Harold Brown, who was defense secretary during President Jimmy Carter’s entire presidency from 1977-81, died Friday. He was 81.
Jan. 5 (UPI) — Harold Brown, who was defense secretary during President Jimmy Carter ‘s entire presidency from 1977-81, died Friday. He was 91.
Brown’s death was announced Saturday by the Rand Corp., where he served on its board of directors for more than 35 years.
Deborah Brown told The New York Times her father died at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., from pancreatic cancer.
Brown, a nuclear physicist and weapons designer, developed America’s Cold War-era national security policy as secretary of defense and previously as secretary of the Air Force.
He was the first scientist to run the Pentagon.
«Harold Brown understood, perhaps better than any defense secretary before him, the technological complexities and unprecedented dangers of modern warfare,» said Michael D. Rich, president and chief executive officer Rand Corporation.