Robert M Gates Popular Books

Robert M Gates Biography & Facts

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 was 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). Gates served for twenty-six years in the CIA and at the National Security Council, and was director of central intelligence under President George H. 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 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. He was confirmed with bipartisan support. In 2007, Time named Gates one of the year's most influential people. In 2008, Gates was named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report. He continued to serve as secretary of defense in President Barack Obama's administration 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. Gates was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award, by President Obama during his retirement ceremony.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. Early life and education Gates was born in Wichita, Kansas, the son of Isabel V. (née Goss) and Melville A. "Mel" Gates. Gates attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and Silver Buffalo Award from the BSA as an adult. He graduated from Wichita High School East in 1961. Gates is also a 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.Gates then received a scholarship to attend the College of William & Mary, graduating in 1965 with a 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. 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".Gates then received an M.A. in the history of Eastern Europe and the south Slavs from Indiana University Bloomington in 1966. He completed his PhD in Russian and Soviet history at Georgetown University in 1974 under Joseph Schiebel, who 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." The title of his Georgetown doctoral dissertation is Soviet Sinology: An Untapped Source for Kremlin Views and Disputes Relating to Contemporary Events in China and is available from University Microfilms International as document number 7421652. Gates was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from William & Mary (1998), the University of Oklahoma (2011), Georgetown University (2014) and from Kansas State University (2012). He married Rebecca "Becky" Gates (née Wilkie) on January 7, 1967, and they have two children. Intelligence career Junior positions While at Indiana University, Gates was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency and joined in 1966. On January 4, 1967, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force after attending Officer Training School under CIA sponsorship. 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. After fulfilling his military obligation, he rejoined the CIA as an intelligence analyst. He wrote his doctoral thesis while serving as a professional intelligence officer.Gates left the CIA in 1974 to serve on the staff of the 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 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 (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. 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.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.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' 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." Level of involvement in the Iran–Contra scandal Because of his senior status in the CIA, Gates was c.... Discover the Robert M Gates popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Robert M Gates books.