Robert Gates

Robert Gates
22nd United States Secretary of Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office  December 18, 2006
President	George W. Bush Barack Obama
Deputy	Gordon England William Lynn
Preceded by	Donald Rumsfeld
15th Director of Central Intelligence
In office November 6, 1991 – January 20, 1993
President	George H. W. Bush
Deputy	Richard James Kerr William Oliver Studeman
Preceded by	William Webster
Succeeded by	James Woolsey
Deputy National Security Advisor
In office March 20, 1989 – November 6, 1991
President	George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	John Negroponte
Succeeded by	Jonathan Howe
16th Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
In office April 18, 1986 – March 20, 1989
Preceded by	John McMahon
Succeeded by	Richard James Kerr
Born	September 25, 1943 (1943-09-25) (age 67) Wichita, Kansas
Political party	Republican Party[1]
Spouse(s)	Becky Gates
Alma mater	College of William and Mary Indiana University Georgetown University
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1967–1969
Rank	Second Lieutenant
Battles/wars	Vietnam War

Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is the 22nd and current United States Secretary of Defense. He took office on December 18, 2006.^[2] Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W. Bush as Director of Central Intelligence. Immediately after being recruited by the CIA, he served as an officer in the United States Air Force.^[3][4] After leaving the CIA, Gates became president of Texas A&M University and was a member of several corporate boards. Gates also served as a member of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan commission co-chaired by James A. Baker III and Lee Hamilton, that has studied the Iraq War. He was also the first pick to serve as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security when it was created following the September 11 attacks, but he declined the appointment in order to remain President of Texas A&M University.^[5]

Gates accepted the nomination for Secretary of Defense on November 8, 2006, replacing Donald Rumsfeld. He was confirmed with bipartisan support.^[6] In a 2007 profile written by former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, Time named Gates one of the year's most influential people.^[6] In 2008, Gates was named one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report.^[7] He continues to serve as Secretary of Defense in President Barack Obama's cabinet.^[8]

Early life and education

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Gates attained the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) and received the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the BSA as an adult.^[9][10] He graduated from Wichita High School East in 1961, reportedly with straight A's.^[11]

Gates then received a scholarship to attend the College of William and Mary, graduating in 1965 with a B.A. in history. At William & Mary, Gates was an active member and president of the Alpha Phi Omega (national service fraternity) chapter and the Young Republicans; he was also the business manager for the William and Mary Review, a literary and art magazine.^[12] At his William & Mary graduation ceremony, Gates received the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award naming him the graduate who "has made the greatest contribution to his fellow man." ^[12]

Gates then pursued an M.A. in history from Indiana University in 1966. Finally, he completed his doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University in 1974. The title of his Georgetown doctoral dissertation is "Soviet Sinology: An Untapped Source for Kremlin Views and Disputes Relating to Contemporary Events in China" and is available from University Microfilms International as document number 7421652. He received an L.H.D. (Doctor of Humane Letters) from William & Mary in 1998.

He married his wife Becky on January 7, 1967.^[13] They had known each other for three months when he proposed marriage.

Intelligence career

Positions

While at Indiana University, Gates was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency and joined the agency in 1966.^[14] On January 4, 1967, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force.^[13][14] From 1967 to 1969, he was assigned to the Strategic Air Command as an intelligence officer which included a stint at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, where he delivered intelligence briefings to Intercontinental Ballistic Missile crews.^[15] After fulfilling his military obligation, he rejoined the CIA.

Gates left the CIA in 1974 to serve on the staff of the National Security Council. He returned to the CIA in late 1979, serving briefly as the director of the Strategic Evaluation Center, Office of Strategic Research. 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.

Director of Central Intelligence

Gates while Director of Central Intelligence.

Gates was Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs from March until August 1989, and was Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Adviser from August 1989 until November 1991.

Gates was nominated (for the second time, see below) for the position of Director of Central Intelligence by President George H. W. 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). He served until 1993.

The final report of the Independent Counsel for Iran-Contra Scandal , issued on August 4, 1993, said that Gates "was close to many figures who played significant roles in the Iran/contra affair and was in a position to have known of their activities. The evidence developed by Independent Counsel did not warrant indictment..."^[16]

Gates was nominated to become the Director of Central Intelligence (head of the CIA) in early 1987. He withdrew his name after it became clear the Senate would reject the nomination due to controversy about his role in the Iran-Contra affair.

Level of involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal

Because of his senior status in the CIA, Gates was close to many figures who played significant roles in the Iran-Contra Affair and was in a position to have known of their activities. In 1984, as deputy director of CIA, Gates advocated that the U.S. initiate a bombing campaign against Nicaragua and that the U.S. do everything in its power short of direct military invasion of the country to remove the Sandinista government.^[17] The evidence developed by Independent Counsel did not warrant indictment of Gates for his Iran-Contra activities or his responses to official inquiries.

Gates was an early subject of Independent Counsel's investigation, but the investigation of Gates intensified in the spring of 1991 as part of a larger inquiry into the Iran/contra activities of CIA officials. This investigation received an additional impetus in May 1991, when President George H.W. Bush nominated Gates to be Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). The chairman and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) requested, in a letter to the Independent Counsel on May 15, 1991, any information that would "significantly bear on the fitness" of Gates for the CIA post.

Gates consistently testified that he first heard on October 1, 1986, from Charles E. Allen, the national intelligence officer who was closest to the Iran initiative, that proceeds from the Iran arms sales may have been diverted to support the Contras. Other evidence proves, however, that Gates received a report on the diversion during the summer of 1986 from DDI Richard Kerr.^[18] The issue was whether the Independent Counsel could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Gates was deliberately not telling the truth when he later claimed not to have remembered any reference to the diversion before meeting with Allen in October.

Grand jury secrecy rules hampered Independent Counsel's response. Nevertheless, in order to answer questions about Gates' prior testimony, Independent Counsel accelerated his investigation of Gates in the summer of 1991. This investigation was substantially completed by September 3, 1991, at which time Independent Counsel determined that Gates' Iran-Contra activities and testimony did not warrant prosecution.

Independent Counsel made this decision subject to developments that could have warranted reopening his inquiry, including testimony by Clair E. George, the CIA's former deputy director for operations. At the time Independent Counsel reached this decision, the possibility remained that George could have provided information warranting reconsideration of Gates's status in the investigation. George refused to cooperate with Independent Counsel and was indicted on September 19, 1991. George subpoenaed Gates to testify as a defense witness at George's first trial in the summer of 1994, but Gates was never called.

Robert Gates had sent a memo to the White House in 1985, urging US government to sell Iran arms during Iran-Iraq War.^[19]

Career after leaving the CIA

1993-1999

After retiring from the CIA in 1993, Gates worked as an academic and lecturer. He evaluated student theses for the International Studies Program of the University of Washington. He lectured at Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Indiana, Louisiana State, Oklahoma, and the College of William and Mary. Gates served as a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Oklahoma International Programs Center and a trustee of the endowment fund for the College of William and Mary, his alma mater, which in 1998 conferred upon him honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.

In 1996, Gates' autobiography, From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War, was published. Gates has also written numerous articles on government and foreign policy and has been a frequent contributor to the op-ed page of The New York Times.^[20]

Gates at Texas A&M

Texas A&M

Gates was the interim Dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University from 1999 to 2001. On August 1, 2002, he became the 22nd President of Texas A&M. As the university president, Gates made significant progress in four key areas of the university's "Vision 2020" plan, a plan to become one of the top 10 public universities by the year 2020. The four key areas include improving student diversity, increasing the size of the faculty, building new academic facilities, and enriching the undergraduate and graduate education experience.^[21] During his tenure, Gates encouraged the addition of 440 new faculty positions and a $300 million campus construction program, and saw dramatic increases in minority enrollment. On February 2, 2007, Gates was conferred the title of President Emeritus by unanimous vote of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Gates and his wife Becky received honorary doctoral degrees from Texas A&M on August 10, 2007.^[22]

Gates returned to Texas A&M on April 21, 2009, as the speaker for the annual Aggie Muster ceremony. He is one of only 5 speakers not to be a graduate of Texas A&M University since Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke in 1946.^[23]

Corporate boards

Gates has been a member of the board of trustees of Fidelity Investments, and on the board of directors of NACCO Industries, Inc., Brinker International, Inc., Parker Drilling Company, Science Applications International Corporation, and VoteHere, a technology company which sought to provide cryptography and computer software security for the electronic election industry.^[24] Following his nomination, a White House spokeswoman said that Gates planned to sell all the stock he owns in individual companies and sever all ties with them if confirmed by the Senate.^[25]

Public service

Gates is a former president of the National Eagle Scout Association.^[26]

In January 2004, Gates co-chaired a Council on Foreign Relations task force on U.S. relations towards Iran. Among the task force's primary recommendation was to directly engage Iran on a diplomatic level regarding Iranian nuclear technology. Key points included a negotiated position that would allow Iran to develop its nuclear program in exchange for a commitment from Iran to use the program only for peaceful means.^[27]

At the time of his nomination by President George W. Bush to the position of Secretary of Defense, Gates was also a member of the Iraq Study Group, also called the Baker Commission, which was expected to issue its report in November 2006, following the mid-term election on November 7. He was replaced by former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger.

Declined appointment as Director of National Intelligence

In February 2005, Gates wrote in a message posted on his school's website that "there seems to be a growing number of rumors in the media and around campus that I am leaving Texas A&M to become the new director of national intelligence in Washington, D.C." The message said that "To put the rumors to rest, I was indeed asked to take the position, wrestled with perhaps the most difficult — and close — decision of my life, and last week declined the position."

Gates committed to remain as President of Texas A&M University through the summer of 2008; President George W. Bush offered the position of United States Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to John Negroponte, who accepted.^[28]

Gates said in a 2005 discussion with the university's Academy for Future International Leaders that he had tentatively decided to accept the DNI position out of a sense of duty and had written an email that would be sent to students during the press conference to announce his decision, explaining that he was leaving to serve the U.S. once again. Gates, however, took the weekend to consider what his final decision should be, and ultimately decided that he was unwilling to return to Washington, D.C., in any capacity simply because he "had nothing to look forward to in D.C. and plenty to look forward to at A&M."^[29]

Secretary of Defense

Bush Administration

Gates being sworn in as Defense Secretary on December 18, 2006.

On November 8, 2006, after the 2006 midterm election, President George W. Bush announced his intent to nominate Gates to succeed the resigning Donald Rumsfeld as U.S. Secretary of Defense.^[30][31]

Gates was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate Armed Services Committee on December 5, 2006. During his confirmation hearing on December 5, 2006, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan asked Gates if he thought the United States was winning the war in Iraq, to which Gates responded: "No, sir." He then went on to say that he did not think the United States was losing the war either.^[32] The next day, Gates was confirmed by the full Senate by a margin of 95-2, with Republican Senators Rick Santorum and Jim Bunning casting the two dissenting votes and senators Elizabeth Dole, Evan Bayh, and Joe Biden not voting.^[33] On December 18, 2006, Gates was sworn in as Secretary of Defense by White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten at a private White House ceremony and then by Vice President Dick Cheney at the Pentagon.^[2]

US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates gives a gig 'em with a group of Aggie Marines at Camp Fallujah, Iraq

Several months after his appointment, The Washington Post published a series of articles beginning February 18, 2007 that brought to the spotlight the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal.^[34] As a result of the fallout from the incident, Gates announced the removal of Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey, and later, he approved the removal of Army Surgeon General Kevin C. Kiley.^[35]

On June 8, 2007, Gates announced that he would not recommend the renomination of Peter Pace, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, due to anticipated difficulties with the confirmation process. Instead, Gates recommended Mike Mullen, the Chief of Naval Operations at the time, to fill the position.^[36] On June 5, 2008, in response to the findings on Air Force misshipments of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons components, Gates announced the resignations of Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff Michael Moseley.^[37]

Under the Bush administration, Gates oversaw the war in Iraq's troop surge a marked change in tactics from his predecessor. With violence on the decline in Iraq, in 2008, Gates also began the troop withdrawal of Iraq, a policy continued into the Obama administration.

Obama Administration

On December 1, 2008, President-elect Obama announced that Robert Gates would remain in his position as Secretary of Defense during his administration,^[8] reportedly for at least the first year of Obama's presidency.^[38] Gates is the fourteenth Cabinet member in history to serve under two Presidents of different parties, and the first to do so as Secretary of Defense. One of the first priorities under President Barack Obama's administration for Gates was a review of U.S. policy and strategy in Afghanistan.^[39] Gates, sixth in the presidential line of succession, was selected as designated survivor during Obama's inauguration.^[40] On March 1, 2009, he told David Gregory on Meet the Press that he would not commit to how long he would serve as Secretary of Defense but implied that he would not serve the entire first term.^[41]

While Gates has continued the troop withdrawals in Iraq, which already had begun in the Bush administration, Gates has implemented a rapid, limited surge of troops in Afghanistan in 2009.^[42] Robert Gates would remove General David D. McKiernan from command in Afghanistan on May 6, 2009.^[43][44] Gates replaced him with Lieutenant General Stanley A. McChrystal. The Washington Post called it "a rare decision to remove a wartime commander." The Washington Post described the replacement as one of several replacements of Generals who represented the "traditional Army" with Generals "who have pressed for the use of counter-insurgency tactics."^[43]

On the political front, Gates has attempted to curb military spending. In April 2009, Gates proposed a large shift in budget priorities in the U.S. Department of Defense 2010 budget. The budget cuts many programs geared toward conventional warfare such as the end of new orders of the F-22 Raptor and further development of Future Combat Systems manned vehicles, but increases funding for programs like the special forces.^[45] Gates called this the "nation's first truly 21st century defense budget."^[46] In late April 2010, he suggested the Navy cease funding development of a new multibillion-dollar ballistic missile submarine program on the grounds of cost and relevancy.^[47] He has suggested the hundreds of billions of dollars would be better spent on a new generation of vessels tailored to the threats and tactics more likely to be faced, noting, "Mark my words, the Navy and Marine Corps must be willing to re-examine and question basic assumptions in light of evolving technologies, new threats and budget realities."^[48] In a speech made on May 8, 2010, Gates stated that he would make politically unpopular cuts to the Pentagon bureaucracy in his future budgets.^[49][50]

"The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, opened a gusher of defense spending that nearly doubled the base budget over the last decade. . . Military spending on things large and small can and should expect closer, harsher scrutiny. The gusher has been turned off, and will stay off for a good period of time."^[49][50]

In December 2009 Gates visited Afghanistan following President Barack Obama's announcement of the deployment of 30,000 additional personnel against the Taliban insurgency.^[51]

Time magazine notes that Gates and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have "forged a formidable partnership", speaking frequently, "comparing notes before they go to the White House", meeting with each other weekly and having lunch once a month at either the Pentagon or the State Department.^[52]

In a March 2010 speech to a NATO conference in Washington, Secretary Gates said that "The demilitarization of Europe — where large swaths of the general public and political class are averse to military force and the risks that go with it — has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st".^[53]

Gates announced in February 2010 that the department would lift its ban on women serving on submarines.^[54] Gates is also preparing the armed forces for the repeal of the don't ask, don't tell policy. When implemented, homosexuals will be able to openly serve in the military.^[55] In service of that goal, he announced in late March 2010 the approval of new regulations that would make it more difficult to kick gays out of the military. Gates called the guideline changes, which went into effect immediately, a matter of "common sense and common decency" that would be "an important improvement" allowing the Pentagon to apply current law in "a fairer and more appropriate" manner, until Congress repeals the law commonly known as "don’t ask, don't tell." The Pentagon's legal counsel, Jeh Johnson, said the new regulations are by no means a moratorium on the current law and stressed that cases would move forward under the new standards.^[56]

Criticism

Gates responds to a question during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on December 5, 2006

As deputy director and director of America's leading intelligence agency for many years, Gates and his CIA staff have been faulted for failing to accurately gauge the decline and disintegration of the Soviet Union. More particularly, Gates has been criticized for concocting evidence to show that the Soviet Union was stronger than it actually was, and also for repeatedly skewing intelligence to promote a particular worldview.^[57] Also, according to Newsweek, Gates, as deputy director of CIA, allegedly vouched for the comprehensiveness of a CIA study presented to the Senate and President Reagan alleging that the Soviet Union played a role in the 1981 shooting of Pope John Paul II. A CIA internal review later denounced the report as being skewed,^[57] but that Gates did not try to influence the report's conclusions.^[58]

NATO Comments

On January 16, 2008, Gates was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying NATO forces in southern Afghanistan do not know how to properly combat a guerrilla insurgency and that could be contributing to rising violence in the country.^[59] The Netherlands^[60] and United Kingdom^[61] protested.

Awards and decorations

Gates, right, escorts Romanian Minister of Defense Teodor Meleşcanu through an honor cordon into the Pentagon September 24, 2008, to talk about bilateral defense issues.

Gates' awards and decorations include:

Government awards

• Presidential Citizens Medal
• National Security Medal
• National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal (2 awards)
• Distinguished Intelligence Medal (3 awards)

Other awards

• Eagle Scout
• Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
• Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from College of William and Mary
• Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Indiana University
• College of William and Mary Alumni Association - Alumni Medallion
• Corps of Cadets Hall of Honor (First and only Non-Corps Honoree) - Texas A&M University
• George Bush Award (2007) - George Bush Presidential Library Foundation

Notes

References

• "Biography, Dr. Robert M. Gates, President, Texas A&M University". Texas A&M University. 2003. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20060920100505/http://www.tamu.edu/president/biography.html. 
• Clark, J. Ransom. "Directors of Central Intelligence: Robert Michael Gates (1943- ), DCI, Nov 6. 1991-Jan. 20 1993". The Literature of Intelligence: A Bibliography of Materials, with Essays, Reviews, and Comments. http://intellit.muskingum.edu/cia_folder/ciadcis_folder/dcisgates.html. 
• Gates, Robert M. (1997). From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-83497-9. 
• Nauman, Brett (February 1, 2005). "Gates passes on intelligence czar post". The Bryan-College Station Eagle. Archived from the original on September 27, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20070927234236/http://www.theeagle.com/aandmnews/020105gates.php. 
• "Robert Gates" (biography). Spartacus Educational. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/MDgatesR.htm. 
• "Robert Michael Gates". Directors & Deputy Directors of Central Intelligence. Center for the Study of Intelligence, CIA. 2004. https://www.cia.gov/csi/books/dddcia/gates.html. 

Further reading

• Paul Burka, "Agent of Change", Texas Monthly (November 2006)
• Robert Gates, From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War, Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (May 7, 1997).
• Robert Gates, US Intelligence and the End of the Cold War, 1999, CIA
• Robert Gates, Frontline The Gulf War: An Oral History: Interview with Robert Gates, Deputy National Security Advisor, 2001, PBS.org
• Robert Gates, A Balanced Strategy: Reprogramming the Pentagon for a New Age, Foreign Affairs (January/February 2009)

External links

• The Reinvention of Robert Gates by Michael Crowley, The New Republic, November 9, 2009
• "Charlie Rose" A conversation with U.S. Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, December 17, 2008
• Robert Gates' Writings and Speeches
• Gates on relations with China:Nov. 2007 visit, 1, 2007
• DefenseLink Biography: Robert M. Gates
• Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense Nominee: A Bibliography at Georgetown University Law Library
• The Robert Gates File - The Iran-Contra Scandal, 1991 Confirmation Hearings, and Excerpts from new book Safe for Democracy
• Ubben Lecture at DePauw University
• Gates breaks right arm in fall on icy step
• Gates 64 is left-handed

• "Debate on Robert Gates". The Education Forum. http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=8488. 

Directors of Central Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency Central Intelligence Sidney Souers · Hoyt Vandenberg · Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter · W. Bedell Smith · Allen W. Dulles · John A. McCone · William Raborn · Richard Helms · James R. Schlesinger · William Colby · George H. W. Bush · Stansfield Turner · William J. Casey · William H. Webster · Robert Gates · R. James Woolsey, Jr. · John M. Deutch · George Tenet Central Intelligence Agency Porter J. Goss · Michael Hayden · Leon Panetta

Deputy Directors of Central Intelligence and Central Intelligence Agency Central Intelligence Kingman Douglass · Vacant · Edwin Kennedy Wright · Vacant · William Harding Jackson · Allen W. Dulles · Charles P. Cabell · Marshall Carter · Richard Helms · Rufus Taylor · Robert E. Cushman, Jr. · Vernon A. Walters · Enno Knoche · John F. Blake · Frank Carlucci · Bobby Ray Inman · John N. McMahon · Robert Gates Richard James Kerr · Bill Studeman · George Tenet · John A. Gordon · John E. McLaughlin · Vacant Central Intelligence Agency Albert Calland · Stephen Kappes · Michael Morell

United States Secretaries of Defense Forrestal • Johnson • Marshall • Lovett • Wilson • McElroy • T. Gates • McNamara • Clifford • Laird • Richardson • Schlesinger • Rumsfeld • Brown • Weinberger • Carlucci • Cheney • Aspin • Perry • Cohen • Rumsfeld • R. Gates

Senior Officials in the United States Department of Defense Secretary of Defense: Robert M. Gates Deputy Secretary of Defense: William J. Lynn III Secretaries of the Military Departments: Secretary of the Army: John M. McHugh • Secretary of the Navy: Ray Mabus • Secretary of the Air Force: Michael B. Donley Under Secretaries of Defense: Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics: Ashton Carter • Policy: Michèle Flournoy • Comptroller/Chief Financial Officer: Robert F. Hale • Personnel & Readiness: Samuel D. Kleinman • Intelligence: Vacant

Current members of the United States Cabinet Obama  · Biden Chu  · Clinton  · Donovan  · Duncan  · Gates  · Geithner  · Goolsbeec  · Holder  · Jacksonc  · Kirkc  · LaHood  · Lewc  · Locke  · Napolitano Ricec  · Rouseca  · Salazar  · Sebelius  · Solis  · Shinseki  · Vilsack c - cabinet-level; a - acting

Cabinet of President Barack Obama (since 2009)   Cabinet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (2009–present) Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner (2009–present) Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (2009–present) Attorney General Eric Holder (2009–present) Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar (2009–present) Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack (2009–present) Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke (2009–present) Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis (2009–present) Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius (2009–present) Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (2009–present) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan (2009–present) Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood (2009–present) Secretary of Energy Steven Chu (2009–present) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki (2009–present) Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (2009–present)   Cabinet-level Vice President Joe Biden (2009–present) White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (2009–2010) · Pete Rouse (2010–present) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lisa Jackson (2009–present) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Peter Orszag (2009–2010) · Jacob Lew (2010–present) Trade Representative Ron Kirk (2009–present) Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice (2009–present) Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Christina Romer (2009–2010) · Austan Goolsbee (2010–present) See also: Confirmations of Barack Obama's Cabinet

Cabinet of President George W. Bush (2001–2009)   Cabinet Secretary of State Colin Powell (2001–2005) • Condoleezza Rice (2005–2009) Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill (2001–2002) • John W. Snow (2003–2006) • Henry Paulson (2006–2009) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (2001–2006) • Robert Gates (2006–2009) Attorney General John Ashcroft (2001–2005) • Alberto Gonzales (2005–2007) • Michael Mukasey (2007–2009) Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton (2001–2006) • Dirk Kempthorne (2006–2009) Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman (2001–2005) • Mike Johanns (2005–2007) • Ed Schafer (2008–2009) Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans (2001–2005) • Carlos Gutierrez (2005–2009) Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao (2001–2009) Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson (2001–2005) • Mike Leavitt (2005–2009) Secretary of Education Rod Paige (2001–2005) • Margaret Spellings (2005–2009) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez (2001–2003) • Alphonso Jackson (2003–2008) • Steve Preston (2008–2009) Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta (2001–2006) • Mary Peters (2006–2009) Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham (2001–2005) • Samuel Bodman (2005–2009) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi (2001–2005) • Jim Nicholson (2005–2007) • James Peake (2007–2009) Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (2003–2005) • Michael Chertoff (2005–2009)   Cabinet-level Vice President Dick Cheney (2001–2009) White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card (2001–2006) • Joshua Bolten (2006–2009) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Christine Todd Whitman (2001–2003) • Mike Leavitt (2003–2005) • Stephen L. Johnson (2005–2009) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mitch Daniels (2001–2003) • Joshua Bolten (2003–2006) • Rob Portman (2006–2007) • Jim Nussle (2007–2009) Director of National Drug Control Policy John P. Walters (2001–2009) Trade Representative Robert Zoellick (2001–2005) • Rob Portman (2005–2006) • Susan Schwab (2006–2009)