Dr. Robert M. Gates served as the 22nd Secretary of Defense from 2006-2011 and is the only Secretary of Defense in U.S. history to be asked to remain in office by a newly elected President, serving under both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. He served eight U.S. presidents in total across both parties and has led a distinguished career of service and institutional reform both in and out of government. Gates began his career at the Central Intelligence Agency in 1966 and spent nearly 27 years as an intelligence professional, including 9 years on the National Security Council. He is the only career officer in CIA’s history to rise from entry-level employee to director. He served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1991 until 1993 and, through the collapse of the Soviet Union, restructured the intelligence community for a post-Cold War world.

Gates next served as President of Texas A&M University, one of the nation’s largest universities, from 2002 to 2006. As Secretary of Defense, Gates reversed losing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while preparing the U.S. military for unconventional warfare and for dramatic reductions in federal spending. Among his many initiatives, Gates championed the production and deployment of Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles, saving the lives and limbs of thousands of U.S. servicemembers. On his last day in office, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian honor. Gates is fondly remembered as the “Soldiers’ Secretary.”

Currently, Gates is a principal in the strategic consulting firm Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel, LLC, with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and Aspen Strategy Group Executive Director Anja Manuel.

A native of Kansas, Gates received his bachelor’s degree from William & Mary, his master’s degree in history from Indiana University and his doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. Gates has authored four books, including “Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World” (2020), “A Passion For Leadership” (2016), “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War” (2014), and “From the Shadows” (1996).