Robert Michael Gates

Robert Michael Gates 1943-, American government official, secretary of defense (2006-), b. Wichita, Kans. A circumspect and pragmatic career intelligence officer, he joined (1966) the Central Intelligence Agency as an analyst and spent more than 25 years with the CIA and the National Security Council. Deputy director of intelligence of the CIA (1982-86), he was suspected of involvement in the Iran-Contra affair , and when President Ronald Reagan nominated (1987) him as CIA director, Congress called for further investigation into the CIA's role in the matter and Gates withdrew his name from consideration. Under President George H. W. Bush , Gates was deputy national security adviser (1989-91) and CIA director (1991-93). He later was a dean (1999-2001) and university president (2002-6) at Texas A&M Univ. In 2006 Gates was appointed secretary of defense by President George W. Bush , succeeding Donald H. Rumsfeld when the latter resigned as sectarian violence in U.S.-occupied Iraq worsened. Though Gates was a member of the Iraq Study Group, which unanimously recommended (2006) changes in the admininstration's Iraq policies, President Bush opted for a short-term troop surge focused on Baghdad, an action the group had not favored. Gates has written From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War (1996).

Gates, Robert Michael (1943?–) director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1991–93), born in Wichita, Kansas. He was deputy director from 1982 to 1991. Gates was among directors who presided over the agency after the breakup of the Soviet Union and who were engaged with trying to find a post–Cold War role for the CIA, such as monitoring drug traffic and terrorist threats. Most of Gates's earlier Washington career was on the National Security Council staff in the White House.