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Paul L. Oostburg Sanz
General Counsel of the United States Department of the Navy
In office March 12, 2010 – January 20, 2017
Preceded by	Anne M. Brennan (acting)
Succeeded by	Anne M. Brennan (acting)
Personal details
Born	October 21, 1969 Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, U.S.
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Georgetown University (BA) Princeton University (MPA) Harvard Law School (JD)
Profession	Attorney

Paul Luis Oostburg Sanz (born October 21, 1969) is the former United States General Counsel of the Navy, serving from 2010 to 2017.

Biography

Paul L. Oostburg Sanz was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico in 1969. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, a Master of Public Administration from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. After law school, he clerked for Judge José A. Fusté of the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.

He conducted political party training in South Africa during the 1994 South African election, as a Project Officer for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies; and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guinea-Bissau. He has also worked as a Graduate Fellow for the United States Agency for International Development in Mozambique and the United States Department of State in Liberia.

Oostburg Sanz then joined the staff of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs as the Democratic Deputy Chief Counsel. In this position, he provided legal expertise to the committee's Ranking Member on legislation and issues related to the Western Hemisphere, foreign assistance, and non-military security assistance. In January 2007, he became General Counsel of the United States House Committee on Armed Services. In this capacity, he was largely responsible for the drafting of the Military Commissions Act of 2009.

In 2010, President of the United States Barack Obama nominated Oostburg Sanz as General Counsel of the Navy, and Oostburg Sanz entered office on March 12, 2010.

On March 24, 2013, when Admiral Bruce MacDonald's three-year term as Guantanamo Convening Authority expired Sanz was appointed to serve as the fourth Convening Authority—on an interim basis. He was again named interim convening authority for military commissions on March 18, 2015, upon the announcement of the resignation of Vaughn Ary from that position.

Among the awards received are the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award (Jan 2017), (Aug 2013) and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service (Sep 2015).

In 2018, he was named general counsel for the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, a role in which he oversees the Lab's Office of Technology Transfer and serves as strategic advisor to the APL director for commercialization, which he still holds today.

References

1. https://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2009_hr/nominate.pdf
2. Carol Rosenberg (March 24, 2013). "Navy's top lawyer named interim military commissions chief". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013.
3. Charlie Savage (May 14, 2013). "Lawyers Press Pentagon to Abide by Detainee Deal". The New York Times. p. A14. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Noor has kept both the letter and spirit of his promises under the plea agreement, but the government has not," the filing says. "More than two years have passed since the written plea agreement was signed by the government, and yet the convening authority continues to delay in carrying out the procedural steps necessary to pave the way for Noor's release and repatriation. As a matter of contract law and basic fairness, the plea agreement between Noor and the government should be enforced.
4. "Military Commissions Personnel Announcement". United States Department of Defense Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs). Retrieved March 18, 2015.
5. "Press Release". www.jhuapl.edu. Retrieved December 21, 2022.

External links

Media related to Paul L. Oostburg Sanz at Wikimedia Commons

• Biography from the Dept. of the Navy

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• General Counsels of the United States Navy
• Harvard Law School alumni
• Living people
• Obama administration personnel
• People from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
• Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award
• Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni
• Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni
• 1969 births