You are correct. Gates is a hack of a bureaucratic cast. Nearly forty years ago after foolishly trying to implement changes to make a production system transparent which enraged a second tier manager i had a little colloquy with my boss. Who do you work for?, he asked visibly angry from getting chewed out. I work for the united States Air Force and the more generally the citizens of the United States. This produced a fit of real rage which could be summed up in a final remark. “You smart ass b-stard, you work for the person who signs your performance evaluation and you had better remember that” i really never put a lot of stock in that interpretation and it probably had something to do with my less than stellar career. Mr. Gates, however, learned that lesson early and well and has always had his antenna extended to intuit what his boss wants. For that reason as he is both very industrious and has a better than average inside the Beltway intellect he has steadily risen in the hierarchy of Washington suckups. He also never nurtured any political ambitions. Being rater satisfied to climb the bureaucratic pyramid.
As a person, Gates is a cold blooded reptile. He has no friendships only alliances that serve his interests for the moment. He is notorious for his lack of gratitude even by DC standards. He is also a notorious user of people and firmly believes that loyalty only flows up not down. A great example of a man who has based his life on telling those below him what he wanted them to believe and those above him what they wanted to hear.
Robert Gates in his cold calculating self interested way has as BO’s SecDef damaged the armed forces and the US in ways that won't be realized for a good while.