Robert Gates

Former CIA Director John Brennan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 23, 2017, before the House Intelligence Committee Russia Investigation Task Force (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

August 18, 2018, 7:46 am

In unprecedented move, ex-CIA heads slam Trump for trying to stifle free speech

Former spy chiefs denounce president’s decision to strip John Brennan of security clearance: ‘We have never before seen the removal of security clearances used as a political tool’

By AFP

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

December 19, 2016, 5:13 pm

Trump aides: Democrats’ hacking gripes are sour grapes

After Obama vows to retaliate against Russians over meddling allegations, Trump spokesperson says president is just ‘under pressure from Team Hillary’

By Anne Flaherty

Former US secretary of defense Robert Gates. (R. D. Ward/defense.gov/Wikipedia/public domain)

September 18, 2016, 4:27 am

Ex-Pentagon chief Gates: Trump is ‘unfit,’ ‘beyond repair’

While slamming Clinton for policy U-turns, the respected Republican calls his own party’s nominee ‘willfully ignorant,’ ‘cavalier about the use of nuclear weapons’

By AFP

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton reacts to the audience during a campaign stop in Indianapolis, Sunday, May 1, 2016. (AP/Paul Sancya)

May 2, 2016, 8:19 am

Campaign rumbles into Indiana with underdogs struggling

Party rivals as good as beaten, front-running candidates Clinton and Trump turn their attention to each other

By AP

This undated photo shows al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan. (AP)

May 20, 2015, 6:57 pm

Bin Laden was bent on spectacular US attack until the end

Declassified documents show terror chief kept urging large-scale operations, while other Al-Qaeda leaders pushed to incite ‘lone wolf’ attacks — the tactic ultimately adopted

By Dan De Luce

US President Barack Obama (left) and Vice President Joseph Biden (right) with Ashton Carter (center) after nominating him for secretary of defense at the White House on December 5, 2014. (photo credit: AFP/Brendan Smialowski)

February 13, 2015, 3:13 am

New Pentagon chief could collide with White House

Ashton Carter, a hard-charging expert, will face an administration said to micro-manage military affairs

By Dan De Luce

December 5, 2014, 5:55 pm

Obama names Ashton Carter as next defense secretary

Hagel’s nominated successor seen as loud proponent of a tougher stance on Iran, quiet supporter of Israel

By Rebecca Shimoni Stoil, AP and AFP

Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon meets with then United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv. July 21, 2013. (Ariel Hermoni/ Ministry of Defense/ FLASH90)

December 4, 2014, 2:10 am

Pentagon front-runner Carter, quietly supportive of Israel, loud on stopping Iran

The leading candidate to success Hagel as US defense chief is a vocal proponent of stronger action to stymie nuclear proliferation

By Rebecca Shimoni Stoil

Ashton Carter testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, February 12, 2013. (photo credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

December 2, 2014, 7:08 pm

Ashton Carter tops Obama’s shortlist for defense secretary

US president likely to nominate former Pentagon official as successor to Chuck Hagel

By Julie Pace

President Barack Obama, standing with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, talks about Hagel's resignation during an event in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Nov. 24, 2014. (photo credit: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

November 25, 2014, 10:12 am

Hagel resignation comes at messy moment for US

With American efforts against the Islamic State deepening, and more budget cuts on the horizon, Obama seeks a fourth defense chief

By Julie Pace and Robert Burns

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington on May 6, 2014. (photo credit: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

May 7, 2014, 11:22 pm

White House braces itself as ex-aides publish memoirs

Hillary Clinton, Timothy Geithner books to come out this month, are expected to spill secrets on Obama administration

By AP

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, and US defense secretary Robert Gates arrive for a meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, Thursday, April 19, 2007. (photo credit: AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

January 15, 2014, 1:51 pm

Israel’s intel succeeded where US failed on Syria nukes, Gates reveals

Ex-defense secretary’s tell-all memoir details Israeli strike on Assad’s nuke facility, implies parallels with current Iran dilemma

By Rebecca Shimoni Stoil

Robert Gates (left) with Benjamin Netanyahu in 2011 (photo credit: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash90)

From the WebJanuary 13, 2014, 9:40 pm

Gates once tried to ban Netanyahu from White House

In his new book, ‘Duty’, former US defense secretary reveals his antipathy for Israeli PM, Bloomberg’s Jeffrey Goldberg reports

Then-secretary of defense Robert Gates testifies in June 2011 regarding the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2012 budget request before the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense on Capitol Hill in Washington. (photo credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

January 8, 2014, 1:03 pm

Ex-US defense secretary slams Obama, Biden in scathing memoir

Robert Gates: Israel too influential in Bush-era White House; Biden wrong on nearly everything; Obama just wanted out of Afghanistan

By TOI staff and AP

From the WebFebruary 5, 2013, 2:15 pm

Bombing the Syrian reactor: The untold story

Commentary: Elliott Abrams gives an insider’s account of White House deliberations before Israel’s reported 2007 strike on the al-Kibar nuclear facility