 | Dr. Robert M. Gates 22nd President Texas A&M University. Photo © 2002-2006 All rights reserved, Texas A&M University president@tamu.edu |
Acting Director of Central Intelligence, 18 December 1986–26 May 1987
BIRTH 25 September 1943, Wichita, Kansas
EDUCATION College of William and Mary, B.A., 1965; Indiana University, M.A., 1966; Georgetown University, Ph.D., 1974
WIFE: Becky Gates (two children)
APPOINTED 14 May 1991 by President George Bush; confirmed by Senate, 5 November 1991; sworn in, 6 November 1991
DEPUTY DIRECTOR Richard J. Kerr, 6 November 1991–2 March 1992; Adm. William O. Studeman from 9 April 1992 through remainder of Dr. Gates’s tenure
EARLIER CAREER Intelligence analyst, CIA, 1966-74
National Security Council Staff, 1974-79
Returned to CIA in late 1979
Director, DCI/DDCI Executive Staff, CIA, 1981-82
Deputy Director for Intelligence, 1982-86
Chairman, National Intelligence Council, 1983-86
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, 18 April 1986–20 March 1989
Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, March-August 1989; Assistant to the President and Deputy for National Security Affairs, August 1989–November 1991
LATER CAREER Private consultant.
Source: cia.gov
Robert Gates, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Childhood and education: A native of Wichita, Kansas, Gates attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America and is a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. He graduated from Wichita East High School in 1961. Gates received his bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary in 1965, his master's degree in history from Indiana University in 1966, and his Ph.D. in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University in 1974.
Intelligence career: While at Indiana University, Gates was recruited to join the Central Intelligence Agency. But before joining the CIA full-time as an intelligence analyst, he spent two years in the Air Force; one job was giving intelligence briefings to ICBM missile crews at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. (The CIA offered no exemption from the draft during the Vietnam War.)
Gates left the CIA in 1974 to serve on the National Security Council staff but returned to the CIA in late 1979. 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. He was nominated to become the Director of Central Intelligence in early 1987, but withdrew the nomination after it became clear the Senate would reject it due to controversy[2] about his role in the Iran-Contra affair.
Gates was Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from March until August of 1989, and was Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser from August 1989 until November 1991. He was nominated (for the second time) for the position of Director of Central Intelligence by President Bush on May 14, 1991, confirmed by the Senate on November 5, and sworn in on November 6, becoming the only career officer in the CIA's history (as of 2005) to rise from entry-level employee to Director. 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 Dr. Gates’ tenure).
During his 26-year career as an intelligence professional, he spent almost nine years on the National Security Council, serving four Presidents of both major political parties.
In 1996, his memoirs were published under the title From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War.
Gates has been highly decorated for his service: he was the recipient of the National Security Medal and the Presidential Citizens Medal, was twice awarded the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, and three times received the Distinguished Intelligence Medal.
Gates' awards & decorations include:
Government Awards, National Security Medal, Presidential Citizens Medal, National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal (twice), Distinguished Intelligence Medal (thrice).
Other Awards, Eagle Scout, Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
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1 comment:
Why did George W. Bush nominate Robert Gates as his new Secretary of Defense? In doing so, he will only resurrect the Iran-Contra scandal that his father did so much to cover-up.
When George H. W. Bush became president he set about rewarding those who had helped him in the cover-up of the Iran-Contra Scandal. Bush appointed Robert Gates, as Director of the CIA, Richard L. Armitage as a negotiator and mediator in the Middle East. Donald P. Gregg was appointed as his ambassador to South Korea. Brent Scowcroft became his chief national security adviser and John Tower became Secretary of Defence. When the Senate refused to confirm Tower, Bush gave the job to Richard Cheney. Later, Casper Weinberger, Robert McFarlane, Duane R. Clarridge, Clair E. George, Elliott Abrams and Alan D. Fiers, Jr., who had all been charged with offences related to the Iran-Contra scandal, were pardoned by Bush.
Currently, there is a massive disinformation campaign concerning Gates. If you do a search for Gates on Google you will find a list of websites that provide a very flattering picture of this man.
Wikipedia comes first. Although it contains one significant piece of information about why his nomination to be director of the CIA in 1987 was withdrawn (I expect this to be removed soon) it gives him a very easy ride. It is highly significant that the page has been locked and can’t be edited (this is highly unusual).
Second is a biography by the Texas A&M University. This does not mention Iran-Contra Scandal or the rejected nomination in 1987. Nor does it mention the huge opposition to him obtaining the post in 1991.
In 3rd place is the BBC site. This is a good example of how his career is portrayed (this was mirrored in the press yesterday).
"Mr Gates' early career was dogged with controversy, particularly over the Iran-Contra issue, and his first nomination as CIA director was withdrawn by Ronald Reagan in 1987…But the most controversial moment in his career was the 1982-86 period when he rose through the CIA's top echelons to become acting director. As such, he was in a position to know about the so-called Iran-Contra scandal, which involved the illegal diversion of funds from the sale of arms to Iran to fund the Contras, who were fighting against the left-wing Sandinistas who had taken power in Nicaragua. Mr Gates was investigated by the office of the independent counsel in 1991, but was never prosecuted for any offence."
The BBC does not refer to what Lawrence E. Walsh, the Independent Counsel who investigated the Iran-Contra case, actually said about Gates. Walsh discovered that Gates repeatedly gave inaccurate information about what he knew about Iran-Contra. When other officials provided contradictory information Gates was forced to admit his mistakes. He claimed that these mistakes were due to a failure to remember correctly what happened. Walsh admits in his report:
“Like those of many other Iran/contra figures, the statements of Gates often seemed scripted and less than candid. Nevertheless, given the complex nature of the activities and Gates's apparent lack of direct participation, a jury could find the evidence left a reasonable doubt that Gates either obstructed official inquiries or that his two demonstrably incorrect statements were deliberate lies.”
What the BBC report does not mention is that lying about what he knew about Iran-Contra was not the main reason Reagan had to withdraw Gates’ nomination. The main concern of the Senate Intelligence Committee was the information that Gates was suspected of passing information from classified documents to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.
In other words, Gates was suspected of treason. It is one of the great ironies of history that he has been appointed to solve the problems of the invasion of Iraq, when on a previous occasion, as a consequence of a secret arms deal, that Gates was passing secret information obtained by the CIA to Saddam Hussein.
Even when his nomination by Bush of Gates was accepted in 1991, he received 31 negative votes, more than all of the votes against all of the CIA directors in previous history.
In his memoirs Gates admits it was a great shock to him that three men who worked with him in the CIA, testified against him. He considered two of these men as personal friends. Melvin Goodman, recently explained his reasons for taking this action: "Bob Gates, over the period of the 1980s, as a deputy for Intelligence and then as a deputy to CIA director Bill Casey, was politicizing intelligence. He was spinning intelligence on all of the major issues of the day, on the Soviet Union, on Central America, on the Middle East, on Southwest Asia. And I thought this record, this charge, should be presented before the Senate Intelligence Committee."
As Goodman remarked when he heard the news about his 2006 nomination: "I think there is a rather delicious irony in the fact that here is a nation that went to war with politicized intelligence, and now it’s naming as a CIA director someone who was the most important practitioner of politicized intelligence in the history of the CIA. So, as Yogi Berra would have said, “This is deja-vu all over again.”
For the truth about Robert Gates I would suggest the following:
Lawrence E. Walsh’s report on Gates:
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_16.htm
Robert Parry’s account of Gates involvement in October Surprise and Iran-Contra
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/110906.html
The document sent to Lee G. Hamilton, Chairman of the Working Group of the House Foreign Relations Committee of the U.S. Congress, in 1991.
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/russiantext.html
Robert Parry and Melvin Goodman discussing Gates on Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/09/1444242
A summary of his career with links can be found here:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/MDgatesR.htm
John Simkin
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