President Bush informed the nation this afternoon in a televised press conference that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is stepping down. Bush intends to nominate former CIA director Robert Gates to replace Rumsfeld. Gates currently is serving as president of Texas A&M University. Despite saying just a week ago that Rumsfeld would remain in his post, Bush today said the decision “after a series of thoughtful conversations” and was not the result of Democratic success in the mid-term elections. The President said he and Rumsfeld agreed the “time is right.”
The Air Force has finished resurrecting a B-1B Lancer, completing a yearslong process to transform a bomber that had been stored for parts in the Arizona desert into the new flagship of the 7th Bomb Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas.