces officer. Gates supported McChrystal’s politically unpopular request for an increase in US forces in Afghanistan, aimed at stabilizing the country. Several months later, when McChrystal made public comments that questioned the strategy and competency of President Obama and civilian leaders, Gates took swift action to replace him with General Petraeus.

As defense secretary, Gates lobbied for closer ties between the Defense Department and Department of State, going so far as to advocate increases in the State Department budget to support what he called “soft power” operations in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, he undertook a major strategic overhaul of current and future Pentagon spending, most of which was focused on major weapons systems and conventional warfare. In his 2010 budget proposal, prepared during 2009, Gates recommended eliminating or reducing thirty-three programs, including new aircraft for the Air Force, ships for the Navy, and an integrated fighting system for the Army. He shifted funds to support current operations and purchase less expensive weapons and equipment more useful for the kind of smaller scale, urban warfare being conducted by US forces. Gates was successful in getting Congress to accept many of his recommendations. At the same time, he argued against the Obama administration’s plan to make real cuts in defense spending as a means of reducing the national debt.

Impact

Gates’s leadership helped reverse the course of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, materially improving the United States military’s ability to conduct successful operations and organize an orderly withdrawal from Iraq and a build-up of forces in Afghanistan. His strong leadership inside the Pentagon restored confidence in the Department of Defense, both within the military and in Congress. His revolutionary budget proposals helped refocus strategic military thinking away from a long-dominant Cold-War mentality to concentrate on preparedness for smaller wars against less capable enemies who nevertheless pose significant threats to peace and prosperity throughout the world. He remained secretary of defense until July 2011, when he retired and was succeeded by former CIA director Leon Panetta. During his retirement ceremony, Gates received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian award.

Following his retirement from the White House, Gates returned to the world of academia when he became the chancellor at the College of William and Mary, his alma mater, in 2012. Two years later, he was elected to serve a two-year term as the national president of the Boy Scouts of America. Also in 2014, he published the memoir Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. As president of the Boy Scouts of America, he announced in 2015 that the organization was officially removing the ban on gay adults serving as troop leaders. Continuing to be consulted regarding presidential administration policies, he expressed criticism of Donald Trump during his campaign and offered his opinion on several of President Trump's administration's actions in 2017, including the decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the firing of former Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey.

Bibliography

Boot, Max. “Mr. Gates’s Farewell.” Commentary, vol. 132, no. 2, 2011, pp. 36–41.

Easterbrook, Greg. “Waste Land.” New Republic, vol. 241, no. 19, 2010, pp. 20–23.

Gates, Robert M. Understanding the New U.S. Defense Policy Through the Speeches of Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense. Manor, 2008.

Herman, Arthur. “The Re-Hollowing of the Military.” Commentary, vol. 130, no. 2, 2010, pp. 11–17.

"Robert Gates Fast Facts." CNN, 19 Sept. 2017, www.cnn.com/2013/10/17/us/robert-gates-fast-facts/index.html. Accessed 23 May 2024.

Rubin, Elizabeth. “The Survivor.” Time, vol. 175, no. 6, 2010, pp. 26–35.

Shimko, Keith L. Iraq Wars and America’s Military Revolution. Cambridge UP, 2010.