---
aliases:
- James Schlesinger
born: 1929-02-15
category: Intelligence & Government
created: 2025-08-05
died: 2014-03-27
location: New York City, New York
relations:
- end: 1973
  fn: 1
  role: chairman
  start: 1971
  type: head_of
  with: '[[Atomic Energy Commission]]'
- end: 1973-07-02
  fn: 2
  role: Director of Central Intelligence
  start: 1973-02-02
  type: head_of
  with: '[[Central Intelligence Agency]]'
- end: 1975-11
  fn: 1
  role: Secretary of Defense
  start: 1973-07
  type: head_of
  with: '[[Department of Defense]]'
- end: 1979-08-23
  fn: 1
  role: first Secretary of Energy
  start: 1977-08-06
  type: head_of
  with: '[[Department of Energy]]'
summary: Economist who chaired the Atomic Energy Commission, directed the CIA in 1973
  and ordered the Family Jewels compilation, and served as Secretary of Defense and
  the first Secretary of Energy.
tags:
- Person
- CIA
- Nuclear
- DepartmentOfDefense
- FamilyJewels
updated: 2026-09-22
---

James R. Schlesinger was born in New York City on February 15, 1929, and took a doctorate at Harvard in 1956. He chaired the [Atomic Energy Commission](/organizations/atomic-energy-commission/) from 1971 to 1973, directed the [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) in 1973, was Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975, and after serving as an assistant to President [Jimmy Carter](/people/jimmy-carter/) was confirmed on August 4, 1977, as the first Secretary of Energy, holding the office from August 6, 1977, to August 23, 1979.[^1]

### Director of Central Intelligence

Schlesinger was Director of Central Intelligence from February 2 to July 2, 1973. On May 9, 1973, he signed a memorandum, drafted by [William Colby](/people/william-colby/), ordering senior officers to report any current or past activities "which might be construed to be outside the legislative charter of this Agency"; the replies became the 693-page compilation known as the [Family Jewels](/events/cia-family-jewels/), which passed to Colby when he succeeded Schlesinger.[^2][^3] In the same weeks the question of the agency's parapsychology research at SRI reached him; [Kenneth A. Kress](/people/kenneth-a-kress/) wrote that he "was soon told not to increase the scope of the project. The project was too sensitive and potentially embarrassing. It should be tabled."[^4] Testifying about [Watergate](/events/watergate/), [James McCord](/people/james-mccord/) said his lawyer, Gerald Alch, had proposed a defense under which the agency would supply a recall-to-duty record and that "the new Director, Dr. Schlesinger, 'would go along with it'"; Alch denied it.[^5]

### Secretary of Defense

During the [Yom Kippur War](/events/yom-kippur-war/) of 1973, [Henry A. Kissinger](/people/henry-a-kissinger/) told Schlesinger that his goal was to "let [Israel](/places/israel/) come out ahead, but bleed." Schlesinger noted that Israel's ammunition consumption had been gauged for a seven-day war, and concluded from Kissinger's sudden push for resupply that Israeli use of a nuclear weapon was not out of the question.[^6] After the *Glomar Explorer* operation leaked in March 1975, Schlesinger recommended at the [White House](/places/white-house/) acknowledging the "bare facts"; President [Gerald R. Ford](/people/gerald-r-ford/) took Colby's advice instead.[^7] In November 1975 Ford removed both Colby and Schlesinger in the same announcement.[^3]

[^1]: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Legacy Management, "Secretaries of Energy." https://www.energy.gov/lm/secretaries-energy
[^2]: Blanton, Thomas, ed. "The CIA's Family Jewels," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 222, June 21, 2007, with Schlesinger's memorandum of May 9, 1973. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB222/index.htm
[^3]: Central Intelligence Agency, "Family Jewels," CIA FOIA Reading Room, released 2007; Weiner, Tim. *Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.* Doubleday, 2007, pp. 316-327.
[^4]: Kress, Kenneth A. "Parapsychology in Intelligence: A Personal Review and Conclusions." *Studies in Intelligence,* vol. 21, no. 4, winter 1977, declassified.
[^5]: House Committee on Armed Services, Special Subcommittee on Intelligence, report on the inquiry into the alleged involvement of the CIA in the Watergate and Ellsberg matters, October 23, 1973.
[^6]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy.* Random House, 1991, ch. 17.
[^7]: Burr, William, ed. "Project Azorian: The CIA's Declassified History of the Glomar Explorer." National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 305, February 12, 2010.