Robert Gates

CIA director, U.S. Secretary of Defense, and university president · United States · On the map · Politicians · Born 1943 · age 83

Robert Michael Gates is an American intelligence analyst who served as the 22nd United States secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011 and as the 15th director of central intelligence from 1991 to 1993 as a member of the Republican Party. He has been the 24th chancellor of the College of William and Mary since 2012.

Robert Gates is read about 745 times a day, in 45 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 120 days, one point a day.

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2026

Readers a day, 8 September 2026 to 6 November 2026, highest on 5 November 2026.

Read more around Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, awarded to Akio Toyoda3 November 2026More about this, and one other was read more that weekSee the moment2022“I looked into his eyes and I didn't see his soul, but a cold-blooded killer. Gates to George W Bush, as quoted in "On GPS: Gates on Putin, 27 February 2022" (2006)”In their words27 February 2022Read the whole statement

2015“Tough-minded, realistic, and very pro-American.”In their words12 May 2015About South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, as quoted in Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War (12 May 2015), by R.M. Gates, p. 416.Read the whole statement

2014“I think he has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades”In their wordsGates says of Joe Biden in his book Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, 2014.Read the whole statement

2011“Most governments lie to each other. That’s the way business gets done.”In their words19 June 2011CNN interview, 2011-06-19.Read the whole statement