Defense Secretary Robert Gates will deliver the commencement address to graduating cadets at Virginia Military Institute.

School officials said more than 250 cadets are to receive their diplomas during Friday's ceremony. About half of them will be commissioned into military service, and several cadets from other countries will be commissioned into their nations' militaries.

VMI Superintendent J.H. Binford Peay III said Gates' career is an example of the spirit of public service that the school wants its cadets to follow.

Gates spent nearly 27 years with the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Council. He was president of Texas A&M University when he was named secretary of defense late in 2006.