Notable Defense Secretaries and CIA Directors
Publicité
Defense Secretaries: Robert Gates (2006-2011)
Gates succeeded Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon in 2006 and has served in both the Bush and Obama administrations. During his tenure, he has overseen the war in Afghanistan, the troop surge in Iraq, and military intervention in Libya. He has also notably endorsed military budget cuts.
He also made waves in a recent address to the cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point by warning against future ground wars in the Middle East.
"Any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,' as General [Douglas] MacArthur so delicately put it," he said.
Publicité