Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had “an excellent first meeting” with British Prime Minister David Cameron at No. 10 Downing St. here today, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said.

In a written statement, Morrell noted that Cameron is the sixth British prime minister with whom the secretary has met.

“They discussed a range of important security issues,” Morrell said, “including the war in Afghanistan, Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, and the fiscal pressures facing both our governments. They agreed to continue to work closely together to address each of these challenges.”

Cameron, 43, is the youngest British prime minister in almost 200 years. He replaced Gordon Brown after the Conservative Party gained a plurality in Parliament in a May 6 election. Brown resigned, and Cameron became prime minister in a new coalition government on May 11.

According to AFPS’ John D. Banusiewicz, while en route to London from Azerbaijan today, Gates told reporters that while he has been asking leaders of other nations to provide more trainers for Afghan police and soldiers, he had no plans to ask the United Kingdom to boost its participation in Afghanistan.

“I think with 9,500 soldiers in Afghanistan that the United Kingdom has done everything anybody could expect of it,” he said, “so I will not be making any further requests of the U.K. I think they’ve really stepped up and, as usual, have been an admirable partner.”

Tomorrow, Gates will have a working lunch with his British counterpart, Defense Secretary Liam Fox. Later that day, Gates will meet with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says the DoD is looking into European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company’s request for an extension of the Air Force’s KC-X tanker competition.

Military officials say operations to clear the Taliban from Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, are underway.

Members from Wisconsin’s Army Reserves are preparing for a deployment to Afghanistan.

Nearly 1,000 Massachusetts National Guardsmen are on duty this morning helping residents battle rising floodwaters across the state.

According to a report from the DoD Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, sexual assault in the military rose 11 percent in 2009.

The 135th Joint Sustainment Command is preparing for an influx of troops in Afghanistan by opening a trans shipment yard near Kandahar Airfield.

The Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is calling for a better balance between offensive and defensive capabilities in America’s missile defense program.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is in Mexico to discuss escalating violence along the border between the U.S. and Mexico.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell says the votes from the Iraqi election should be tallied by the end of the week.

A Wisconsin woman received the Congressional Gold Medal over the weekend to honor her service to the country as a WASP during World War II.

Iraq’s upcoming elections and the U.S. drawdown of troops there later this year will go on undeterred by suicide bombings today and previous attacks like it, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said today.

“Neither this attack nor any of the previous attempts to derail the electoral process and to destabilize the government have been or will be successful, nor do we anticipate that it will derail our responsible drawdown of forces in Iraq,” Morrell said at a Pentagon news conference.

The United States has about 96,000 servicemembers in Iraq and will maintain that level in the weeks following the March 7 national elections, Morrell said. That troop strength is necessary to provide for a peaceful transfer of power, he explained. “But once that has been established, we are prepared to draw down dramatically” to get to President Barack Obama’s goal of having 50,000 troops in Iraq by Sept. 1, he said.

Suicide bombers attacked two police stations and a hospital just outside Baghdad in Baqouba early today, reportedly killing dozens of people. “It’s disgraceful, it’s deplorable and we strongly condemn it,” Morrell said of the attack, but he added that it would not deter the election or U.S. troop drawdown.

The elections mark the third time Iraqis have gone to the polls since the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime, and the second time under the current constitution, Morrell noted. They are the first Iraqi national elections to take place without a large-scale insurgency and widespread sectarian violence, and unlike previous elections, he said, no major political parties or ethnic groups are boycotting the elections.

“This is an historic opportunity, and Iraqis recognize it as such,” he said. “We expect participation to be broad across Iraq’s ethnic and sectarian spectrum. “

The United States and international organizations, including the United Nations, are assisting the Iraqi Independent High Commission as needed, “although frankly, they haven’t needed much,” Morrell said. Iraqi forces are leading security efforts, he told reporters, and U.S. stand ready to assist them if called upon.

“The bottom line is, this is the Iraqis’ election, and all indications are that they are more than prepared to pull it off,” he said.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell speaks with reporters at the Pentagon.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will stay in office for at least another year, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell confirmed yesterday.

Gates met with President Barack Obama before Christmas and committed to another year on the job, Morrell said.

Then-President George W. Bush nominated Gates for the job in December 2006, and Obama asked the secretary to remain as defense secretary when his administration began in January 2009. Gates is the only Cabinet member to span both administrations.

Gates has worked to remake the way the Defense Department does business, and another year in office will give him another opportunity to shape the department’s budget. In the fiscal 2010 budget, for example, the secretary recommended ending the F-22 Raptor program and concentrating on the F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter. He also ended the Army’s Future Combat System and pledged the money to other Army programs.

He drove the effort to buy and rapidly deploy mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles to protect servicemembers in Iraq from roadside bombs and to provide all-terrain versions of the vehicles for troops in Afghanistan.

Gates took over at a tough time for the department, reports AFPS’ Jim Garamone. The troop surge in Iraq was just getting under way, and casualties in the fighting were mounting. Gates also was in charge when revelations about substandard conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center came out. He fired the Army secretary, the service’s surgeon general and the commander at the facility. He has concentrated attention on care for wounded warriors and putting in place systems so the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs can work together.

Amid concerns over the Air Force’s handling of its nuclear weapons, Gates asked for and received the resignations of the service’s secretary and chief of staff in June 2008.

More recently, Gates has been instrumental in developing the new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy.

As with any appointed official, Morrell noted, Gates serves at the pleasure of the president.

“[The president and Gates] agreed to revisit this issue again later this year, but for all intents and purposes, their original agreement still stands: he serves at the pleasure of the president indefinitely, and he is honored to do so, though he certainly looks forward to one day retiring to his family home in the Pacific Northwest,” Morrell said.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell speaks with reporters at the Pentagon.