Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates took to the pages of The New York Times Sunday to defend Barack Obama’s new missile-defense plan, which the president announced last week. Gates, a Republican who was appointed by President George W. Bush, called Obama’s plan to end strategic missile defense in Europe a “vastly more suitable approach” than the one taken by Bush. Gates praised Obama’s goal of implementing sea-based interceptor missiles for providing “greater flexibility.” The president’s proposal, Gates said, “is, simply put, a better way forward.”