U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld resigns

November 8, 2006 The Associated Press is reporting that U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is about to resign. President George W. Bush announced that he will nominate Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, as a replacement for Rumsfeld, speaking at a White House press conference at 1 p.m. today.

Rumsfeld is the second longest serving defense secretary, serving in the post from 1975 to 1977 under President Ford and under President Bush from the beginning of 2001.

"It'll be a different Congress, a different environment, moving toward a presidential election, and a lot of partisanship and it struck me that this would be a good thing for everybody", Rumsfeld told Pentagon reporters.

This is one week after President Bush told the American People that Rumsfeld was doing a fantastic job and that he wanted the secretary to stay in his job to the end of his presidency.