Secretary of Defence: Robert Gates

Gates is a notable hangover from the Bush administration, keeping his job and the responsibility for America's military affairs and especially its battles overseas. It is likely that Obama intends to square his own more radical foreign policy ideas with the continuity and respect that Gates brings to the new administration. "Taking on the Pentagon, with its mega-budget and its mega-power, may be the hardest task Obama faces," says the Nation but other pundits have pointed out that keeping Gates will not make this easy. ­ He is, for example, keen on keeping US troops in Iraq. Some Democrats believe the 65-year-old former CIA chief has only been kept on to help give Obama a smooth first year in office.

LAST UPDATED 3:56 PM, JANUARY 6, 2009