First, I will start with the Secretary of Defense, Rober Gates.  Robert Gates' role as the Secretary of Defense entitles him in keeping the country safe from foreign invaders and helping strategize our military in getting that job done.  He was apart of the Central Intelligence Angency for many years and served in the White house for 9 years before becoming the Secretary of Defense.

Second, Secretary of State Hillary Clintons' job is to place institutional changes seeking to maximize department effectiveness and promote the empowerment worldwide.  She is the first former First Lady to ever serve in a president's cabinet.  Before all of this, she graduated from Yale Law School and married former president Bill Clinton, who I am a long distant relative of :) in 1975.