By Adam Graham-Silverman and Josh Rogin CQ Staff
Published: 11-13-08
President-elect Obama is strongly considering keeping Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates in that post for a limited time in the new administration several sources close to the discussions said Tuesday.
Under the still-tentative plan former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig would become deputy secretary and take over the job when Gates departs perhaps after up to one year. Gates has not formally been asked to stay sources close to the Pentagon and the transition team said. A source close to Gates said he is reluctant but willing to stay on in the short term.
In a news briefing Obama transition head John Podesta declined direct comment on the idea noting that evaluation teams will fan out across all departments and agencies before Obama makes a decision.
“He has great respect for Secretary Gates but beyond that he intends to engage as I suggested across the board with the agencies” Podesta said. “We’ll have a team that’s going to the Pentagon . . . and then he’ll render judgment.”
The teams will be announced at the end of the week and begin work as soon as Nov. 17 Podesta said. Obama is not expected to name any Cabinet nominees until December.
Providing Continuity Amid Two Wars
Gates would provide continuity at the department as the United States wages two wars which would allow Obama to focus on the economy. Key Democrats in Congress say Gates would be acceptable.
“Why wouldn’t we want to keep him?” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-Nev. told CNN.
A spokeswoman for Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin D-Mich. who would oversee confirmation hearings said Gates “is one of a fairly large number of people whom Levin imagines would and should be considered.”
“He did not offer any preferences as to who would be best” added spokeswoman Tara Andringa who added that Levin has not consulted with the transition team.
Some antiwar Democrats however argue that Obama should nominate a Democrat such as Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island to demonstrate a clear break from the Bush administration. Reed has repeatedly said he would decline if asked to take the job. He said before the election that any president-elect should consider keeping Gates.
Gates has said repeatedly he looks forward to retiring in January but he has left open the possibility of staying on if asked.
“While his preference is to go home he has never closed the door on the possibility that he might be needed once again to serve his country” said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.
Experts said there were pros and cons to carrying over the secretary of Defense.
“Danzig is already quite prepared for the job intellectually but since the job often goes to big names from Capitol Hill who have been on the national stage for some time a more gradual process may help get the Congress and the country ready for his leadership over the time when Gates is still secretary” said Michael O’Hanlon a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “It also buys Obama cover for slowing down the withdrawal from Iraq.”
But Lawrence Korb a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress said it would be hard for an interim secretary to run the Pentagon with subordinates who may have a different agenda.
“The most successful secretaries are the ones who have their own team” he said. “You cannot run that place without your own team.”
Differences Between Obama And Gates
Gates has not embraced Obama’s 16-month timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. They also disagree on establishing missile defense sites in Europe and proceeding with the next-generation nuclear weapon known as the Reliable Replacement Warhead. They do agree on the need for more intense focus on the war in Afghanistan and the need to overhaul the Pentagon acquisitions process.
Korb a former Pentagon official who advised the Obama campaign informally but has not been a part of the transition noted that the Joint Chiefs of Staff and combatant commanders who do not turn over with a new administration would provide continuity.
Gates also has emphasized the need for a seamless transition while the United States is involved in two wars.
“He has mandated that our building be as proactive as humanly possible to make sure that this is the smoothest of transitions” Morrell said. “We can’t afford to have any hiccup at all.”
The Senate confirmed Gates by a vote of 95-2 on Dec. 6 2006 after the resignation of Donald H. Rumsfeld Bush’s first secretary of Defense. Republicans Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania were the only “no” votes. Members of both parties have praised Gates as an improvement over Rumsfeld for his management of the war and communications with Congress.
Another potential contender for the Defense secretary job Defense Policy Board Chairman and former deputy secretary of Defense John J. Hamre has told colleagues he is staying put as head of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Dr. Hamre has been very clear and open with the staff at CSIS and said in no uncertain terms that he intends to continue as president and chief executive at the center” said H. Andrew Schwartz director of media relations at CSIS.
Other candidates could include retiring Sen. Chuck Hagel R-Neb. a Vietnam veteran who crossed party lines to join Obama’s criticism of the Iraq war.
Potential nominees for the No. 2 and No. 3 jobs include Michele Flournoy and Kurt Campbell both top Defense officials in the Clinton administration who founded the Center for a New American Security a Washington think tank.
