Biographical Information on Robert Gates

Texas A&M University President Robert Gates waits at the start of a meeting with minority lawmakers in Austin, Texas in this Dec. 8, 2003 file photo. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday. Officials said Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld. (AP Photo/Harry Cabluck, File) (Harry Cabluck - AP)

-- NAME _ Robert M. Gates.

AGE-BIRTH DATE _ 63, Sept. 25, 1943, Wichita, Kan.

EXPERIENCE _ CIA intelligence analyst, 1966-1974; National Security Council staff, 1974-1979; director of executive staff for CIA director, 1981-1982; deputy director for intelligence, 1982-1986; chair of the National Intelligence Council, 1983-1986; deputy director of CIA, 1986-1989; acting director, 1986-1987; deputy assistant to the president for national security affairs, 1989; assistant to the president and deputy for national security affairs, 1989-1991; CIA director, 1991-1993; interim dean of the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, 1999-2001; president of Texas A&M University, 2002-present

EDUCATION _ B.A. from College of William and Mary, 1965; M.A. Indiana University, 1966; Ph.D. Georgetown University, 1974.

FAMILY _ Gates and his wife, Becky, have two children.