美国国防部长罗伯特·盖茨在16日发表的一份访谈中确认，他将于2011年辞去国防部长职务。

       他说，到2011年，奥巴马政府就能明确知晓目前在阿富汗战场采取的策略是否取得了成效，那时也将是他选择辞职“合乎逻辑的时间”。此外，选择这一时间辞职还与2012年总统选举有关。总统选举结果难料，如果到2012年再辞职，可能难以找到合适的替代人选。

       盖茨1943年生于堪萨斯州。他先后在中央情报局、白宫国家安全委员会等机构任职，并于2006年年底接替唐纳德·拉姆斯菲尔德，在布什政府中出任国防部长。他在奥巴马2009年就任总统后留任，是美国历史上首位被新一任总统留任的国防部长。

    Robert Gates, the U.S. secretary of defense, has said on August 16 that he intends to leave his post in 2011.

    “It would be a mistake to wait until January 2012, he said in an interview with the U.S. magazine Foreign Policy. “This is not the kind of job you want to fill in the spring of an election year,” he added.

    Mr. Gates took office in 2006 under George Bush but was kept on the job after Barack Obama assumed the presidency in 2009. If he stays in office beyond this year, he will be the fifth-longest-serving defense secretary in American history.

    Afghan review

    Before going back to his home in Washington, Mr. Gates faces two major decisions in December that will provide fodder for the national security debate in the 2012 election. 

    He will preside at a major strategic review on the Afghan war and Obama’s decision to begin a withdrawal in July 2011. Also, the Pentagon will decide how to implement Mr. Obama’s policy to let homosexuals serve openly in the military.

    “By next year I’ll be in a position where we’re going to know whether the strategy is working in Afghanistan,” he said. “We’ll have completed the surge. We’ll have done the assessment in December,” he added. “And it seems like somewhere there in 2011 is a logical opportunity to hand off,” he concluded.

    Mr. Gates also said he fears it will be harder to find an adequate replacement in 2012 as the White House gears up for a re-election campaign.

    Experienced secretary

    Roberts Gates, 66, has been the Pentagon’s top civilian boss since he took the reins from Donald Rumsfeld. With Mr. Rumsfeld’s popularity on Capitol Hill at an all-time low and violence in Iraq skyrocketing, Mr. Gates easily gained the reputation as a likable and nonpartisan pragmatist.

    When Mr. Obama took office in 2009, Mr. Gates was asked to stay. The move was intended to maintain stability at a time of two wars and fulfilled Mr. Obama’s promise of bipartisanship -- Mr. Gates is a Republican.

    Mr. Gates has since earned the nickname “Yoda” by his colleagues at the White House because of his experience managing large and complex organizations. He has served eight presidents, including as director of the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1990s.

    While Mr. Gates had agreed to work for President Obama through at least this year, he has been open about his desire to return to civilian life.

    Successor speculation

    His words set off furious speculation as to who might take his place. In another post on the website of Foreign Policy, reporter Josh Rogin listed some notables in the American capital rumored to be possible choices should Mr. Obama need to replace Mr. Gates.

    They include Michele Flournoy, the undersecretary of defense for policy, John Hamre, the president of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Leon Panetta, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Richard Danzig, a former secretary of the navy.