Former CIA director Robert Gates was officially sworn in as United States secretary of defence on Monday, replacing embattled Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld, who was under fire for his handling of the Iraq war.
Gates was sworn in at 7.03am local time by White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten in the chief of staff’s office, a White House spokesperson said.
President George Bush was scheduled to attend Gates’s ceremonial swearing-in at the Pentagon in the afternoon.
The 63-year-old Gates served as CIA director from 1991 until 1993 during the administration of Bush’s father.
Gates told a US Senate panel during confirmation hearings that the US was not winning the war in Iraq and warned that the Middle East could explode into violence.
His nomination was overwhelmingly endorsed by the Senate, and he was praised for his candour.
Bush accepted Rumsfeld’s resignation after November elections in which Bush’s Republicans lost control of the US House of Representatives and Senate, in large part because of public discontent over the conduct of the Iraq war.
The pugnacious Rumsfeld had long been a lightning rod for criticism of the war. He had been in the job since January 2001, becoming the second-longest serving US defence secretary. — Reuters