Robert M Gates

Robert M. Gates appeared headed for confirmation as director of the Central Intelligence Agency as the Senate debated his nomination. "The question is no longer whether he will be confirmed, but by what margin," said a Democratic aide to the Senate Intelligence Committee. Gates picked up endorsements from Sens. Claiborne Pell (D-R.I.) and Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.). Two other Democrats, Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York and J. James Exon of Nebraska, said they would vote "no."

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta declared Saturday that the United States was "within reach" of defeating Al Qaeda as a terrorist threat, but that doing so would require killing or capturing what he called the group's 10 to 20 remaining leaders. Heading to Afghanistan for the first time since taking office earlier this month, Panetta said that intelligence uncovered in the American raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden in May showed that 10 years of U.S. operations against Al Qaeda had left it with fewer than two dozen key operatives, most of whom are in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.

Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles), a former chairman of the House intelligence committee, said he opposes the confirmation of Robert M. Gates, President Bush's nominee to head the CIA. Beilenson, who chaired the oversight committee until January, said in an interview that he was deeply troubled by allegations that Gates improperly slanted intelligence assessments regarding the Soviet Union and Iran when he was deputy CIA director.

The Senate unanimously confirmed Leon E. Panetta as secretary of Defense on Tuesday, putting the Pentagon in the hands of a former Democratic congressman and budget expert amid growing political discontent over the cost and reach of President Obama's military engagements. Panetta, who spent two years as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, will replace Robert M. Gates, who is retiring after serving in two consecutive administrations. In a statement, Panetta thanked the Senate "for the strong vote of confidence" and said he was "deeply honored" by the 100-0 tally and the president's nomination.

Robert M. Gates, President Bush's nominee to lead the Pentagon, advocated a bombing campaign against Nicaragua in 1984 in order to "bring down" the leftist government, according to a declassified memo released by a nonprofit research group. The memo from Gates to his then-boss, CIA Director William J. Casey, was among a selection of declassified documents from the 1980s Iran-Contra scandal posted Friday on the website of the National Security Archive, www.gwu.edu/nsarchiv/.

In a carefully orchestrated campaign, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates appears poised to push through what many consider a historic remaking of the military with relative ease, averting an expected battle royal with contractors and lawmakers. "It really looks like he has played his cards well on this," said Todd Harrison, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington think tank.

An upcoming assessment of Afghanistan by the top U.S. commander there will not include a request for additional U.S. troops, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Thursday. But Gates did not rule out the possibility that the commander, Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, might make such a troop request later. The report due after next week's Afghan national elections is intended to assess conditions in the country and the effect of a new Obama administration security strategy. Any request for more troops "will be considered separately and subsequent to his assessment," Gates said.

The Senate agreed Monday night to vote on the nomination of Robert M. Gates as director of central intelligence on Nov. 5. Gates, 48, is currently deputy national security adviser to President Bush.

With so many qualified for the office of vice president, Bush chose Quayle. Now, with so many competent, untainted candidates, Bush nominates Robert M. Gates as CIA chief. If the Senate believes, like Gates, that the Cold War, vis-a-vis the Soviet Union must continue, he should be confirmed. If not, Bush should offer a second choice. JOSEPH WALDBAUM North Hollywood

Secretary of State James A. Baker III barred a White House aide from delivering a speech that he viewed as too pessimistic about Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev's prospects, the New York Times reported. The move reflects the caution with which the Bush Administration views the changing Soviet situation. The speech was to have been delivered in Washington by Robert M. Gates, deputy national security adviser.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Wednesday urged more NATO allies to join the air campaign against Libya, arguing that it was putting a strain on the seven members of the 28-nation alliance that are carrying the burden in a conflict that shows few signs of ending soon, U.S. officials said. In a sign of the growing strain that the 3-month-old operation is putting on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Gates took the unusual step of naming five alliance members with limited or no role in the operation that he said should provide strike aircraft to hit ground targets in Libya or other capabilities, according to a senior U.S. official.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Wednesday dismissed as "garbage" reports that a senior Marine general was passed over to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff because of his back-channel role in the 2009 administration debate on sending additional troops to Afghanistan. Speaking to reporters on his way to a security conference in Singapore, Gates denied that Gen. James Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, was not chosen as chairman because he helped White House aides develop options for sending fewer troops to Afghanistan than the number favored by Gates and other top Pentagon officials.

President Obama has approved the use of armed Predator drone aircraft to launch airstrikes against ground targets in Libya, the latest sign of mounting concern in Washington that the NATO-led air campaign has failed to stop Moammar Kadafi's forces from shelling the besieged city of Misurata and other populated areas. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who announced the decision at a Pentagon news conference, said Predators armed with Hellfire missiles would be used to augment airstrikes by warplanes from other North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations against the intensifying attacks by forces loyal to Kadafi.

Top Obama administration officials predicted that Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi's regime may crack from within, as allied warplanes, resurgent rebels and the international community put more pressure on Tripoli. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in appearances on Sunday talk shows, said they had received indications that some officials close to Kadafi might be ready to abandon him. "We have a lot of evidence that people around him are reaching out," Clinton said on NBC's "Meet the Press.

President Obama, traveling in Brazil, met with senior national security officials on a conference call Sunday morning to discuss the opening hours of the international military campaign against Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi. U.S. and European forces struck Libyan air defenses and other targets starting Saturday, using warships and fighter jets. On Sunday, U.S., French and British forces continued blasting military targets . Obama talked at 9:30 a.m. with Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough and Gen. Carter Ham, head of the U.S. military operations in Africa, the White House said.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday that the U.S. and its allies were on track to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in July as promised, even as he sought to tamp down tensions with President Hamid Karzai over continuing civilian casualties. Though violence has been spiraling upward in several regions of Afghanistan recently, Gates said his talks with American commanders and Afghan officials had strengthened his confidence that the U.S. would be able to carry out President Obama's pledge to begin troop pullouts later this year.

A BRIDGE TOO FAR: Elements of the CIA are on the move. . . . Director Robert M. Gates, who wants to make the agency more responsive to requests from the President and other policy-makers, has decided to move top intelligence officers from suburban Langley, Va., to new digs in downtown Washington.

Here is how the Senate Intelligence Committee voted on the nomination of Robert M. Gates as director of the CIA: Democrats for--David L. Boren (Okla.), Sam Nunn (Ga.), Alan Cranston (Calif.), John Glenn (Ohio) Republicans for--Frank H. Murkowski (Alaska), John W. Warner (Va.), Warren B. Rudman (N.H.), Slade Gorton (Wash.), John H. Chafee (R.I.), Alfonse M. D'Amato (N.Y.), John C. Danforth (Mo.) Democrats against--Ernest F. Hollings (S.C.), Bill Bradley (N.J.), Dennis DeConcini (Ariz.

China's recent test flight of a stealth fighter illustrated a worrisome "disconnect" between its military and civilian leaders, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday. The test of the J-20 fighter occurred Tuesday, while Gates was in Beijing. When he inquired about it at a meeting, Chinese President Hu Jintao seemed unaware it had occurred, Pentagon officials said. It was the latest in a series of incidents, including a 2007 anti-satellite missile test and a 2009 confrontation between Chinese vessels and a U.S. surveillance ship in the South China Sea, in which civilian leaders in Beijing appeared unaware or poorly informed about the activities of the armed forces, Gates said.

The Obama administration signaled Wednesday that the United States would accept weakened United Nations sanctions against Iran as a way to quickly assemble a broad international coalition against Tehran's nuclear program. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said adoption of a new sanctions resolution by the U.N. Security Council is more vital than the actual measures taken. "What is important about the U.N. resolution is less the specific content of the resolution than the isolation of Iran by the rest of the world," Gates said.