Student Researcher: Chris McManus
Faculty Evaluator: Diana Grant
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates doesn’t just have a long history of covert operations with the CIA, he is also responsible for the most egregious politicization of intelligence.
As Deputy Director of the CIA under William Casey, he tweaked intelligence to exaggerate the military threat of the Soviet Union. This was used to justify the huge Reagan-era cold war defense department budget increases just as the Soviet Union was collapsing. Gates raised the specter of communism in Central America, supporting the right wing death squads and funding the contras in Central America. It was the Iran-Contra scandal that got Gates rejected as CIA director after William Casey died.
According to foreign intelligence, Gates participated in the October Surprise to delay the release of 52 hostages in Tehran until the Reagan inaugural. Gates also funneled support to Saddam Hussein during the Iran- Iraq war. He supplied Hussein with chemical weapons, arms, and equipment.
Gates took over from Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary in December 2006. He promptly escalated the war in Iraq with a surge of 30,000 troops. Gates opposed Obama’s plan to set a 16-month timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.
“The Danger of Keeping Robert Gates” Robert Parry Consortiumnews.com 11/13/2008 http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/111208.html