Robert M. Gates, who formerly served as Texas A&M University president and U.S. Secretary of Defense, called for an engaged and communicative U.S. foreign policy and warned that the ongoing impeachment inquiry likely will lead to increased political polarization during remarks Wednesday inside Rudder Theatre on the A&M campus.
More than 500 people listened, and frequently laughed, as Gates — who served as the 22nd president of A&M from August 2002 to December 2006 — spoke for about 45 minutes on a host of topics, from China to cybersecurity. Bush School of Government and Public Service Dean Mark A. Welsh, who joined Gates on stage and asked him a number of questions, said it was Gates’ first appearance on the A&M campus since the death of former president George H.W. Bush nearly a year ago.
“The 4½ years that I was president here — I can say with some confidence that it was the most fun job I ever had,” Gates said. He shared, to laughter from the crowd, that as a former member of the Starbucks board of directors, he has a lifetime Starbucks pass.
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“I’ve been keeping fairly busy for a retired guy,” Gates said.
The Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at the Bush School hosted the event. Its director, Andrew Natsios, provided remarks at the outset of Gates’ appearance.
Gates said he is worried about Congress becoming further polarized due to the impeachment process.
“We have a lot of serious problems facing this country, and my worry is that this process will not only further polarize the Congress — which seems pretty hard to do at this point — but will also further distract them,” Gates said, citing unresolved questions about military and technology defense spending before Congress.
“I personally think that at a minimum, what happened with Ukraine was dishonorable, and as was said many years earlier, years before now, impeachment is basically whatever the Congress says it is,” Gates said. “I understand the desire of people to hold the president accountable, but what’s the cost?”
He noted that the impeachment processes of presidents Nixon and Clinton occurred during their second terms in office.
“I joined the [National Security Council] for the first time four months before Richard Nixon resigned. I like to say that I signed up as a deck hand on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg,” Gates said, to laughter and applause from the crowd.
Gates served as secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011, working under the leadership of presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and served as President George H.W. Bush’s CIA director from 1991 to 1993.
Gates described the late President Bush as “a genuinely warm, decent human being.”
“One of the things that was most remarkable about him was how kind he was, and how he treated everyone with respect and dignity,” he said. “He cared as much — and asked as much — about the families of the groundskeepers and housekeepers in the White House as he did of his Cabinet officers.”
Gates replied, “Absolutely not,” when Welsh asked him whether Democratic 2020 presidential candidates are “focused on the right issues.” Gates said he wanted to see candidates putting forth “reasonable” proposals dealing with immigration, education, infrastructure needs and other issues.
“On the Democratic side, in my opinion, some of the candidates are putting forward proposals that have zero possibility of being enacted,” Gates said. “It seems to me that some of these radical proposals are just whistling in the wind.”
In the second half of Gates’s appearance, Welsh asked Gates to reflect on a number of foreign policy relationships and issues. Gates expressed a desire to see U.S. support its allies and bolster nonmilitary strategic communications and other forms of influence.
“I think that one of the most serious things that’s happened to the United States in terms of foreign policy since the end of the Cold War is that we essentially — with the disappearance of the Soviet Union — dismantled virtually all of the nonmilitary instruments of power that helped us win the Cold War,” Gates said.
“One thing that started under President Obama and has been worsened under President Trump is failing to recognize the unique asset for the United States represented by our allies,” Gates said.
“When countries come to believe they can’t rely on their relationship with the United States, they begin to look for alternatives,” he added.
Regarding the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and Chinese governments, and the United States’ posture toward China overall, Gates said he thought it was important for the U.S. to keep the relationship “competitive, and not let it slide over into being completely adversarial and hostile.”
“The assumption that we have made for 40 years — that a richer China would be a freer China — was wrong,” Gates said. “One of the great ironies is that about the only place where there is bipartisan agreement in Washington is on China.”
Gates also worked as the interim dean of the Bush School from 1999 to 2001.
Welsh said after the event of Gates, “He’s remarkable.” Asked what Gates means to the Texas A&M community, Welsh replied, “I would actually start the other way around. When you talk to him about Texas A&M, you realize how much the university means to him. He talks from the heart when he talks about Texas A&M. He loves this place.”