Robert M. Gates
Former US Secretary of Defense
Robert M. Gates served as US Secretary of Defense and as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He is the author of A Passion for Leadership.
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American Born 1943 in Wichita, United States
About Robert M. Gates
Gates began as an officer in the United States Air Force and was soon recruited by the CIA. He spent twenty-six years between the CIA and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W. Bush he held the post of director of central intelligence. Texas A&M University had him as its president between 2002 and 2006. He then served as secretary of defense under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, retiring in 2011. Gates became chancellor of the College of William & Mary in 2012, and from 2014 to 2016 he led the Boy Scouts of America as its national president. He became chairman of Eisenhower Fellowships in 2018. Besides A Passion for Leadership, he wrote Duty.