View source for Lew Allen

{{short description|US Air Force general (1925–2010)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Lew Allen Jr.
| image         = General Lew Allen, official military photo.jpg
| image_size    = 
| alt           = 
| caption       = 10th Chief of Staff of the Air Force (1978–1982)
| nickname      = 
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1925|9|30|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [[Miami, Florida]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2010|1|4|1925|9|30|df=y}}
| death_place   = [[Potomac Falls, Virginia]], U.S.
| placeofburial = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| allegiance    = United States
| branch        = [[United States Air Force]]
| serviceyears  = 1943–1982
| rank          = [[General (United States)|General]]
| servicenumber = 
| unit          = 
| commands      = [[Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force]]<br />[[Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force]]<br />[[National Security Agency]]<br />[[Air Force Systems Command]]
| battles       = [[World War II]]
| awards        = [[Defense Distinguished Service Medal]] (2)<br />{{nowrap|[[Air Force Distinguished Service Medal]] (2)}}<br />[[Legion of Merit]] (3)
| relations     = 
| laterwork     = [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]<br />[[President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board]]
}}
'''Lew Allen Jr.''' (30 September 1925 – 4 January 2010) was a [[United States Air Force]] four-star [[General (United States)|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 [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]], the [[National Security Council (USA)|National Security Council]], and the [[President of the United States|president]].

==Early life and education==
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#United States|second lieutenant]]. He was awarded his [[United States Aviator Badge|pilot's wings]] upon his graduation from flight training.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/107824/lew-allen-jr/ |title=General Lew Allen Jr.|work=Air Force |publisher=Official Website of the US Air Force |access-date=2014-06-25 }}</ref>

==Military career==
{{more citations needed section|date=January 2013}}
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]] [[bomber]]s, and then the new and very long-range [[Convair B-36]] bomber. Allen also served in various technical positions in the area of [[nuclear weapon]]s. 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 at Urbana–Champaign|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 [[PhD]] in [[physics]] in 1954 under the direction of Alfred O. Hanson. He had completed an experimental [[thesis]] on high-energy photonuclear reactions.<ref>{{cite thesis |title=Photo Disintegration of Deuterium by Ninety-Five Mev X-Rays |first=Lew Jr. |last=Allen |year=1954 |institution=[[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign]] |degree=PhD |hdl=2142/76253 |oclc=10908672 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/aa558168af3cca0b289e2fec62cf197a/}}</ref> 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 (physicist)|Ted Taylor]]. Allen conducted experiments in several different [[nuclear test]] series. These experiments concerned the physics of [[thermonuclear weapon]]s design and to the effects of [[high altitude nuclear explosion]]s 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 [[United States Secretary of Defense|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 [[United States Intelligence Community|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.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bamford|first=James|year=1983|title=The Puzzle Palace|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company|location=New York|isbn=0-14-006748-5|pages=111–112}}</ref> 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 U.S. Air Force|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==
Allen did not believe that crewed spaceflight was useful. He reportedly told a [[Manned Spaceflight Engineer|manned spaceflight engineer]] that he had helped cancel [[Manned Orbiting Laboratory]] in the 1960s, and would have canceled the [[Space Shuttle program]].<ref name="cassutt">{{Cite magazine |last=Cassutt |first=Michael |date=August 2009 |title=The Secret Space Shuttles |url=https://www.airspacemag.com/space/secret-space-shuttles-35318554/ |magazine=Air & Space |language=en |access-date=2021-06-19}}</ref> 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]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nae.edu/nae/naepub.nsf/Members+By+UNID/FC59400336B81DCD852569E00060F1FA?opendocument |title=Dr. Lew Allen Jr. |publisher=National Academy of Engineering |access-date=2006-07-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615043313/http://www.nae.edu/nae/naepub.nsf/Members%2BBy%2BUNID/FC59400336B81DCD852569E00060F1FA?opendocument |archive-date=2006-06-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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]].<ref name="multi1">{{cite web|year=1999|title=Association of Graduates, USMA|work=1999 Distinguished Graduate Award|url=http://www.aogusma.org/aog/awards/DGA/99cit/L-Allen.htm|access-date=2006-04-15|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20060410115112/http://www.aogusma.org/aog/awards/DGA/99cit/L-Allen.htm|archive-date=2006-04-10}}</ref>

Allen was awarded the 1999 Distinguished Graduate Award of the Association of Graduates, the alumni association of West Point graduates.<ref name="multi1" />

Allen died in [[Potomac Falls, Virginia]], on 4 January 2010, of complications from [[rheumatoid arthritis]].<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/09/us/09allen.html | work=The New York Times | first=Douglas | last=Martin | title=Gen. Lew Allen, Who Lifted Veil on Security Agency, Is Dead at 84 | date=January 9, 2010}}</ref>  He was buried at [[Arlington National Cemetery]] on March 22, 2010.<ref>[https://ancexplorer.army.mil/publicwmv/#/arlington-national/search/results/1/CgVhbGxlbhIDbGV3/ Burial Detail: Allen, Lew] – ANC Explorer</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.af.mil/News/story/id/123196350/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120720071804/http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123196350|url-status=live|archive-date=2012-07-20|title = Former chief of staff laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery}}</ref>

==Legacy==
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.<ref name="multi2">{{cite web|title=AFI 36-2603|work=The USAF Maintenance Awards Program|access-date=2008-01-23|publisher=USAF|url=http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/shared/media/epubs/AFI36-2818.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227040038/http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/shared/media/epubs/AFI36-2818.pdf|archive-date=2009-02-27}}</ref>

In 1983, Allen received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#public-service}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Wade |first=Larry |date= July 14, 1983|title= American Academy of Achievement fills Coronado with famous names|url= https://achievement.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Coronado-Journal-July-14-1983.pdf |work= Coronado Journal}}</ref>

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''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Science and Technology: The Lew Allen Award for Excellence Recipients |publisher=[[JPL]] |url=http://scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov/community/awardsachievements/laAward/pastrecepients/ |access-date=12 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518092128/http://scienceandtechnology.jpl.nasa.gov/community/awardsachievements/laAward/pastrecepients/ |archive-date=18 May 2015 }}</ref>

Minor planet [[4125 Lew Allen]] is named in his honor.<ref>{{cite book|title=(4125) Lew Allen In: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names |publisher=Springer |date=2003 |isbn=978-3-540-29925-7 |doi=10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_4099}}</ref>

==Awards and decorations==
{|
|-
|[[File:COMMAND PILOT WINGS.png|80px]]
|Command [[United States Aviator Badge|Air Force Pilot Badge]]
|-
|[[File:United States Air Force Missile Badge.svg|20px]]
|Master [[Missile Badge]]
|-
|[[File:Joint Chiefs of Staff seal.svg|60px]]
|[[Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Identification Badge|Joint Chiefs of Staff Badge]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=1|type=oak|name=Defense Distinguished Service ribbon|width=60}}
|[[Defense Distinguished Service Medal]] with bronze [[oak leaf cluster]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=1|type=oak|name=Air Force Distinguished Service ribbon|width=60}}
|[[Air Force Distinguished Service Medal]] with bronze oak leaf cluster
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=2|type=oak|name=Legion of Merit ribbon|width=60}}
|[[Legion of Merit]] with two bronze oak leaf clusters
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|name=Joint Service Commendation Medal ribbon|width=60}}
|[[Joint Service Commendation Medal]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|name=Outstanding Unit ribbon|width=60}}
|[[Outstanding Unit Award|Air Force Outstanding Unit Award]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|name=Organizational Excellence ribbon|width=60}}
|[[Organizational Excellence Award|Air Force Organizational Excellence Award]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=NIDRib.gif|width=60}}
|[[National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|name=American Campaign Medal ribbon|width=60}}
|[[American Campaign Medal]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|name=World War II Victory Medal ribbon|width=60}}
|[[World War II Victory Medal (United States)|World War II Victory Medal]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|name=National Defense Service Medal ribbon, 2nd award|width=60}}
|[[National Defense Service Medal]] with bronze [[service star]]
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=7|type=oak|ribbon=Air Force Longevity Service ribbon.svg|width=60}}
|[[Air Force Longevity Service Award]] with silver and two bronze oak leaf clusters
|-
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Gugseon Security Medal Ribbon.png|width=60}}
|[[Order of National Security Merit (Korea)|Order of National Security Merit]], Gugseon Medal
|-
|[[File:GRE Order of the Phoenix - Silver Cross BAR.png|60px]]
|[[Order of the Phoenix (Greece)]]
|-
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* [[Project Shamrock]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{US Air Force|article=General Lew Allen Jr.|url=http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/107824/general-lew-allen-jr.aspx}}

==External links==
* [https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/107824/lew-allen-jr/ Official Air Force biography]
* [http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2434 JPL mourns passing of former director Lew Allen – JPL/NASA News Service] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20180208054422/https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=2434 |date=8 February 2018 }}
<!-- * {{FAG|46384082|Lew Allen Jr.}} -->

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{{s-aca}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Bruce C. Murray]]}}
{{s-ttl|order=6th|title=[[List of directors of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory|Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory]]|years=1982 – 1990}}
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{{DNRO}}
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{{CSUSAF}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Lew}}

== External links ==

{{commons category|Lew Allen}}

[[Category:United States Air Force generals]]
[[Category:1925 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:Directors of the National Security Agency]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:Chiefs of staff of the United States Air Force]]
[[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Grainger College of Engineering alumni]]
[[Category:People from Gainesville, Texas]]
[[Category:Deaths from arthritis]]
[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
[[Category:Vice chiefs of staff of the United States Air Force]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Texas]]