American lawyer
Gordon Owen Tanner
(born October 28, 1948)
[3]
is an American lawyer who served as the
General Counsel of the Air Force
, the chief legal officer of the U.S. Department of the Air Force, from 2014 to 2017. Tanner also served as the governor of
Wake Island
during the same period.
[4]
Biography
[
edit
]
He was born in
Mobile, Alabama
on October 28, 1948. He was educated at the
University of Alabama
, receiving a B.A. in political science in 1970. He then attended
Vanderbilt University School of Law
where he obtained his J.D. degree in 1973. He then served on active duty military service with the
United States Air Force
as a Judge Advocate assigned to
Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida
from 1973 until 1977. Following his active duty military service, he continued his military service in the
United States Air Force Reserve
until he retired as a colonel in 2002.
[5]
For his military service, he was awarded the
Legion of Merit
,
Air Force Meritorious Service Medal
with four
oak leaf clusters
,
Air Force Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service
,
Air Force Commendation Medal
,
Air Force Achievement Medal
,
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award
,
Armed Forces Reserve Medal
,
Air Force Longevity Service Award
with device, and
Air Force Training Ribbon
.
[2]
In 1977, he joined the law firm of McDermott, Slepian, Windom & Reed in Mobile, Alabama, which firm later merged with Sirote & Permutt, where he remained as a partner in its corporate and real estate practice until 1997.
[6]
In 2000, Tanner joined the Office of the
Air Force General Counsel
in its San Antonio, Texas office as Chief Counsel, Housing Division where he led that office until 2008.
[5]
He became the Air Force Deputy General Counsel (Environment and Installations) in Washington, DC in 2008.
[7]
He continued in that position until he was selected as the Air Force Deputy Assistant Secretary (Reserve Affairs) in 2011.
[8]
In 2012 he was selected as the Air Force Principal Deputy General Counsel where he served until 2013 when he was named as the Air Force Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (Manpower & Reserve Affairs).
[9]
President Barack Obama
nominated Tanner as the
Air Force General Counsel
on April 7, 2014, and he was confirmed to that position by the
United States Senate
on September 16, 2014.
[6]
He served as the
Air Force General Counsel
until January 21, 2017, where he provided oversight, guidance and direction for legal advice provided by more than 2,600 Department of the Air Force military and civilian lawyers worldwide. In addition, Tanner served as the governor of
Wake Island
from 2014 until 2017.
[10]
Tanner was the first-ever presidential appointee confirmed by the Senate who was not only openly gay and married to a same-sex spouse, but also a military veteran.
[11]
Upon his retirement, he organized the consulting firm of Tanner Ford Battle LLC where he continues to provide strategic advice to business organizations that deal with the federal government.
[12]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Joseph M. McDade, Jr.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Tanner Testimony
- ^
Hubbell, Martindale (April 1995).
The Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, Volumes 1-9; Volume 11; Volume 13; Volumes 15-17
.
Martindale-Hubbell
.
ISBN
9781561601127
.
- ^
USAF Biography
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/108238/gordon-o-tanner/
- ^
a
b
"Nominations Before The Senate Armed Services Committee, Second Session, 113th Congress"
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-113shrg93919/html/CHRG-113shrg93919.htm
- ^
a
b
"Nominations Hearing"
https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Tanner_06-19-14.pdf
- ^
Vanderbilt Lawyer, Vol 37, No. 1 (2008) Classmate Announcements
https://law.vanderbilt.edu/alumni/lawyer-vol37num1/announcements.html
- ^
Air Force Magazine, August 1, 2011
http://www.airforcemag.com/MagazineArchive/Documents/2011/August%202011/0811world.pdf
- ^
The Alabama Lawyer Vol 73, No. 3 (May 2012)
https://www.alabar.org/assets/uploads/2014/08/The_Alabama_Lawyer_05-2012.pdf
- ^
"World Statesman"
http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Wake_Island.html
- ^
"Gay attorney confirmed as top lawyer for Air Force," Washington Blade, (Sept 21,2014)
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/09/21/gay-attorney-confirmed-top-lawyer-air-force/
- ^
Delaware State Department of Corporations
https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/Ecorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx