US Defense Secretary Robert Gates is set to stay on in the top Pentagon
job, for at least the first year of the Obama administration, ABC News reported
yesterday.
"It is a done deal," a source close to the process was quoted as saying.
Gates, a registered independent, has served numerous Republican
administrations.
President George W. Bush nominated Gates to replace the Donald Rumsfeld after
the 2006 midterm elections, when the war in Iraq was spiraling out of control.
The former Eagle Scout is expected to be rolled out immediately after the
Thanksgiving holiday weekend as part of a larger national security team expected
to include Senator Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Marine Gen. Jim Jones
as national security adviser and Admiral Dennis Blair as director of national
intelligence and Susan Rice as US ambassador to the United
Nations.
