Gates Impressed with Barack and Michelle Obama

Robert Gates, who's staying on as defense secretary, held a briefing today at the Pentagon.
He says that he met with Obama the day Obama had met with George Bush. Gates and Obama met at the fire station at the national airport, he said.
A reporter asked about Gates' opinion of Obama.
"I have been very impressed by several things," Gates said. Obama respects the military and he has reached out to military leaders, he said.
"I was impressed by him reaching out to Admiral Michael Mullen." He's made clear that he wants to reach out, Gates said.
Gates also said he is impressed by Michelle Obama's desire to reach out to military families.
A reporter asked if Gates felt strange to be a republican among democrats at yesterday's press conference on Obama's national security team.
He said it didn't feel strange and that Obama will be the 8th president that Gates has served.

The Swamp has the entire Q&A with Gates transcribed. 

Defense Secretary Robert Gates to Stay On

Robert Gates has agreed to stay and Hillary will be announced as secretary of state next week, according to Politico:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to stay on under President-elect Barack Obama, according to officials in both parties. Obama plans to announce a national-security team early next week that includes Gates at the Pentagon and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) as secretary of state, officials said.

Retired Marine Gen. James Jones, former Marine commandant and commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, will be named national security adviser, the officials said.

The national security adviser heads the National Security Council, which is the part of the White House structure that deals with foreign policy, and varies in influence from presidency to presidency. Jones insisted on – and got – a commanding role, the sources said.

Gates: U.S. Has Few Options On Russia

Swamp: It didn't seem that long ago that President Bush told the world about looking Vladimir Putin in the eye and "getting a sense of his soul."

Today, Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, brushed aside the question of whether Putin could be trusted, but he didn't exactly give the Russian prime minister a rousing endorsement.

"I have never believed that one should make national security policy on
the basis of trust," Gates said. "I think you make national security policy based on interests and on realities.

The Bush administration appears to have few options to pressure the Russians. Gates made crystal clear that U.S. military intervention is not an option and that because of commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan--as well as political sensitivities--that the U.S. was unlikely to take part in any peacekeeping mission in the region.

In his first comments since the fighting started in Georgia, Gates warned that Russia's actions could endanger Moscow-Washington relations for years to come." Gates remarks at a Pentagon news conference comes a day after Russian troops drove into the Georgian city of Gori despite publicly agreeing to stop its offensive.