Photo: AFP/Sydney Morning HeraldFrom the Department Of Defense:
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2008 – While Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will stay in office in President-elect Barack Obama’s administration, other Bush administration political appointees will move on, a Pentagon spokesman said today.
More than 600 political appointees work in the Defense Department, 49 of them in positions requiring Senate confirmation. The Senate confirmed Gates in December 2006, and he does not have to go through that process again.
During a news roundtable yesterday, Gates said the vast majority of political appointees will leave Jan. 20 as planned. Others will remain until their successors are named and confirmed, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters today.
“There may be a very small number of folks that are asked to stay beyond that,” Whitman added.
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My Comment: of course he is going to lead the team .... he is the Defense Secretary.