Obama plans to retain Defence Secretary Gates

Confirming weeks of speculation and apparently making good on his promise to appoint at least one Republican to a senior executive position, US President-elect Barack Obama has decided to retain Defence Secretary Robert M Gates, it was reported Tuesday.

Should Gates accept, it would mark the first time a defence secretary is carried over from one administration to the next, when one administration is Republican and the other Democrat.

Given the critical nature of the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus Obama's pledge to pursue a bipartisan agenda, the move had been expected by many Washington DC insiders.