The un-Rumsfeld: Robert Gates's way at Defense

Observers say Gates has established himself as a pragmatist and effective navigator of the Washington bureaucracy.

from the March 19, 2007 edition

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At Texas A&M, Gates was seen as "a conservative but not an ideologue," says Slack. Instead, he became known as an agent of change, remaking the university's strategic vision and rebranding the school, the nation's seventh largest. As president, Gates helped drop legacy admissions policies that favored relatives of alumni over outsiders and also changed the focus of admissions to attract more minorities, based not on race but on merit, Slack says. He also elevated the stature of the faculty in symbolic and substantive ways.

"He would not go along with the plans until the faculty had been consulted and the faculty had agreed to the changes," Slack says. "He made it happen so people realized that when he asked for input, he was going to use it."

How much of a reformer he can be in a Pentagon that even Rumsfeld was hard-pressed to transform is unclear. Gates will probably be replaced under a new administration in 2009, leaving him little time to dramatically change the culture inside the building. And his focus will probably be on Iraq, leaving him less time to delve into broader matters.

Gates' penchant for consensus-building should help build bridges with members of Congress, many of whom felt dismissed by Rumsfeld. Even though Gates becomes the new public face of an unpopular war, and maintains the failure-is-not-an-option position oft-repeated by Bush, lawmakers on Capitol Hill credit him for raising the tone of the discussion in Washington even if many still don't agree with what they're hearing.

"I think there is a sense that there is a new look in the Pentagon and a greater willingness to accept and listen to the views of others as it relates to matters of national security," says a staff assistant to a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who was not authorized to speak to the press. "It seems to me he's working on it."

Still, all the praise for Gates may begin to wane if there are not immediate signs of success in Iraq. "The bottom line is there is still a fundamental disconnect between what the Democrats believe should happen in the war and what Secretary Gates believes should happen in the war," says Mr. Work.

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