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General Counsel of the Department of Defense
Seal of the Office of General Counsel
Flag of the General Counsel
Incumbent Caroline Krass since August 2, 2021
Department of Defense Office of the Secretary
Style	The Honorable
Reports to	Secretary of Defense Deputy Secretary of Defense
Seat	The Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia, United States
Appointer	The President with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	10 U.S.C. § 140
Precursor	Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legal and Legislative Affairs
Formation	1953
First holder	H. Struve Hensel
Deputy	Principal Deputy General Counsel Corin R. Stone
Salary	Executive Schedule, level IV
Website	ogc.osd.mil

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).

Office holders

General Counsels of the Department of Defense

Image	Name	Tenure	SecDef(s) served under	President(s) served under
	H. Struve Hensel	August 17, 1953 – March 4, 1954	Charles Erwin Wilson	Dwight Eisenhower
	Wilber M. Brucker	April 23, 1954 – July 20, 1955
	Mansfield D. Sprague	October 6, 1955 – February 27, 1957
	Robert Dechert	February 28, 1957 – July 15, 1959	Charles Erwin Wilson Neil H. McElroy
	J. Vincent Burke Jr.	September 14, 1959 – January 20, 1961	Neil H. McElroy Thomas S. Gates
	Cyrus Vance	January 29, 1961 – June 30, 1962	Robert S. McNamara	John F. Kennedy
	John McNaughton	July 5, 1962 – June 25, 1964		John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson
	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	July 1, 1964 – September 19, 1966		Lyndon B. Johnson
	Paul Warnke	October 3, 1966 – July 31, 1967
	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	August 1, 1967 – August 20, 1970	Robert S. McNamara Clark Clifford Melvin Laird	Lyndon B. Johnson Richard Nixon
	J. Fred Buzhardt	August 20, 1970 – January 4, 1974	Melvin Laird Elliot Richardson James R. Schlesinger	Richard Nixon
	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	May 22, 1973 – March 13, 1974	James R. Schlesinger
	Martin Richard Hoffmann	March 14, 1974 – August 5, 1975		Richard Nixon Gerald Ford
	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	August 6, 1975 – January 1, 1976	James R. Schlesinger Donald Rumsfeld	Gerald Ford
	Richard A. Wiley	January 2, 1976 – January 15, 1977	Donald Rumsfeld
	Deanne C. Siemer	April 28, 1977 – October 15, 1979	Harold Brown	Jimmy Carter
	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	October 15, 1979 – February 1, 1980
	Togo D. West Jr.	February 1, 1980 – January 20, 1981
	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	January 20, 1981 – April 1, 1981	Caspar Weinberger	Ronald Reagan
	William Howard Taft IV	April 2, 1981 – May 2, 1984
	Chapman B. Cox	May 3, 1984 – December 16, 1985
	Henry L. Garrett III	February 5, 1986 – August 6, 1987
	Leonard Niederlehner (Acting)	August 7, 1987 – October 25, 1987
	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
	Terrence O'Donnell	October 30, 1989 – March 6, 1992	Dick Cheney	George H. W. Bush
	C. Paul Beach Jr. (Acting)	March 7, 1992 – August 11, 1992
	David Addington	August 12, 1992 – January 20, 1993
	John H. McNeil (Acting)	January 20, 1993 – May 5, 1993	Les Aspin	Bill Clinton
	Jamie Gorelick	May 5, 1993 – March 17, 1994	Lee Aspin William Perry
	Stephen W. Preston (Acting)	March 28, 1994 – September 28, 1994	William Perry
	Judith A. Miller	September 29, 1994 – November 7, 1999	William Perry William Cohen
	Douglas A. Dworkin	November 7, 1999 – June 14, 2000 (Acting) June 14, 2000 – January 19, 2001	William Cohen
	William J. Haynes II	May 24, 2001 – February 26, 2008	Donald Rumsfeld Robert Gates	George W. Bush
	Jeh Johnson	February 10, 2009 – December 31, 2012	Robert Gates Leon Panetta	Barack Obama
	Robert S. Taylor (Acting)	January 1, 2013 – October 25, 2013	Leon Panetta Chuck Hagel
	Stephen W. Preston	October 25, 2013 – June 2015	Chuck Hagel Ashton Carter
	Robert S. Taylor (Acting)	June 2015 – June 14, 2016	Ashton Carter
	Jennifer M. O'Connor	June 14, 2016 – January, 20 2017	Ashton Carter
	William S. Castle (Acting)	August 2017 – July 2018	James Mattis	Donald Trump
	Paul C. Ney Jr.	August 20, 2018 – January 20, 2021	James Mattis Mark Esper Christopher C. Miller (acting)
	Beth George (Acting)	January 20, 2021 – August 2, 2021	David Norquist (acting) Lloyd Austin	Joe Biden
	Caroline Krass	August 2, 2021 – present	Lloyd Austin

See also

• General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force
• General Counsel of the Army
• General Counsel of the Navy

References

1. https://tioh.army.mil/Catalog/Heraldry.aspx?HeraldryId=16157&CategoryId=9352 Archived 2023-09-04 at the Wayback Machine . Accessed on 2023-9-3.
2. 5 U.S.C. § 5315
3. ^ "Department of Defense Key Officials" (PDF). Historical Office, OSD. 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-02-01.
4. "Pentagon lawyer to leave administration: The Swamp". Swamppolitics.com. 2008-02-26. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
5. ^ "General Counsel Bio". Dod.gov. Retrieved 2013-07-04.

External links

• Official website

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