Former Chief of Staff Lew Allen Dies

Retired Gen. Lew Allen Jr., 10th Air Force Chief of Staff and former National Security Agency director, died Monday in Potomac Falls, Va., the Air Force announced late Tuesday. He was 84. Allen will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, but his funeral arrangements have not yet been made. Appointed as CSAF in July 1978 during the Carter Administration, he oversaw the efforts to create Air Force Space Command during his tenure, which ended in June 1982. (AFSPC formally stood up in September 1982.) After his retirement that July, Allen became director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a post he held until 1990. Born in Miami, Allen entered the Air Force in 1946 after graduating from West Point. He initially flew bombers and later worked on some of the nation’s most sensitive space projects. He held a doctorate in physics. (JPL release)