Rumsfeld Is Stepping Down

Bush Taps Former CIA Director Robert Gates as Successor

WASHINGTON (By William Branigin, Washington Post) November 8, 2006 — President Bush today announced he is replacing Donald H. Rumsfeld as secretary of defense, saying a "fresh perspective" is needed at the Pentagon to deal with the war in Iraq.

In a White House news conference a day after midterm elections delivered the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate, to Democratic Party control , Bush said he has chosen former CIA director Robert Gates to succeed Rumsfeld.

"Now, after a series of thoughtful conversations, Secretary Rumsfeld and I agreed that the timing is right for new leadership at the Pentagon," Bush said.

Rumsfeld, a principal architect of the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq, had become a principal focus of criticism for Americans dissatisfied with the Bush administration's strategy in Iraq. Democratic leaders, and even some Republican members of Congress, had called on Bush to replace Rumsfeld, who has been criticized by many military analysts for failing to dispatch enough troops to Iraq in 2003 and 2004 to combat the insurgency.

The announcement came a week after Bush had said Rumsfeld and Vice President Cheney would be staying in their jobs after the elections. Bush said last month that he was "satisfied" with how Rumsfeld has done "all his jobs," calling him a "smart, tough, capable administrator."

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the House minority leader who is slated to become the first woman speaker of the House when the 110th Congress convenes in January, urged Bush today to work with Democrats "in a bipartisan way" to find a way out of the war in Iraq, among other issues. In a Capitol Hill news conference shortly before Bush spoke at the White House, Pelosi also called on him to "change the civilian leadership of the Pentagon" as a signal of "a change of direction on the part of the president" and of "openness to fresh ideas" on Iraq.

Bush called the election results a "thumping" but vowed to maintain his policy of refusing to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq "before the job is done." Bush indicated that he had made the decision to replace Rumsfeld before the elections, but he said he had not held a "final conversation" with the defense chief or talked to Gates at the time he made his comments to reporters last week that Rumsfeld would be staying on.

"I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign," Bush said. He added, "Win or lose, Bob Gates was going to become the nominee."

Bush hailed Rumsfeld as "a superb leader during a time of change," but said the 74-year-old Pentagon chief "also appreciates the value of bringing in a fresh perspective during a critical period in this war."

The president called Gates, who served as CIA director under his father, President George H.W. Bush, "a steady, solid leader who can help make the necessary adjustments in our approach to meet our current challenges."

Bush acknowledged that the election showed that many Americans are "frustrated" with the lack of progress in Iraq. "I am too," he said. "I wish this had gone faster. So does Secretary Rumsfeld. But the reality is that it's a tough fight. And we're going to win the fight. And I truly believe the only way we won't win is if we leave before the job is done."

He warned the nation's enemies not to take heart from the Pentagon change or the election results. "Do not be joyful," he said. "Do not confuse the workings of our democracy with a lack of will."

Addressing "the people of Iraq," he said: "Do not be fearful," adding that "America's going to stand with you."

To U.S. troops, he said, "Don't be doubtful. America will always support you."

Gates, currently president of Texas A&M University, is a veteran intelligence operative with close ties to the Bush family.

Bush did not immediately indicate when Rumsfeld would leave the Pentagon, but he noted that Gates's nomination is subject to confirmation by the new Senate.

Gates joined the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 after a brief stint in the Air Force, rising through the ranks to eventually run the agency in the last years of President George H.W. Bush's term in office. He was deputy national security adviser from 1989 to 1991, and deputy CIA director from 1986 until 1989.

A Kansas native with a doctorate in Russian studies, he served on the staff of the National Security Office in the 1970s during a break in his CIA career. The current President Bush had approached him before about returning to government, asking him to become the new director of national intelligence -- a job he declined and which eventually went to veteran diplomat John D. Negroponte.

Gates was a close adviser to President Ronald Reagan and to George H.W. Bush as they dealt with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union, though he was criticized for molding intelligence reports to suit Reagan's hard-line stance toward what had been dubbed the "Evil Empire."

Gates's role in the Iran-Contra affair in the late 1980s also came under close scrutiny, particularly when he was nominated by the elder Bush to run the CIA in 1991. His nomination was cleared, but on a divided vote with even some supporters saying they would exercise close oversight of his tenure. Similar questions had scuttled an earlier nomination by Reagan to make him director of the CIA. Like other members of the elder Bush's national security team, Gates was not consulted closely about the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Rumsfeld was in his second tour of duty as defense chief. He first held the job a generation ago, when he was appointed by President Ford.

Rumsfeld's public life has lasted nearly half a century, since he was elected to Congress in 1962. He later became White House chief of staff under Ford. In 1975, when he was just 43 years old, he became the nation's youngest defense secretary. His first tour at the helm of the Pentagon lasted just 14 months and was not marked by any notable events.

His second tour at the Pentagon proved much more historic. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Rumsfeld was at the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77, hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists, crashed into it at 530 miles per hour.

After helping aid the casualties, he joined deliberations on the U.S. government response. Within a few weeks, the U.S. military invaded Afghanistan. It never caught Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, but it did oust the radical Islamic Taliban movement that ruled Afghanistan and thus eliminated that country as a safe haven for al Qaeda.

It was during this period that Rumsfeld became something of a media star, delivering tart remarks at Pentagon briefings and showing that he was not intimidated by reporters.