Robert M. Gates

Robert M. Gates (born September 25, 1943, Wichita, Kansas, U.S.) U.S. government official who served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; 1991–93) under Pres. George H.W. Bush and as secretary of defense (2006–11) in the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Gates studied European history at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1965. While earning a master’s degree (1966) from Indiana University, he was recruited by the CIA, and he joined the agency full time as a Soviet analyst after a two-year stint in the air force. Gates later received a doctorate (1974) in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

In 1974 Gates joined the staff of the National Security Council, serving under Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter until 1979, when he returned to the CIA. He rose to the post of deputy director of the agency in 1982, and Pres. Ronald Reagan nominated him to be director in 1987. Gates, however, withdrew because of questions about how much he knew about the Iran-Contra Affair. He later served as deputy national security adviser (1989–91) to Pres. George H.W. Bush, and Bush nominated Gates for the CIA director’s post again in 1991. This time Gates had to defend himself against accusations that he had deliberately distorted intelligence information about the Soviet Union that he had presented to the Reagan administration. The Senate confirmed him in a 61–31 vote, making him the youngest director in the agency’s history. His tenure ended little more than a year later, after Bill Clinton defeated Bush in the 1992 presidential election. In 1999 Gates was named dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and three years later he became president of the university.

In 2006 Gates was appointed secretary of defense by Pres. George W. Bush to replace Donald Rumsfeld, who resigned after heavy Republican losses in midterm elections were interpreted as a national referendum on the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq War. Considered the opposite of Rumsfeld, who was seen as an ideologue bent on making the Pentagon do his bidding, Gates had the reputation of a pragmatist who could assess a situation and respond accordingly. He was easily confirmed by the Senate in a 95–2 vote. In 2007 Gates supported the Bush administration’s plan to temporarily increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, an effort that became known as the surge. Although its results were disputed, many credited the surge with contributing to the decrease in violence in the country.

Obama, who succeeded Bush as president in 2009, selected Gates to continue as secretary of defense. In August 2010 combat operations ended in Iraq, but Afghanistan remained increasingly volatile despite a troop surge. In 2010 Gates supported overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), a U.S. policy under which gay and lesbian service members were forced to conceal their sexuality or risk expulsion from the military. Following the repeal of DADT later that year, Gates and the Pentagon were tasked with developing an implementation plan. Another major issue during Gates’s tenure was the defense budget, which came under greater scrutiny as the federal deficit grew. Gates introduced major spending cuts, notably to weapons programs that were considered irrelevant. Gates retired in June 2011; as he left office, Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was succeeded by Leon Panetta.

In 2012 Gates became chancellor of the College of William & Mary. Two years later he became president of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). In 2015 he made headlines when he urged the organization to end its ban on homosexual troop leaders. The ban was lifted shortly thereafter, though exceptions were made for church-sponsored troops. Gates completed his two-year term as BSA president in 2016. His works included the memoirs From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War (1996) and Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War (2014) as well as A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service (2016). Gates also wrote Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World (2020).