Gates To Remain as SecDef

Robert M. Gates has agreed to President-Elect Barack Obama’s request that he stay on as Secretary of Defense. Gates has held the position since December 2006, when he replaced Donald Rumsfeld. Citing the need for continuity of policy during wartime, Obama said that Gates "won the confidence of military commanders, and the trust of our brave men and women in uniform and their families," in a Dec. 1 statement. Obama also appointed retired Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Jones as his national security advisor. Jones retired from military service in 2003, after serving as commander of all NATO forces.