Jim Houseman

Jim Houseman (ジ� ・ハウスマン) was the United States Secretary of Defense and served as the mission controller during the Shadow Moses Incident via AWACS.

Early Career
Houseman was believed to be in the military since during the Vietnam War, at least, according to his service record.

In the 1970s, Houseman served as a General in the United States Military. It was in this position that he, along with President Richard Nixon, were both involved in The Patriots funded Les Enfants Terribles project. Both Houseman and the President were in attendance as the surrogate mother gave birth to the first two sons of Big Boss: Solid Snake and Liquid Snake, however, it is unknown whether Houseman knew the identity of the third son, George Sears, during his time as Secretary of Defense. Prior to becoming the Secretary of Defense in the Sears Administration, he had worked as part of the United States Department of Justice's Office of Special Investigations. He also secretly didn't like the project and by extension, Solid and Liquid Snake, as he considered it to be an embarassment.

He orchestrated the Shadow Moses Operation in order to secure the MO Disk with the Metal Gear REX data, although he also had a genuine concern for his friend, Donald Anderson, who was taken hostage during the incident. When Snake destroyed REX, he put Colonel Campbell under arrest and ordered a nuclear strike over the disposal facility to cover up the incident, which would've destroyed the entire island and everyone in it, including Solid Snake and Liquid Snake. He was willing to allow negotiations to stop the nuclear strike if Solid Snake could supply him the REX battle data, but Snake didn't have it due to Revolver Ocelot stealing it from him. However, the proposed nuclear strike never occured, as Houseman was placed under arrest by President George Sears for going out of line (Campbell had told Sears during imprisonment about what had happened), and was forcefully relieved of his duties by Richard Ames under orders from the Patriots. Instead, Campbell was exonerated from the charges as full blame was laid on Houseman for the incident.

After the Shadow Moses Incident, Houseman reportedly suffered from an apparent nervous breakdown and died from a self-inflicted gunshot. However, it is implied in Nastasha Romanenko's book, In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, that his death might have actually been an assassination covered up as suicide due to his refusal for taking the fall.

Trivia
There has been some inconsistency as to who arranged for Houseman's arrest. In the climax of the Shadow Moses Incident, Campbell mentioned that it was President Sears who had rescinded the nuclear strike orders as well as placed Houseman under arrest for orchestrating the entire event, due to his coming into direct contact with him. However, in Nastasha's novel In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth, Nastasha mentions that Ames had placed him under arrest under orders of the Patriots.