James Schlesinger : CIA chief and Cabinet member, dies at 85

James R. Schlesinger, who served as U.S. secretary of defense under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before becoming the nation’s first energy chief in Jimmy Carter’s administration, has died. He was 85.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, where Schlesinger had been a trustee for more than 30 years, posted a message on its website that said: “He left an astounding mark on American security and energy policy. After leaving government, Dr. Schlesinger continued to promote a stronger and more prosperous country through his work at many policy institutions, including CSIS. We greatly mourn his passing.”

Schlesinger has been raising awareness of the peak oil issue and supports facing it. In the keynote speech at a 2007 conference hosted by the Association for the Study of Peak Oil in Cork, Schlesinger said that oil industry executives now privately concede that the world faces an imminent oil production peak.

In his 2010 ASPO-USA keynote speech, Schlesinger observed that the Peak Oil debate was over. He warned of political inaction as a major hindrance, like those in Pompeii before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

On June 5, 2008, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that he had asked Schlesinger to lead a senior-level task force to recommend improvements in the stewardship and operation of nuclear weapons, delivery vehicles and sensitive components by the US DoD following the 2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident. Members of the task force came from the Defense Policy Board and the Defense Science Board

Agencies/Canadajournal