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This is Burns Hargis back for another edition of Inside OSU. Today we have a very special guest, former secretary of defense, Robert Gates.
Also former director of the C.I.A. Robert delighted to have you with us. Thank you. You are here at OSU for the global briefings and I
understand you've made speeches in Tulsa, Oklahoma city and now Stillwater.
Y'all have worked me pretty hard. I know you can't talk much about the C.I.A.'s activities during your long tenure there, but is it as
glamourous and dramatic as the movies make it out to be?
No, it's a lot like police work in the sense that there's a lot of preparatory time and there's a lot of just grinding through the details
whether your in operations or analysis.
Of getting ready and of planning and of kind of waiting for opportunities to occur at the right timing and it's sort of like what they
describe as flying airplanes, you know it's hours and hours boredom punctuated by seconds of sheer terror.
And that is the way this business is. I will say this, I was on the analytical side and there's nothing quite like being twenty four years old
and sitting down at your, what was then a selectric typewriter, and writing a piece of analysis that you know was going to be in front of the
President of the United States the next day.
Hollywood has had a field day with stories about the C.I.A. and all these spectacular successes and some failures, but there's a movie out
right now called Argo, that recounts the rescue of a group of embassy workers that had gotten out of the embassy in Tehran when it was taken
by the students. Is that a true story? They say it's a true story.
It absolutely is. I was executive assistant to the director of the C.I.A. at the time and attending meetings when this was being planned.
In fact I ended up writing a blurb for Tony Mendes's book. It's his story and he is the protagonist. He's the guy who organized it.
Was it his idea? Yeah, pretty much. And as the line in the movie goes it was the best of a bunch of bad ideas.
It is a remarkable story of ingenuity and creativity and courage. Of all the years and all the movies about the C.I.A. that have been made,
this is one, and maybe the only one as far as I'm concerned, that is real and accurate.
There has been enormous criticism from time to time about the C.I.A. of not predicting some of these things that have happened.
Whether it was the exact moment of the Soviet Union dissolving or 9/11 or all the variety of things and of course I guess the C.I.A. is not
really able to defend itself.
Well you know in a way it was best captured by President Kennedy when he dedicated the C.I.A. headquarters and he said 'your triumphs will
remain unknown and your failures will be trumpeted'.
And I think that's proved to be a very accurate forecast. I mean the reality and one of things that I've tried to do since becoming a very
senior C.I.A. official and then secretary of defense is to remind people no one can predict the future.
What people don't realize is that most of the leaders of these countries make up their minds on this stuff at the last minute.
And influenced by aspects that we don't even think about. Let me do a lightning round. You've served eight presidents on just a
couple of words about each one that would sum up if that's fair.
It's not. Course it isn't. I'll make it easier let's start with ones you've really worked closely with rather than as a Junior C.I.A. officer.
Let's start with Reagan. Probably the only truly great President that I worked for, had a vision about how the Soviet Union could be brought
down on his watch. He was actually the only person in his own administration who believed that, but he was right. 34 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:25,000 And just this great optimist who had confidence in this country but he believed that that evil empire could be defeated and he was right.
Okay George H.W. Bush? He will someday get the credit he deserves. There is no precedent in history for a great empire collapsing without a
great war. And someday Bush will get the credit he deserves for bringing about the collapse of the Soviet Union,
the final victory in the Cold War, the liberation of Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany all without a shot being fired.
Alright, George Bush the son. A man of strong conviction, a man very confident of his own judgements, more of a gut decision maker, more
thoughtful, more intellectually curious than anybody gives him credit for.
He was always reading books and I enjoyed working for him. And Barack Obama?
Very analytical, extremely curious, one of his sayings that I heard him repeat was 'if I don't understand it, I can't defend it'.
So he always wanted more information and it could get frustrating at times because he was just a vacuum cleaner for information and sometimes
these things seemed to go on a long time. 44 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:15,000 But the other side of that coin is that when he needed to make a big decision fast he would do it and could do it.
And the other thing that surprised me about him was here's a guy who had actually never run anything before becoming President of the United
States and he embraced decision making, he relished making big decisions and he wasn't afraid to do so.
I liked what you said about a leader and the multiple definitions but the one that really meant something to you.
My dictionary lists 54 definitions but the one that I like the best is the one who acts as a guide, one who shows the way.
I think there are a number of people who are in senior positions who are what I would call really good managers that in effect manage the
status quo, make the trains run on time.
But a real leader is somebody who is in charge of a big institution says how can I lead this institution and the people who are a part of it
to a new level of excellence.
How do I make something that's already good even better, that for me is what a leader is all about.
Well and I think that for you describes you, your leadership in the C.I.A., your leadership in the department of defense, of Texas A&M
University, and at William and Mary you've certainly shown the way. And we are proud to have you on our campus. Thank you Secretary Gates.