WASHINGTON (AlArabiya.net, Agencies)
As president-elect Barack Obama moved closer to assembling his national security team, sources said Robert Gates would likely keep his job as defense secretary.
Reports late Tuesday said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to stay in his job when Obama takes office in January, with an announcement expected next week.
Politico news website said the highly regarded Gates would stay at the Pentagon at least for Obama's first year and execute the Democrat's signature policy of withdrawal from Iraq.
Officials at Obama's transition office declined to comment on the report.
A senior Democratic source told Reuters that Obama intends to ask Gates to remain and that Gates would likely do so. But the source said Gates was still discussing which of his staff he could keep in place under the Obama administration.
"There's an 85 percent chance he's going to stay," said a second source familiar with the transition.
That source said Gates would likely remain in the job for a year or more but was concerned about being viewed as a "lame duck" defense chief if a formal timetable were imposed.
The selection of Gates, who has won bipartisan praise as a member of President George W. Bush's cabinet, would allow Obama to make good on his pledge of staffing his own cabinet with at least one Republican.
According to Politico, the presence of Gates also will help finesse Obama’s relationship with Gen. David Petraeus, the former U.S. commander in Iraq and now the head of the U.S. Central Command, which includes Iraq and Afghanistan.
Gates, 65, is seen by analysts as one of the last credible voices in the Bush administration. He set about putting things back on an even keel with a low-key approach that sought to build constructive relationships but also betrayed a steely firmness of purpose in the two U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Politico said that "the appointment has substantial advantages for Obama, who now can keep his pledge of drawing down troops in Iraq with the aid of an architect of the Bush administration's successful troop 'surge' strategy.”
Democrats familiar with the transition plans also expected James Jones, a former deputy national security adviser in the Clinton administration, to be named deputy secretary of state, the Politico said. |
