Original link: Transcript: Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," May 17, 2026 / CBS.
For those that do not know Robert Gates, then he has a significant career in intelligence and defense: employee CIA 1969-1974 and 1979-1986, employee national security council 1974-1979, deputy director CIA 1986-1989 (Reagan, Bush sr), deputy national security advisor 1989-1991 (Bush sr), director CIA 1991-1993 (Bush sr), lecturing at top universities (incl. Harvard, Yale and Georgestown), secretary of defense 2006-2011 (Bush jr, Obama)