James Rodney Schlesinger

James Rodney Schlesinger was born in New York City on February 15, 1929.

Schlesinger has served as the Secretary of Energy under James Earl Carter, Jr. (1977-79); Assistant to the President (1977); Secretary of Defense (1973-75); Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (1973); Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission under Richard M. Nixon (1973); Acting Deputy Director, Bureau of the Budget (later OMB), and Assistant Director (1969-71); Director of Strategic Studies (1967-1969) and Senior Staff Member (1963-1967), RAND Corporation; Consultant, U.S. Bureau of the Budget (1967-68); Consultant, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1962-63); and an Academic Consultant, U.S. Naval War College (1957).

Schlesinger serves as a Consultant to the U.S. Department of Defense; is a member of the Defense Policy Board; is a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century / Hart-Rudman Commission; is a member of the Panel to Assess the Reliability, Safety, and Security of the United States Nuclear Stockpile; a member of the Threat Advisory Committee, Department of Defense; is a member of the Global Position System Independent Review Team, U.S. Air Force; is a member of the Advisory Committee, National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy; and, most recently, on June 11, 2002, was appointed by President George Walker Bush to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

He has also served on the President's Commission on Strategic Forces (1982-83); the Governor's Commission on Virginia's Future (1982-84); and the President's Blue Ribbon Task Group On Nuclear Weapons Program Management, serving in the capacity of Vice Chairman (1984-85).

Schlesinger is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the MITRE Corporation; a Senior Advisor for Lehman Brothers; Publisher of The National Interest; a Director of BNFL, Inc., Peabody Energy, Sandia Corporation, Seven Seas Petroleum Company, and Chairman of the Executive Committee of The Nixon Center.

He is a Counselor and Trustee of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration; a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy; a Fellow, Phi Beta Kappa Fellows; a Trustee of the Atlantic Council, Center for Global Energy Studies, and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation. Schlesinger is also a member of the Board of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.


 * International Council, Belfer Center
 * Director, National Committee on United States-China Relations
 * Founding Board Member, Energy Institute of the Americas
 * Former Director (2006), United States Institute of Peace

-- Mr. Schlesinger co-chaired a task force sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) addressing the issue of a post-war Iraq. The report generated is called "Iraq: The Day After."

Also see related article: Thomas R. Pickering and James R. Schlesinger, Weighing the Price of Rebuilding Iraq, The New York Times, April 12, 2003.

Most recently, on June 25, 2003, Schlesinger and co-chair Thomas R. Pickering were noted in a CFR press release about the post-war Iraq task force: "U.S. Should Provide Iraqis and Americans With a More Coherent and Compelling Vision for Iraq's Political Future. Experts Urge President to Deliver Major Address to the Nation on Importance of Getting the Job Done Right in Post-War Iraq." -- "Mr. Schlesinger is the author of the Political Economy of National Security, 1960, America at Century's End (Columbia University Press), 1989, and numerous articles. He has been awarded eleven honorary doctorates.  Mr. Schlesinger is the recipient of the National Security Medal as well as five departmental and agency medals.  He is the winner 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 Military Order of the World Wars Distinguished Service Award, the Jimmy Doolittle Award, the William Oliver Baker Award, and the Henry M. Jackson Award for Distinguished Public Service."

At Harvard University, Schlesinger received: AB summa cum laude, (1950), AM (1952), Ph.D. (1956). He was an Assistant and Associate Professor, University of Virginia 1955-63.