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Skriven 2006-12-18 23:31:22 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0612187) for Mon, 2006 Dec 18
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President Bush Attends Swearing-In Ceremony for Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 18, 2006

President Bush Attends Swearing-In Ceremony for Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates
The Pentagon

President's Remarks view

˙˙˙˙˙ In Focus: Defense

1:22 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. I'm pleased to join you here at the Pentagon.
We're here to congratulate Bob Gates on becoming our nation's 22nd
Secretary of the Defense.

Bob Gates entered public service 40 years ago. He is an experienced and
thoughtful leader. He has got a track record of steering large
organizations through change and transformation. I know Bob Gates will be
an outstanding Secretary of the Defense.

I want to thank Bob's wife, Becky, and their family, and their many friends
who are with us here today. I appreciate the fact that the Vice President
is here to administer the oath. I want to thank the members of my Cabinet
who have joined us in welcoming a new member to the Cabinet. I appreciate
so very much Senator John Warner and Senator Carl Levin for joining us. I
thank the other members of the United States Congress who are with us
today, not the least of whom is my Congressman, Chet Edwards, from Central
Texas. I suspect he's here because of the Texas A_

I want to thank Deputy Secretary England for joining us. I thank Dr. Harvey
and Dr. Winter and Michael Wynne, Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air
Force, for joining us here today. I appreciate so very much General Pete
Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and his wife, Lynne, as well as the
other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I thank our distinguished
guests.

Most importantly, I thank those who wear our uniform. This has got to be an
exciting time for Bob Gates. I can't tell you what an honor it is to be the
Commander-in-Chief of unbelievably fine people. And I suspect he will share
that same sense of enthusiasm as the Secretary of the Defense.

The job of Secretary of Defense is one of the most important positions in
our government. The Secretary must understand the challenges of the
present, and see the threats of the future, and find the best ways to
prepare our Armed Forces to meet them.

We are a nation at war. And I rely on our Secretary of Defense to provide
me with the best possible advice, and to help direct our nation's Armed
Forces as they engage the enemies of freedom around the world. Bob Gates is
the right man to take on these challenges. He'll be an outstanding leader
for our men and women in uniform, and he's going to make our nation proud.

Bob is a man of vision, integrity, and extensive experience. In 1966, Bob
began his rise from an entry-level position at the Central Intelligence
Agency to become its director. During his years of public service, Bob
Gates has worked under six Presidents, from both parties. He spent nearly
nine years at the White House working on the National Security Council
staff. He's amassed nearly 30 years of experience in national security
matters. Bob Gates' lifetime of preparation will serve him well as the
Secretary of Defense.

Bob follows a superb leader at the Department of Defense. For nearly six
years, Don Rumsfeld has served with exceptional strength and energy at a
time of challenge and change, and he produced impressive results. During
his tenure, he developed a new defense strategy, established a new command
structure of our Armed Forces, helped transform the NATO Alliance, took
ballistic

missile defense from theory to reality, and undertook the most sweeping
transformation of America's global defense posture since the start of the
Cold War. He led our Armed Forces with determination and distinction. And
on Friday at the Pentagon, the men and women he led showed their admiration
and devotion to him.

I want to thank Don Rumsfeld for his service, and I wish him and his family
all the very best.

As Bob Gates raises his hand and takes the oath of office, he does so at a
time of great consequence for our nation. He knows the stakes in the war on
terror. He recognizes this is a long struggle against an enemy unlike any
our nation has fought before. He understands that defeating the terrorists
and the radicals and the extremists in Iraq and the Middle East is
essential to leading toward peace.

As Secretary of Defense, he will help our country forge a new way forward
in Iraq so that we can help the Iraqis achieve our shared goal of a unified
democratic Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself,
and be an ally in our struggle against extremists and radicals.

Bob Gates is a talented and innovative leader who brings a fresh
perspective to the Department of Defense. I'm pleased that he's answered
the call to serve our nation again. He has my trust and my confidence. And
he has the gratitude and the prayers of the American people.

And so I look forward to working with Bob Gates. I congratulate you, sir. I
appreciate you taking on this job. And now, I'm going to ask the Vice
President to administer the oath of office for our nation's 22nd Secretary
of Defense. (Applause.)

(The oath is administered.) (Applause.)

MR. GATES: Thank you. Mr. President, I am deeply honored by the trust you
have placed in me. You have asked for my candor and my honest counsel at
this critical moment in our nation's history, and you will get both.

Mr. Vice President, thank you for administering the oath of office. I first
worked closely with the Vice President when he was a very successful
Secretary of Defense, and I hope some of that may rub off.

My sincere thanks to the members of the United States Congress who are here
today. I appreciate the prompt and fair hearing that I received in the
Senate and the confidence that senators have placed in me.

Chairman Pace, thank you. I look forward to working with you and the Joint
staff.

To the service chiefs and the service staffs, to all the uniform military
here today, I value your professionalism and your experience, and I will
rely on your clear-eyed advice in the weeks and months ahead.

Finally, I want to thank Becky, my wife of 40 years, and my children,
Eleanor and Brad, for their infinite patience. I want to thank other family
and friends who are here, but single out one especially, my 93-year-old
mother. She told me that if she could make it from Kansas to Texas A_

I, too, want to say a few words about my predecessor. Donald Rumsfeld has
devoted decades of his life to public service. He cares deeply about our
men and women in uniform, and the future of our country. I thank him for
his long and distinguished service, and wish him and Joyce and their family
all the best.

It is an honor to have the opportunity to work with the people in this
Department, dedicated professionals whose overriding priority is the
defense of our nation. Long ago, I learned something about leading large
institutions: Leaders come and go, but the professionals endure long after
the appointees are gone. The key to successful leadership in my view is to
involve in the decision-making process early and often those who ultimately
must carry out the decisions. I will do my best to do just that.

This Department, as always, is carrying on many different activities all at
the same time. All are valuable, all are important. However, as I said in
my confirmation hearings, Iraq is at the top of the list. In the days since
the Senate confirmed me, I have participated in most of the National
Security Council meetings on Iraq, I have received a number of briefings
here at the Department of Defense, and I have discussed the situation and
way forward in Iraq in depth with the President.

I intend to travel quite soon to Iraq and meet with our military leaders
and other personnel there. I look forward to hearing their honest
assessments of the situation on the ground and to having the benefit of
their advice -- unvarnished and straight from the shoulder -- on how to
proceed in the weeks and months ahead.

Another pressing concern is Afghanistan. The progress made by the Afghan
people over the past five years is at risk. The United States and its NATO
allies have made a commitment to the Afghan people, and we intend to keep
it. Afghanistan cannot be allowed to become a sanctuary for extremists
again. How we face these and other challenges in the region over the next
two years will determine whether Iraq, Afghanistan, and other nations at a
crossroads will pursue paths of gradual progress towards sustainable
governments, which are allies in the global war on terrorism, or whether
the forces of extremism and chaos will become ascendant.

All of us want to find a way to bring America's sons and daughters home
again. But, as the President has made clear, we simply cannot afford to
fail in the Middle East. Failure in Iraq at this juncture would be a
calamity that would haunt our nation, impair our credibility, and endanger
Americans for decades to come.

Finally, there is the matter of what is referred to as defense
transformation. As I mentioned in my Senate testimony, I was impressed by
how deployable our military has become since I last served in government.
Before he came to office, the President said that one of his top priorities
was to help our military become more agile, more lethal, and more
expeditionary. Much has been accomplished in this; much remains to be done.
This remains a necessity and a priority.

I return to public service in the hope that I can make a difference at a
time when our nation is facing daunting challenges and difficult choices.
Mr. President, I thank you again for the opportunity to do that, and thank
all of you for being here. (Applause.)

END 1:34 P.M. EST

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