I thought cabinet officers are supposed to be clear thinking and speaking decision-makers:

Maybe I just miss the nuance here:

Defense Secretary Gates to George Stephanopoulos, for ABC's 'This Week': '[M]y personal opinion is that the Iranians have the intention of having nuclear weapons. I think the question of whether they have made a formal decision to move towards the development of nuclear weapons, uh, is in doubt.'

Gates, to John King for CNN's 'State of the Union': 'The reality is, there is no military option that does anything more than buy time. The estimates are one to three years or so. And the only way you end up not having a nuclear-capable Iran is for the Iranian government to decide that their security is diminished by having those weapons, as opposed to strengthened.'