Robert Gates is likely to continue his job as defence secretary and retired Marine Gen. James Jones would be named national security adviser, the Politico news web site report disclosed.

Quoting officials in both the Democratic and Republican parties, Politico said that the announcements would be made early next week when President-elect Barrack Obama unveils a national security team including New York Senator Hillary Clinton as his nominee for Secretary of State. However, officials at Mr. Obama's transition office declined to comment on the report.

Other news outlets, including ABC and Fox, also reported that Mr. Gates would stay on at the Pentagon, which had been widely suggested as a possibility for weeks. But, sources well-aware of the developments in the transition said that they did not believe that either Mr. Gates or Gen. Jones had reached final agreements with Mr. Obama, and that there were outstanding issues unresolved for Gates in particular.

A former CIA director, Mr. Gates was president of Texas A&M University when President George W. Bush asked him to take over the U.S. Department of Defence from the combative Donald Rumsfeld in 2006.

Mr. Gates, 65, is seen by analysts as one of the last credible voices in the Bush administration. He set about putting things back on an even keel with a low-key approach that sought to build constructive relationships but also betrayed a steely firmness of purpose in the two U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.