Former defense chief Robert Gates has book deal

[July 20, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has a book deal.

The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group announced Tuesday that Gates had agreed to two books, a memoir and a work on leadership. The memoir, currently untitled, is tentatively scheduled for 2013.

The 67-year-old Gates stepped down July 1 after serving as defense secretary for four-and-a-half years, first under Republican George W. Bush and then under Democrat Barack Obama.

He presided over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was involved in such key decisions as the repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the military.

[Associated Press]

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