Gates, Robert Michael (1943-…), became United States secretary of defense in 2006 under President George W. Bush and remained in the post under President Barack Obama until 2011. As defense secretary, Gates addressed issues related to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, in addition to responding to provocative actions by Russia and North Korea. Bush appointed Gates to the Cabinet post after Donald H. Rumsfeld resigned. Obama then asked Gates to remain, the first time a president from a different political party retained a secretary of defense.
Gates was born on Sept. 25, 1943, in Wichita, Kansas. He received a bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary in 1965 and a master’s degree in history from Indiana University in 1966. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1966 to 1968. In 1974, Gates graduated from Georgetown University with a doctorate in Russian and Soviet history.
From 1966 to 1993, Gates held a variety of posts for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Council, and the White House. He served as the CIA’s deputy director from 1986 to 1989 and as the deputy national security adviser to President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1991. He was the director of the CIA from 1991 to 1993.
For much of the 1990’s, Gates worked as a consultant, lecturer, and university official. From 1999 to 2001, he was dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. He became the university’s president in 2002. Gates also has served on the boards of several corporations and as president of the National Eagle Scout Association. He has written several books, including From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War (1996); Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War (2014); and A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service (2016).
In March 2006, Gates joined the Iraq Study Group, an independent commission devoted to the analysis of the Iraq War (2003-2011). In the elections of Nov. 7, 2006, the Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress to the Democrats. Many political experts blamed the election losses on the unpopularity of the Iraq War. The day after the elections, Bush announced Rumsfeld’s resignation as secretary of defense and nominated Gates to fill the position. Gates stepped down from the position in 2011. Also in 2011, Obama awarded Gates the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
From 2014 to 2016, Gates served as the president of the Boy Scouts of America. Gates had begun serving as the organization’s acting president in late 2013.
