Possible successors to Defense Secretary Robert Gates (10 images)

The current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is a former Senator from New York, First Lady and presidential candidate whose name is bound to show up in speculation for Robert Gates' position, as it has in rumors of Vice President Joe Biden's job.

As the current Under Secretary of Defense for Policy beneath Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Michele Flournoy runs the risk of continuing the trend of under secretaries not moving up to head of the Department of Defense, though as former under secretary Paul Wolfowitz has shown, that doesn't mean their influence cannot be widespread.

Leon Panetta is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton from 1994-1997 and is a former member of the House of Representatives, serving the state of California from 1977 to 1993. Having gone through some controversy regarding his slighter degree of experience with the intelligence community prior to being sworn in as director of the CIA, Panetta may be a dark horse for the job.

Richard Danzig is the current Chairman of the Center for a New American Security, a national security think-tank, was heavily involved in advising then-nominee Barack Obama and was the Secretary of the Navy under President Bill Clinton from 1998-2001.