Defense Secretary Robert Gates will speak at in Manhattan in November as part of Kansas State University’s Landon Lecture Series.

Gates is scheduled to give the speech, which is free and open to the public, on Nov. 26 at McCain Auditorium.

Recent Landon Lecture speakers from the Department of Defense have included former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Kansas State alum Gen. Richard Myers, who went on to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

A Kansas native, Gates became secretary of defense Dec. 18, 2006, after serving as president of Texas A&M University since August 2002. He served as director of the CIA, assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for President George H.W. Bush, and worked in the CIA for 27 years.