Pentagon Appointees Asked to Stay

President Bush has asked all of his appointees to submit their resignations in anticipation of the transfer to the Obama administration in January, but Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who's sticking around after the transition, wants some of his underlings to be exceptions to the rule.

The Washington Times reports that Gates has asked many of the 250 appointees at the Pentagon to stick around until the Obama team finds replacements for them.

"I have received authorization from the president-elect's transition team to extend a number of Department of Defense political appointees an invitation to voluntarily remain in their current positions until replaced," Gates said in an e-mail sent Friday.

But at least three appointees have been told that they won't get to stay, and need to vacate their offices by Jan. 20. And Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England already has announced that he won't be sticking around.