On Monday morning, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was en route to Egypt.
Over the next several days, Mr. Gates, according to the Associated Press, will be on a “delicate mission” to “reassure long-term U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf region that efforts by Washington to reach out to Iran will not come at their expense.”
He will do so under the watchful eye of Katie Couric.
CBS (PARA) News announced on Sunday night that Ms. Couric will spend the next five days shadowing Mr. Gates for a series of interviews during the trip, which will also touch down in Saudi Arabia.
Last week, in an interview with CNN, Mr. Gates was asked about Republicans criticizing President Obama for apologizing to foreign leaders for America’s actions overseas.
“I think that acknowledging that we have made mistakes is not only factually accurate, I think that it is unusual, because so few other governments in the world are willing to admit that, although they make them all the time,” Mr. Gates told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria. “And some of them make catastrophic mistakes. And in speeches myself, I have said that at times we have acted too arrogantly. And I didn’t feel that I was being apologetic for America, I just was saying, because the next—I was just saying that that’s the way we are in terms of being willing to recognize our own limitations, and when we make a mistake, to correct it.”
Whether or not more apologies are forthcoming, according to yesterday’s release, Ms. Couric will file dispatches throughout the trip for various CBS News platforms, including the CBS Evening News.
Ultimately, Ms. Couric will file an in-depth piece about Mr. Gates for 60 Minutes. According to 60 Minutes spokesperson Kevin Tedesco, the piece is slated to run on Sunday, May 17.
In the meantime, fans of Ms. Couric can check out a new video of her singing the news, courtesy of the latest Auto-Tune the News segment by Michael Gregory.
