Will U.S. Secretary Of Gates Gates Be Asked To Stay On?

SPECIAL BRIEFING - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates receives an update from Army Lt. Gen. David M. Rodriguez, commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command Afghanistan, in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 7, 2011. Gates is there to visit troops, meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and talk with NATO military leaders about progress being made toward transitioning security responsibility to Afghan forces, set to start in July. ISAF photo by MCC Jason Carter

A Successor To Gates Is A Quandary For Obama -- Washington Post

On five occasions the past three weeks, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has tried to nail down his departure from the Pentagon by telling members of Congress in budget hearings and in speeches to cadets at West Point and the Air Force Academy that this would be his final appearance before them in his present role.

President Obama and other senior officials have privately been pressing Gates to stay on - at least through the end of the first term - because no one else can guarantee implementation of the budget cuts and institutional changes that the defense secretary has set in motion.

Read more ....

My Comment: If the president asks him personally, I have trouble seeing him say no. But that has not happened .... so .... making plans for retirement is what is important to him now, and he is acting on that direction.

My prediction .... if they do not find anyone who is capable and willing to take the job, Robert Gates will be asked by President Obama to serve one more year.