James R . Schlesinger Dr . James Rodney Schlesinger ( born February 15 , 1929 ) is an American public servant . He is best known for serving as Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford . He became America ' s first Secretary of Energy under Jimmy Carter . While Secretary of Defense , he opposed amnesty for draft resisters , and pressed for development of more sophisticated nuclear weapon systems . Additionally , his support for the A - 10 and the lightweight fighter program ( later the F - 16 ) helped ensure that they were carried to completion . Early life and career . James Rodney Schlesinger was born in New York City , the son of Jewish parents , Julius and Rhea Lillian Schlesinger . His mother was a Lithuanian emigrant from what was then part of the Russian Empire . James was educated at the Horace Mann School and Harvard University , where he earned a B . A . ( 1950 ) , M . A . ( 1952 ) , and Ph . D . ( 1956 ) in economics . Between 1955 and 1963 he taught economics at the University of Virginia and in 1960 published " The Political Economy of National Security . " In 1963 , he moved to the Rand Corporation , where he worked until 1969 , in the later years as director of strategic studies . Nixon Administration . In 1969 , Schlesinger joined the Nixon administration as assistant director of the Bureau of the Budget , devoting most of his time to Defense matters . In 1971 , President Nixon appointed Schlesinger a member of the Atomic Energy Commission ( AEC ) and designated him as chairman . Serving in this position for about a year and a half , Schlesinger instituted extensive organizational and management changes in an effort to improve the AEC ' s regulatory performance . Director of Central Intelligence ( 1973 ) . On February 2 , 1973 , he became Director of Central Intelligence , after Richard Helms , the previous director , had been fired for his refusal to block the Watergate investigation . He had no experience of intelligence at that time . Schlesinger ' s first words upon becoming DCI were , reportedly , " I ' m here to make sure you don ' t screw Richard Nixon . " Although his CIA service was short , barely six months , it was stormy as he again undertook comprehensive organizational and personnel changes . He became so unpopular at CIA Headquarters in Langley , Virginia that a security camera had to be installed opposite his official portrait because of fears that it would be vandalized . Secretary of Defense ( 1973 – 1975 ) . Schlesinger left the CIA to become Secretary of Defense on July 2 , aged 44 . As a university professor , researcher at Rand , and government official in three agencies , he had acquired an impressive resume in national security affairs . Nuclear strategy . Shortly after assuming office , Schlesinger outlined the basic objectives that would guide his administration : maintain a " strong defense establishment " ; " assure the military balance so necessary to deterrence and a more enduring peace " ; obtain for members of the military " the respect , dignity and support that are their due " ; assume " an . . . obligation to use our citizens ' resources wisely " ; and " become increasingly competitive with potential adversaries . . . [ W ] e must not be forced out of the market on land , at sea , or in the air . Eli Whitney belongs to us , not to our competitors . " In particular , Schlesinger saw a need in the post - Vietnam era to restore the morale and prestige of the military services ; modernize strategic doctrine and programs ; step up research and development ; and shore up a DoD budget that had been declining since 1968 . Analyzing strategy , Schlesinger maintained that the theory and practice of the 1950s and 1960s had been overtaken by events , particularly the rise of the Soviet Union to virtual nuclear parity with the United States and the effect this development had on the concept of deterrence . Schlesinger believed that " deterrence is not a substitute for defense ; defense capabilities , representing the potential for effective counteraction , are the essential condition of deterrence . " He had grave doubts about the assured destruction strategy , which relied on massive nuclear attacks against an enemy ' s urban - industrial areas . Credible strategic nuclear deterrence , the secretary felt , depended on fulfilling several conditions : maintaining essential equivalence with the Soviet Union in force effectiveness ; maintaining a highly survivable force that could be withheld or targeted against an enemy ' s economic base in order to deter coercive or desperation attacks against U . S . population or economic targets ; establishing a fast - response force that could act to deter additional enemy attacks ; and establishing a range of capabilities sufficient to convince all nations that the United States was equal to its strongest competitors . To meet these needs , Schlesinger built on existing ideas in developing a flexible response nuclear strategy , which , with the President ' s approval , he made public by early 1974 . The United States , Schlesinger said , needed the ability , in the event of a nuclear attack , to respond so as to " limit the chances of uncontrolled escalation " and " hit meaningful targets " without causing widespread collateral damage . The nation ' s assured destruction force would be withheld in the hope that the enemy would not attack U . S . cities . In rejecting assured destruction , Schlesinger quoted President Nixon : " Should a President , in the event of a nuclear attack , be left with the single option of ordering the mass destruction of enemy civilians , in the face of the certainty that it would be followed by the mass slaughter of Americans ? " With this approach , Schlesinger moved to a partial counterforce policy , emphasizing Soviet military targets such as ICBM missile installations , avoiding initial attacks on population centers , and minimizing unintended collateral damage . He explicitly disavowed any intention to acquire a destabilizing first - strike capability against the USSR . But he wanted " an offensive capability of such size and composition that all will perceive it as in overall balance with the strategic forces of any potential opponent . " Schlesinger devoted much attention to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation , citing the need to strengthen its conventional capabilities . He rejected the old assumption that NATO did not need a direct counter to Warsaw Pact conventional forces because it could rely on tactical and strategic nuclear weapons , noting that the approximate nuclear parity between the United States and the Soviets in the 1970s made this stand inappropriate . He rejected the argument that NATO could not afford a conventional counterweight to Warsaw Pact forces . In his discussions with NATO leaders , Schlesinger promoted the concept of burden - sharing , stressing the troubles that the United States faced in the mid - 1970s because of an unfavorable balance of international payments . He urged qualitative improvements in NATO forces , including equipment standardization , and an increase in defense spending by NATO governments of up to five percent of their gross national product . Yom Kippur War and Cyprus crisis . Schlesinger had an abiding interest in strategic theory , but he also had to deal with a succession of immediate crises that tested his administrative and political skills . In October 1973 , three months after he took office , Arab countries launched a surprise attack on Israel and started the Yom Kippur War . A few days after the war started , with Israel not faring as well as expected militarily , the Soviets resupplying some Arab countries and the Israeli government having authorized the use and assembly of nuclear weapons , the United States began an overt operation to airlift materiel to Israel . As Schlesinger explained , the initial U . S . policy to avoid direct involvement rested on the assumption that Israel would win quickly . But when it became clear that the Israelis faced more formidable military forces than anticipated , and could not meet their own resupply arrangements , the United States took up the burden . Schlesinger rejected charges that the Defense Department delayed the resupply effort to avoid irritating the Arab states and that he had had a serious disagreement over this matter with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger . Eventually the combatants agreed to a cease - fire , but not before the Soviet Union threatened to intervene on the Arab side , because of Israeli advances after the agreed - upon cease - fire , and the United States declared a higher level worldwide alert of its forces . Another crisis flared in July 1974 within the NATO alliance when Turkish forces , concerned about the long - term lack of safety for the minority Turkish community , invaded Cyprus after the Cypriot National Guard , supported by the government of Greece , overthrew President Archbishop Makarios . When the fighting stopped , the Turks held the northern portion of country and about 40 percent of the island . Turkey ' s military action caused controversy in the United States , because of protests and lobbying by supporters of the Greek Cypriot side and , officially , because Turkish forces used some U . S . - supplied military equipment intended solely for NATO purposes . He felt the Turks had overstepped the bounds of legitimate NATO interests in Cyprus and suggested that the United States might have to reexamine its military aid program to Turkey . During this time , President Gerald R . Ford had succeeded Nixon after his resignation ; eventually Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made it clear with two presidential vetoes that they favored continued military assistance to Turkey as a valued NATO ally , but Congress overrode both vetoes and in December 1974 prohibited such aid , which instituted an arms embargo that lasted five years . Indochina . The last phase of the Indochina conflict occurred during Schlesinger ' s tenure . Although all U . S . combat forces had left South Vietnam in the spring of 1973 , the United States continued to maintain a military presence in other areas of Southeast Asia . Some senators criticized Schlesinger and questioned him sharply during his confirmation hearings in June 1973 after he stated that he would recommend resumption of U . S . bombing in North Vietnam and Laos if North Vietnam launched a major offensive against South Vietnam . However , when the North Vietnamese did begin an offensive early in 1975 , the United States could do little to help the South Vietnamese , who collapsed completely as the North Vietnamese entered Saigon in late April . Schlesinger announced early in the morning of 29 April 1975 the evacuation from Saigon by helicopter of the last U . S . diplomatic , military , and civilian personnel . Only one other notable event remained in the Indochina drama . In May 1975 Khmer Rouge forces boarded and captured the crew of the " Mayaguez " , an unarmed U . S . - registered freighter . The United States bombarded military and fuel installations on the Cambodian mainland while Marines landed by helicopter on an offshore island to rescue the crew . The 39 captives were retrieved , but the operation cost the lives of 41 U . S . military personnel . Nevertheless , the majority of the American people seemed to approve of the administration ' s decisive action . Defense budget . Unsurprisingly , given his determination to build up U . S . strategic and conventional forces , Schlesinger devoted much time and effort to the Defense budget . Even before becoming secretary , in a speech in San Francisco in September 1972 , he warned that it was time " to call a halt to the self - defeating game of cutting defense outlays , this process , that seems to have become addictive , of chopping away year after year . " Shortly after he took office , he complained about " the post - war follies " of Defense budget - cutting . Later he outlined the facts about the DoD budget : In real terms it had been reduced by one - third since FY 1968 ; it was one - eighth below the pre - Vietnam War FY 1964 budget ; purchases of equipment , consumables , and R & D were down 45 percent from the wartime peak and about $ 10 billion in constant dollars below the prewar level ; Defense now absorbed about 6 percent of the gross national product , the lowest percentage since before the Korean War ; military manpower was at the lowest point since before the Korean War ; and Defense spending amounted to about 17 percent of total national expenditures , the lowest since before the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 . Armed with these statistics , and alarmed by continuing Soviet weapon advances , Schlesinger became a vigorous advocate of larger DoD budgets . But he had little success . For FY 1975 , Congress provided TOA of $ 86 . 1 billion , compared with $ 81 . 6 billion in FY 1974 ; for FY 1976 , the amount was $ 95 . 6 billion , an increase of 3 . 4 percent , but in real terms slightly less than it had been in FY 1955 . Dismissal as Secretary of Defense . Schlesinger ' s insistence on higher defense budgets , his disagreements within the administration and with Congress on this issue , and his differences with Secretary of State Kissinger all contributed to his dismissal from office by President Ford in November 1975 . Schlesinger ' s legacy included the development of the close - air support aircraft the A - 10 , and the lightweight F - 16 fighter . Kissinger strongly supported the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks process , while Schlesinger wanted assurances that arms control agreements would not put the United States in a strategic position inferior to the Soviet Union . The secretary ' s harsh criticism of some congressional leaders dismayed President Ford , who was more willing than Schlesinger to compromise on the Defense budget . On 2 November 1975 , the president dismissed Schlesinger and made other important personnel changes . Kissinger lost his position as special assistant to the President for national security affairs but remained as secretary of state . Schlesinger left office on 19 November 1975 , explaining his departure in terms of his budgetary differences with the White House . The unreported , but important , main reason behind Schlesinger ' s dismissal , though , was his insubordination toward President Ford . During the " Mayaguez " incident , Ford ordered several retaliatory strikes against the Cambodians . Schlesinger told Ford the strikes were carried out , but Ford later learned that Schlesinger , who disagreed with the order , had none of them carried out . According to Bob Woodward ' s 1999 book , " Shadow " , Ford let the incident go , but when Schlesinger committed further insubordination on other matters , Ford finally fired him . In spite of the controversy surrounding both his tenure and dismissal , Schlesinger was by most accounts an able secretary of defense . A serious and perceptive thinker on nuclear strategy , he was determined that the United States not fall seriously behind the Soviet Union in conventional and nuclear forces and devoted himself to modernization of defense policies and programs . He got along well with the military leadership because he proposed to give them more resources , consulted with them regularly , and shared many of their views . Because he could be blunt in his opinions and did not enjoy the personal rapport with legislators that prior Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird had , his relations with Congress were often strained . A majority of its members may have approved Schlesinger ' s strategic plans , but they kept a tight rein on the money for his programs . As for the Pentagon bureaucracy , Schlesinger generally left its management to Deputy Secretary of Defense William P . Clements . Secretary of Energy ( 1977 - 79 ) . After leaving the Pentagon , Schlesinger wrote and spoke forcefully about national security issues , especially 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 , a Republican , as his special adviser on energy and subsequently as the first Secretary of Energy in October 1977 . According to one account , " Schlesinger impressed candidate Jimmy Carter with his brains , his high - level experience . . . and with secrets regarding the defense spending vacillations of his old boss , Ford , just in time for the presidential debates . " As Energy Secretary , Schlesinger launched the Department ' s Carbon Dioxide Effects and Assessment Program shortly after the creation of that department in 1977 . Secretary Schlesinger also oversaw the integration of the energy powers of more than 50 agencies , such as the Federal Energy Administration and the Federal Power Commission . In July 1979 , Carter replaced him as part of a broader Cabinet shakeup . According to journalist Paul Glastris , " Carter fired Schlesinger in 1979 in part for the same reason Gerald Ford had — he was unbearably arrogant and impatient with lesser minds who disagreed with him , and hence inept at dealing with Congress . " Post - government activities . After leaving the Energy Department , he resumed his writing and speaking career and was employed as a senior adviser to Lehman Brothers , Kuhn , Loeb Inc . , of New York City . He advised Congressman and presidential candidate Richard Gephardt in 1988 . On June 11 , 2002 he was appointed by U . S . President George W . Bush to the Homeland Security Advisory Council . He also serves as a consultant to the United States Department of Defense , and is a member of the Defense Policy Board . On January 5 , 2006 , he participated in a meeting at the White House of former Secretaries of Defense and State to discuss United States foreign policy with Bush administration officials . On January 31 , 2006 he was appointed by the Secretary of State to be a member of the Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board . On May 2 , 2006 , he was named to be a co - chairman of a Defense Science Board study on DOD Energy Strategy . He is an honorary chairman of The OSS Society . He was also a Bilderberg Group attendee in 2008 . In 2007 , NASA Administrator Michael Griffin appointed Schlesinger as Chairman of the National Space - based Positioning , Navigation , and Timing ( PNT ) Advisory Board . The ' PNT Board ' is composed of recognized Global Positioning System ( GPS ) experts from outside the U . S . government that advise the Deputy Secretary level PNT Executive Committee in their oversight management of the GPS constellation and its governmental augmentations . On June 5 , 2008 , Defense Secretary Robert Gates appointed Schlesinger to head a task force to ensure the " highest levels " of control over nuclear weapons . The purpose of the review is to prevent a repeat of recent incidents where control was lost over components of nuclear weapons , and even nuclear weapons themselves . Schlesinger is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The MITRE Corporation ; on the advisory board of " The National Interest " ; a Director of BNFL , Inc . , Peabody Energy , Sandia Corporation , Seven Seas Petroleum Company , Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Nixon Center . He is also on the Advisory Board of GeoSynFuels , LLC . He has written a number of opinion pieces on global warming , expressing a strongly skeptical position . Peak Oil . Schlesinger has been raising awareness of the peak oil issue and supports facing it . In the keynote speech at a 2007 conference hosted by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil in Cork , Schlesinger said that oil industry executives now privately concede that the world faces an imminent oil production peak . In his 2010 ASPO - USA keynote speech , Schlesinger observed that the Peak Oil debate was over . He warned of political inaction as a major hindrance , like those in Pompeii before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius . On June 5 , 2008 , U . S . Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that he had asked Schlesinger to lead a senior - level task force to recommend improvements in the stewardship and operation of nuclear weapons , delivery vehicles and sensitive components by the US DoD following the 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident . Members of the task force came from the Defense Policy Board and the Defense Science Board . Personal life . In 1954 , Schlesinger married Rachel Line Mellinger ( born February 27 , 1930 – died October 11 , 1995 ) ; they had eight children : Cora ( 1955 ) , Charles ( 1956 ) , Ann ( 1958 ) , William ( 1959 ) , Emily ( 1961 ) , Thomas ( 1964 ) , Clara ( 1966 ) , and James ( 1970 ) . Rachel Schlesinger was an accomplished violinist and board member of the Arlington Symphony . In the early 1990s , she was a leader in the fundraising effort to create a premier performing arts center on the Virginia side of the Potomac River . She died before seeing the center ' s completion . Subsequent to her death , Dr . Schlesinger donated $ 1 million to have the center named in his wife ' s memory . The Rachel M . Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center at Northern Virginia Community College , Alexandria Campus opened in September , 2001 . It is an up to date building that features the Mary Baker Collier Theatre , the Margaret W . and Joseph L . Fisher Art Gallery , the Wachovia Forum and Seminar Room spaces . Clients of the Schlesinger Center include the Alexandria Symphony , the United States Marine Band , “ The President ’ s Own , ” and the U . S . Marine Chamber Orchestra , the United States Army Band , “ Pershing ’ s Own , “ and the U . S . Army Strings , the United States Navy Band , the New Dominion Chorale , the American Balalaika Symphony , Festivals of Music , various ethnic groups and many , many others .