View source for Robert Gates

{{short description|American intelligence analyst (born 1943)}}
{{About|the 22nd U.S. Secretary of Defense}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Robert Gates
| image               = Robert Gates, official DoD photo portrait, 2006.jpg
| caption             = Official portrait, 2006
| office              = 24th [[Chancellor of the College of William and Mary]]
| president           = [[W. Taylor Reveley III]]<br>[[Katherine Rowe]]
| term_start          = February 3, 2012
| term_end            = 
| predecessor         = [[Sandra Day O'Connor]]
| successor           = 
| office1             = 22nd [[United States Secretary of Defense]]
| president1          = [[George W. Bush]]<br>[[Barack Obama]]
| deputy1             = [[Gordon R. England]]<br>[[William J. Lynn III]]
| term_start1         = December 18, 2006
| term_end1           = June 30, 2011
| predecessor1        = [[Donald Rumsfeld]]
| successor1          = [[Leon Panetta]]
| office2             = 22nd [[President of Texas A&M University#Presidents|President of Texas A&M University]]
| term_start2         = August 1, 2002
| term_end2           = December 16, 2006
| predecessor2        = [[Ray M. Bowen]]
| successor2          = Ed Davis (acting)
| office3             = 15th [[Director of Central Intelligence]]
| president3          = [[George H. W. Bush]]
| deputy3             = [[Richard James Kerr]]<br>[[William O. Studeman]]
| term_start3         = November 6, 1991
| term_end3           = January 20, 1993
| predecessor3        = [[William H. Webster]]
| successor3          = [[R. James Woolsey Jr.]]
| president4          = [[Ronald Reagan]]
| term_start4         = December 18, 1986
| term_end4           = May 26, 1987<br>Acting
| predecessor4        = [[William J. Casey]]
| successor4          = [[William H. Webster]]
| office5             = 17th [[Deputy National Security Advisor|United States Deputy National Security Advisor]]
| president5          = George H. W. Bush
| term_start5         = March 20, 1989
| term_end5           = November 6, 1991
| predecessor5        = [[John Negroponte]]
| successor5          = [[Jonathan Howe]]
| office6             = 16th [[Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency|Deputy Director of Central Intelligence]]
| president6          = [[Ronald Reagan]]<br>George H. W. Bush
| term_start6         = April 18, 1986
| term_end6           = March 20, 1989
| predecessor6        = [[John N. McMahon]]
| successor6          = [[Richard James Kerr]]
| birth_name          = Robert Michael Gates
| birth_date          = {{nowrap|{{birth date and age|1943|9|25}}}}
| birth_place         = [[Wichita, Kansas]], U.S.
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Gates: Military looks to accelerate Iraq pullout |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna28022197 |publisher=[[NBC News]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=December 1, 2008 |access-date=May 5, 2009 |quote=Gates also cleared up confusion about his political affiliation. During his tenure at the CIA, he said, he thought he should be apolitical so he did not register with a political party. But, he added, "I consider myself a Republican." |archive-date=December 16, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216115037/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/28022197/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
| spouse              = {{marriage|Becky Wilkie|1967}}
| children            = 2
| education           = [[College of William and Mary]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Indiana University, Bloomington]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])<br>[[Georgetown University]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| signature           = Robert Gates Signature 2.svg
| allegiance          = United States
| branch              = [[United States Air Force]]
| serviceyears        = 1967–1969
| rank                = [[First lieutenant#United States|First Lieutenant]]
| module              = {{Listen |pos=center |embed=yes |filename=Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Announces Senior Personnel Turnover in the Wake of ADM Fallon's Resignation as CENTCOM Commander.ogg |title=Gates's voice |type=speech |description=Gates announcing personnel changes amid [[William J. Fallon|William Fallon]]'s resignation as commander of [[United States Central Command|USCENTCOM]]<br>Recorded April 23, 2008}}
}}
'''Robert Michael Gates''' (born September 25, 1943) is an American intelligence analyst and university president who served as the 22nd [[United States secretary of defense]] from 2006 to 2011. He was appointed by President [[George W. Bush]] and retained by President [[Barack Obama]]. Gates began his career serving as an officer in the [[United States Air Force]] but was quickly recruited by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA).<ref>{{cite book| first= Robert| last= Gates| title= From The Shadows| url= https://archive.org/details/fromshadows00robe_0| url-access= registration| year= 1996 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/fromshadows00robe_0/page/20 20–21] | publisher= Simon & Schuster| edition= 2006 Paperback}}</ref> 

Gates served for twenty-six years in the CIA and at the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]], and was [[Director of Central Intelligence|director of central intelligence]] under President [[George H.&nbsp;W. Bush]] from 1991 to 1993. After leaving the CIA, Gates became president of [[Texas A&M University]] and was a member of several corporate boards. Gates served as a member of the [[Iraq Study Group]], the bipartisan commission co-chaired by [[James A. Baker&nbsp;III]] and [[Lee H. Hamilton]] that studied the lessons of the [[Iraq War]].

Gates was nominated by Republican president [[George W. Bush]] as secretary of defense in 2006, replacing [[Donald Rumsfeld]].<ref name="Historical Office">{{cite web |url=https://history.defense.gov/Multimedia/Biographies/Article-View/Article/571279/robert-m-gates/ |title=Robert M. Gates – George W. Bush / Barack Obama Administration |work=Office of the Secretary of Defense – Historical Office |access-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-date=February 7, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170207114027/http://history.defense.gov/Multimedia/Biographies/Article-View/Article/571279/robert-m-gates/ |url-status=live}}</ref> He was confirmed with bipartisan support.<ref name="Time"/> In 2007, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' named Gates one of the [[Time 100|year's most influential people]].<ref name="Time">{{cite news| url= http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733757_1735600,00.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080505054017/http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1733748_1733757_1735600,00.html | url-status= dead | archive-date= May 5, 2008 |title= Robert Gates |first= Zbigniew | last= Brzezinski| magazine= [[Time (magazine)|Time]]|year= 2007}}</ref> In 2008, Gates was named one of America's Best Leaders by ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usnews.com/articles/news/best-leaders/2008/11/19/americas-best-leaders-robert-gates-us-secretary-of-defense.html|title=America's Best Leaders: Robert Gates, U.S. Secretary of Defense|access-date=November 25, 2008|archive-date=December 20, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220141606/http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/best-leaders/2008/11/19/americas-best-leaders-robert-gates-us-secretary-of-defense.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He continued to serve as secretary of defense in President Barack Obama's administration<ref name= "change.gov 1Dec08-1">{{cite press release |title=Key members of Obama-Biden national security team announced |work= [[change.gov]] |date= December 1, 2008 |url= http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/key_members_of_obama_biden_national_security_team_announced/ |access-date= December 1, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081201182614/http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/key_members_of_obama_biden_national_security_team_announced/ |archive-date=December 1, 2008}}</ref> and retired in 2011. "He'll be remembered for making us aware of the danger of over-reliance on military intervention as an instrument of American foreign policy," said former senator [[David L. Boren]].<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/us/politics/19gates.html?_r=1&hpw=&pagewanted=all| title= Looking Back, Gates Says He's Grown Wary of 'Wars of Choice'| work= The New York Times| date= June 18, 2011| access-date= February 18, 2017| archive-date= February 2, 2017| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170202012329/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/us/politics/19gates.html?_r=1&hpw=&pagewanted=all| url-status= live}}</ref> Gates was presented the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], the nation's highest civilian award, by President Obama during his retirement ceremony.<ref name= "defense.gov">{{cite news|title=Obama Awards Gates Presidential Medal of Freedom|url=https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/id/64526/|work=American Forces Press Service via Defense.gov|access-date=June 30, 2011|date=June 30, 2011|archive-date=December 21, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111221161827/http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=64526|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since leaving the Obama administration, Gates was elected president of the [[Boy Scouts of America]], served as [[Chancellor of the College of William & Mary]], and served as a member on several corporate boards. In 2012, Gates was elected as a fellow of the [[National Academy of Public Administration (United States)|National Academy of Public Administration.]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Incorporated |first=Prime |title=National Academy of Public Administration |url=https://napawash.org/fellow/15201 |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=National Academy of Public Administration |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Gates was born in [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]], Kansas, the son of Isabel V. (née Goss) and Melville A. "Mel" Gates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/robertgates.htm|title=robert gates|work=ancestry.com|access-date=February 20, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808124219/http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/celeb/robertgates.htm|archive-date=August 8, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Gates attained the rank of [[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]] in the [[Boy Scouts of America]] (BSA) and received the [[Distinguished Eagle Scout Award]] and [[Silver Buffalo Award]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scoutingmagazine.org/silverbuffalo/|title=Scouting magazine: List of Silver Buffalo recipients|website=ScoutingMagazine.org|date=August 30, 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=May 31, 2019|archive-date=July 9, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190709072231/https://scoutingmagazine.org/silverbuffalo/|url-status=live}}</ref> from the BSA as an adult.<ref name="desalista">{{cite web |url = http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/02-529.pdf |title = Distinguished Eagle Scouts |publisher = Scouting.org |access-date = November 4, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130808174903/http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/02-529.pdf |archive-date = August 8, 2013 |url-status = dead}}</ref><ref name="honor">{{cite book | last = Townley | first = Alvin | url = http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com/TD_TitleDetail.aspx?ISBN=0312366531 | title = Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts | publisher = St. Martin's Press | location = New York | pages = 217–218 | isbn = 978-0-312-36653-7 | access-date = December 29, 2006 | year = 2007 | archive-date = December 19, 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061219180428/http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com/TD_TitleDetail.aspx?ISBN=0312366531 | url-status = dead}}</ref> He graduated from [[Wichita High School East]] in 1961.<ref name="Shane061119">{{cite news
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/washington/19gates.html
| title = Pentagon Pick Returns to City He Gladly Left
| date = November 19, 2006
| first = Scott
| last = Shane
| work = The New York Times
| page = 1
| access-date = September 25, 2006
| archive-date = May 15, 2013
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130515083013/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/washington/19gates.html
| url-status = live
}}</ref> Gates is also a [[Honors and awards of the Order of the Arrow|Vigil Honor]] member within the [[Order of the Arrow]], BSA's National Honor Society. He was selected as the 2017 BSA National Alumnus of the Year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/02/16/bsa-names-national-alumnus-year-2018/|title=BSA names its National Alumnus of the Year for 2018|last=Wendell|first=Bryan|date=February 16, 2018|website=Bryan on Scouting|language=en-US|access-date=May 31, 2019|archive-date=May 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531144045/https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2018/02/16/bsa-names-national-alumnus-year-2018/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Gates then received a scholarship to attend the [[College of William & Mary]], graduating in 1965 with a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] in history. At William & Mary, Gates was an active member and president of the [[Alpha Phi Omega]] (national service fraternity) chapter and the [[Young Republicans]]; he was also the business manager for the ''William and Mary Review'', a literary and art magazine.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{Cite news|newspaper=W&M News|pages=Front|date=December 8, 2006|url=http://www.wm.edu/news/index.php?id=6992|title=Senate confirms Gates ('65) as U.S. Secretary of Defense|publisher=College of William & Mary Office of University Relations|last=Whitson|first=Brian|access-date=November 9, 2006|no-pp=true|archive-date=November 27, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061127170555/http://www.wm.edu/news/index.php?id=6992|url-status=live}}</ref> At his William & Mary graduation ceremony, Gates received the [[Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award]] naming him the graduate who "has made the greatest contribution to his fellow man".<ref name=autogenerated1 />

Gates then received a [[Master of Arts]] in the history of Eastern Europe and the south Slavs from [[Indiana University Bloomington]] in 1966.<ref name=gates00/> He completed his PhD in [[Russian history|Russian and Soviet history]] at [[Georgetown University]] in 1974 under [[Joseph Schiebel]], who, according to Gates, had been heavily influenced by [[Karl Wittfogel]]'s studies on "Soviet communism and its resemblance to oriental despotism and the Asiatic mode of production, [and] the role of government in controlling all of society".<ref name=gates00/> The title of Gates's Georgetown [[doctoral dissertation]] is ''Soviet Sinology: An Untapped Source for Kremlin Views and Disputes Relating to Contemporary Events in China''<ref>{{cite book | url= https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Soviet%20Sinology%3A%20An%20Untapped%20Source%20for%20Kremlin%20Views%20and%20Disputes%20Relating%20to%20Contemporary%20Events%20in%20China%22&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-ContextMenu&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=ws | title= Soviet Sinology: An Untapped Source for Kremlin Views and Disputes Relating to Contemporary Events in China | via= Google Scholar | access-date= March 6, 2016 | archive-date= January 8, 2016 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160108075910/http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22Soviet%20Sinology%3A%20An%20Untapped%20Source%20for%20Kremlin%20Views%20and%20Disputes%20Relating%20to%20Contemporary%20Events%20in%20China%22&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-ContextMenu&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=ws | url-status= live}} University Microfilms International [http://wwwlib.umi.com/dxweb/details?doc_no=7421652 document number 7421652] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124014157/https://dissexpress.proquest.com/search.html?doc_no=7421652 |date=January 24, 2023}}</ref> and it is available from University Microfilms International as document number 7421652.

Gates was awarded an [[Doctor of Humane Letters|honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters]] from [[College of William and Mary|William & Mary]] (1998), the [[University of Oklahoma]] (2011),<ref>{{cite news|last=Straszheim|first=Deborah|title=W&m Charter Day To Honor Gilmore|url=https://www.dailypress.com/1998/02/06/wm-charter-day-to-honor-gilmore/|access-date=February 11, 2013|newspaper=Daily Press|date=February 6, 1998|archive-date=May 14, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514085435/http://articles.dailypress.com/1998-02-06/news/9802060037_1_charter-day-william-and-mary-honorary|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Five Outstanding Individuals to Receive Honorary Degrees at OU Commencement |url=http://www.ou.edu/publicaffairs/archives/HonoraryDegree.html |publisher=Public Affairs, University of Oklahoma |access-date=February 11, 2013 |archive-date=December 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131230235346/http://www.ou.edu/publicaffairs/archives/HonoraryDegree.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Georgetown University]] (2014)<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.georgetown.edu/hoyas2014/speakers.html |title= Georgetown Announces Speakers for 2014 Commencement |date= May 1, 2014 |work= Georgetown University |access-date= May 1, 2014 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140502033259/http://www.georgetown.edu/hoyas2014/speakers.html |archive-date= May 2, 2014 |df= mdy-all}}</ref> and from [[Kansas State University]] (2012).

He married Rebecca "Becky" Gates (née Wilkie) on January 7, 1967, and they have two children.<ref name=GatesSpeech/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bgcc.tamu.edu/becky-gates/|title=Becky Gates|access-date=October 18, 2021|archive-date=October 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018020947/https://bgcc.tamu.edu/becky-gates/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Intelligence career==
===Junior positions===
While at [[Indiana University]], Gates was recruited by the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and joined in 1966.<ref name=DefenselinkBio>{{cite web|date=July 2007|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/biographydetail.aspx?biographyid=115|title=DefenseLink Biography: Robert M. Gates|publisher=U.S. Dept. of Defense|access-date=April 21, 2008|archive-date=November 30, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091130082128/http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/biographydetail.aspx?biographyid=115|url-status=live}}</ref> On January 4, 1967, he was commissioned as a [[Second Lieutenant]] in the [[United States Air Force]] after attending [[Air Force Officer Training School|Officer Training School]] under CIA sponsorship.<ref name=GatesSpeech>{{cite news |access-date= December 23, 2008 |url= http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4214 |title= Secretary Gates Remarks at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, Montgomery Alabama |last= Gates |first= Robert |date= April 21, 2008 |work= DefenseLink News |format= transcript |publisher= US Department of Defense |archive-date= December 11, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081211223917/http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4214 |url-status= live}}</ref><ref name=DefenselinkBio/> From 1967 to 1969, he was assigned to the [[Strategic Air Command]] as an [[intelligence officer]], which included a year at [[Whiteman Air Force Base]] in [[Missouri]], where he delivered intelligence briefings to [[Intercontinental Ballistic Missile]] crews.<ref name=NYReviewofBooks_Powers_19960620>
{{cite magazine |first=Thomas |last=Powers |url=http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/powers.htm |title=Who Won the Cold War? |magazine=New York Review of Books |volume=43 |issue=11 |date=June 20, 1996 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050913060243/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/powers.htm |archive-date=September 13, 2005}}</ref> After fulfilling his military obligation, he rejoined the CIA as an [[Intelligence analysis|intelligence analyst]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.allgov.com/Official/Gates__Robert|title= AllGov – Officials|work= allgov.com|access-date= December 29, 2011|archive-date= January 18, 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120118224302/http://www.allgov.com/Official/Gates__Robert|url-status= live}}</ref> He wrote his doctoral thesis while serving as a professional intelligence officer.<ref name="gates00">{{cite news |title=Robert M. Gates Oral History |url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/robert-m-gates-deputy-director-central |access-date=29 March 2024 |agency=Miller Center |publisher=Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia}}</ref>

Gates left the CIA in 1974 to serve on the staff of the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]]. He returned to the CIA in late 1979, serving briefly as the director of the Strategic Evaluation Center, Office of Strategic Research. He was named the director of the DCI/DDCI Executive Staff in 1981, deputy director for intelligence in 1982, and [[CIA Deputy Director|deputy director of central intelligence]] from April 18, 1986, to March 20, 1989.

===Deputy National Security Advisor===
Under [[President George H. W. Bush]], Gates was Deputy [[Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs]] from March until August 1989, and was Assistant to the President and [[Deputy National Security Adviser]] under [[Brent Scowcroft]] from August 1989 until November 1991.

Gates was nominated to become the [[Director of Central Intelligence|director of central intelligence]] (head of the CIA) in early 1987. He withdrew his name after it became clear the Senate would reject the nomination due to controversy about his role in the [[Iran-Contra Affair]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/03/02/gates-to-withdraw-as-cia-nominee/f84b9c42-4531-4fca-85bc-f6e2b13bb9e3/|title=Gates to Withdraw as CIA Nominee|date=March 2, 1987|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=September 4, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|archive-date=September 4, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904225657/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1987/03/02/gates-to-withdraw-as-cia-nominee/f84b9c42-4531-4fca-85bc-f6e2b13bb9e3/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Director of Central Intelligence===
[[File:Robert Gates CIA photo.jpg|thumb|Gates while [[Director of Central Intelligence]]]]
Gates was nominated, for the second time, for the position of Director of Central Intelligence by Bush on May 14, 1991, confirmed by the Senate on November 5, and sworn in on November 6.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/17/us/robert-gates-fast-facts/index.html|title= Robert Gates Fast Facts|publisher= CNN|access-date= September 4, 2018|archive-date= September 4, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180904191928/https://www.cnn.com/2013/10/17/us/robert-gates-fast-facts/index.html|url-status= live}}</ref>

During a Senate committee hearing on his nomination, former division chief [[Melvin Goodman]] testified that the agency was the most corrupt and slanted during the tenure of [[William Casey]] with Gates serving as deputy. According to Goodman, Gates was part of an agency leadership that proliferated false information and ignored 'reality'. [[National Intelligence Council]] chairman Harold P. Ford testified that during his tenure, Gates had transgressed [[professional boundaries]].<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/02/news/02iht-cia_.html "Ex-Aide Calls CIA Under Casey and Gates Corrupt and Slanted"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305080716/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/02/news/02iht-cia_.html |date=March 5, 2016}}, Paul Horvitz. ''The New York Times''. October 2, 1991. Retrieved June 8, 2011</ref>

Deputy directors during his tenure were [[Richard J. Kerr]] (from November 6, 1991, until March 2, 1992) and Adm. [[William O. Studeman]] (from April 9, 1992, through the remainder of Gates's tenure). He served until 1993. It is notable that the reluctance of the Bush administration to involve itself in the [[breakup of Yugoslavia]] was due in no small part to three advisors who had deep exposure to the region: Scowcroft, [[Lawrence Eagleburger]] and himself: "We saw the historical roots of this conflict and the near nonexistent potential for solving it, for us fixing it."<ref name=gates00/>

===Level of involvement in the Iran–Contra scandal===
{{More references|section|date=June 2025}}
Because of his senior status in the CIA, Gates was close to many figures who played significant roles in the [[Iran-Contra Affair|Iran–Contra Affair]] and was in a position to have known of their activities. In 1984, as deputy director of CIA, Gates advocated that the U.S. initiate a bombing campaign against [[Nicaragua]] and that the U.S. do everything in its power short of direct military invasion of the country to remove the [[Sandinista]] government.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1125-04.htm|title=''Los Angeles Times'', November 25, 2006, free archived version at commondreams.org, lase visited November 26, 2006|url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070622162909/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/1125-04.htm|archive-date=June 22, 2007}}</ref>

Gates was an early subject of Independent Counsel's investigation, but the investigation of Gates intensified in the spring of 1991 as part of a larger inquiry into the Iran–Contra activities of CIA officials. This investigation received an additional impetus in May 1991, when President [[George H. W. Bush]] nominated Gates to be [[Director of Central Intelligence]] (DCI). The chairman and vice chairman of the [[United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] (SSCI) requested, in a letter to the [[Independent Counsel|independent counsel]] on May 15, 1991, any information that would "significantly bear on the fitness" of Gates for the CIA post.

Gates consistently testified that he first heard on October 1, 1986, from [[Charles E. Allen]], the national intelligence officer who was closest to the Iran initiative, that proceeds from the Iran arms sales may have been diverted to support the [[Contras]]. Other evidence proves, however, that Gates received a report on the diversion during the summer of 1986 from DDI Richard Kerr.<ref name="Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters; Volume I">{{cite book |last1=Walsh |first1=Lawrence E. |author-link1=Lawrence E. Walsh |date=August 4, 1993 |chapter=Chapter 16: Robert M. Gates |chapter-url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pur1.32754064121928&view=2up&seq=250 |title=Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pur1.32754064121928;view=2up;seq=1 |volume=I: Investigations and Prosecutions |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit / United States Government Printing Office |page=223 |isbn=0160430097 |oclc=612998360 |access-date=April 11, 2023 |ref={{harvid|Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters; Volume I|1993}}}}</ref> The issue was whether the Independent Counsel could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gates was deliberately not telling the truth when he later claimed not to have remembered any reference to the diversion before meeting with Allen in October.
[[File:President Bush meets with General Colin Powell, General Scowcroft, Secretary James Baker, Vice President Quayle... - NARA - 186429.jpg|thumb|upright=1.45|President [[George H. W. Bush]] meets with Robert Gates, General [[Colin Powell]], Secretary [[Dick Cheney]] and others about the situation in the Persian Gulf and Operation [[Desert Shield]], January 15, 1991.]]

[[Grand jury]] secrecy rules hampered Independent Counsel's response. Nevertheless, in order to answer questions about Gates's prior testimony, Independent Counsel accelerated his investigation of Gates in the summer of 1991. This investigation was substantially completed by September 3, 1991, at which time Independent Counsel determined that Gates's Iran–Contra activities and testimony did not warrant prosecution.

Independent Counsel made this decision subject to developments that could have warranted reopening his inquiry, including testimony by [[Clair George|Clair E. George]], the CIA's former deputy director for operations. At the time Independent Counsel reached this decision, the possibility remained that George could have provided information warranting reconsideration of Gates's status in the investigation. George refused to cooperate with Independent Counsel and was indicted on September 19, 1991. George subpoenaed Gates to testify as a defense witness at George's first trial in the summer of 1994, but Gates was never called.

The final report of the Independent Counsel for [[Iran-Contra Scandal|Iran–Contra Scandal]], issued on August 4, 1993, said that Gates "was close to many figures who played significant roles in the Iran/contra affair and was in a position to have known of their activities. The evidence developed by Independent Counsel did not warrant indictment ..."{{sfn|Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters; Volume I|1993}}

==Career after leaving the CIA==
===1993–1999===
After retiring from the CIA in 1993, Gates worked as an academic and lecturer. He evaluated student theses for the [[international relations|International Studies]] Program of the [[University of Washington]]. He lectured at [[Harvard University|Harvard]], [[Yale]], [[Johns Hopkins University|Johns Hopkins]], [[Vanderbilt University|Vanderbilt]], [[Georgetown University|Georgetown]], [[Indiana University (Bloomington)|Indiana]], [[Louisiana State University|Louisiana State]], [[University of Oklahoma|Oklahoma]], and the [[College of William & Mary]]. Gates served as a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Oklahoma International Programs Center and a trustee of the endowment fund for the College of William & Mary, his alma mater, which in 1998 conferred upon him honorary degree of [[Doctor of Humane Letters]].<ref name="Honorary degree recipients -- Special Collections Research Center Wiki">{{cite web|url=http://scdb.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/Honorary_degrees |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130306042907/http://scdb.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php/Honorary_degrees|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 6, 2013|title=Honorary degree recipients|work=wm.edu|access-date=April 23, 2014}}</ref> In 1996, Gates's autobiography, ''From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War'', was published. Gates has also written numerous articles on government and foreign policy and has been a frequent contributor to the [[op-ed page]] of ''[[The New York Times]]''.<ref>[http://newsarchives.tamu.edu/stories/99/073099-8.html Texas A&M press release] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312215202/http://newsarchives.tamu.edu/stories/99/073099-8.html |date=March 12, 2007}}, July 1999.</ref>

===Texas A&M===
[[File:Robertgates tamu.jpg|thumb|Gates at [[Texas A&M University|Texas A&M]]]]

Gates was the interim dean of the [[Bush School of Government and Public Service]] at [[Texas A&M University]] from 1999 to 2001. On August 1, 2002, he became the 22nd president of Texas A&M. As the university president, Gates made progress in four key areas of the university's "Vision 2020" plan, a plan to become one of the top 10 public universities by 2020. The four key areas include improving student diversity, increasing the size of the faculty, building new academic facilities, and enriching the undergraduate and graduate education experience.<ref name="Robert_Gates">{{cite web| url= http://www.tamu.edu/president/documents/GatesSpeech2005b.pdf | title= Texas A&M Academic Convocation |year= 2005| website= tamu.edu |publisher= Texas A&M University|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060723181701/http://www.tamu.edu/president/documents/GatesSpeech2005b.pdf |archive-date=July 23, 2006 | first= Robert M. |last= Gates}}</ref> 

During his tenure, Gates encouraged the addition of 440 new faculty positions and a $300&nbsp;million campus construction program, and saw increases in minority enrollment. On February 2, 2007, Gates was conferred the title of president emeritus by unanimous vote of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Gates and his wife Becky received [[Honorary degree|honorary doctoral degrees]] from Texas A&M on August 10, 2007.<ref>{{cite press release |url= http://www.aggieathletics.com/pressRelease.php?SID=MFB&PRID=13187|archive-url= https://archive.today/20070813183209/http://www.aggieathletics.com/pressRelease.php?SID=MFB&PRID=13187|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 13, 2007|title=Aggies Wrap First Week of Fall Camp with Pair of Workouts|publisher=Texas A&M University Athletic Department|access-date=August 15, 2007|date=August 11, 2007}}</ref>

Gates left the presidency of Texas A&M University on December 16, 2006,<ref>{{cite web|title=History of the Office |url= http://president.tamu.edu/about/history-of-the-office/index.html|publisher=Texas A&M University|access-date=May 7, 2014|url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140508042712/http://president.tamu.edu/about/history-of-the-office/index.html |archive-date= May 8, 2014}}</ref> and was sworn in two days later as Secretary of Defense. He returned on April 21, 2009, as the speaker for the annual [[Aggie Muster]] ceremony. He is one of only 6 speakers not to be a graduate of [[Texas A&M University]] since [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] spoke in 1946.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://muster.tamu.edu/node/15|title=Speaker|work=tamu.edu|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307021357/http://muster.tamu.edu/node/15|archive-date=March 7, 2009}}</ref> In his affiliation with A&M, Gates has served on the [[National Security Higher Education Advisory Board]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-appoints-national-security-higher-education-advisory-board|title=FBI Director Appoints National Security Higher Education Advisory Board|work=FBI|access-date=July 28, 2016|archive-date=June 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601200758/https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-appoints-national-security-higher-education-advisory-board|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Corporate boards===
Gates has been a member of the board of trustees of [[Fidelity Investments]], and on the board of directors of [[NACCO Industries]], Inc., [[Brinker International]], Inc., Parker Drilling Company, [[Science Applications International Corporation]], and [[VoteHere]], a technology company which sought to provide [[cryptography]] and computer software security for the electronic election industry.<ref>{{cite web|first=Mark|last=Lewellen-Biddle|url=http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/voting_machines_gone_wild|title=Voting Machines Gone Wild!|work=In These Times|date=December 11, 2003|access-date=September 25, 2007|archive-date=November 24, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061124155304/http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/voting_machines_gone_wild|url-status=live}}</ref> Following his nomination, a White House spokeswoman said that Gates planned to sell all the stock he owns in individual companies and sever all ties with them if confirmed by the Senate.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/06/AR2006120600188.html|title=Gates' Assets Include Defense Stock|first=Sharon|last=Theimer|newspaper=The Washington Post|agency=Associated Press|date=December 6, 2006|access-date=September 25, 2007|archive-date=June 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604154819/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/06/AR2006120600188.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Public service===
[[File:Defense.gov photo essay 080711-F-6655M-003.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Gates with [[Daughters of the American Revolution|NSDAR]] President General [[Linda Gist Calvin]] at [[DAR Constitution Hall]] in 2008]]
Gates is a former president of the [[National Eagle Scout Association]].<ref name="NESA">{{cite web|url=http://www.scouting.org/Media/ScoutingIntheNews/030802.aspx|title=NESA Mourns Loss of Eagles in Operation Iraqi Freedom|year=2008|publisher=Boy Scouts of America|access-date=July 7, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828072641/http://www.scouting.org/Media/ScoutingIntheNews/030802.aspx|archive-date=August 28, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In January 2004, Gates co-chaired a [[Council on Foreign Relations]] task force on U.S. relations towards Iran. Among the task force's primary recommendation was to directly engage Iran on a diplomatic level regarding Iranian nuclear technology. Key points included a negotiated position that would allow Iran to develop its nuclear program in exchange for a commitment from Iran to use the program only for peaceful means.<ref>[http://www.cfr.org/publication/7194/iran.html ''Iran: Time for a New Approach''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061203072555/http://www.cfr.org/publication/7194/iran.html |date=December 3, 2006}}, final report of an independent task force, July 2004, Council of Foreign Relations Press</ref>

At the time of his nomination by President George W. Bush to the position of Secretary of Defense, Gates was also a member of the [[Iraq Study Group]], also called the Baker Commission, which was expected to issue its report in November 2006, following the mid-term election on November 7. He was replaced by former Secretary of State [[Lawrence Eagleburger]].

===Declined appointment as Director of National Intelligence===
In February 2005, Gates wrote in a message posted on his school's website that "there seems to be a growing number of rumors in the media and around campus that I am leaving Texas A&M to become the new [[director of national intelligence]] in Washington, D.C." The message said that "To put the rumors to rest, I was indeed asked to take the position, wrestled with perhaps the most difficult—and close—decision of my life, and last week declined the position."<ref name=KBTX>{{cite web|title=Gates Turns Down Bush Administration Position |url=http://www.kbtx.com/news/headlines/1217482.html|publisher=KBTX.com|access-date=July 14, 2012 |date=February 1, 2005|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140118011453/http://www.kbtx.com/news/headlines/1217482.html|archive-date=January 18, 2014}}</ref>

Gates committed to remain as president of Texas A&M University and President [[George W. Bush]] offered the position of [[United States Director of National Intelligence]] (DNI) to [[John Negroponte]], who accepted.<ref>{{cite news
|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/17/intelligence.chief/index.html|title=Bush names Negroponte intelligence chief|publisher=CNN|date=February 18, 2005|access-date=November 8, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060922074002/http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/17/intelligence.chief/index.html |archive-date=September 22, 2006}}</ref>

Gates said in a 2005 discussion with the university's Academy for Future International Leaders that he had tentatively decided to accept the DNI position out of a sense of duty and had written an email that would be sent to students during the press conference to announce his decision, explaining that he was leaving to serve the U.S. once again. Gates, however, took the weekend to consider what his final decision should be, and ultimately decided that he was unwilling to return to Washington, D.C., in any capacity, simply because he "had nothing to look forward to in D.C. and plenty to look forward to at A&M".<ref name="CBS1">{{cite news|last=Esterbrook|first=John|title=A Closer Look at Robert Gates|publisher=CBS News|date=November 8, 2006|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-closer-look-at-robert-gates/|access-date=February 3, 2009|archive-date=May 30, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530012146/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/11/08/terror/main2163357.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Secretary of Defense==
[[File:Robert M. Gates boards a UH-60 Blackhawk.jpg|thumb|right|Gates boards a [[UH-60 Blackhawk]], [[Camp Monteith]], Kosovo.]]

===Bush administration===
[[File:Gatesswornin.jpg|thumb|Gates being sworn in as Defense Secretary on December 18, 2006]]
On November 8, 2006, after the [[2006 United States general elections|2006 midterm election]], President [[George W. Bush]] announced his intent to nominate Gates to succeed the resigning [[Donald Rumsfeld]] as U.S. Secretary of Defense.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/rumsfeld/index.html|title=Bush replaces Rumsfeld to get 'fresh perspective'|publisher=CNN|date=November 8, 2006|access-date=November 8, 2006|archive-date=June 1, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080601094302/http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/rumsfeld/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/09BUSHCND.html|title=Rumsfeld Resigns as Defense Secretary After Big Election Gains for Democrats|author=Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jim Rutenberg|work=The New York Times|date=November 8, 2006|access-date=November 8, 2006|archive-date=July 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160715170422/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/us/politics/09BUSHCND.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Gates was unanimously confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] [[Senate Armed Services Committee|Armed Services Committee]] on December 5, 2006. During his confirmation hearing on December 5, 2006, Gates replied to a question that, in his opinion, the United States was neither winning nor losing the war in Iraq.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/News/NewsArticle.aspx?id=2330|title=Senate Confirms Gates as 22nd Defense Secretary|publisher=American Forces Press Service|first=Jim|last=Garamone|date=December 6, 2006|access-date=December 6, 2006|archive-date=December 14, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061214094803/http://www.defenselink.mil//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=2330|url-status=live}}</ref> The next day, Gates was confirmed by the full Senate by a margin of 95–2, with Republican Senators [[Rick Santorum]] and [[Jim Bunning]] casting the two dissenting votes and senators [[Elizabeth Dole]], [[Evan Bayh]], and [[Joe Biden]] not voting.<ref name="Gates confirmed">{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna16068845|title=Robert Gates confirmed as secretary of defense|agency=Associated Press|publisher=NBC News|date=December 6, 2006|access-date=December 6, 2006|archive-date=July 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702085929/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/16068845/|url-status=live}}</ref> On December 18, 2006, Gates was sworn in as Secretary of Defense by [[White House Chief of Staff]] [[Josh Bolten]] at a private [[White House]] ceremony and then by Vice President [[Dick Cheney]] at the Pentagon.<ref name="sworn in">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6190279.stm |title=New US defence secretary sworn in |work=BBC News |date=December 18, 2006 |access-date=December 18, 2006 |archive-date=January 21, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070121053456/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6190279.stm |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Ishiba and Gates with flags.jpg|thumb|Gates with Japan Minister of Defense [[Shigeru Ishiba]] at Japan in November 2007]]

Under the Bush administration, Gates directed the war in Iraq's [[Iraq War troop surge of 2007|troop surge]], a marked change in tactics from his predecessor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46437|title=Gates: Troop Surge Will Take Time to Judge|publisher=archive.defense.gov|date=June 16, 2007|access-date=July 4, 2020|archive-date=September 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930015001/http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=46437|url-status=dead}}</ref> With violence on the decline in Iraq, in 2008, Gates also began the troop withdrawal of Iraq, a policy continued into the Obama administration.

[[File:From left, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen and U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Gen. James Mattis, the commander of U.S. Central 100901-N-TT977-147.jpg|thumb|Gates, Vice President [[Joe Biden]], Admiral [[Mike Mullen]] and General [[Jim Mattis]] in Baghdad, Iraq]]

====Walter Reed Medical Center scandal====
Several months after his appointment, ''[[The Washington Post]]'' published a series of articles beginning February 18, 2007, that brought to the spotlight the [[Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal]].<ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2007/02/21/LI2007022100671.html| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080107185011/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2007/02/21/LI2007022100671.html |archive-date= January 7, 2008| url-status= dead | newspaper= The Washington Post| date= February 21, 2007| title= [Unknown title]| access-date= September 4, 2019}}</ref> As a result of the fallout from the incident, Gates announced the removal of [[United States Secretary of the Army|Secretary of the Army]] [[Francis J. Harvey]], and later, he approved the removal of Army Surgeon General [[Kevin C. Kiley]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/12/kiley.retire/index.html|title=Army surgeon general ousted amid Walter Reed scandal|date=March 12, 2007|publisher=CNN|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008023802/http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/12/kiley.retire/index.html|archive-date=October 8, 2008}}</ref>

====Controversy over Joint Chiefs====
On June 8, 2007, Gates announced that he would not recommend the renomination of [[Peter Pace]], the [[Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff]], due to anticipated difficulties with the confirmation process. Instead, Gates recommended [[Mike Mullen]], the [[Chief of Naval Operations]] at the time, to fill the position. Gates stated: "I am no stranger to contentious confirmations, and I do not shrink from them. However, I have decided that at this moment in our history, the nation, our men and women in uniform, and General Pace himself would not be well-served by a divisive ordeal in selecting the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff." Gates referred to Pace as a friend and praised his service as a Marine.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3984|title=DoD News Briefing with Secretary Robert Gates from the Pentagon|date=June 8, 2007|website=U.S. Department of Defense|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714081418/http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3984|archive-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref>

====Misshipments of nuclear weapons====
On June 5, 2008, in response to the findings on Air Force [[Nuclear weapons of the United States|misshipments of nuclear weapons]] and nuclear weapons components, Gates announced the resignations of Secretary of the Air Force [[Michael Wynne]] and Air Force Chief of Staff [[T. Michael Moseley|Michael Moseley]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4236 |title=DoD News Briefing with Secretary Gates from the Pentagon |publisher=U.S. Department of Defense |date=June 5, 2008 |access-date=June 5, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080606174140/http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4236 |archive-date=June 6, 2008}}</ref> Gates would later write that the USAF was "one of my biggest headaches" during his time in the office.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2014/box020514gates.aspx |title=Gates Versus the Air Force |date=February 5, 2014 |website=airforcemag.com |publisher=Air Force Association |access-date=February 6, 2014 |archive-date=February 21, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221173444/http://www.airforcemag.com/Features/Pages/2014/box020514gates.aspx |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Obama administration===
[[File:Ehud Barak and Robert M. Gates at the Pentagon, 11-2009.JPG|thumb|Gates with Israeli Minister of Defense [[Ehud Barak]] at [[the Pentagon]] in 2009]]
On December 1, 2008, President-elect Obama announced that Robert Gates would remain in his position as Secretary of Defense during his administration,<ref name="change.gov 1Dec08-1"/> reportedly for at least the first year of Obama's presidency.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/11/gates-cabinet-a.html |title=Gates Cabinet Appointment 'A Done Deal' |work=Political Radar |format=Blog |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=November 25, 2008 |access-date=November 25, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090127015411/http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/11/gates-cabinet-a.html |archive-date=January 27, 2009}}</ref> Gates was the fourteenth Cabinet member in history to serve under two presidents of different parties, and the first to do so as Secretary of Defense. One of the first priorities under President Barack Obama's administration for Gates was a review of U.S. policy and strategy in [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|Afghanistan]].<ref name="bloom-2dec08">{{cite news |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ad9s4rYeO7d8&refer=home |format=Article |title=Gates Says Review of Afghanistan Policy Will Be 'High Priority' |work=Worldwide News |last=Fireman |first=Ken |author2=Capaccio, Tony |publisher=[[Bloomberg L.P.]] |date=December 2, 2008 |access-date=December 2, 2008 |archive-date=January 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124014159/https://www.bloomberg.com/politics?pid=20601087&refer=home&sid=ad9s4rYeO7d8 |url-status=live}}</ref> 

Gates, sixth in the [[United States presidential line of succession#Current order of succession|presidential line of succession]], was selected as [[designated survivor]] during Obama's inauguration.<ref>{{cite news |title=Defense Secretary Gates to be 'designated successor' Tuesday |publisher=CNN |date=January 20, 2009 |url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/19/defense-secretary-gates-to-be-designated-successor-tuesday/ |access-date=January 20, 2009 |archive-date=March 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210325095826/https://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/19/defense-secretary-gates-to-be-designated-successor-tuesday/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> On March 1, 2009, he told [[David Gregory (journalist)|David Gregory]] on ''[[Meet the Press]]'' that he would not commit to how long he would serve as Secretary of Defense but implied that he would not serve the entire first term.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/us/politics/02gates.html|work=The New York Times|title=Gates Defends Iraq Withdrawal Plan|date=March 2, 2009|access-date=March 27, 2010|first=Emily S.|last=Rueb|archive-date=June 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613025635/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/us/politics/02gates.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:GATES APPRO.jpg|thumb|right|350px|Former Committee chairman [[Robert Byrd]] (D-West Virginia, far right) shakes hands with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, while Sens. [[Patrick Leahy]] (D-Vermont, center right) and [[Tom Harkin]] (D-Iowa) look on. The hearing was held to discuss further funding for the [[War in Iraq]].]]

While Gates continued the troop withdrawals in Iraq, which already had begun in the Bush administration, he also implemented a rapid, limited surge of troops in Afghanistan in 2009.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/US/Gates-against-further-surge-of-US-troops-in-Afghanistan/articleshow/4480334.cms |work=The Times of India |title=Gates against further surge of US troops in Afghanistan |date=May 4, 2009 |access-date=June 12, 2009 |archive-date=May 5, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505055752/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/US/Gates-against-further-surge-of-US-troops-in-Afghanistan/articleshow/4480334.cms |url-status=live}}</ref> Robert Gates removed General [[David D. McKiernan]] from command in Afghanistan on May 6, 2009<ref name=WashingtonPost2009-05-12>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/11/AR2009051101864.html |title=Top U.S. Commander in Afghanistan Is Fired|date=May 12, 2009| first= Ann |last= Scott Tyson |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204201501/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/11/AR2009051101864.html| url-status=live| archive-date= February 4, 2011}}</ref><ref name=Wjs2009-05-12>{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124206036635107351 |title=U.S. Fires Afghan War Chief: Four-Star General Replaced by Counterinsurgency Expert as Campaign Stumbles|date=May 12, 2009|author-link1= Yochi Dreazen| first1= Yochi J. |last1= Dreazen| first2= Peter| last2= Spiegel |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090515124717/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124206036635107351.html |archive-date=May 15, 2009 | url-status=live |work=The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> and replaced him with General [[Stanley A. McChrystal]]. The ''[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]'' called it "a rare decision to remove a wartime commander". The ''Washington Post'' described the replacement as one of several replacements of generals who represented the "traditional Army" with generals "who have pressed for the use of counter-insurgency tactics".<ref name=WashingtonPost2009-05-12/>

[[File:Defense.gov News Photo 100722-D-7203C-001 - Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates is greeted by Indonesian military members after his arrival at the Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport.jpg|thumb|Gates is greeted by Indonesian military members after arriving in [[Jakarta|Jakarta, Indonesia]] on July 22, 2010.]]
In December 2009, Gates visited Afghanistan following President Barack Obama's announcement of the deployment of 30,000 additional personnel against the [[Taliban insurgency]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a.0KlPNAm9fk|title=Karzai Delays Naming Cabinet as Pentagon Chief Lands for Talks|work=bloomberg.com|access-date=March 11, 2017|archive-date=July 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210726140146/https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a.0KlPNAm9fk|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Gates with karzai.jpg|200px|thumb|Gates with Afghan president [[Hamid Karzai]] in March 2011|alt=]]
''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine notes that Gates and U.S. Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]] have "forged a formidable partnership", speaking frequently, "comparing notes before they go to the White House", meeting with each other weekly and having lunch once a month at either the Pentagon or the State Department.<ref>{{cite news| url= http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1960261,00.html| title= What Is Robert Gates Really Fighting For?| first= Elizabeth| last= Rubin| date= February 3, 2010| magazine= Time| access-date= September 4, 2019| archive-date= September 5, 2019| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190905045506/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1960261,00.html| url-status= live}}</ref>

In a March 2010 speech to a NATO conference in Washington, Secretary Gates said that "The demilitarization of Europe—where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it—has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/world/europe/04iht-letter.html|title=Shaping Policy by Playing Safe|first=Judy|last=Dempsey|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 3, 2010|access-date=February 18, 2017|archive-date=September 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923135944/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/world/europe/04iht-letter.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:A.K. Antony and Robert Gates 1.jpg|thumb|Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates walks with Indian Defense Minister [[A. K. Antony]], at the Ministry of Defense in New Delhi, India, February 27, 2008. Gates also met with the Indian Prime Minister during his trip to the region.]]

In February 2010, Gates announced that the department would lift its ban on women serving on [[submarine]]s.<ref>{{cite web| url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/us/30brfs-WOMENALLOWED_BRF.html| title= Women Allowed on Submarines| agency= Associated Press| date= April 30, 2010| website= The New York Times| access-date= February 18, 2017| archive-date= June 13, 2018| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180613023121/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/30/us/30brfs-WOMENALLOWED_BRF.html| url-status= live}}</ref> Gates also prepared the armed forces for the repeal of the [[don't ask, don't tell]] policy. Since the repeal in 2010, homosexuals are able to serve in the military [[Coming out|openly]].<ref name="Dontask">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/02/gays.military/index.html |publisher=CNN |title=Gates: Pentagon preparing repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' policy |access-date=May 22, 2010 |date=February 2, 2010 |archive-date=April 13, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413164830/http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/02/gays.military/index.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In service of that goal, he announced in late March 2010 the approval of new regulations that would make it more difficult to kick gays out of the military.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/65239-gates-approves-new-regs-on-gays-in-military/|title=Gates approves new regs on gays in military|work=The Hill|date=March 25, 2010|access-date=March 26, 2010|archive-date=March 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327160311/http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/89101-gates-approves-new-regs-on-gays-in-military|url-status=live}}</ref>

Gates called the guideline changes, which went into effect immediately, a matter of "common sense and common decency" that would be "an important improvement" allowing the Pentagon to apply current law in "a fairer and more appropriate" manner. The Pentagon's legal counsel, [[Jeh Johnson]], said the new regulations are by no means a moratorium on the current law and stressed that cases would move forward under the new standards.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/65239-gates-approves-new-regs-on-gays-in-military/|title=Gates approves new regs on gays in military|work=The Hill|date=March 25, 2010|access-date=March 26, 2010|archive-date=March 27, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327160311/http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/89101-gates-approves-new-regs-on-gays-in-military|url-status=live}}</ref>

In August 2010, speaking to ''[[Foreign Policy]]'' magazine Secretary Gates said that he would remain as Secretary of Defense until 2011 and then retire. "I think that it would be a mistake to wait until January 2012," he said. "This is not the kind of job you want to fill in the spring of an election year."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/16/the_transformer|title=The Transformer|work=Foreign Policy|access-date=March 11, 2017|archive-date=October 19, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141019110526/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/16/the_transformer|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/secretary-defense-robert-gates-retire-2011-sounds-pretty-good-article-1.205621|work=Daily News|location=New York|title=Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to retire; says '2011 sounds pretty good'|date=August 16, 2010|access-date=October 18, 2021|archive-date=October 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018005322/https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/secretary-defense-robert-gates-retire-2011-sounds-pretty-good-article-1.205621|url-status=live}}</ref>

In March 2011, Gates directed the role of the United States armed forces in the [[2011 military intervention in Libya]]. While aboard a military aircraft on March 20, 2011, Gates told the press that "military forces are just one way to bring stability to Libya".<ref>{{cite web|last=Pellerin|first=Cheryl|date=March 20, 2011|title=Gates: Military Effort in Libya One Part of Solution|url=https://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63235|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930031615/http://archive.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=63235|archive-date=September 30, 2017|access-date=July 5, 2020|website=archive.defense.gov|publisher=American Forces Press Service}}</ref>

[[File:Obama and Biden await updates on bin Laden.jpg|240px|thumb|Gates sitting with Obama, Biden, and the U.S. national security team gathered in the [[White House Situation Room|Situation Room]] to monitor the progress of [[Operation Neptune Spear]]]]
Gates was photographed in the [[The Situation Room (photograph)|White House Situation Room photograph]] taken on May 1, 2011, by [[Pete Souza]] [[Death of Osama Bin Laden|during the raid]] that killed [[Al-Qaeda]] terrorist organization leader [[Osama bin Laden]].<ref name="Crawford">{{cite news
 |url          = http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/01/the-bin-laden-situation-room-revisited-one-year-later/
 |title        = The bin Laden Situation Room revisited – One year later
 |first        = Jamie
 |last         = Crawford
 |date         = May 1, 2012
 |publisher    = CNN – Security Clearance
 |access-date  = May 4, 2012
 |archive-date = March 12, 2017
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20170312055020/http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/01/the-bin-laden-situation-room-revisited-one-year-later/
 |url-status   = dead
}}</ref>

Gates officially retired as Secretary of Defense on July 1, 2011, and was presented the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], the nation's highest civilian award, by President Obama during his retirement ceremony.<ref name="defense.gov"/>

====Fiscal restraint====
Gates's tenure with the Obama administration included a huge shift in military spending. In April 2009, Gates proposed a large shift in budget priorities in the U.S. Department of Defense 2010 budget. The budget cuts included many programs geared toward conventional warfare, such as the end of new orders of the [[F-22 Raptor]] and of further development of [[Future Combat Systems]] manned vehicles. These cuts were counterbalanced by increases in funding for programs like the [[Special Forces (United States Army)|special forces]].<ref name=cut>{{Cite web|title=Gates announces major Pentagon priority shifts|url=http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/06/gates.budget.cuts/index.html|access-date=December 29, 2022|publisher=CNN|archive-date=April 17, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417041415/http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/06/gates.budget.cuts/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Gates called this the "nation's first truly 21st century defense budget".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1369|title=United States Department of Defense |website=defenselink.mil|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720080444/http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1369|archive-date=July 20, 2009}}</ref> 

In late April 2010, he suggested the Navy cease funding development of a new multibillion-dollar ballistic missile submarine program on the grounds of cost and relevancy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2010/04/gates-confronts-cost-of-new-subs-036572|title=Gates confronts cost of new subs|work=Politico|date=April 29, 2010 |access-date=April 30, 2010|archive-date=May 2, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502023327/http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0410/36572.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He suggested the hundreds of billions of dollars would be better spent on a new generation of vessels tailored to the threats and tactics more likely to be faced, noting, "Mark my words, the Navy and Marine Corps must be willing to re-examine and question basic assumptions in light of evolving technologies, new threats and budget realities."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailytech.com/Officials+Question+the+Need+For+Expensive+US+Navy+Ships/article18291.htm|title=DailyTech – Officials Question the Need For Expensive U.S. Navy Ships|work=dailytech.com|access-date=May 6, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100507011216/http://www.dailytech.com/Officials+Question+the+Need+For+Expensive+US+Navy+Ships/article18291.htm|archive-date=May 7, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> In a speech made on May 8, 2010, Gates stated that he would make politically unpopular cuts to the Pentagon bureaucracy in his future budgets.<ref name="NYTimes Spending">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/us/politics/09gates.html|title=Gates Takes Aim at Pentagon Spending|last=Shanker|first=Thom|date=May 8, 2010|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 9, 2010|archive-date=May 9, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509101742/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/us/politics/09gates.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="WP Spending">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/08/AR2010050802495.html|title=Gates: Cuts in Pentagon bureaucracy needed to help maintain military force|last=Jaffe|first=Greg|date=May 9, 2010|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=May 9, 2010|archive-date=May 9, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509101556/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/08/AR2010050802495.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
{{blockquote|The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, opened a gusher of defense spending that nearly doubled the base budget over the last decade ... Military spending on things large and small can and should expect closer, harsher scrutiny. The gusher has been turned off, and will stay off for a good period of time.<ref name="NYTimes Spending"/><ref name="WP Spending"/>}}

[[File:US Navy 100813-N-7883G-125 Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates congratulates a candidate from Basic Underwater Demolition-Sea, Air and Land (BUD-S) class 284 after securing him and his peers from Hell Week.jpg|thumb|Gates speaks to [[United States Navy SEALs|Navy SEAL]] trainees, [[Naval Amphibious Base Coronado|NAB Coronado]], California, 2010.]]

It was announced in August 2010 that Gates was trying to find $100&nbsp;billion in Defense savings through to 2015, in order to instill a "culture of savings and restraint" in the military. Secretary Gates said that "It is important that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past, where tough economic times or the winding down of a military campaign leads to steep and unwise reductions in defense". Gates said "As a matter of principle and political reality, the Department of Defense cannot expect America's elected representatives to approve budget increases each year unless we are doing a good job, indeed everything possible, to make every dollar count".<ref name="the Hill">{{cite web|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/168569-gates-announces-major-job-cuts-as-pentagon-looks-to-cut-spending/|title=Gates announces major job cuts as Pentagon looks to cut spending|work=The Hill|date=August 9, 2010|access-date=August 16, 2010|archive-date=December 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223112914/http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/113393-gates-announces-major-job-cuts-as-pentagon-tightens-belt|url-status=live}}</ref> These cuts included the closing of the [[United States Joint Forces Command|Joint Forces Command]], the redundancy of fifty general and admirals, and the removal of 150 senior civilian positions.

====NATO comments====
On January 16, 2008, Gates was quoted in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' as saying NATO forces in southern Afghanistan do not know how to properly combat a guerrilla insurgency and that could be contributing to rising violence in the country.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usafghan16jan16,1,163569.story?coll=la-headlines-world|work=Los Angeles Times|title=Gates says NATO force unable to fight guerrillas|first=Peter|last=Spiegel|date=January 16, 2008|access-date=May 22, 2010|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080206233513/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usafghan16jan16,1,163569.story?coll=la-headlines-world |archive-date=February 6, 2008}}</ref> The Netherlands<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jan-17-fg-gates17-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|title=U.S. envoy quizzed on Gates' remarks|date=January 17, 2008|access-date=October 18, 2021|archive-date=October 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018005329/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-jan-17-fg-gates17-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and United Kingdom<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3201002.ece|work=The Times|location=London|title=Outrage as US accuses Britain of inexperience in Taleban conflict|date=January 17, 2008|access-date=March 27, 2010|first=Michael|last=Evans|archive-date=June 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604195250/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3201002.ece|url-status=dead}}</ref> protested.

In a June 10, 2011, speech in Brussels,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1581|title=Speech View|work=defense.gov|access-date=June 12, 2011|archive-date=June 10, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610162640/http://www.defense.gov/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1581|url-status=live}}</ref> before NATO, Gates again stated that other NATO members must do more as the United States tackles its budget deficit. He said bluntly that<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/world/europe/11gates.html|work=The New York Times|location=U.S.|title=Defense Secretary Warns NATO of 'Dim' Future|date=June 10, 2011|access-date=June 10, 2011|first=Thom|last=Shanker|archive-date=June 13, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613153804/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/world/europe/11gates.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

<blockquote>In the past, I've worried openly about NATO turning into a two-tiered alliance: Between members who specialize in "soft" humanitarian, development, peacekeeping and talking tasks, and those conducting the "hard" combat missions. Between those willing and able to pay the price and bear the burdens of alliance commitments, and those who enjoy the benefits of NATO membership—be they security guarantees or headquarters billets—but don't want to share the risks and the costs. This is no longer a hypothetical worry. We are there today. And it is unacceptable. The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress—and in the American body politic writ large—to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense. Nations apparently willing and eager for American taxpayers to assume the growing security burden left by reductions in European defense budgets. Indeed, if current trends in the decline of European defense capabilities are not halted and reversed, future U.S. political leaders—those for whom the Cold War was not the formative experience that it was for me—may not consider the return on America's investment in NATO worth the cost.</blockquote>

==College chancellor (2011–present)==
[[File:Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, center, speaks with former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, right, and former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the Peace Through Strength Forum and Awards dinner at 131116-D-BW835-1440.jpg|thumb|Secretary of Defense [[Chuck Hagel]] speaks with Robert Gates and [[Leon Panetta]], November 2013.]]
[[File:DIG13834-047.jpg|thumb|Gates at the [[LBJ Library]] in 2016]]

On September 6, 2011, it was announced that Gates had accepted the position of chancellor at the [[College of William & Mary]], succeeding [[Sandra Day O'Connor]] for a seven-year term.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/gates-takes-chancellors-post-at-william-and-mary/2011/09/06/gIQA3jKl6J_blog.html|title=Gates takes chancellor's post at William and Mary|last=Ukman|first=Jason|date=September 6, 2011|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113080236/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/checkpoint-washington/post/gates-takes-chancellors-post-at-william-and-mary/2011/09/06/gIQA3jKl6J_blog.html|archive-date=November 13, 2012}}</ref> He took the office of the chancellor on February 3, 2012.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post_now/post/gates-becomes-newest-william-and-mary-chancellor/2012/02/03/gIQAxeCumQ_blog.html|title=Gates becomes newest William and Mary chancellor|last=Karas|first=Rachel|date=February 3, 2012|newspaper=The Washington Post|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523143852/http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post_now/post/gates-becomes-newest-william-and-mary-chancellor/2012/02/03/gIQAxeCumQ_blog.html|archive-date=May 23, 2014}}</ref>

In September 2018, Gates was re-appointed to serve a second seven-year term as chancellor at the College of William & Mary.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2018/robert-m.-gates-to-be-reappointed-as-wm-chancellor.php|title=Robert M. Gates to be reappointed as W&M Chancellor|website=wm.edu|access-date=February 14, 2019|archive-date=February 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050402/https://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2018/robert-m.-gates-to-be-reappointed-as-wm-chancellor.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Extracurricular activities===
Gates is a Principal, along with [[Condoleezza Rice]], [[Stephen Hadley]] and Anja Manuel, in RiceHadleyGates LLC, a strategic consulting firm.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ricehadleygates.com/team/#our-principals|title=The RiceHadleyGates Team|work=Rice Hadley Gates LLC|access-date=September 25, 2014|archive-date=March 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301040807/http://ricehadleygates.com/team/#our-principals|url-status=live}}</ref>

Gates also serves as an honorary director on the board of directors at the [[Atlantic Council]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/board-of-directors/|title=Board of Directors|website=Atlantic Council|language=en-US|access-date=February 12, 2020|archive-date=March 8, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308225111/https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/about/board-of-directors/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On May 2, 2012, Starbucks Corporation announced that Gates had been elected to the Starbucks board of directors. He will serve on the board's nominating and corporate governance committee.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/starbucks-names-robert-gates-as-board-member/|title=Starbucks names Robert Gates as board member|agency=Associated Press|date=May 2, 2012|website=The Seattle Times|language=en-US|access-date=January 30, 2020|archive-date=October 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021073024/https://www.seattletimes.com/business/starbucks-names-robert-gates-as-board-member/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On October 30, 2013, the [[Boy Scouts of America]] announced that Gates had been elected to the National executive board. While on this board, he will serve as the national president-elect. In May 2014, he began a two-year-long term as the [[List of national presidents of the Boy Scouts of America|BSA national president]]. [[Randall L. Stephenson|Randall Stephenson]], chairman and chief executive officer of [[AT&T]] Inc. serves under Gates as the president-elect. Gates has succeeded [[Wayne M. Perry|Wayne Perry]] as the national president.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bsachief.com/?p=483|title=Chief's Corner|work=Scouting Wire|access-date=October 30, 2013|archive-date=November 1, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101084604/http://www.bsachief.com/?p=483|url-status=live}}</ref> On May 21, 2015, Gates stated that the "status quo [ban on gay adult leaders] in [the BSA] movement's membership standards cannot be sustained" and that he would no longer seek to revoke the charters of scout units that accept gay adult leaders.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.yahoo.com/boy-scouts-leadership-asked-to-end-ban-on-gay-adult-leaders-163750804.html|title=Robert Gates: Boy Scouts' ban on gay troop leaders not sustainable|date=May 21, 2015|work=Yahoo News|access-date=May 21, 2015|archive-date=May 30, 2020|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200530220002/https://news.yahoo.com/boy-scouts-leadership-asked-to-end-ban-on-gay-adult-leaders-163750804.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWEub3JnLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAey7UwJUqW63zcM4AK9XmcaIDmI1GyDGbrlrBkAW1Nat6PxaBO2wBOu1oIoA0kO0s5fCQtkP0ga_7FnUZFVdGgY3xjYt1rI2u1kLcZ3aySb6j44tjr0EDxjvuY5m-Xx3ciHmAgrHaiHA7SJj6WG6Fw6NdNbk5LYXL6qM_rkFNEj|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the wake of the [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|annexation of Crimea]] in March 2014, Gates wrote an [[op-ed]] piece on [[Vladimir Putin]], Russian expansionism, the nascent sanctions regime, the US military budget, and the need for bold leadership.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303725404579460183854574284?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303725404579460183854574284.html|title=Robert Gates: Putin's Challenge to the West – WSJ|first=Robert M.|last=Gates|date=March 25, 2014|work=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=March 14, 2017|archive-date=June 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140607081229/http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303725404579460183854574284?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303725404579460183854574284.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Gates, along with former Secretary of State [[Condoleezza Rice]] and other Republican former foreign policy officials, recommended to incoming president [[Donald Trump]] that [[ExxonMobil]] CEO [[Rex Tillerson]] be considered for the Trump administration as Secretary of State.<ref>{{cite news |title=How Rex Tillerson, a Late Entry to Be Secretary of State, Got Donald Trump's Nod |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |first1=Peter |last1=Nicholas |first2=Michael C. |last2=Bender |first3=Carol E. |last3=Lee |date=December 14, 2016 |access-date=August 17, 2018 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-rex-tillerson-a-late-entry-to-be-secretary-of-state-got-donald-trumps-nod-1481676709 |archive-date=August 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817193317/https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-rex-tillerson-a-late-entry-to-be-secretary-of-state-got-donald-trumps-nod-1481676709 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/13/politics/rex-tillerson-robert-gates-condoleezza-rice/index.html|publisher=CNN|title=GOP heavyweights with ties to Exxon pushed Tillerson|first1=Theodore|last1=Schleifer|first2=Elise|last2=Labott|first3=Gregory|last3=Krieg|date=December 13, 2016|access-date=August 17, 2018|archive-date=August 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817162942/https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/13/politics/rex-tillerson-robert-gates-condoleezza-rice/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Gates, along with all other living former secretaries of defense, ten in total, published a ''Washington Post'' op-ed piece 3 January 2021 telling President Trump not to involve the military in determining the outcome of the 2020 elections.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/former-defense-secretaries-rebuke-trump-election/2021/01/03/1c708f64-4de5-11eb-b2e8-3339e73d9da2_story.html|title=All 10 living former defense secretaries: Involving the military in election disputes would cross into dangerous territory|access-date=January 3, 2021|date=January 3, 2021|newspaper=Washington Post|language=en-US|archive-date=January 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103225537/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/former-defense-secretaries-rebuke-trump-election/2021/01/03/1c708f64-4de5-11eb-b2e8-3339e73d9da2_story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the [[COVID-19 pandemic]], Gates participated as a member of the National Advisory Council for the COVID Collaborative.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.covidcollaborative.us/about |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220515111049/https://www.covidcollaborative.us/about |archive-date=May 15, 2022 |access-date=June 1, 2022 |website=COVID Collaborative |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Memoirs===
In his memoir, ''Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War'', Gates alternately criticized and praised Obama's military leadership, writing, "I never doubted [his] support for the troops, only his support for their mission [in Afghanistan]", and "I was very proud to work for a president who had made one of the most courageous decisions I had ever witnessed in the White House" by authorizing the 2011 raid that killed [[Osama bin Laden]].<ref name=bbcmem>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25645855|title=Pentagon ex-head Gates criticises Obama's Afghan tactics|work=[[BBC News]]|access-date=January 8, 2013|archive-date=January 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108084654/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-25645855|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-pn-gates-book-obama-20140107,0,1276282.story|title=Ex-Defense Secretary Robert Gates has harsh words for Obama and Biden|date=January 7, 2014|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 9, 2014|first=David S.|last=Cloud|archive-date=January 9, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109083634/http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-pn-gates-book-obama-20140107,0,1276282.story|url-status=live}}</ref> Of then Vice-President Joe Biden, Gates wrote "“I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”

==Criticism==
{{Criticism section|date=November 2025}}
[[File:Robert-Gates Armed-Services-Committee.JPEG|thumb|Gates responds to a question during the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]] hearing on December 5, 2006.]]
As deputy director and director of America's leading intelligence agency for many years, Gates and his CIA staff have been faulted for failing to accurately gauge the decline and disintegration of the Soviet Union. More particularly, Gates has been criticized for allegedly concocting evidence to show that the Soviet Union was stronger than it actually was.<ref name="Newsweek">{{cite news |title=Old Names, Old Scandals|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15627855/site/newsweek |work=[[Newsweek]] |date=November 8, 2006|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061118090120/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15627855/site/newsweek/ |archive-date=November 18, 2006}}</ref> [[George Shultz]] said that, while Secretary of State from 1982 to 1989, he felt the CIA under Gates was trying to "manipulate" him, that the agency was "a big powerful machine not under good control. I distrust what comes out of it."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Turmoil and Triumph: Diplomacy, Power, and the Victory of the American Deal |last=Schultz|first=George P.|publisher=Scriber|year=1996|location=New York, NY |at=[https://books.google.com/books?id=3ocPU-S9gloC&lpg=PA1924 1924–5]}}</ref> Shultz personally convinced Reagan that the U.S. should soften its stance towards the USSR after [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]] came to power in 1985; Shultz told Gates at the time that his CIA was "usually wrong" about the Soviet Union, having dismissed Gorbachev's policies as "just another Soviet attempt to deceive us."<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Lost Equilibrium: International Relations in the Post-Soviet Era|editor-first1=Bettie M.|editor-last1=Smolansky|editor-first2=Oles M.|editor-last2=Smolansky|year=2001|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=hkynEV8Ga3gC&pg=PA28 28]}}</ref> 

In 1991, [[Stansfield Turner]], former [[Director of Central Intelligence]], described the "enormity of this failure to forecast the magnitude of the Soviet crisis. ... I never heard a suggestion from the CIA ... that numerous Soviets recognized a growing systemic economic problem."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Moynihan|first1=Daniel P.|last2=Combest|first2=Larry|year=1997|title=Secrecy: Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy|location=Washington, DC |publisher=Government Printing Office|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=_5AeDSz_dQ4C&pg=SL1-PA74 A74] }}</ref> Turner said this failure was a consequence of deliberate distortion by those in the upper echelon of the CIA who were helping to sell the Reagan administration's defense buildup, a view backed by former CIA analyst [[Melvin Goodman]] at Gates's 1991 confirmation hearings: "[[William J. Casey|[William] Casey]] seized on every opportunity to exaggerate the Soviet threat ... [while] Gates' role in this activity was to corrupt the process and the ethics of intelligence."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Diamond|first=John M.|year=2008|title=The CIA and the Culture of Failure: U.S. Intelligence from the End of the Cold War to the Invasion of Iraq|location=Stanford, CA |publisher=Stanford University Press|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=pyXdH9BkOGYC&pg=PA37 37] |isbn= 978-0-804-75601-3}}</ref> 

Reviewing the third installment of Gates's memoirs in 2016, Goodman said, "In my 24 years at the CIA, there was never the kind of toxic atmosphere that existed when Gates served as deputy director for intelligence, deputy director of CIA, and finally director of CIA."<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Reality of Robert Gates|url=https://consortiumnews.com/2016/02/04/the-reality-of-robert-gates-2/|access-date=February 10, 2016|date=February 4, 2016|last=Goodman|first=Melvin A.|website=[[Consortium News|consortiumnews.com]]|archive-date=February 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206082416/https://consortiumnews.com/2016/02/04/the-reality-of-robert-gates-2/|url-status=live}}</ref> According to ''[[Newsweek]]'', Gates, as deputy director of CIA, allegedly vouched for the comprehensiveness of a CIA study presented to the Senate and President Reagan alleging that the Soviet Union played a role in the [[1981 Pope John Paul II assassination attempt|1981 shooting]] of [[Pope John Paul II]]. A CIA internal review later denounced the report as being skewed,<ref name="Newsweek"/> but that Gates did not try to influence the report's conclusions.<ref>{{cite news|title=In Rebuttal to Senate Panel, C.I.A. Nominee Seems Truthful but Incomplete|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/13/us/in-rebuttal-to-senate-panel-cia-nominee-seems-truthful-but-incomplete.html|work=The New York Times|date=October 13, 1991|access-date=October 18, 2021|archive-date=October 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211018004451/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/13/us/in-rebuttal-to-senate-panel-cia-nominee-seems-truthful-but-incomplete.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Shortly after his retirement from his tenure as Defense Secretary in summer 2011, during a meeting of the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] Principals Committee, Gates highlighted many of the measures taken by the U.S. to advance Israel's security during the Obama administration, including providing access to state of the art weaponry, assisting with the development of missile-defense systems, and sharing high-level intelligence, before expressing his view that the U.S. has received nothing in return from the Israeli government with regard to the peace process. According to senior U.S. administration sources, other officials present offered no rebuttal to Gates's analysis. This was not the first time Gates publicly expressed frustration with the [[Benjamin Netanyahu|Netanyahu]] government, with which he had worked hard to provide wide-scale and deep military cooperation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-06/robert-gates-says-israel-is-an-ungrateful-ally-jeffrey-goldberg.html|work=Bloomberg.com|date=September 5, 2011|title=Robert Gates Says Israel Is an Ungrateful Ally|first=Jeffrey|last=Goldberg|access-date=March 11, 2017|archive-date=February 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140213214542/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-06/robert-gates-says-israel-is-an-ungrateful-ally-jeffrey-goldberg.html|url-status=live}}</ref>{{additional citation needed|date=August 2024}} The [[Likud]] party of Israel responded to Gates's description of [[Benjamin Netanyahu]] as a danger to Israel's future by claiming that most Israelis support the prime minister.<ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/likud-defends-netanyahu-after-report-gates-called-him-ungrateful-1.382875| title= Likud defends Netanyahu after report Gates called him 'ungrateful'| newspaper= [[Haaretz]]| date= September 6, 2011| access-date= September 7, 2011| archive-date= September 6, 2011| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110906150408/http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/likud-defends-netanyahu-after-report-gates-called-him-ungrateful-1.382875| url-status= live}}</ref>

==Publications==
===Articles===
*The Dysfunctional Superpower, ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'', September 29, 2023<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gates |first=Robert M. |date=2023-09-29 |title=The Dysfunctional Superpower |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/robert-gates-america-china-russia-dysfunctional-superpower |access-date=2024-01-10 |work=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |issue=November/December 2023 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref>
*The Scowcroft Model, ''Foreign Affairs'', August 13, 2020<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gates |first=Robert M. |date=2020-08-13 |title=The Scowcroft Model |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-08-13/scowcroft-model |access-date=2024-01-10 |work=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |issn=0015-7120}}</ref>
*The Overmilitarization of American Foreign Policy, ''Foreign Affairs'', June 2, 2020<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gates |first=Robert M. |date=2020-06-02 |title=The Overmilitarization of American Foreign Policy |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-06-02/robert-gates-overmilitarization-american-foreign-policy |access-date=2024-01-10 |work=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |issue=July/August 2020 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref>
*Helping Others Defend Themselves, ''Foreign Affairs'', May 1, 2010<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gates |first=Robert M. |date=2010-05-01 |title=Helping Others Defend Themselves |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2010-05-01/helping-others-defend-themselves |access-date=2024-01-10 |work=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |issue=May/June 2010 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref>
*A Balanced Strategy, ''Foreign Affairs'', January 1, 2009<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gates |first=Robert M. |date=2009-01-01 |title=A Balanced Strategy |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2009-01-01/balanced-strategy |access-date=2024-01-10 |work=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |issue=January/February 2009 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref>
*The CIA and Foreign Policy, ''Foreign Affairs'', December 1, 1987<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gates |first=Robert M. |date=1987-12-01 |title=The CIA and Foreign Policy |url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1987-12-01/cia-and-foreign-policy |access-date=2024-01-10 |work=Foreign Affairs |language=en-US |issue=Winter 1987/88 |issn=0015-7120}}</ref>

==Awards and decorations==
Gates's awards and decorations include:

;Government awards
*[[File:Presidential Medal of Freedom (ribbon).svg|80px]] [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]]<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43591679|title=Obama honors Gates on last day as defense chief|agency=Associated Press|publisher=NBC News|date=June 30, 2011|access-date=November 26, 2022|archive-date=November 26, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126231002/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna43591679|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[File:Presidential Citizens Medal ribbon -vector.svg|80px]] [[Presidential Citizens Medal]]
*[[File:USA - National Security Medal Ribbon.svg|80px]] [[National Security Medal]]
*[[File:NIDRib.gif|80px]] [[National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal]] (2 awards)
*[[File:CIADIM.svg|80px]] [[Distinguished Intelligence Medal]] (3 awards)

;Other awards
*[[Liberty Medal]] (2011)
*[[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]]
*[[Distinguished Eagle Scout Award]]
*[[Silver Buffalo Award]]
*[[Vigil Honor]], [[Order of the Arrow]]
*[[Distinguished Service Award (OA)|Distinguished Service Award]] (DSA), [[Order of the Arrow]], August 4, 2015
*Honorary [[Doctorate of Philosophy]] from [[Kansas State University]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.k-state.edu/about/history-traditions/honorary-degrees/|title=Honorary degrees &#124; Kansas State University|website=k-state.edu|access-date=December 29, 2022|archive-date=December 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229212934/https://www.k-state.edu/about/history-traditions/honorary-degrees/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*Honorary [[Doctorate of Humane Letters]] from [[College of William and Mary]]
*Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from [[Georgetown University]]
*Honorary [Doctorate of Humane Letters from [[Indiana University]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Troyer |first=Rebecca M. |date=December 19, 2009 |title=IU Winter Commencement 2009: Robert Gates to IU grads: 'America needs the best and brightest' |url=https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/2009/12/19/robert-gates-to-iu-grads-america-needs-the-best-and-brightes/48106695/ |work=Herald Times |location=Bloomington, Indiana |access-date=November 26, 2022 |archive-date=November 26, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221126231227/https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/2009/12/19/robert-gates-to-iu-grads-america-needs-the-best-and-brightes/48106695/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
*Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from [[The University of Oklahoma]]
*Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from [[Yale University]]
*Honorary [[Doctorate of Laws]] from the [[University of Notre Dame]]
*Honorary [[Doctorate of Public Administration]] from [[The University of South Carolina]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.nd.edu/news/12-distinguished-figures-to-join-gates-as-honorary-degree-recipients/|title=12 distinguished figures to join Gates as honorary degree recipients|first=Dennis|last=Brown|website=Notre Dame News|date=March 23, 2011 |access-date=December 29, 2022|archive-date=December 29, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229212933/https://news.nd.edu/news/12-distinguished-figures-to-join-gates-as-honorary-degree-recipients/|url-status=live}}</ref>
*College of William and Mary – [[Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award]]
*College of William and Mary Alumni Association – Alumni Medallion
*[[Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets|Corps of Cadets]] Hall of Honor (First and only Non-Corps Honoree) – Texas A&M University
*[[Arthur S. Flemming Award]] of 1978
*Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]] (1992)<ref>{{cite web|title=Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement|website=achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service|access-date=August 17, 2020|archive-date=December 15, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215023909/https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5249717.html George Bush Award (2007)] – George Bush Presidential Library Foundation
*[[Aviation Week & Space Technology]] Magazine: Person of the Year 2008<ref>AW & ST, January 14, 2013, issue, page 47</ref>
*[[mtvU|MTV University]] Man of the Year 2010<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mtvu.com/on-campus/honors/man-of-the-year-secretary-of-defense-robert-gates/| title=Man of the Year: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates|work=[[mtvU]]| publisher=[[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]]|date=December 29, 2010| access-date=December 4, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108075910/http://www.mtvu.com/on-campus/honors/man-of-the-year-secretary-of-defense-robert-gates/|archive-date=January 8, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/defense-secretary-robert-gates-man-year-award-mtvu/story?id=12468294| title=mtvU: Defense Secretary is a Rock Star| work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]| date=December 23, 2010| access-date=December 4, 2011| last=Martinez| first=Luis| archive-date=January 12, 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112145936/http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/defense-secretary-robert-gates-man-year-award-mtvu/story?id=12468294| url-status=live}}</ref>
*''[[Foreign Policy]]'''s list of top global thinkers for "being America's last [[bipartisan]] figure"<ref>{{cite web| url= https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/28/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=0,34|title=The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers| work= [[Foreign Policy]]|date=November 28, 2011|access-date=December 4, 2011| url-status= dead| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111130230013/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/28/the_fp_top_100_global_thinkers?page=0,34|archive-date=November 30, 2011| df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*Sylvanus Thayer Award (United States Military Academy)<ref>{{cite web |title=Gates named recipient of 2011 Sylvanus Thayer Award |date=March 9, 2011 |url=https://www.army.mil/article/53011/Gates_named_recipient_of_2011_Sylvanus_Thayer_Award/ |access-date=March 8, 2012 |archive-date=August 8, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130808221915/http://www.army.mil/article/53011/Gates_named_recipient_of_2011_Sylvanus_Thayer_Award/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Robert C. Vance Distinguished Lecture Series|Robert C. Vance Distinguished Lecturer]], [[Central Connecticut State University]], 2011<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://issuu.com/wrossinc/docs/11-11-11-ntc_flipbook |title=Robert Gates speaks at CCSU; Students protest |first=Liz |last=Newberg |newspaper=Newington Town Crier |date=November 11, 2011 |page=16 |access-date=January 16, 2025 |via=Issuu |language=en |archive-date=December 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221229212755/https://issuu.com/wrossinc/docs/11-11-11-ntc_flipbook |url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Order of Bahrain]], 1st Degree<ref>{{cite AV media|people=Morrison, Tech. Sergeant Jerry |date=December 12, 2008 |title=Welcome Gift |medium=Photo |url=http://www.defense.gov/HomePagePhotos/LeadPhotoImage.aspx?id=12037 |access-date=January 10, 2015 |format=.jpg |publisher=[[United States Department of Defense|DoD]] |quote=U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates receives Bahrain's Order of the First Class Award from His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa at the Safriya Palace in Manama, Bahrain, December 12, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714081424/http://www.defense.gov/HomePagePhotos/LeadPhotoImage.aspx?id=12037 |archive-date=July 14, 2015}}</ref>
*[[File:JPN Kyokujitsu-sho 1Class BAR.svg|55px|ribbon bar]] [[Order of the Rising Sun|Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun]], 2017<ref>{{cite web |title=2017 Autumn Conferment of Decoration Secretary Robert M. Gates |url=https://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/english/html/pressreleases/2017/order-of-the-rising-sun-gates.html |website=us.emb-japan.go.jp |publisher=Embassy of Japan |access-date=July 26, 2019 |archive-date=July 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726184637/https://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/english/html/pressreleases/2017/order-of-the-rising-sun-gates.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
*Robert Gates, ''From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five presidents and How They Won the Cold War''. Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (1997). {{ISBN|978-0684810812}}
*Robert Gates, ''[[Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War]]''. [[Alfred A. Knopf]] (2014). {{ISBN|978-0307959478}}
*Robert Gates, ''A Passion for Leadership: Lessons on Change and Reform from Fifty Years of Public Service'' (2016). {{ISBN|978-0307959492}}
*Robert Gates, ''Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World''. Alfred A. Knopf (2020) {{ISBN|978-1524731885}}
*Robert Gates, ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20060802141212/https://www.cia.gov/cia/public_affairs/speeches/1999/dci_speech_111999gatesremarks.html US Intelligence and the End of the Cold War]'', 1999, CIA
*Robert Gates, ''[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gulf/oral/gates/1.html Frontline The Gulf War: An Oral History: Interview with Robert Gates, Deputy National Security Advisor]'', 2001, PBS.org
*Robert Gates, ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20081207080906/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20090101faessay88103-p0/robert-m-gates/a-balanced-strategy.html A Balanced Strategy: Reprogramming the Pentagon for a New Age]'', ''Foreign Affairs'' (January/February 2009)

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite web 
|url = http://www.tamu.edu/president/biography.html
|title = Biography, Robert M. Gates, President, Texas A&M University
|publisher=Texas A&M University |year=2003
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060920100505/http://www.tamu.edu/president/biography.html
|archive-date=September 20, 2006}}
*{{cite web |url = http://intellit.muskingum.edu/cia_folder/ciadcis_folder/dcisgates.html |title = Directors of Central Intelligence: Robert Michael Gates (1943– ), DCI, November 6 1991–January 20 1993 |work=The Literature of Intelligence: A Bibliography of Materials, with Essays, Reviews, and Comments |first=J. Ransom |last=Clark |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051125022807/http://intellit.muskingum.edu/cia_folder/ciadcis_folder/dcisgates.html |archive-date=November 25, 2005}}
*{{cite book
|first=Robert M. |last=Gates
|title=From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War
|publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=1997 |isbn=0-684-83497-9}}
*{{cite news 
|first=Brett |last=Nauman
|url = http://www.theeagle.com/aandmnews/020105gates.php
|title=Gates passes on intelligence czar post
|work=The Bryan-College Station Eagle
|date=February 1, 2005
|archive-url = https://archive.today/20070927234236/http://www.theeagle.com/aandmnews/020105gates.php
|archive-date=September 27, 2007}}
*{{cite web
 |url         = https://www.cia.gov/csi/books/dddcia/gates.html
 |title       = Robert Michael Gates
 |work        = Directors & Deputy Directors of Central Intelligence
 |publisher   = Center for the Study of Intelligence, CIA
 |year        = 2004
 |url-status  = dead
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060803100100/https://www.cia.gov/csi/books/dddcia/gates.html
 |archive-date = August 3, 2006
|df          = mdy-all}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
*Burka, Paul. "[http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/agent-change Agent of Change]", ''Texas Monthly'' (November 2006)
*Jervis, Robert. "Serving or Self-Serving? A Review Essay of Robert Gates's Memoir." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 129#2 (Summer 2014): pages 319-331.
*Murphey, Dwight D. "A Provocative Look at Robert Gates' ''Memoirs of a Secretary at War'' " ''Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies'' 39#3 (Fall 2014): pages 342-362.

==External links==
{{Commons}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100228024859/http://www.defense.gov/bios/biographydetail.aspx?biographyId=115 Biography] at the [[United States Department of Defense]]
*Robert Gates's [http://intellit.muskingum.edu/alpha_folder/G_folder/gates.html The ABC's of Spying] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624043518/http://intellit.muskingum.edu/alpha_folder/G_folder/gates.html |date=June 24, 2010 }}
*Robert Gates's [http://www.app2us.com/interviews/robert_gates_cia-director_secretary-of-defense.htm Interview with app2us.com]
*[http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/biographydetail.aspx?biographyid=115 DefenseLink Biography: Robert M. Gates]
*[http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/guides/RMGates.cfm Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense Nominee: A Bibliography] at Georgetown University Law Library
*[http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=11800 Ubben Lecture at DePauw University]
*{{C-SPAN|3932}}
*{{Charlie Rose view|2016}}
*{{NYTtopic|people/g/robert_m_gates}}
*{{YouTube|YmvqoKdUdq4|Interview}} by [[Leon Charney]] on The Leon Charney Report. Robert Gates discusses his book "From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five presidents and How They Won the Cold War." October 13, 1996.
*Gates on relations with China: [http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=841 Nov. 2007 visit], [https://archive.today/20121212134458/http://china.usc.edu/ShowArticle.aspx?articleID=84 June 1, 2007]
*[http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-reinvention-robert-gates The Reinvention of Robert Gates] by Michael Crowley, ''The New Republic'', November 9, 2009
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140119055017/http://charlierose.com/watch/60327467 Interview with Charlie Rose] Robert Gates, former secretary of defense discusses his book "DUTY: Memoirs of a Secretary at War." January 14, 2014.
*{{cite book |author=Senate Select Committee on Intelligence |author-link=United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence |title=Nomination of Robert M. Gates to be Director of Central Intelligence |url=https://archive.org/details/nominationofrobe00test |date=October 24, 1991 |publisher=United States Government Printing Office |location=Washington, D.C. |id=Executive Report 102-19}}

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