Robert Gates (63) who was yesterday named to replace Donald Rumsfeld as US secretary of defence served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1991 until 1993. He was the only career officer in CIA history to rise from entry-level employee to director of central intelligence. He joined the organisation in 1966.
Mr Gates has recently been deeply involved in bipartisan discussions on Iraq as a member of the Iraq Study Group headed by former secretary of state James Baker. By the end of the year the group is expected to issue alternative ideas for a way forward in Iraq.
He was first nominated as CIA director in 1987 by former president Ronald Reagan, but he withdrew amid questions over his and the CIA's role in the secret sales of arms to Iran and the diversion of profits to Nicaragua's Contra rebels. In hearings in 1991, Mr Gates admitted mistakes and said he should have done more to get at the truth. His confirmation hearings for CIA director brought up charges that he hid the truth about the Iran-Contra affair from Congress.
He served as deputy national security adviser for President Bush at the White House from 1989 until 1991.