Jim Houseman
Biographical information
Nationality	American
Born	c. 1930[1]
Died	Early 2005
Physical description
Hair color	Blond
Ethnicity	Caucasian
Height	179 cm[1] (2005)
Career and family information
Affiliations	U.S. Armed Forces The Patriots The Pentagon U.S. Government
Occupation	U.S. Secretary of Defense
Metal Gear series information
Appearances	Metal Gear Solid
Created by	Hideo Kojima
Designed by	Yoji Shinkawa
Voiced by (English)	William Bassett
Voiced by (Japanese)	Tomohisa Aso

Jim Houseman was the United States Secretary of Defense during the Shadow Moses Incident, serving as the mission controller via AWACS.

BiographyEdit

Shadow Moses IncidentEdit

Main Article

Houseman orchestrated Solid Snake's infiltration operation in order to secure the Metal Gear REX test launch data, though he also had genuine concern for his friend, DARPA Chief Donald Anderson, who had been taken hostage during the incident. Worried that the existence of REX and the Genome Soldiers might go public, he plotted to kill off those involved with the insurrection on Shadow Moses Island (except for Anderson) using the FOXDIE virus, then safely reclaim Metal Gear and the soldiers' bodies. Houseman also possessed official authorization to commence a nuclear strike against Shadow Moses as a last resort, should the operation get out of hand.^[2][3]

After Solid Snake destroyed REX, Houseman ordered the nuclear strike on the disposal facility to cover up the incident, having lost faith in FOXDIE due to Naomi Hunter's betrayal. He considered both Solid Snake and his brother, terrorist leader Liquid Snake, to be an embarrassment to the U.S. due to his disdain of the Les Enfants Terribles project.^[4] He also placed Roy Campbell under arrest after anticipating that he would attempt to interfere with the operation by aborting the launch and causing confusion in the chain of command. Houseman intended to cover up the strike by claiming that the terrorists had detonated a nuclear weapon. However, he was willing to allow negotiations to stop the nuclear strike if Snake could supply him the REX data, but Snake had earlier lost it to Revolver Ocelot. Ultimately, the proposed nuclear strike never occurred, as Houseman was placed under arrest by President George Sears for going out of line (Campbell had managed to contact the President), and was forcefully relieved of his duties by Richard Ames, under orders from the Patriots.^[5] Instead, Campbell was exonerated of the charges and full blame was laid on Houseman for the incident.

Post-Shadow MosesEdit

A few days after the Shadow Moses Incident, Houseman reportedly suffered an apparent nervous breakdown and died from a self-inflicted gunshot. However, it is implied in Nastasha Romanenko's autobiographical account, that Houseman's death might have actually been an assassination covered up as suicide, due to his refusal to take the fall.

Unconfirmed historyEdit

Houseman had previously served in the United States Marine Corps, taking control of a Marine unit during the Vietnam War.^[3] As a General, he accompanied the U.S. President to oversee the birth of Solid and Liquid Snake, as part of the "Les Enfants Terribles" project.^[6] Houseman was also a member of the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), and by 2005, had undertaken an investigation, after successfully uncovering information on illegal sales of next-generation fighter planes.^[3]

Behind the scenesEdit

Jim Houseman (ジム・ハウスマン, Jimu Hausuman^?) is a character who appears in Metal Gear Solid. The Metal Gear Solid 4 Database erroneously states that he was the director of the CIA.^[7]

ReferencesEdit