Donald (Henry) Rumsfeld - Background and family, Career, Lawsuits

US Republican politician, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He studied at Princeton University (AB 1954), then served in the US Navy. He served three terms in the House of Representives (1962–9), then joined the Nixon administration as an assistant to the president (1969–72). He was chief-of-staff under Gerald Ford (1974–5), who also appointed him defence secretary (1975–7). He then became president and chief executive officer for the pharmaceutical firm G D Searle & Co (1977–85), held posts in various business corporations, and for a time was Ronald Reagan's special ambassador to the Middle East (1983–4). Appointed defence secretary in 2001 by George W Bush, he was responsible for the US campaign during the Iraq War (2003). He resigned following his party's loss of control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2006 mid-term elections. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.

Donald Rumsfeld

21st United States Secretary of Defense
In office
January 20, 2001 – Present
President	George W. Cohen
Succeeded by	Robert Gates is Secretary-designate
13th United States Secretary of Defense
In office
November 20, 1975 – January 20, 1977
President	Gerald Ford
Preceded by	James R. Schlesinger
Succeeded by	Harold Brown
Born	July 9, 1932 Evanston, IL, USA
Political party	Republican
Religion	Presbyterian

Donald Henry Rumsfeld (born July 9, 1932) is the 21st and current United States Secretary of Defense. On November 8, 2006, Rumsfeld tendered his resignation as Secretary of Defense.

Rumsfeld also served in various positions under President Richard Nixon, as well as four terms in the United States House of Representatives, and as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (1973–1974).

Background and family

Youth

Donald Rumsfeld was born in Chicago, Illinois to George Donald Rumsfeld and Jeannette Huster.

Rumsfeld became an Eagle Scout in 1949, and is the recipient of both the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

Education

Rumsfeld went to Baker Demonstration School for middle school and graduated from New Trier High School.

Domestic life

Rumsfeld married Joyce H. Rumsfeld Walczak (born March 28, 1960), and Internet entrepreneur Donald Nicholas "Nick" Rumsfeld (born June 26, 1967).

Military service

Rumsfeld served in the U.S. Navy from 1954 to 1957 as an aviator and flight instructor, training in North American SNJ basic trainers and later flying Grumman F9F Panther fighters.

Rumsfeld has been associated with the Chicago School of Economics, and can be seen in Milton Friedman's PBS series Free to Choose.

Rumsfeld made a brief flirtation with the Presidency in 1988 but never formally announced his candidacy.

Career

Nixon Administration

Rumsfeld resigned from Congress in 1969 — his fourth term — to serve in the Nixon Administration as Director of the United States Office of Economic Opportunity, Assistant to the President, and a member of the President's Cabinet (1969-1970);

In 1971 President Nixon was recorded saying about Rumsfeld "..

In February of 1973, Rumsfeld left Washington to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium.

Ford Administration

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In August 1974, he was called back to Washington, to serve as transition chairman for the new president, Gerald R. Later in Ford's presidency, Rumsfeld became White House Chief of Staff (1974-1975);

During this period he oversaw the transition to an all-volunteer military, and although he supported the Ford administration's efforts at détente, Rumsfeld sought to reverse the gradual decline in the defense budget and to build up U.S. strategic and conventional forces.

As part of the Ford administration, Rumsfeld helped formulate the White House response to the death of CIA scientist Frank Olson.

In 1977, Rumsfeld was awarded the nation's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Private career

In early 1977 Rumsfeld briefly lectured at the Woodrow Wilson School and Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, in Evanston, Illinois, USA.

From 1977 to 1985 Rumsfeld served as Chief Executive Officer, President, and then Chairman of G.D.

It was under Rumsfeld that Searle got the Food and Drug Administration's approval for the controversial artificial sweetener, aspartame, which it marketed as NutraSweet. During his business career, Rumsfeld continued public service in various posts, including:

Member of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control — Reagan Administration (1982 - 1986); Honorary Vice-Chancellor of Yale University (2001), honoring Rumsfeld's U.S. foreign policy work.

Rumsfeld served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of General Instrument Corporation from 1990 to 1993. From January 1997 until being sworn in as the 21st Secretary of Defense in January 2001, Rumsfeld served as Chairman of Gilead Sciences, Inc.

ABB and North Korea

Rumsfeld sat on ABB's board from 1990 to 2001, earning $190,000 a year. Rumsfeld's office said that the Secretary of Defense did not "recall it being brought before the board at any time".

Rumsfeld has also served in executive responsibilities of various local charities across the United States.

As a result of his foreign policy achievements as Inter-governmental Affairs Director, he was asked to serve the U.S. State Department.

Reagan Administration

During his period as Reagan's Special Envoy to the Middle East (November 1983 – May 1984), Rumsfeld was the main conduit for crucial American military intelligence, hardware and strategic advice to Saddam Hussein, then fighting Iran in the Iran-Iraq war. According to declassified U.S. State Department documents Rumsfeld also informed Tariq Aziz (Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister) that: "Our efforts to assist were inhibited by certain things that made it difficult for us ...

During his brief bid for the 1988 Republican nomination, Rumsfeld stated that restoring full relations with Iraq was one of his best achievements. Bush and Clinton years

Rumsfeld's civic activities included service as a member of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the boards of trustees of the Gerald R.

Rumsfeld was a founder and active member of the Project for the New American Century. He co-signed a January 29, 1998 PNAC letter sent to President Bill Clinton

From January to July 1998 Rumsfeld chaired the 9-member Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States. Bush Administration

Rumsfeld was named Defense Secretary soon after President George W. Bush's selection of Rumsfeld surprised some media commentators, because he had not been seen as particularly close to George W.

Rumsfeld immediately announced a series of sweeping reviews intended to plot the transformation of the U.S. military into a lighter, more nimble force.

Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Rumsfeld led the military planning and execution of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Rumsfeld pushed hard to send as small a force as possible to both conflicts, a concept codified as the Rumsfeld Doctrine.

Rumsfeld's plan resulted in a lightning invasion that took Baghdad in well under a month with very few American casualties.

After the German and French governments voiced opposition to invading Iraq, Rumsfeld labeled these countries as part of "Old Europe", implying that countries which supported the war were part of a newer, modern Europe. The BBC Radio 4 current affairs program Broadcasting House had been so taken by Rumsfeld's various remarks that it once held a regular slot called "The Donald Rumsfeld sound bite of the Week" in which they played his most amusing comment from that week.

Bush retained Rumsfeld after his 2004 presidential re-election, which raised eyebrows among Democrats and some Republicans. December 2004, Rumsfeld came under fire after a "town-hall" meeting with U.S. troops where he responded to a soldier's comments about inferior military equipment by saying "you go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want."

September 11, 2001

Rumsfeld's activities during the September 11, 2001 attacks were outlined in a Pentagon press briefing on September 15, 2001. Within 180 minutes of the start of the first hijacking and 120 minutes of American Airlines Flight 11 striking the World Trade Center, Rumsfeld raised the defense condition signaling of the United States offensive readiness to DEFCON 3;

Military decisions

Some Republicans called for Rumsfeld's replacement after Bush's re-election due to what was perceived as inadequate troop strength (Rumsfeld Doctrine) used during the invasion of Iraq.

Rumsfeld stirred controversy by quarreling for months with the CIA over who had the authority to fire Hellfire missiles from Predator drones, although according to The 9/11 Commission Report, the armed Predator was not physically ready for deployment until the Spring of 2002.

Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon note:

These quarrels kept the Predator from being used against al Qaeda....

Prisoner abuse

Rumsfeld vigorously defended the Bush administration's decision to detain alleged illegal enemy combatants without protection under the Third Geneva Convention. Rumsfeld himself said, "These events occurred on my watch as secretary of defense.

Condolence letters

In December of 2004, Rumsfeld was heavily criticized for using a signing machine instead of personally signing over 1000 letters of condolence to the families of soldiers killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tamiflu

From January 1997 until being sworn in as the 21st Secretary of Defense in January 2001, Donald Rumsfeld was Chairman of the Board of Gilead Sciences which is the developer of Tamiflu (Oseltamivir) which is used in the treatment of bird flu. Several news sources have published stories implying that Donald Rumsfeld profits from sales of Tamiflu to the U.S. Government while he is in office, although they note that he has recused himself from any decisions involving Gilead and also had the Pentagon's General Counsel issue additional instructions outlining what he could and could not be involved in if there were an avian flu pandemic and the Pentagon had to respond.

War critics

Rumsfeld has come under fire for his remarks at the American Legion's national convention when he accused critics of the Bush administration's Iraq and counter-terrorism policies of "trying to appease a new type of fascism."

Calls for resignation

Eight retired generals called for Rumsfeld to resign in early 2006, mostly questioning his military planning and strategic competence. Rumsfeld rebuffed these criticisms, stating that "out of thousands and thousands of admirals and generals, if every time two or three people disagreed we changed the secretary of defense of the United States, it would be like a merry-go-round." President Bush responded to the criticism by stating that Rumsfeld is "exactly what is needed," and also defended him in his controversial decider remark.

On November 4, 2006, the Military Times newspapers owned by the Gannett Company, which include the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times, and Marine Corps Times, jointly published an editorial calling for Bush to fire Rumsfeld. It stated:

It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed.

Resignation

On November 1, 2006, President Bush stated he would stand by Rumsfeld as defense secretary for the length of his term as president. One day later, Bush announced Rumsfeld would resign his position as Secretary of Defense. At a press conference announcing the resignation of Rumsfeld and the nomination of Bob Gates, Bush stated:

America is safer and the world is more secure because of the service and the leadership of Donald Rumsfeld.

Lawsuits

Pentagon database

Several New York teenagers brought a lawsuit against Rumsfeld in federal court over a Pentagon database of potential military recruits.

Iraq detention

American filmmaker Cyrus Kar from Los Angeles was detained for two months in Iraq without being charged in May 2005 after he visited Iraq to make a documentary film about Cyrus the Great, the Persian king. On July 7, 2006, he sued Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other military officials, calling the government's detention policies unconstitutional.

Alleged overseas torture

On March 1, 2005, the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First filed a lawsuit against Rumsfeld in a federal court in Illinois on behalf of eight detainees who they say were subjected to torture and abuse by U.S. forces.

The suit charges Rumsfeld with violations of the U.S. Constitution and international law prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment.

War Crimes Prosecution

On 14 November 2006 human rights advocate Wolfgang Kaleck brought charges at the German Federal Attorney General (Generalbundesanwalt) against Rumsfeld, former CIA Director George Tenet, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez and a number of other high officials for their involvement in human rights violations in Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay. winner of the CSP's 1998 "Keeper of the Flame" award (5) Hoover Institution: Member, board of trustees Project for the New American Century: Signed PNAC's founding statement of principles as well as two policy letters on Iraq Freedom House: Board member RAND Corporation: Board member Committee for the Free World: Former chairman Bohemian Club: Member

Government posts, panels, and commissions

U.S. Commission to Assess National Security Space Management and Organization: Chairman (2000) U.S. Ballistic Missile Threat Commission: Chairman (1998) Secretary of Defense (1975-77) White House Chief of Staff in Ford administration (1974-75) U.S. Ambassador to NATO (1973-74) U.S. Congress: Representative from Illinois (1962-69) U.S. Navy: Various posts, including aviator (1954-57);

Works

U.S. Secretary of Defense official transcripts archive Rumsfeld's Rules advice on government, business and life, January 29, 2001 Strategic Imperatives in East Asia by Donald Rumsfeld (Heritage Foundation, 1998) ISBN B0006FCPRU Donald Rumsfeld's Project Syndicate op/eds

Biographies

White House Biography Department of Defense Biography Rumsfeld's War: The Untold Story of America's Anti-Terrorist Commander by Rowan Scarborough (Regnery Publishing, 2004) ISBN 0-89526-069-7 Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait by Midge Decter (Regan Books, 2003) ISBN 0-06-056091-6 The Rumsfeld Way: The Leadership Wisdom of a Battle-Hardened Maverick by Jeffrey A. Krames (McGraw-Hill, 2002) ISBN 0-07-140641-7

Documentary video

PBS Frontline - Rumsfeld's War October 2004 documentary Video clip of Rumsfeld (as special U.S. envoy to Middle East) meeting Hussein

Articles profiling Rumsfeld

The Life and Times of Donald Rumsfeld, PBS Washington Post - Rumsfeld's War archives 2001-2004 Close-Up: Young Rumsfeld, James Mann, The Atlantic Monthly, November 2003 Donald Rumsfeld: a Machiavellian Artist in Power Voltaire Network, October 2004 The Donald Rumsfeld Library of Quotations, BBC Radio 4

Preceded by: Marguerite S. Church	U.S. Representative of Illinois's 13th Congressional District 1963–1969	Succeeded by: Phil Crane
Preceded by: Alexander Haig	White House Chief of Staff 1974–1975	Succeeded by: Dick Cheney
Preceded by: James R. Schlesinger	United States Secretary of Defense Under President Gerald Ford 1975–1977	Succeeded by: Harold Brown
Preceded by: William S. Paulson	United States Presidential Line of Succession 6th in line	Succeeded by: Alberto Gonzales
Preceded by: Henry M. Paulson	United States order of precedence as of 2006	Succeeded by: Alberto Gonzales

United States Secretaries of Defense
Forrestal • Johnson • Marshall • Lovett • Wilson • McElroy • Gates • McNamara • Clifford • Laird • Richardson • Schlesinger • Rumsfeld • Brown • Weinberger • Carlucci • Cheney • Aspin • Perry • Cohen • Rumsfeld • Gates (nominee)

Current members of the Cabinet of President George W. Bush
Bodman • Bolten • Chao • Cheney • Chertoff • Gonzales • Gutierrez • Jackson • Johanns • Johnson • Kempthorne • Leavitt • Nicholson • Paulson • Peters • Portman • Rice • Rumsfeld • Schwab • Spellings • Walters

White House Chiefs of Staff
Steelman • Adams • Persons • Haldeman • Haig • Rumsfeld • Cheney • Jordan • Watson • J Baker • Regan • H Baker • Duberstein • Sununu • Skinner • J Baker • McLarty • Panetta • Bowles • Podesta • Card • Bolten

Secretaries of the United States Department of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, Gordon R. Winter (Navy), Michael Wynne (Air Force)

Persondata
NAME	Rumsfeld, Donald Henry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	U.S. Secretary of Defense
DATE OF BIRTH	July 9, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH	Evanston, Illinois, United States
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH