Lew Allen Jr. | |
|---|---|
 10th Chief of Staff of the Air Force (1978–1982) | |
| Born | (1925-09-30)30 September 1925 Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Died | 4 January 2010(2010-01-04) (aged 84) Potomac Falls, Virginia, U.S. |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1943–1982 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands | Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force National Security Agency Air Force Systems Command |
| Battles / wars | World War II |
| Awards | Defense Distinguished Service Medal (2) Air Force Distinguished Service Medal (2) Legion of Merit (3) |
| Other work | Jet Propulsion Laboratory President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board |
Lew Allen Jr. (30 September 1925 – 4 January 2010) was aUnited States Air Force four-stargeneral who served as the tenthChief of Staff of the United States Air Force. As chief of staff, Allen served as the senior uniformed Air Force officer responsible for the organization, training, and equipping of 750,000 active duty Air Force,Air National Guard,Air Force Reserve, and civilian personnel serving in the United States and overseas. As a member of theJoint Chiefs of Staff, he and the other service chiefs function(ed) as the military advisers to theSecretary of Defense, theNational Security Council, and thepresident.
Born inMiami, Florida, Allen attended and graduated from high school inGainesville, Texas, in 1942. He entered theUnited States Military Academy, in 1943, and he graduated in 1946 with aBachelor of Science degree and a commission as asecond lieutenant. He was awarded hispilot's wings upon his graduation from flight training.[1]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
After completing multi-engine flight training in November 1946, Allen was assigned toStrategic Air Command's 7th Bombardment Group atCarswell Air Force Base,Texas, where he flewB-29 Superfortressbombers, and then the new and very long-rangeConvair B-36 bomber. Allen also served in various technical positions in the area ofnuclear weapons. Allen also attended the Air Tactical Course atTyndall Air Force Base, Florida, and next he returned to Carswell Air Force Base as aflight instructor and as an assistant Special Weapons Officer for the 7th Bombardment Wing.
In September 1950, Allen entered theUniversity of Illinois for graduate study innuclear physics. He completed hisMaster of Science degree in 1952. Allen continued his graduate study, and he earned hisPhD inphysics in 1954 under the direction of Alfred O. Hanson. He had completed an experimentalthesis on high-energy photonuclear reactions.[2] Allen then was assigned to theU.S. Atomic Energy Commission'sLos Alamos Scientific Laboratory inLos Alamos, New Mexico, as aphysicist in the Test Division, where he became acquainted with the bomb designerTed Taylor. Allen conducted experiments in several differentnuclear test series. These experiments concerned the physics ofthermonuclear weapons design and to the effects ofhigh altitude nuclear explosions conceivably to be used forballistic missile defense.
From June 1957 to December 1961, Allen was assigned toKirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, as the science adviser to the Physics Division of the Air Force Special Weapons Center. ("Special weapons" is a euphemism for nuclear andthermonuclear bombs.) Allen specialized in the military effects of high altitude nuclear explosions and participated in several nuclear weapons test series. He was scientific director of a major experiment that utilized a large series of high-altitude rockets to measure the characteristics of electrons trapped in the geomagnetic field after an exoatmospheric nuclear burst.
Allen was assigned in December 1961 to the Office of theSecretary of Defense, Space Technology Office, in the Directorate of Research and Engineering,Washington, D.C. From June 1965 to February 1973, he was assigned to the Office of theSecretary of the Air Force, initially inLos Angeles,California, as the deputy director for advanced plans in the Directorate of Special Projects. Allen next moved toThe Pentagon in June 1968 as the deputy director of space systems, and in June 1969, he became the director. He returned to Los Angeles in September 1970 as the assistant to the director of special projects and in April 1971 became the director of special projects, with additional duty as the deputy commander for satellite programs of the Space and Missile Systems Organization.
After serving briefly as the chief of staff for theAir Force Systems Command atAndrews Air Force Base,Maryland, Allen was appointed in March 1973 as a deputy to theDirector of Central Intelligence for theIntelligence Community in Washington, D.C. In August 1973, Allen became the director of theNational Security Agency (NSA) and the chief of the Central Security Service atFort George G. Meade, Maryland. Allen's tenure as the NSA director was noteworthy in that he became the first director to ever testify publicly before Congress.[3] In August 1977, he was named commander ofAir Force Systems Command.
Allen served as theVice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from April 1978 until he became theChief of Staff of the Air Force in July 1978. His nomination was unusual in that he had never served in an overseas or combat assignment, and most of his positions were in specialized technical activities, rather than in the usual command structure of the Air Force. Also, he was the last chief of staff with a bomber background; all subsequent chiefs of staff except GeneralNorton Schwartz have been fighter pilots, and this trend is reflected by the Service's weapon budgets, which devote most funding to fighters rather than bombers.
Allen did not believe that crewed spaceflight was useful. He reportedly told amanned spaceflight engineer that he had helped cancelManned Orbiting Laboratory in the 1960s, and would have canceled theSpace Shuttle program.[4] Following his retirement from the Air Force in 1982, Allen became the director of theJet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), during part of theVoyager Program (space probes launched in 1977), and he served as the director of the JPL until 1990.
Allen was a member of theNational Academy of Engineering[5] and theCouncil on Foreign Relations.
From 1993 to 1995, Allen served as a member of thePresident's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) and theIntelligence Oversight Board.[6]
Allen was awarded the 1999 Distinguished Graduate Award of the Association of Graduates, the alumni association of West Point graduates.[6]
Allen died inPotomac Falls, Virginia, on 4 January 2010, of complications fromrheumatoid arthritis.[7] He was buried atArlington National Cemetery on March 22, 2010.[8][9]
The United States Air Force created the General Lew Allen, Jr. Trophy in Allen's honor, which is awarded annually to an Officer and a Senior NCO in the aircraft maintenance or munitions career fields directly involved with setting up aircraft sorties.[10]
In 1983, Allen received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[11][12]
Since 1986, theJet Propulsion Laboratory awards in his honor theLew Allen Award for Excellence, until 1990 called theDirector's Research Achievement Award.[13]
Minor planet4125 Lew Allen is named in his honor.[14]
 | CommandAir Force Pilot Badge |
 | MasterMissile Badge |
 | Joint Chiefs of Staff Badge |
  | Defense Distinguished Service Medal with bronzeoak leaf cluster |
 | Air Force Distinguished Service Medal with bronze oak leaf cluster |
 | Legion of Merit with two bronze oak leaf clusters |
 | Joint Service Commendation Medal |
 | Air Force Outstanding Unit Award |
 | Air Force Organizational Excellence Award |
 | National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal |
 | American Campaign Medal |
 | World War II Victory Medal |
 | National Defense Service Medal with bronzeservice star |
  | Air Force Longevity Service Award with silver and two bronze oak leaf clusters |
 | Order of National Security Merit, Gugseon Medal |
 | Order of the Phoenix (Greece) |
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromGeneral Lew Allen Jr.United States Air Force.
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Director of the National Security Agency 1973–1977 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force 1978–1982 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | 6thDirector of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory 1982 – 1990 | Succeeded by |
 | ||
 |  | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
