Verdict still out on retiring U.S. defense secretary
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U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates' recent announcement that he is retiring next year raises questions of his legacy.
Since his appointment in 2006, Gates has been busy. He has overseen the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ended a major procurement program and earlier this month embarked on a mission to re-organize the military's budget.
Still, it remains premature to gauge the success of his stint as defense secretary, as much will depend on how Iraq and Afghanistan turn out, as well as the budget shake up he embarked on earlier this month, some experts said.
Gates has played a major role in recasting U.S. strategy for Afghanistan and will have much to say about it during President Barack Obama's coming review of the strategy, analysts said.
"Gates will be partially responsible for its success if (the war) succeeds or partially accountable for its failure if it fails," said Maren Leed, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Indeed, the case of Gates' legacy is not unlike that of Robert McNamara, who instituted a number of reforms during his time in office but will forever be remembered as the defense secretary who presided over the U.S. war in Vietnam, some analysts said.
If all turns out well in Afghanistan, Gates' tenure will be regarded as a success. If not, history may not be so kind to him, some analysts said.
In the short term, however, he will be seen as one of the most able defense secretaries in many years, Leed said.
He made many difficult decisions and put much priority on working with the State Department and other parts of the national security community, she said.
One of those decisions was to cut thousands of jobs and realign the military's spending. The secretary announced earlier this month a string of cuts including the shuttering of Joint Forces Command and an annual 10 percent reduction in spending for contractors over the next three years.
The changes were aimed at saving 100 billion U.S. dollars over the next five years and part of a broader effort to create a more efficient Department of Defense.
Since the 9/11 terror attacks, the military has seen large annual budget increases, and Gates has moved to start making cuts before he is forced to do so.
Still, he is not without his critics.
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