Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Boston Globe
November 9, 2006
By Bryan Bender and John Donnelly, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON -- Robert M. Gates, Eagle Scout, longtime American spy, head of the Central Intelligence Agency under President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993, and President George W. Bush's nominee yesterday as secretary of defense, now faces the challenge of his career: finding a new strategy for the American war in Iraq.
Those who know him well said that Gates, described as intellectually brilliant, recognizes that the Democrats' dramatic success in the midterm elections and the soon-to-be-released report by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group have given him a mandate to chart a new course.
Gates, who will be leaving his position as president of Texas A&M University to prepare for Senate confirmation hearings, is a member of the Iraq Study Group and traveled to Iraq earlier this year to assess the situation first hand.
"Even though people may see him as a strong leader, he also has feelings, and to be in a war zone would move anybody. And it moved Bob Gates," Rodney P. McClendon, 37, chief of staff to Gates during his 4 1/2 years as university president, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
McClendon, who said Gates kept his opinions on Iraq private , said the trip to Iraq "just brought home the seriousness of the war for him. He was very introspective about it."
The silver-haired Gates, 63, was born in Wichita, Kan., received a bachelor's degree from the College of William & Mary, and a master's degree in history at Indiana University in 1966. While at Indiana University, he was recruited by the CIA, but first he served two years in the Air Force.
Gates became a consummate Cold War spy, earning his doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University in 1974. Over the next two decades, he held positions at the National Security Council and the CIA, eventually rising to become, at the time, just the third career officer in the intelligence agency to lead the organization.
In 1987, he was nominated as CIA director, but withdrew because of controversy surrounding his involvement in the Iran- contra affair, in which proceeds from arms sales to Iran were used to fund the counterrevolutionary forces in Nicaragua. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated him again. His Senate confirmation process took six months, ending with an independent counsel's decision that Gates did not warrant indictment on whether he was telling the truth about when he first learned of the diversion of funds.
He published his memoirs, "From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War," in 1996. Three years later, in a speech at Texas A&M, he told an audience that he often was on the hot seat during the Cold War.
"I suspect I'm the only CIA officer to have had two secretaries of state, a secretary of defense, and the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party all try at different times to get me fired," Gates said. "A dubious distinction that would have turned a lesser man's hair gray."
In 1999, he became interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M, and three years later was named the university's 22d president.
But Texas A&M, where he earned a reported salary of $425,000, was not his sole focus. He also has sat on several corporate boards.
Gates has been a member of Fidelity Investments' mutual funds board since 1997, and this year became chairman of Fidelity's independent trustees. In 2004, he was paid $362,250 as a Fidelity trustee, a securities filing shows. Gates has said he traveled to Boston about 11 times a year to attend Fidelity board meetings.
Gates plans to leave his position as chair of the Fidelity independent trustees, a company spokesman said, because of his nomination as defense secretary. No timetable has been set for his departure. The company spokesman said a replacement will be named by the independent trustees.
In February 2005, Gates wrote in a message on the university's website, President Bush asked him to became the new director of national intelligence. He later told the university's Academy for Future International Leaders that he initially decided to take the job but changed his mind because he had more to do at A&M.
But evidently, he feels differently now. Many analysts believe that Gates will directly tackle decisions involving America's military commitment to Iraq, especially since he served on the independent study group.
"It will put him in a very good light and get him bipartisan changes," said retired Army General John Keane , who served as vice chief of staff of the Army from 1999 to 2003 and remains a top adviser to departing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "Gates is a big step in the right direction."
Mara Rudman , a former deputy national security adviser to President Clinton and now a senior fellow at the liberal think-tank Center for American Progress, said the Democrats' success in the election also gives Gates a greater ability to propose change. "Gates is in the pragmatist camp," Rudman said. "This administration is going to have to pivot on Iraq because the country has spoken."
Gates's pragmatism was displayed in 2004, when he co chaired a task force for the Council on Foreign Relations that recommended opening a dialogue with Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons program -- something the Bush administration has been loath to do.
Ross Kerber and Beth Healy of the Globe staff contributed to this report from Boston.
November 9, 2006
By Bryan Bender and John Donnelly, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON -- Robert M. Gates, Eagle Scout, longtime American spy, head of the Central Intelligence Agency under President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993, and President George W. Bush's nominee yesterday as secretary of defense, now faces the challenge of his career: finding a new strategy for the American war in Iraq.
Those who know him well said that Gates, described as intellectually brilliant, recognizes that the Democrats' dramatic success in the midterm elections and the soon-to-be-released report by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group have given him a mandate to chart a new course.
Gates, who will be leaving his position as president of Texas A&M University to prepare for Senate confirmation hearings, is a member of the Iraq Study Group and traveled to Iraq earlier this year to assess the situation first hand.
"Even though people may see him as a strong leader, he also has feelings, and to be in a war zone would move anybody. And it moved Bob Gates," Rodney P. McClendon, 37, chief of staff to Gates during his 4 1/2 years as university president, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
McClendon, who said Gates kept his opinions on Iraq private , said the trip to Iraq "just brought home the seriousness of the war for him. He was very introspective about it."
The silver-haired Gates, 63, was born in Wichita, Kan., received a bachelor's degree from the College of William & Mary, and a master's degree in history at Indiana University in 1966. While at Indiana University, he was recruited by the CIA, but first he served two years in the Air Force.
Gates became a consummate Cold War spy, earning his doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University in 1974. Over the next two decades, he held positions at the National Security Council and the CIA, eventually rising to become, at the time, just the third career officer in the intelligence agency to lead the organization.
In 1987, he was nominated as CIA director, but withdrew because of controversy surrounding his involvement in the Iran- contra affair, in which proceeds from arms sales to Iran were used to fund the counterrevolutionary forces in Nicaragua. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush nominated him again. His Senate confirmation process took six months, ending with an independent counsel's decision that Gates did not warrant indictment on whether he was telling the truth about when he first learned of the diversion of funds.
He published his memoirs, "From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War," in 1996. Three years later, in a speech at Texas A&M, he told an audience that he often was on the hot seat during the Cold War.
"I suspect I'm the only CIA officer to have had two secretaries of state, a secretary of defense, and the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party all try at different times to get me fired," Gates said. "A dubious distinction that would have turned a lesser man's hair gray."
In 1999, he became interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M, and three years later was named the university's 22d president.
But Texas A&M, where he earned a reported salary of $425,000, was not his sole focus. He also has sat on several corporate boards.
Gates has been a member of Fidelity Investments' mutual funds board since 1997, and this year became chairman of Fidelity's independent trustees. In 2004, he was paid $362,250 as a Fidelity trustee, a securities filing shows. Gates has said he traveled to Boston about 11 times a year to attend Fidelity board meetings.
Gates plans to leave his position as chair of the Fidelity independent trustees, a company spokesman said, because of his nomination as defense secretary. No timetable has been set for his departure. The company spokesman said a replacement will be named by the independent trustees.
In February 2005, Gates wrote in a message on the university's website, President Bush asked him to became the new director of national intelligence. He later told the university's Academy for Future International Leaders that he initially decided to take the job but changed his mind because he had more to do at A&M.
But evidently, he feels differently now. Many analysts believe that Gates will directly tackle decisions involving America's military commitment to Iraq, especially since he served on the independent study group.
"It will put him in a very good light and get him bipartisan changes," said retired Army General John Keane , who served as vice chief of staff of the Army from 1999 to 2003 and remains a top adviser to departing Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "Gates is a big step in the right direction."
Mara Rudman , a former deputy national security adviser to President Clinton and now a senior fellow at the liberal think-tank Center for American Progress, said the Democrats' success in the election also gives Gates a greater ability to propose change. "Gates is in the pragmatist camp," Rudman said. "This administration is going to have to pivot on Iraq because the country has spoken."
Gates's pragmatism was displayed in 2004, when he co chaired a task force for the Council on Foreign Relations that recommended opening a dialogue with Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons program -- something the Bush administration has been loath to do.
Ross Kerber and Beth Healy of the Globe staff contributed to this report from Boston.