Gates Announces Retirement as US Secretary of Defense

Washington, Aug 17. – US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced he would retire from his post next year, as reported by US newspaper The Washington Post Monday.

A Republican and a member of the administration of George W. Bush, Robert Gates had agreed to remain in his post, held since 2006, at the request of current US President Barack Obama.

The measure was taken to maintain stability in the Pentagon at a time when the US was involved in two wars.

In an interview published Monday, Gates told the magazine Foreign Policy that leaving his post in 2011 made sense, since it would give him time to supervise the "great offensive in Afghanistan", but he would get out of his post before the year 2012.

Among the possible successors, there are the names of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Michele Flournoy, Under-Secretary of Defense, John Hamre, president of the Center for Strategic Studies, and Senator Jack Reed, Democrat for the state of Rhode Island.(Prensa Latina)