U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is set to stay on in the top Pentagon job, for at least the first year of the Obama administration, ABC News reported Tuesday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates meets Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany (not seen) during an informal NATO summit of defence ministers in Budapest October 9, 2008. [Xinhua/Reuters Photo]

"It is a done deal," a source close to the process was quoted as saying.

Gates, a registered independent, has served numerous Republican administrations.

President George W. Bush nominated Gates to replace the Donald Rumsfeld after the 2006 midterm elections, when the war in Iraq was spiraling out of control.

The former Eagle Scout is expected to be rolled out immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend as part of a larger national security team expected to include Senator Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Marine Gen. Jim Jones as national security adviser and Admiral Dennis Blair as director of national intelligence and Susan Rice as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2008)