Physicists as Secretaries of Defense and Energy?

This post is the result of some superficial searches on Wikipedia, prompted by the Senate confirmation of President Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defense. These musings are perhaps at the periphery of the blog's range of topics, and I will avoid commenting on the nomination's political or national security implications. Instead I will broaden the discussion to include past national security appointments as well as the Secretary of Energy post.

National security

In December, the President nominated Dr. Ashton Carter as his fourth Secretary of Defense. The Senate voted to confirm him earlier today. Carter has a Ph.D. in physics from Oxford University, and will be the second Ph.D.-level physicist to hold that office. Dr. Harold Brown, President Jimmy Carter's Secretary of Defense, was the first. In considering both physicists, one might also add Dr. William Perry, President Clinton's second Secretary of Defense, who has a Ph.D. in mathematics. All three were nominated by Democratic Presidents, and could be thought of as technocrats with extensive backgrounds in national security (including earlier stints in the DOD administration) in addition to their scientific credentials. Brown had previously served as Secretary of the Air Force, and was president of Caltech at the time of his nomination; Perry and Carter had earlier been deputy secretaries of defense. They contrast with most other recent SecDefs, who come from the political or business realms (with the notable exception of Dr. Robert M. Gates, about whom more later). Both Perry and Carter were nominated after other prominent candidates removed themselves from consideration. Perry was nominated after Vice Admiral Bobby Ray Inman famously withdrew his nomination, after initially accepting. More recently, Carter was nominated after others (Senator Jack Reed and former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michele Flournoy) allegedly declined to be considered. Of the three (Brown, Perry, and Carter), only Perry seems to have had actual military service. Brown has recently published his memoirs, Star Spangled Security. An account of Brown's DOD can also be found in chapter 10 of General Colin Powell's memoirs, My American Journey. 

Some other notable appointments in recent history could be mentioned. President Jimmy Carter's Secretary of the Air Force was a Ph.D. physicist, Dr. Hans Mark. President Bill Clinton's Secretary of the Air Force was prominent MIT aerodynamicist, Dr. Sheila Widnall. Both Mark and Widnall eventually returned to academia. President George W. Bush's Secretaries of the Navy were Gordon England, who had majored in electrical engineering in college, and Dr. Donald C. Winter, a physicist. Both have had careers in industry and government. The same president's second Secretary of the Army was Dr. Francis J. Harvey, a metallurgist, whose previous career had been in industry. Harvey was fired by Secretary Gates in the wake of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal.

Among the presidential national security advisers, Admiral John Poindexter from the Reagan administration (and the Iran-Contra scandal) comes to mind. He has a Ph.D. in physics, having studied under Nobel laureate Rudolf Mossbauer. Among the CIA directors, one thinks of Dr. John M. Deutsch, an MIT physical chemist, former Deputy Secretary of Defense, and former Undersecretary of Energy. His career was tainted by an investigation into mishandling classified information, for which he was ultimately pardoned by President Clinton.

Energy

Both of President Obama's Secretaries of Energy are physicists. His first, Dr. Steven Chu, is a Nobel Laureate, while his second, MIT's Dr. Ernest Moniz, had previously served as an Undersecretary of Energy during President Clinton's second term. Despite DOE's obvious connection with physics, they seem to be the first two Ph.D.-level physicists to hold that office. President George W. Bush's second Secretary of Energy, Dr. Samuel W. Bodman, has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. His career started in academia, then moved into finance, and finally government service, serving as Deputy Secretary at both Treasury and Commerce before taking the helm at DOE. Otherwise, like at Defense, most Energy Secretaries have a background in politics or business; a number have had extensive experience at DOD as well. From this perspective, Chu and Moniz seem again to be technocrats like Brown, Perry, and Carter at Defense.

Other physicists

Like the vast majority of presidential science advisers, Obama's is a physicist, Dr. John Holdren. For a while, a Nobel laureate physicist served in a senior position in Holdren's office, Dr. Carl Wieman. The current director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), Dr. France Cordova, is an astrophysicist; she is the former president of Purdue University. The lead positions of agencies such as the Office of Science and Technology Policy, the NSF, the NIH, and the CDC, are almost always held by scientists.

What to make of all this?

President Obama's cabinet will be unique in having two Ph.D.-level physicists serving simultaneously on it. (Both Carter and Moniz are also fellows of the American Physical Society.) I am not aware of physicists serving in any other cabinet-level office in recent history besides DOD and DOE. (President Clinton's attorney general, Janet Reno, was a chemistry major in college.) The Obama cabinet also has, as its second Interior Secretary, Sally Jewell, who has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. She started her career in the oil industry, and later moved into banking.

Cabinet appointments are usually political, and technocrats (like the Ph.D.-physicists under discussion) seem to be in the minority. Looking at other cabinet offices within the purview of this blog, we see that at Health and Human Services, evidently only one medical professional has actually ever served as Secretary since the department was separated from Education: Dr. Louis Sullivan, under the first President Bush.

The preceding comments have been largely factual; what follows is opinion and speculation. It does not seem to me that a background in science or technology would necessarily add or subtract from the qualifications of a cabinet level official. Given the role of technology in the armed forces and in energy, it does not surprise me that, among the many career paths that lead to a cabinet level position in defense or energy, science or engineering might be included. However, such a background is neither necessary nor sufficient. Arguably the finest SecDef in recent memory, Dr. Robert M. Gates, did not have a background in science or engineering. His doctorate was in Russian and Soviet history.

The appointment of Gates is nearly as exceptional as the appointment of Ph.D.-technocrats, for like them Gates represents a small number of SecDefs who have had primary careers in national security, as opposed to political and business leaders (with perhaps particular expertise in national security).

Disclaimer: I have not considered Acting Secretaries in the above account. Moreover, the use of Wikipedia has naturally limited the accuracy of the information I report above. Readers are invited to submit corrections or other perspectives in the Comments.

References

Harold Brown with Joyce Winslow, 2012: Star Spangled Security. Brookings Institution Press.

Colin Powell with Joseph E. Persico, 1995: My American Journey. Random House (New York).