Lew Allen

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Lew Allen, Jr.

10th Chief of Staff of the Air Force (1978–1982)

Born September 30, 1925

Miami, Florida

Died January 4, 2010 (aged 84)

Potomac Falls, Virginia

Buried Arlington National Cemetery

Allegiance United States

Service/branch United States Air Force

Years of service 1943–1982

Rank General

Commands held 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. (September 30, 1925 – January 4, 2010) was a United States Air
Force four-star general who served as the tenth Chief 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
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he and the other service chiefs function(ed) as the
military advisers to the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and
the President.

Contents

 1Early life and education

 2Military career
 3Retirement
 4Legacy
 5Awards and decorations
 6See also
 7References
 8External links

Early life and education[edit]

Born in Miami, Florida, Allen attended and graduated from high school
in Gainesville, Texas, in 1942. He entered the United States Military Academy,
in 1943, and he graduated in 1946 with a Bachelor of Science degree and a
commission as a second lieutenant. He was awarded his pilot's wings upon his
graduation from flight training.[1]

Military career[edit]
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After completing multi-engine flight training in November 1946, Allen was
assigned to Strategic Air Command's 7th Bombardment Group at Carswell Air
Force Base, Texas, where he flew B-29 Superfortress bombers, and then the
new and very long-range Convair B-36 bomber. Allen also served in various
technical positions in the area of nuclear weapons. Allen also attended the Air
Tactical Course at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, and next he returned to
Carswell Air Force Base as a flight instructor and as an assistant Special
Weapons Officer for the 7th Bombardment Wing.
In September 1950, Allen entered the University of Illinois for graduate study
in nuclear physics. He completed his Master of Science degree in 1952. Allen
continued his graduate study, and he earned his Ph.D. in physics in 1954. He
had completed an experimental thesis on high-energy photonuclear reactions.
Allen then was assigned to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's Los Alamos
Scientific Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, as a physicist in the Test
Division, where he became acquainted with the bomb designer Ted Taylor.
Allen conducted experiments in several different nuclear test series. These
experiments concerned the physics of thermonuclear weapons design and to
the effects of high altitude nuclear explosions conceivably to be used for ballistic
missile defense.
From June 1957 to December 1961, Allen was assigned to Kirtland 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
and thermonuclear 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 the Secretary 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 the Secretary of the Air Force, initially in Los
Angeles, California, as the Deputy Director for Advanced Plans in the
Directorate of Special Projects. Allen next moved to The 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 the Air Force Systems
Command at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, Allen was appointed in March
1973 as a deputy to the Director of Central Intelligence for the Intelligence
Community in Washington, D.C. In August 1973, Allen became the Director of
the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Chief of the Central Security
Service at Fort 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.[2] In August 1977, he was named Commander of Air Force Systems
Command.
Allen served as the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from April
1978 until he became the Chief 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 General Norton 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.

Retirement[edit]
Following his retirement from the Air Force in 1982, Allen became the Director
of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), during part of the Voyager
Program (space probes launched in 1977), and he served as the Director of the
JPL until 1990.
Allen was a member of the National Academy of Engineering[3] and the Council
on Foreign Relations.
From 1993 to 1995, Allen served as a member of the President's Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) and the Intelligence Oversight Board.[4]
Allen was awarded the 1999 Distinguished Graduate Award of the Association
of Graduates, the alumni association of West Point graduates. [4]
Allen died in Potomac Falls, Virginia, on January 4, 2010 of complications
from rheumatoid arthritis.[5] He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on
March 22, 2010.[6]

Legacy[edit]
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.[7]
Since 1986, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory awards in his honor the Lew Allen
Award for Excellence, until 1990 called the Director's Research Achievement
Award.[8]
Minor planet 4125 Lew Allen is named in his honor.[9]

Awards and decorations[edit]

Command Air Force Pilot Badge

Master Missile Badge

Joint Chiefs of Staff Badge

Defense Distinguished Service Medal with bronze oak 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 bronze service star

Air Force Longevity Service Award with silver and two bronze oak leaf clusters

Order of National Security Merit, Gugseon Medal

Unknown ribbon