US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has
agreed to stay in the job for at least one year of president-elect Barack
Obama's administration, ABC News and Politico reported Tuesday, citing unnamed
officials.
With Gates at the helm, Obama keeps in place a key architect of the
troop buildup in Iraq that contributed to the sharp decrease in violence during
the past 15 months. But Gates will be given new orders: Obama
has pledged to have all US combat forces out of Iraq within 16 months of taking
office January 20, dpa reported.
Asking Gates to stay on also helps Obama fulfill a pledge to have a bipartisan
cabinet.
"It is a done deal," a source close to the process told ABC
News. Politco confirmed the report, citing Democratic and Republican officials.
Gates is a registered independent but has served in numerous Republican
administrations. He replaced Donald Rumsfeld as Pentagon chief in December
2006.
Obama has spent this week announcing his economic team, and is next week
expected to present his national security and foreign policy appointments.
Obama will reportedly announce that former rival Hillary Clinton has agreed to
give up her Senate seat to become secretary of state, and that retired Marine General
James Jones, formerly commandant of the Marines and commander of US and NATO
forces in Europe, will become national security adviser, Politico reported.
Democratic sources told Politco they expect James B Steinberg, who served on
Bill Clinton's National Security Council, to be deputy secretary of state.
Politico also reported that Obama's senior foreign policy advisor during the
campaign, Susan Rice, will be named US ambassador to the United Nations, and
retired Navy admiral Dennis C Blair, the former chief of the US Pacific Command
with stints in the CIA and on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will be named the
director of national intelligence.
The office coordinates the activities of the various US intelligences agencies,
including the CIA and super secretive National Security Agency
...