Lehman was in the
U.S. Air Force Reserve for three years in Cambridge and in 1968 left the Air Force Reserve and joined the
United States Naval Reserve as an
ensign. He later rose to the rank of
commander as a
naval flight officer on the
A-6 Intruder as a bombardier/navigator. He was on the staff of the
National Security Council under
Henry Kissinger. In 1977, Lehman founded the Abington Corporation, a consulting company with clients including defense companies such as
Northrop Corporation. He remained its president and director until 1981, when he was appointed by
Ronald Reagan to be Secretary of the Navy.
Secretary of the Navy (1981–1987) As the 65th secretary, appointed by Reagan in 1981, Lehman launched the idea of building a "600-ship navy". He became Secretary of the Navy at 38, a young age of which he was conscious in his dealing with admirals. He was unique in still being a commander in the Naval Reserve and on active flight status while he was secretary. He developed a strategic concept to counter the threat of Soviet incursion into Western Europe known as the "Lehman Doctrine". The plan called for a military response to any Soviet invasion in Europe by attacking and invading the Soviet Far East along the Pacific, a much less-defended front. Forces would sever the
Trans-Siberian Railway and fight westward toward
Moscow. As a naval aviator, Lehman was a massive supporter of
aircraft carrier power. His works as a lobbyist and author in the 1970s led him naturally to support a resurgence of US naval aviation under Reagan. His support for the 600-ship navy and promotion of the US Maritime Strategy are hallmarks of that, as are his reactivation of the four s. Both the carriers and the battleships were to announce the United States' overcoming of recent Soviet potential superiority by being capable of taking a war to the Soviet Union's doorstep. According to
Hedrick Smith in his book
The Power Game, Lehman lost a fight at
the Pentagon with the
deputy secretary of defense,
W. Paul Thayer, over reducing the number of future aircraft carriers planned. Lehman immediately went to the
White House, which was unaware of Thayer's decision, and obtained a press release, declaring that Reagan had named two of the ships and , which implied that Reagan had endorsed the 600-ship navy. Lehman was also instrumental in the forced retirement (from retired-retained status) of the Director of Naval Reactors (DNR), Admiral
Hyman G. Rickover. Lehman reportedly engaged in a sexual act with a
stripper in front of 50 to 100 spectators in a hospitality suite at the
Tailhook Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1986, and had been seen cavorting with strippers at earlier Tailhook conventions. In the Department of Defense Inspector General investigation report on the 1991 Tailhook convention, Lehman is not mentioned by name in reference to the 1986 incident. When asked about the incident on May 26, 1996, by
ABC Television journalists
Sam Donaldson and
Cokie Roberts, Lehman responded, "I have to say that the description is far more lurid than the fact." Lehman resigned as SECNAV in 1987. He was then promoted to the rank of
captain in the US Naval Reserve in 1989 and later retired from the US Navy as a reserve officer in that rank after 30 years of service. On October 13, 2020, the US Navy announced that it was naming the next after him. The is under construction. ==Later career==