Rumsfeld Resigns Pentagon, Gates Steps In

NPR | By Tom Bowman,

Madeleine Brand

Published November 8, 2006 at 1:16 PM EST

Coming quickly on the heels of a sweeping Democratic victory in the midterm vote, President Bush says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will resign, and former CIA chief Robert Gates will take over as interim Pentagon chief pending Senate confirmation hearings.

Just last week, as he campaigned for fellow Republicans ahead of Tuesday's vote, the president vowed that Rumsfeld would remain at the Pentagon through the end of his term. But on Wednesday, Bush said he and Rumsfeld agreed that "the timing is right for new leadership" at the Pentagon.

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Tom Bowman

Tom Bowman is a NPR National Desk reporter covering the Pentagon.

See stories by Tom Bowman

Madeleine Brand

Madeleine Brand is the host of NPRs newest and fastest-growing daily show, Day to Day. She conducts interviews with newsmakers (Iraqi politicians, US senators), entertainment figures (Bernardo Bertolluci, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ricky Gervais), and the everyday people affected by the news (an autoworker laid off at GM, a mother whose son was killed in Iraq).

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