In Transition

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday he and President-elect Barack Obama agreed his tenure at the Pentagon would be “open-ended” before Obama announced that he would stay on the job through the presidential transition.

“I have no intention of being a caretaker secretary,” Gates said. Gates, who became secretary Dec. 18, 2006, is the first Pentagon chief to stay on through a presidential transition. He said he would assist Obam’s transition team in filling subordinate posts in the department with appropriate nominees.

Intially, Gates had planned to leave the post once President Bush left office, but said he could not refuse an offer to stay on. “I spent a long time hoping the question would never be popped. I then hoped he’d change his mind. And yesterday it became a reality,” he said.