In an important administrative development in the United States, the Senate panel has given approval on the name of Robert Gates, 63 to be as the next defense secretary of the US.
President George Bush has selected him as the replacement of Donald H. Rumsfeld. After getting the Senate confirmation Gates said that
he is open to new ideas about correcting the U.S. course in Iraq. The war would be his highest priority.
The Senate Armed Services Committee took five hours to decide and finally voted 21-0 to recommend approval of Gates’ nomination. Now it is certain that he will get affirmation of full Senate by week’s end.
Gates said that
President Bush wants to see Iraq as country with good governance and peaceful country. At the same time, what we are doing now is not satisfactory.
As the country’s new defense secretary, Gates would have to work in coordination with a Congress where democrats are enjoying majority.
Now, Gates is all set to face range of issues, such as re-equipping a military stressed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to increase the strength of the Army and Marine Corps, to maintain good relations with China, North Korea and Iran, and to limit the Pentagon’s supremacy in the intelligence arena.
Profile of Robert M. Gates
Age: 63
Birth day and Birth place: Sept. 25, 1943, Wichita, Kan
Previous roles:
# CIA intelligence analyst, 1966-1974
# National Security Council staff, 1974-1979
# Director of executive staff for CIA director, 1981-1982
# Deputy director for intelligence, 1982-1986
# Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, 1983-1986
# Deputy director of CIA, 1986-1989
# Acting director, 1986-1987
# Deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs, 1989
# Assistant to the president and deputy for national security affairs, 1989-1991
# CIA director, 1991-1993
# Interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, 1999-2001
# President of Texas A&M University, 2002-present
Family: Gates and his wife, Becky, have two children.
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