Gates officially takes over from Rumsfeld at Pentagon

New U.S. Secretary of Defence Robert Gates took the oath of office in a private ceremony at the Pentagon on Monday.

The former CIAdirector took over from Donald Rumsfeld after President George W. Bush said last month he wanted a "fresh perspective" on Iraq, acknowledging the current approach isnot working. Rumsfeld was a chief architect of the war strategy and continues to defend the decision to invade in March 2003.

Military officials are reportedly eager to learn what changes Gates plans to make. Bush has said he will wait until January to announce his new strategy, to give Gates a chance to offer advice.

He will also need to decide how to handle the army's proposal that it be allowed to grow by tens of thousands of soldiers to meet the challenge of fightingin Iraq and Afghanistan.

While Gates has yet to weigh in on the issue, Rumsfeld had resisted increasing the size of the army.

Meanwhile, Gates said at his Senate confirmation hearing on Dec. 5 that he intends to travel to Iraq "very soon" after being sworn in, so he can consult with senior U.S. commanders about how to adjuststrategy. He also caught some politicians off guard by saying, when asked whether the U.S. was winning in Iraq: "No, sir."

Gates was a member of the Iraq Study Group, which spent nine months assessing the situation and produced recommendations that include phasing out most U.S. combat troops by 2008.

He was applauded for his unusual candour by members of the Senate armed services committee, which voted 21-0 to approve him after five hours of public testimony.

Gates told senators there's a window of a year or two at most before violence potentially spreads beyond Iraq's borders.

With years of public service under Republican and Democratic presidents, Gates has both critics and admirers.

"He's extremely capable," said retired army general Barry McCaffrey, one of Rumsfeld's loudest critics.

John Douglass, president of the Aerospace Industries Association of America, called Gates a "breath of fresh air."

Rumsfeld told Pentagon employees at a going-away ceremony that he expected Gates to do a good job.

Gates, a 63-year-old Kansas native, joined the CIA in 1966. He left in 1974 to join the staff of the National Security Council until 1979, when he returned to the spy agency. He rose to deputy director for intelligence in 1982.

His 1987 nomination to head the CIA was scuttled when he was accused of knowing more than he admitted about the Iran-Contra affair, in which the Reagan administration secretly sold arms to Iran in hopes of freeing hostages in Lebanon and used the money to help the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

Gates went to the White House as President Ronald Reagan's deputy national security adviser in 1989, then took over the CIA in 1991. He left Washington in 1993 and since August 2002 has been president of Texas A&M University.