Terri Moon Cronk at the American Forces Press Service reports offers the below piece:
WASHINGTON, March 27, 2014 - Former CIA director and defense secretary James
R. Schlesinger died from complications from pneumonia today in a Baltimore
hospital at age 85.
Schlesinger was considered a tough, forthright and outspoken leader
throughout his career.
Schlesinger was considered an exceptional candidate for the top Pentagon job.
His career history included university economics professor, the Rand Corp.
director of strategic studies, and other senior government appointments as the
former Atomic Energy Commission chairman, CIA director, and Bureau of the Budget
assistant director, where he spent time on defense issues.
By the time he was nominated as defense secretary, Schlesinger had a
formidable background in security affairs. President Richard Nixon tapped
Schlesinger to become defense secretary in May 1973, the position for which he
became best known. He took office July 2 at the young age of 44.
James Rodney Schlesinger was born Feb. 15, 1929, in New York City to a
middle-class family. He married Rachel Line Mellinger in 1954, and the couple
had eight children.
Schlesinger graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in
1950, a master's in 1952 and his doctorate in economics in 1956. Schlesinger was
described as an intelligent and strong-willed conservative, whose professorial
expertise led to controversy in his career in the federal government.
Serving as defense secretary until Nov. 19, 1975, Schlesinger was dismissed
by President Gerald R. Ford, reportedly for insubordination over his demands for
increased defense budgets, and disagreements with the administration, Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger, and the Congress.
Throughout his government career and into retirement, a large part of
Schlesinger's legacy was his goal to make certain that arms control agreements
would never put the United States in an inferior strategic defense position
against the then-Soviet Union.
Schlesinger enjoyed a rapport with U.S. military leadership, because he
fought to give them more resources, consulted with them regularly, and agreed
with many of their views. Schlesinger also opposed amnesty for draft resisters,
and pressed for development of more sophisticated nuclear weapon systems. His
support for the A-10 and the lightweight fighter program -- later the F-16 --
helped carry them to completion.
Schlesinger also realized the importance in the post-Vietnam era of
reinstituting the morale and prestige of the military services, to modernize
strategic doctrine and programs to increase research and development, and to
jumpstart a defense budget that had declined since 1968.
Because he regarded conventional forces as an equally essential element in
the deterrence posture of the United States, Schlesinger wanted to reverse what
he saw as a downward trend in conventional force strength. He said because
Soviet nuclear capabilities were nearly at parity with the United States, the
contribution to deterrence made by U.S. strategic forces had declined. He
emphasized that one of the missions of conventional forces was to deter or
defeat limited threats.
Schlesinger therefore dedicated much of his attention to NATO, noting that
its conventional capabilities must be strengthened. He didn't agree that NATO
did not need a direct counter to Warsaw Pact conventional forces because it
could rely on tactical and strategic nuclear weapons, and said nuclear near
parity between the United States and the USSR in the 1970s made that stand
inappropriate.
In his discussions with NATO leaders, Schlesinger favored qualitative
improvements in NATO forces, including equipment standardization, and an
increase in defense spending by NATO governments by up to 5 percent of their
gross national product.
Schlesinger had a succession of crises in the Pentagon that challenged his
administrative and political prowess. In October 1973, three months into his
tenure as defense secretary, Egypt and Syria launched the Yom Kippur War with a
sudden attack on Israel. Israel's military was not performing well, and the
USSR's efforts to restock the Arab antagonists complicated the situation for
Israel.
Schlesinger said U.S. policy to avert direct involvement depended on Israel
winning quickly. But as the Israelis faced large-scale military forces, the
United States became involved by resupplying the Israeli forces. A cease-fire
soon was declared, but after the USSR threatened to get involved to aid the Arab
forces, the United States declared a worldwide forces alert.
The final chapter of the Indochina conflict also took place on Schlesinger's
watch. While U.S. combat forces were out of South Vietnam in spring 1973, the
United States kept a military presence in parts of Southeast Asia.
During Schlesinger's defense secretary confirmation hearings, a handful of
senators heatedly questioned him when he said he would favor resuming U.S.
bombing in North Vietnam and Laos if the North Vietnamese launched a major
offensive against South Vietnam.
When North Vietnam did so in early 1975, however, the United States had few
resources there to help South Vietnam, and it collapsed when the North overtook
Saigon in late April of that year. It was then that Schlesinger announced the
last helicopter evacuation of U.S. diplomatic, military and civilian personnel
from Saigon.
In Schlesinger's quest to strengthen conventional and strategic U.S. military
forces, he devoted much of his time to increasing the defense budget.
He noted the Defense Department was absorbing about 6 percent of the gross
national product, the lowest percentage since before the Korean War, and that
military manpower was at its lowest since before the Korean War. Defense
spending, he said, came to about 17 percent of national spending, which was the
lowest since before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. With those figures, and
with his concern over ongoing Soviet weapons progress, Schlesinger was a
dedicated advocate of bigger defense budgets.
After leaving the Pentagon, Schlesinger wrote and spoke vehemently about
national security issues, particularly the Soviet threat and the need for the
United States to maintain adequate defenses.
When Jimmy Carter became president in January 1977, he appointed Schlesinger
as his special adviser on energy, and later as the first secretary of his new
Energy Department. After two years, Carter replaced Schlesinger at the Energy
Department.
Following his federal government career, Schlesinger resumed his writing and
speaking engagements. He was employed as a senior adviser with Lehman Bros., and
Kuhn Loeb Inc., of New York.
