Robert Gates to Retire in 2011: Three Dilemmas He Leaves Behind

(Aug. 16) -- Robert Gates, the U.S. defense secretary since 2006 and a key player in shaping the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hopes to retire from his post sometime in 2011.

That's the most immediately attention-grabbing detail revealed over at Foreign Policy, in a profile that recounts Gates' unlikely decision to stay on following the end of President George W. Bush's tenure in the White House.

"I really didn't want to be asked," he told Foreign Policy. "[But] if I were asked, I would say, 'Yes.' In the middle of two wars, kids out there getting hurt and dying, there was no way that I was going to say, 'No.'"

Five years later, with the U.S. still deeply entrenched in war-fighting that has largely defined -- and been defined by -- Gates' leadership, he's ready to make his own exit.

"I think that it would be a mistake to wait until January 2012," he said. "This is not the kind of job you want to fill in the spring of an election year."

Of course, Gates has a well-known history of anticipating his own departure, and then reneging. In 2007, it was reported that he kept an actual "countdown clock" ticking down the days of the Bush presidency -- and his own retirement to private life. Three years later, of course, he remains hard at work.

"This is not Secretary Gates announcing his retirement," reads a statement from Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. "I would remind you all that every time Secretary Gates has seriously considered hanging it up for good, he ultimately has decided to keep serving..."

Such a high-ranking departure inevitably leaves a position's inheritor with plenty of unfinished business. And, if Gates does indeed part with the Pentagon in 2011, he'll be leaving behind some unique challenges for his successor. Among them:

1. An unfinished withdrawal

To Gates, the proposed July 2011 date to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is a must-do.

"There is no question in anybody's mind that we are going to begin drawing down troops in July of 2011," Gates told the Los Angeles Times last week.

Gen. David Petraeus, however, sees things differently.

"The president and I sat down in the Oval Office, and he expressed very clearly that what he wants from me is my best professional military advice," he said, when asked whether the president might consider delaying the withdrawal.

Whether July 2011 sees troops coming home or not, any withdrawal will be a slow and steady progression -- and one that Gates, who was instrumental in the initial surge that sent an extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan, won't be there to facilitate.

2. A health care system in mid-overhaul

With the Pentagon reeling over ongoing allegations of mismanaged health care for ailing vets, most recently accusations of failing to adequately diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder, it goes without saying that top brass will be addressing similar dilemmas for years to come.

In his tenure as secretary of defense, Gates has made several drastic changes in an effort to improve troop care. Most notably, the axing of several senior brass following a 2007 review of squalid conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center.

But Gates has also spent years taking a close look at the military's bloated health care spending -- expected to top $50 billion in 2011 -- and he's now talking serious cuts. As AOL News noted last week, however, it's an area of extreme sensitivity for troops and their families.

"It's the political third rail," said Winslow Wheeler, director of the Straus Military Reform Project at the Center for Defense Information. "[And any changes] would need real leadership."

Gates is right to point out that the Pentagon's health spending needs streamlining. But with his retirement looming, it's anyone's guess whether a successor will have the same insight into the ins and outs of the soaring expenses.

3. Massive financial restructuring

His no-nonsense talk of cutting the Pentagon's financial fat -- by $100 billion -- comes with a five-year time line. But while there's plenty of focus on what Gates wants to eliminate (from staffers to contractors to entire agencies), it's worth noting that the slicing and dicing is meant to keep Congress from slashing the Defense Department's growing budget.

"This is not about cutting the defense budget, this is about a reallocation internally," he said last week. "The services get to keep the savings they identify and invest them in higher priority things."

It's a gutsy move, and the kind that informs his reputation. But, until now, many of Gates' no-holds-barred moves have succeeded precisely because, after Obama took office, he was their inheritor.

"I punted all these balls to my successor and discovered I was the receiver," Gates told Foreign Policy.

And as the secretary of defense continues to institute the hard-lined maneuvers he's become renowned for, it remains to be seen whether his eventual successor can play according to Gates' rulebook.