General Counsel of the Department of Defense

Template:Infobox political post

The general counsel of the Department of Defense is the chief legal officer of the Department of Defense (DoD), advising both the Secretary and Deputy Secretary on all legal matters and services, and providing legal advice to Office of the Secretary of Defense organizations and, as appropriate, other DOD components.

The general counsel develops the department's Legislative Program and coordinates DoD positions on legislation and Executive Orders; coordinates the appeals process for denied FOIA requests; oversees the performance and standards of DoD attorneys; establishes policy on general legal issues and determines the DoD position on specific legal problems; maintains repository for all international agreements coordinated, negotiated, or concluded by DoD personnel; and is "dual-hatted" as director of the Defense Legal Services Agency.

This position was established by Reorganization Plan No. 6 of 1953 and by Defense Directive 5145.1, signed 24 August 1953. The position derived its responsibilities from one of the original three Special Assistants to the Secretary (established in 1947) and the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Legal and Legislative Affairs) (established in 1949).^[1]

Office holders

General Counsels of the Department of Defense^[1]
Image	Name	Tenure	SecDef(s) served under	President(s) served under
File:Streuve Hensel (Assistant Secretary of the Navy).jpg	H. Struve Hensel	August 17, 1953 – March 4, 1954	Charles Erwin Wilson	Dwight Eisenhower
File:Wilber Marion Brucker (cropped).jpg	Wilber M. Brucker	April 23, 1954 – July 20, 1955
File:Blank.svg	Mansfield D. Sprague	October 6, 1955 – February 27, 1957
File:Blank.svg	Robert Dechert	February 28, 1957 – July 15, 1959	Charles Erwin Wilson Neil H. McElroy
File:Blank.svg	J. Vincent Burke Jr.	September 14, 1959 – January 20, 1961	Neil H. McElroy Thomas S. Gates
File:CyrusVanceSoS.jpg	Cyrus Vance	January 29, 1961 – June 30, 1962	Robert S. McNamara	John F. Kennedy
File:John T. McNaughton (cropped).jpg	John McNaughton	July 5, 1962 – June 25, 1964		John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
File:Blank.svg	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	July 1, 1964 – September 19, 1966		Lyndon B. Johnson
File:Paul Warnke 1983 (cropped).jpg	Paul Warnke	October 3, 1966 – July 31, 1967		Lyndon B. Johnson
File:Blank.svg	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	August 1, 1967 – August 20, 1970	Robert S. McNamara Clark Clifford Melvin Laird	Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon
File:Nixon Contact Sheet WHPO-E1677 (cropped).jpg	J. Fred Buzhardt	August 20, 1970 – January 4, 1974	Melvin Laird Elliot Richardson James R. Schlesinger	Richard Nixon
File:Blank.svg	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	May 22, 1973 – March 13, 1974	James R. Schlesinger	Richard Nixon
File:Martin Richard Hoffmann.jpg	Martin Richard Hoffmann	March 14, 1974 – August 5, 1975	James R. Schlesinger	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford
File:Blank.svg	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	August 6, 1975 – January 1, 1976	James R. Schlesinger Donald Rumsfeld	Gerald Ford
File:Blank.svg	Richard A. Wiley	January 2, 1976 – January 15, 1977	Donald Rumsfeld	Gerald Ford
File:Blank.svg	Deanne C. Siemer	April 28, 1977 – October 15, 1979	Harold Brown	Jimmy Carter
File:Blank.svg	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	October 15, 1979 – February 1, 1980
File:TogoDWest.jpg	Togo D. West Jr.	February 1, 1980 – January 20, 1981
File:Blank.svg	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	January 20, 1981 – April 1, 1981	Caspar Weinberger	Ronald Reagan
File:William Howard Taft IV, Deptuty Secretary of Defense, official portrait.JPEG	William Howard Taft IV	April 2, 1981 – May 2, 1984
File:Portrait of Chapman Beecher Cox.jpg	Chapman B. Cox	May 3, 1984 – December 16, 1985
File:Portrait of H. Lawrence Garrett III.jpg	Henry L. Garrett III	February 5, 1986 – August 6, 1987
File:Blank.svg	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	August 7, 1987 – October 25, 1987
File:Portrait of Kathleen A. Buck, Air Force General Counsel DF-SC-87-03100 (6412597).jpg	Kathleen A. Buck	October 26, 1987 – December 30, 1989	Caspar Weinberger Frank Carlucci William Howard Taft IV Dick Cheney	Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush
File:Portrait of Terrence O'Donnell.jpg	Terrence O'Donnell	October 30, 1989 – March 6, 1992	Dick Cheney	George H. W. Bush
File:Portrait of C. Paul Beach, Jr.jpg	C. Paul Beach Jr. (Acting)	March 7, 1992 – August 11, 1992
File:Portrait of David S. Addington, Special Assistant to Secretary of Defense.jpg	David Addington	August 12, 1992 – January 20, 1993
File:Blank.svg	John H. McNeil (Acting)	January 20, 1993 – May 5, 1993	Les Aspin	Bill Clinton
File:Portrait of Jamie Gorelick, General Counsel, Department of Defense.jpg	Jamie Gorelick	May 5, 1993 – March 17, 1994	Lee Aspin William Perry
File:Portrait of Stephen W. Preston.jpg	Stephen W. Preston (Acting)	March 28, 1994 – September 28, 1994	William Perry
File:Judith Miller DoD.jpg	Judith A. Miller	September 29, 1994 – November 7, 1999	William Perry William Cohen
File:Portrait of Douglas A. Dworkin.jpg	Douglas A. Dworkin	November 7, 1999 – June 14, 2000 (Acting) June 14, 2000 – January 19, 2001	William Cohen
File:Portrait of William J. Haynes II.jpg	William J. Haynes II	May 24, 2001 – February 26, 2008^[2]	Donald Rumsfeld Robert Gates	George W. Bush
File:Jeh Johnson official portrait 2011.jpg	Jeh Johnson	February 10, 2009 – December 31, 2012	Robert Gates Leon Panetta	Barack Obama
File:Robert S. Taylor DoD.jpg	Robert S. Taylor (Acting)^[3]	January 1, 2013 – October 25, 2013	Leon Panetta Chuck Hagel
File:Stephen W. Preston official photo.jpg	Stephen W. Preston	October 25, 2013 – June 2015	Chuck Hagel Ashton Carter
File:Robert S. Taylor DoD.jpg	Robert S. Taylor (Acting)^[3]	June 2015 – June 14, 2016	Ashton Carter
File:Jennifer M. O'Connor DoD.jpg	Jennifer M. O'Connor	June 14, 2016 – January, 20 2017	Ashton Carter
File:William S. Castle official photo.jpg	William S. Castle (Acting)	August 2017 – July 2018	James Mattis	Donald Trump
File:Paul C. Ney Jr. official photo.jpg	Paul C. Ney Jr.	August 20, 2018 – January 20, 2021	James Mattis Mark Esper Christopher C. Miller (acting)	Donald Trump
File:Beth George.jpg	Beth George (Acting)	January 20, 2021 – August 2, 2021	David Norquist (acting) Lloyd Austin	Joe Biden
File:Caroline Krass, DOD General Counsel.jpg	Caroline Krass	August 2, 2021 – present	Lloyd Austin	Joe Biden

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 "Department of Defense Key Officials". Historical Office, OSD. 2004. http://osdhistory.defense.gov/docs/DOD%20Key%20Officials%201947-2004.pdf.
↑ "Pentagon lawyer to leave administration: The Swamp". Swamppolitics.com. 2008-02-26. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/pentagon_lawyer_to_leave_admin.html.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 "General Counsel Bio". Dod.gov. http://www.dod.gov/dodgc/gc_bio.html.

External links

Official website

Template:US Department of Defense Secretaries Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 158: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).

[multiple-1] 1.0 ^1.1 "Department of Defense Key Officials". Historical Office, OSD. 2004. http://osdhistory.defense.gov/docs/DOD%20Key%20Officials%201947-2004.pdf.

[2] "Pentagon lawyer to leave administration: The Swamp". Swamppolitics.com. 2008-02-26. http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/pentagon_lawyer_to_leave_admin.html.

[:0-3] 3.0 ^3.1 "General Counsel Bio". Dod.gov. http://www.dod.gov/dodgc/gc_bio.html.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Office holders

See also

References

External links