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Bob Gates' Brushes With Controversy Ronald Kessler WASHINGTON --Donald Rumsfeld's sport is wrestling, and his ego is legendary. But President Bush's nominee as the next defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, is a bicyclist — a thoughtful man who listens.
While Rumsfeld transformed the military into a nimble force to counter today's complex threats, he was a lightning rod for criticism of Bush's Iraq policies and expressions of frustration at the war effort.
Gates, in the intelligence world where he has made his mark, is known as a brilliant analyst who can be counted on to evaluate dispassionately the military's situation in Iraq and to build a consensus for his views.
Born in Wichita, Kan., Gates graduated from the College of William and Mary and obtained a master's degree in history from Indiana University and a doctorate in Soviet studies from Georgetown University in 1974. His first experience with intelligence was as an Air Force intelligence officer with a Minuteman missile wing.
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Gates started at the CIA as an analyst specializing in Soviet affairs in 1969. He moved to the National Security Council under President Nixon. After continuing at the NSC under President Ford, he returned to the agency, then moved back to the NSC under President Carter. In 1979, Gates again returned to the CIA, becoming deputy director for intelligence in 1982. In that job, Gates developed the first system for holding analysts accountable for their record of forecasts and assessments.
In 1983, Gates became chairman of the National Intelligence Council. In 1986, he became deputy director for Central Intelligence and was acting director. Brent Scowcroft, President H.W. Bush's national security adviser, brought him back to the White House in 1989 as his deputy for national security affairs. Gates was director of central intelligence (DCI) under President Bush from 1991 to 1993.
Past Controversy — 2 Episodes
In his years in the intelligence community, Gates had two brushes with controversy. The first occurred over his knowledge — or lack thereof — of the CIA's involvement in the Iran-contra affair when William Casey was DCI and Gates was his deputy. The Iran-contra affair was a plan to exchange arms for hostages in Iran and divert profits to the contra rebels in Nicaragua.
While the CIA itself did not arrange it, Casey and National Security Council aide Lt. Colonel Oliver L. North, Jr. used a few individuals in the agency to carry out the scheme.
Russell J. Bruemmer, who did an internal CIA probe of the issue as CIA general counsel under DCI William Webster, found that several key officials — Gates, then deputy director of central intelligence, and Thomas A. Twetten, then assistant deputy director for operations — had received bits and pieces of information about Iran-contra, but did not realize at the time what was happening.
"Agency people . . . from the director on down, actively shunned information," Gates later told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. "We didn't want to know how the contras were being funded . . . we actively discouraged people from telling us things."
The second area of controversy arose when Gates was nominated as DCI. Former CIA employees who disagreed with Gates' views came forward to testify that Gates had "politicized" the analytical process, allegedly skewing intelligence reporting on the Soviet Union to suit the Reagan White House.
Intelligence analysis is inherently subjective, and the analysts never presented any evidence to support their claim. In fact, Gates had frequently presided over analyses and estimates that ran directly afoul of the policies of the Reagan administration.
Current Controversy — Iraq Currently president of Texas A&M University, Gates, 63, began serving in March as a member of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, studying the U.S. approach to the Iraq war.
"Because so many of America's sons and daughters in our armed forces are in harm's way, I did not hesitate when the president asked me to return to duty," Gates said at a White House ceremony on Wednesday.
Bobby R. Inman, a former CIA deputy director and National Security Agency director and a friend of Gates, called him "a good listener" who, "after he makes up his mind, is very decisive."
Gates is "impatient with those whose minds don't move as fast as his does, but he's not arrogant," Inman said.
Given the controversy generated by Bob Woodward's claim that DCI William Casey spoke to him when he lay dying on his hospital bed, it's surprising that another facet of Gates' life confirming Woodward's account never made the headlines.
In December 1986, Casey was slated to testify under oath before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence about his role in the Iran-contra affair. Casey had been stumbling more than usual, and he fell and cut his forehead. At 10 a.m. on December 15, 1986, a day before his scheduled testimony, Casey collapsed in his office as an agency doctor was taking his blood pressure.
Casey was taken to Georgetown University Hospital, where he had surgery three days later for a malignant brain tumor. In his book "Veil," Woodward said he asked Casey in the hospital if he knew about the diversion of funds from the Iran arms deal to aid the contras, a question that has never been answered.
"His head jerked up hard," Woodward wrote. "He stared, and finally nodded yes."
"Why?" Woodward asked.
"I believed," Casey said, then fell asleep.
At the time, CIA officials denied that Woodward could have gotten past CIA security at the hospital. Casey's widow Sophia said Casey could not speak, even haltingly. Most CIA officials thought Woodward had made up the story to get publicity.
But William Donnelly, who was in charge of CIA administration, including supervision of the CIA security officers, told me for my book "The CIA at War: Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror," "Woodward probably found a way to sneak in."
Gates, Bob Woodward, and Bill Casey On Saturday morning, Jan. 24, 1987, Casey had one of his security guards place a call to Gates, who was his deputy, at the office. According to Gates' account in his book "From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War," Casey got on the line and, with considerable difficulty, indicated that he wanted Gates to come see him.
Gates followed up with Casey's wife, and she finally called on the morning of Jan. 28 and asked Gates to come visit the director that evening.
"When I saw him in the hospital, his speech was even more slurred than usual, but if you knew him well, you could make out a few words, enough to get a sense of what he was saying," Gates told me for "The CIA at War." "I briefed him on developments at the agency and the White House."
When it became clear Casey was not going to recover, Gates brought Casey a resignation letter on Jan. 29, 1987. Because he couldn't sign the letter, Casey handed it to Sophia to sign. She began to cry, and Casey had tears in his eyes.
"Well, that's the end of a career," Casey said to Gates.
Gates held his hand for a few minutes and left. Casey died in May 1987 at the age of 74.
After Woodward's "Veil" revealed a number of CIA secrets, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence asked Britt Snider, its general counsel at the time, to look into the matter and advise the committee whether it should request that the Justice Department conduct a formal investigation.
In examining Casey's calendar and CIA logs, Snider discovered that Casey, who had always demanded jail time for leakers, had had 43 meetings or phone calls with Woodward, including a number of meetings at Casey's home with no one else present.
With Casey dead, Snider decided it would be pointless to attempt to investigate the leaks presented in Woodward's book.
Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of NewsMax.com. Get his dispatches FREE sent you via e-mail. Click here now.
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