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Dr. James R. Schlesinger currently divides his time between MITRE and the investment banking firm of Lehman Brothers, where he serves as senior advisor. He is also a consultant to the Departments of Defense, State, and Homeland Security, and a member of the Defense Policy Board, the Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisory Board, and the Homeland Security Advisory Council.
Dr. Schlesinger is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy. He is a director for Peabody Energy, KFx, Inc, and Sandia National Corporation. He is also a counselor and trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a trustee at the Atlantic Council, the Nixon Center, the National Cryptologic Museum Foundation, the Center for Global Energy Studies, and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.
Dr. Schlesinger was the nation's first secretary of energy, taking the oath of office one day after President Carter signed the legislation creating the new department. He served in this position from August 5, 1977 until 1979. In the previous year, President-elect Carter had asked Dr. Schlesinger to become assistant to the president, charged with the responsibility of drafting a plan for the establishment of the Department of Energy and a national energy policy.
From July 1973 to November 1975 Dr. Schlesinger was secretary of defense. Immediately prior to this appointment, he served as director of central intelligence. In August 1971 he was selected by President Nixon to become chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, a position he held until February 1973.
Dr. Schlesinger began his government service in 1969 as assistant director of the U.S. Bureau of the Budget (later the Office of Management and Budget), where he also served as acting deputy director.
He was a senior staff member at the RAND Corporation from 1963 to 1967, and RAND's director of strategic studies from 1967 to 1969. He also served as consultant to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and to the Bureau of the Budget.
From 1955 to 1963 he was assistant and then associate professor of economics at the University of Virginia.
Dr. Schlesinger has also served on many government commissions and advisory groups. From 1999 to 2003 he was a member of the Panel to Assess the Reliability, Safety, and Security of the U.S. Nuclear Stockpile, and from 1998 to 2001 he was a member of the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century (Hart-Rudman Commission). He recently served as co-chair of Defense Science Board Task Force on the Future of the Global Positioning System. He also served on an independent team reviewing the Global Positioning System for the U.S. Air Force. He was vice chairman of the President's Blue Ribbon Task Group on Nuclear Weapons Program Management (1984–1985), and served on the Governor's Commission on Virginia's Future (1982–1984) and the President's Commission on Strategic Forces (1982–1983).
Dr. Schlesinger has been awarded eleven honorary doctorates. He is the recipient of the National Security Medal, as well as five departmental and agency medals. He is the recipient of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Distinguished Service Medal, the George Catlett Marshall Medal, the H. H. Arnold Award, the Navy League's National Meritorious Citation, the Distinguished Service Award of the Military Order of the Carabao, the Jimmy Doolittle Award, the Military Order of the World Wars Distinguished Service Award, the Henry M. Jackson Award for Distinguished Public Service, and the William Oliver Baker Award.
Dr. Schlesinger is the author of The Political Economy of National Security, 1960, America at Century's End, 1989, and numerous articles.
In 1950 Dr. Schlesinger received a bachelor of arts degree summa cum laude from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was selected for the Frederick Sheldon Prize Fellowship. He received his master of arts and doctoral degrees from Harvard University in 1952 and 1956, respectively.
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