Lost Leader: Farewell to Jim Schlesinger

Lost Leader: Farewell to Jim Schlesinger

by Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. 1 Apr 2014, 10:02 AM PDT

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/03/31/Lost-Leader-Farewell-to-Jim-Schlesinger

There is never a good time to lose a man of the caliber, character, and vision of James R. Schlesinger. As it happens, however, the nation he loved and served for decades with such distinction is in particular need of his unique leadership at this juncture. His passing last week is a double blow.

Dr. Schlesinger was a Renaissance man with a brilliant mind deeply steeped in the study of letters, science, finance and budgetary matters, governmental policy, and the arts. He devoted most of his professional career to the study and practice of national security, starting with stints at the RAND Corporation and then the Bureau of the Budget under President Nixon.

It was Nixon who gave Jim Schlesinger his first official portfolio in the field that would define his long and distinguished career: nuclear energy and deterrence. He served as chairman of the Atomic Energy Committee, the institution that nurtured and presided over the nation’s formative years as a nuclear power. In a succession of other senior positions – including those of Director of Central Intelligence and Secretary of Defense under Republican presidents and as Secretary of Energy under a Democratic one – he brought to his posts a virtually unrivaled mastery of what it takes to have and maintain safe, reliable, and credible deterrent forces.

Dr. Schlesinger’s long experience told him that deterrence was a dynamic proposition, not a static one. He recognized the need for U.S. forces to be operated, maintained, and modernized by competent military and civilian personnel. And he understood that, to have the necessary dissuasive effect, nuclear arsenals need to be tailored to the evolving capabilities and strategic calculations of potential adversaries.

For these reasons, Jim Schlesinger steadfastly opposed during his time in the Carter administration and subsequently as an elder statesman the idea of a Comprehensive Test Ban aimed at prohibiting the underground testing needed to develop and improve America’s nuclear forces.

I had the privilege of getting to know and work closely with Dr. Schlesinger in the run-up to and during the U.S. Senate’s debate in 1999 about whether to advise and consent to a Clinton-era treaty imposing such a test ban. His articulate and authoritative critique of that accord, informed by unsurpassed personal experience with every aspect of the “nuclear enterprise” – weapons design, production, testing, deployment, and retirement – helped Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) secure an actual majority of the Senate for rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, well over the 34 votes required for that purpose.

Sadly, in the years since James Schlesinger’s tenure as Secretary of Energy came to an end in 1979, there have been few in senior positions with his acumen about nuclear deterrence, and fewer still with his dedication to preserve it. As a result, with the notable exception of the Reagan years – when much of today’s arsenal was put in place – the last thirty-five years have seen, at best, benign and, at worst, malign neglect of the nation’s nuclear forces and the industrial base required to sustain them.

Over these years, it often fell to Dr. Schlesinger to warn of the dangers of such behavior. Notably, in 2009, he co-chaired with another former Secretary of Defense, William Perry, a blue-ribbon commission on strategic forces that urged course corrections in myriad respects. These included the need for modernization of the aging nuclear stockpile and its associated weapons manufacturing and maintenance complex.

Unfortunately, President Obama has taken a very different approach. He has established as national policy the goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons. In practice, he has pursued this objective by encouraging the atrophying of America’s forces, reducing their numbers – either unilaterally or on the basis of an unverifiable New START arms control deal – and allowing the dissipation of the talent and infrastructure required to preserve the deterrent’s viability.

In recent weeks, the folly of such official policies and the wisdom of Jim Schlesinger’s contrary counsel has been born out. Under the umbrella of increasingly modern and threatening strategic nuclear forces, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has been engaging in unchecked aggression against a now nuclear-free Ukraine. Ditto China against the Philippines, Japan, and others in the Western Pacific. Meanwhile, North Korea, Iran, and other threatening powers are demonstrating that only the United States is engaged in nuclear disarmament.

At the same time, the co-chairmen of a successor to the Perry-Schlesinger Commission, former Navy Admiral Richard Meis and former Lockheed Martin chairman Norman Augustine, provided an ominous picture of “systemic disorders” that imperil the future viability of the deterrent last week before Congress. Mr. Augustine warned, “[S]ustained national commitment and focus on the entirety of the mission and the [nuclear] enterprise charged with its execution has been lacking since the end of the Cold War, as evidenced by the condition in which the enterprise finds itself today. The Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration have failed to act with a sense of urgency at obvious signs of decline in key areas.”

Meanwhile, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James reported on March 27th the findings of an internal review of a series of personnel problems involving officers responsible for intercontinental ballistic missiles in Montana. It raises questions about morale and leadership in the ranks – but not about the negative impact being had on both as a result of the Commander-in-Chief’s evident disdain for these officers’ vital mission.

In fact, we are facing a systemic crisis of leadership with regard to national security more generally, not just with respect to nuclear deterrence. This is a moment when Jim Schlesinger’s formidable intellect, his willingness to do the right thing – no matter how “politically incorrect” it may be – and his commitment to speaking truth to power, especially with regard to maintaining our nuclear forces, are more needed than ever. They are likely to be sorely missed.

Jim Schlesinger

James R. Schlesinger was the secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and the vice chair for the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Note: Chuck Hagel is the secretary at the U.S. Department of Defense for the Barack Obama administration, and was the chairman for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the New America Foundation, the International Rescue Committee, the Aspen Institute (think tank), the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Committee for Economic Development.

Harold Brown is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), a trustee emeritus at the RAND Corporation, and was the secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Frank C. Carlucci is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), a trustee emeritus at the RAND Corporation, and was the secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Paul G. Kaminski was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the under secretary for the U.S. Department of Defense, and is the chairman for the RAND Corporation.

Rita E. Hauser is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), a director at the New America Foundation, and was a trustee at the RAND Corporation.

Francis Fukuyama is a director at the New America Foundation, and a trustee at the RAND Corporation.

Robert E. Hunter is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and was a senior adviser for the RAND Corporation.

Philip Lader is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), and was a trustee at the RAND Corporation.

Colin L. Powell is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, and his son is Michael K. Powell.

Timothy F. Geithner was an overseer at the International Rescue Committee, and a trustee at the RAND Corporation.

Michael K. Powell is Colin L. Powell’s son, a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and was a trustee at the RAND Corporation.

Ann McLaughlin Korologos was the chair emeritus for the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is a trustee at the RAND Corporation.

James B. Steinberg is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), was an analyst for the RAND Corporation, the deputy secretary of state for the Barack Obama administration, and a director, foreign policy studies for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Leonard D. Schaeffer is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a trustee at the RAND Corporation.

Lee H. Hamilton is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and was a co-chair for the Iraq Study Group.

James R. Schlesinger was the vice chair for the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Norman R. Augustine is a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, and was the chairman & CEO for the Lockheed Martin Corporation.

Vernon E. Jordan Jr. was a member of the Iraq Study Group, is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), Valerie B. Jarrett’s great uncle, a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).

Cyrus F. Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a managing director for Booz Allen Hamilton.

Robert S. Osborne is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and the EVP & general counsel for Booz Allen Hamilton.

Thad W. Allen is a senior fellow at Booz Allen Hamilton, and was a senior fellow at the RAND Corporation.

Valerie B. Jarrett is Vernon E. Jordan Jr’s great niece, the senior adviser for the Barack Obama administration, and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.

R. Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley Austin LLP

Michelle Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.

Barack Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.

Newton N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was the chairman for the RAND Corporation.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the RAND Corporation, and the Committee for Economic Development.

Ronald L. Olson is a trustee at the RAND Corporation, and was a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

James E. Rohr is a trustee at the RAND Corporation, and a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

James A. Thomson was the president & CEO for the RAND Corporation, and is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development.

Richard H. Davis is a trustee at the Committee for Economic Development, and a managing director at Davis Manafort.

Viktor F. Yanukovich is a Davis Manafort client, and was the president of the Ukraine.

Carlos Pascual was a U.S. ambassador for the Ukraine, and the VP for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Steven Pifer was a U.S. ambassador for the Ukraine, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Leonard D. Schaeffer is a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a trustee at the RAND Corporation.

James B. Steinberg was a director, foreign policy studies for the Brookings Institution (think tank), an analyst for the RAND Corporation, the deputy secretary of state for the Barack Obama administration, and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).