Lehman Plans to Quit as Navy Secretary

John F. Lehman Jr., the high-profile secretary of the Navy who guided the service through a massive peacetime buildup, will resign later this year, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Robert Sims, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said the 44-year-old Lehman informed Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger of his decision during a private meeting on Feb. 6.

Sims said he did not believe Lehman had set a departure date “because his interest is to have an orderly transition and that could be sometime in the future.”

Lehman has decided to step down, however, even though Weinberger “tried to talk him out of leaving,” Sims said.

Not Available for Comment

Lehman was out of town Thursday on personal leave and could not be reached for comment.

The son of a wealthy Philadelphia family, Lehman has been rumored as having an interest in getting into politics by running for elective office in Pennsylvania.

He also has been mentioned as a possible campaign manager for Vice President George Bush’s presidential bid in 1988, although he has denied any interest in that position.

Lehman is one of President Reagan’s original appointees to a ranking post at the Pentagon, having assumed control of the Navy on Feb. 5, 1981. He is the service’s 65th civilian secretary and when appointed was the third youngest man to ever hold the job.

Over the past six years, he has become known for his outspoken, and at times feisty, defense of Reagan’s military buildup and his hands-on approach to management.

Makes Day-to-Day Decisions

Unlike many civilian service secretaries, Lehman refused to leave the policy making initiatives or many of the day-to-day management decisions to uniformed Navy officers, in the process tangling with the top brass, industry, Congress and even Weinberger.

Last year, he was publicly rebuked by the defense secretary for his criticism of a Justice Department plea bargain with spy John A. Walker Jr. that resulted in a single life sentence.

Of all his initiatives, Lehman’s most significant was shaping--and then selling to Congress--Reagan’s goal of building the Navy to a 600-ship fleet.

When Lehman was named secretary, the Navy had roughly 450 combat and combat-support ships in its fleet. Over the next six years, he succeeded in winning the necessary shipbuilding commitments from Congress, and by 1989 the Navy expects enough new ships will have been delivered to reach the 600-ship goal.