20070520 Secretary of Defense Dr. Robert M. Gates’ Department of Defense Brief Bio

Secretary of Defense Dr. Robert M. Gates’ Department of Defense Brief Bio

Retrieved May 20th, 2007

Dr. Robert M. Gates was sworn in on December 18, 2006, as the 22nd Secretary of Defense. Before entering his present post, Secretary Gates was the President of Texas A&M University, the nation’s seventh largest university. Prior to assuming the presidency of Texas A&M on August 1, 2002, he served as Interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M from 1999 to 2001.

Secretary Gates served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991 until 1993. Secretary Gates is the only career officer in CIA’s history to rise from entry-level employee to Director. He served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence from 1986 until 1989 and as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser at the White House from January 20, 1989, until November 6, 1991, for President George H.W. Bush.

Secretary Gates joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and spent nearly 27 years as an intelligence professional, serving six presidents. During that period, he spent nearly nine years at the National Security Council, The White House, serving four presidents of both political parties.

Secretary Gates has been awarded the National Security Medal, the Presidential Citizens Medal, has twice received the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, and has three times received CIA’s highest award, the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.

He is the author of the memoir, From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insiders Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War, published in 1996.

Until becoming Secretary of Defense, Dr. Gates served as Chairman of the Independent Trustees of The Fidelity Funds, the nation's largest mutual fund company, and on the board of directors of NACCO Industries, Inc., Brinker International, Inc. and Parker Drilling Company, Inc.

Dr. Gates has also served on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the American Council on Education, the Board of Directors of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges, and the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America. He has also been President of the National Eagle Scout Association.

A native of Kansas, Secretary Gates received his bachelor’s degree from the College of William and Mary, his master’s degree in history from Indiana University, and his doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. Dr. Gates is 63, and he and his wife Becky have two adult children.

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20070520 Defense Secretary Gates’ Armed Forces Day message

Message by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Washington, DC, Saturday, May 19, 2007 on the occasion of Armed Forces Day.

In the United States, Armed Forces Day is the third Saturday in May.

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1151

Armed Forces Day

Message by Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Washington, DC, Saturday, May 19, 2007

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“These are the times that try men’s souls.” Many of us are familiar with that famous opening of Thomas Paine’s treatise The Crisis, written in defense of the fledgling American Revolution. Few may be as familiar with a later passage: “I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. … [H]e whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”

Paine knew first-hand about those who could gather strength from distress. He marched with General George Washington and his men as they suffered unbroken defeat across much of New Jersey in 1776. He felt, first-hand, their lack of supplies needed to wage war or even subsist. Yet he witnessed many who pursued the cause of liberty unto death.

I have had the honor of meeting hundreds of service members serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Their task is difficult. They and their comrades undertake dangerous missions, and endure physical hardships and separation from their families. Yet they remain firm at heart. Their bravery is beyond measure. Today’s young patriots carry the same determination Paine must have seen in their predecessors over two centuries ago.

The American people, as one, are deeply grateful for the service and sacrifice of men and women in uniform and their families, and for their unshrinking commitment to pursuing the principles of our nation. As we pause this Armed Forces Day to reflect on their service, I hope that each one of us will find a way to show them, as Paine encouraged in his treatise, “the love and thanks” of a nation.

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