Robert Gates

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Robert Gates, 2006 Signature of Robert Gates

Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943 in Wichita , Kansas ) is an independent American politician. He was Secretary of Defense of the United States from December 18, 2006 to July 1, 2011 . He worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for 26 years , from November 6, 1991 to January 20, 1993 as its director. He then went to Texas A&M University , whose president he became in 2002. On December 6, 2006, he was confirmed as Secretary of Defense by both the Republicans and the Democrats in the Senate with 95 to 2 votes after he was appointed by US President George W. Bush . President Barack Obama re- nominated Gates in 2008, so he continued to serve as Secretary of Defense until his resignation in 2011.

childhood and education

As a citizen of Wichita, Kansas, Gates achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America . He graduated from Wichita East High School in 1961. Gates received his bachelor's degree in history from the College of William and Mary in 1965 and his master's degree in history from Indiana University in 1966, and a Doctor of Philosophy ( Ph.D. ) degree in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University in 1974.

Career

Intelligence service

Robert Gates in the 90s

While studying at Indiana University, Gates was hired by the CIA , the US foreign intelligence service. Before he worked full-time for the CIA, he worked for the Strategic Air Command for two years . Part of his area of responsibility was the mission training of operating teams of intercontinental ballistic missiles . Gates was stationed at Whiteman Air Force Base , Missouri.

Gates left the CIA in 1974 to serve on the National Security Council , but returned to the CIA in 1979. There, in 1981, he was appointed Director of the DCI / DDCI Executive Staff (Director of the Executive Staff of the CIA Director and Deputy). This was followed in 1982 by the Deputy Director for Intelligence and from April 18, 1986 to March 20, 1989, the post of Deputy Director of Central Intelligence. In early 1987 he was nominated as director of the CIA, but the nomination was dropped when it became clear that the Senate would not approve it because of Gates' controversial role in the Iran-Contra affair .

Gates served as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from March to August 1989 and Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser from August 1989 to November 1991. On May 14, 1991 he was nominated again by George HW Bush as director of the CIA and confirmed by the Senate on November 5, so that he could be sworn in on November 6. To date, he's the only CIA director who rose from the bottom to the top in the CIA. His deputies during this time were Richard J. Kerr (from November 6, 1991 to March 2, 1992) and Adm. William O. Studeman (from April 9, 1992 until retirement as Director).

During his 26 years in the intelligence service, he was a member of the National Security Council for nearly nine years, serving four US presidents of both major parties.

In 1996, his memoir was published under the title From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War .

The time after leaving the CIA

From 1999 to 2001, Gates was the dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University before becoming president of the university in 2002. He was also on the board of directors of Fidelity Investments and on the boards of NACCO Industries , Inc., Brinker International , Inc. and Parker Drilling Company , Inc. He was also President of the National Eagle Scout Association .

In February 2005, he turned down the offer to take over the newly established post of Director of National Intelligence Services. Originally, he wanted to remain university president until summer 2007.

On September 6, 2011, Robert Gates, succeeding Sandra Day O'Connor , was named 24th Chancellor of the College of William & Mary .

Defense Minister

Gates speaking on his Defense Secretary nomination
Robert Gates (left) with Chief of Staff Michael Mullen and President Barack Obama (right) in the west wing of the White House

After the resignation of Donald H. Rumsfeld , George W. Bush nominated Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense on November 8, 2006 . The Senate confirmed the nomination on December 6, 2006 with 95: 2 votes with three abstentions. The votes against came from Republican Senators Rick Santorum ( Pennsylvania ) and Jim Bunning ( Kentucky ).

On December 1, 2008, Democratic President Barack Obama announced at a press conference in Chicago that Gates would remain Secretary of Defense. With the inauguration of the Obama administration, Robert Gates became the first post-war defense secretary to hold this position under both Republican and Democratic presidents.

When Barack Obama was first inaugurated in 2009, Gates was a Designated Survivor . In the event of an attack on the Capitol, he would have been the highest-ranking survivor and would have succeeded Barack Obama as president.

On August 16, 2010, Gates announced his intention to step down from the Secretary of Defense in 2011. On July 1, 2011, he gave up the post to the previous CIA chief Leon Panetta , leaving the Obama cabinet .

In his autobiography Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War , Gates draws a contradicting assessment of Obama's Afghanistan policy: On the one hand, Gates insinuates (without evidence) that the president himself did not believe in the success of the troop reinforcement he ordered; on the other hand, Gates admits that this decision was by no means popular among the population, but does not explain why Obama made such an unpopular decision when he allegedly did not believe in its success himself.

Awards (selection)

Publications

Web links

Commons : Robert Gates  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Robert Gates  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Thomas Powers: Who Won the Cold War? ( Memento of September 13, 2005 on the Internet Archive ) In: New York Review of Books. Vol. 43, No. 11 (June 20), New York 1996. ISSN  0028-7504
  2. ^ Gates nomination, Senate Proceedings, 1991. In: Globalsecurity.org.
  3. ^ Robert Gates: From the Shadows. The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War. Simon & Schuster, New York 1997. ISBN 0-684-81081-6
  4. ↑ Brett Nauman: Gates passes on intelligence czar post. In: The Bryan-College Station Eagle. May 7, 2005, archived from the original on February 6, 2005 ; accessed on December 7, 2014 (English).
  5. ↑ Robert Gates Plans To Retire In 2011. August 16, 2010, accessed December 7, 2014 .
  6. ^ Greg Jaffe: Book review: 'Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War' by Robert M. Gates - Washington Post, January 7, 2014. The Süddeutsche suppresses the critical passages of the WP review.
personal data
SURNAME Gates, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gates, Robert Michael (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician (non-party)
DATE OF BIRTH September 25, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Wichita , Kansas