He developed a strategic concept to counter the threat of Soviet incursion into Western Europe known as the "Lehman Doctrine".
His works as a lobbyist and author in the 1970s led him naturally to support a resurgence of US naval aviation under Reagan.
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 was also instrumental in the forced retirement (from retired-retained status) of the Director of Naval Reactors (DNR), Admiral Hyman G.
[9] Lehman sided with General Dynamics after it had falsified inspection records to hide welding flaws on submarines and pushed a settlement that paid over 600 million dollars for what Rickover called shoddy work.
[12] 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 was a former investment banker with UBS AG, Paine Webber, and the president of Abington Corporation.
After his work in the 9/11 Commission in 2002, there was increased speculation that Lehman might be named to a chief security post within the Bush administration.
[citation needed] During the 2008 presidential election, Lehman was named a possible secretary of defense in the case of a John McCain victory over the winning Democratic nominee, Barack Obama.
On June 26, 2012, Lehman revealed to the staff of the United States Naval Institute and in a speech given in Portsmouth, United Kingdom, the Reagan administration secretly offered the use of the amphibious assault helicopter carrier Iwo Jima as a replacement in case either of the two British carriers, the Hermes and the Invincible, had been damaged or destroyed during the 1982 Falklands War.