# Charles Cragin

Charles Langmaid Cragin III (born October 9, 1943) is an American attorney and politician from Maine. He was the Republican nominee for governor of Maine in 1982, losing in a landslide to Democratic incumbent Gov. Joseph E. Brennan. Afterwards, Cragin was a Republican National Committee member from Maine from 1983 to 1990, and acting U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness in 2000.
Cragin also was the first Senate-confirmed chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals in the U.S. Department of Veterans' Affairs.

## Education

He received a Bachelor of Science in Education from the University of Maine in 1967, completing his course of study in two and a half years and being inducted into the Phi Kapp Phi Honor Society. In 1970 he was awarded his Juris Doctor from the University of Maine School of Law, graduating first in his class.

## Military service

He enlisted in the United States Navy in 1961 and was on active duty and in the Navy Reserve until his retirement as a Captain in 1998. In 2020,Cragin wrote of his experiences as a young Sailor aboard USNS Sergeant Joseph T. Muller (T-AG-171), an electronic intelligence ship, whose mission had previously been classified Top Secret code word UMBRA.
For his military service he was awarded the Legion of Merit and many other medals.

## Early career

From 1964 to 1969 he was an announcer and newsman for WIDE Radio, WPOR Radio, and WSCH Radio & TV. All based in Biddeford and Portland. In 1969 he was a research assistant for Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co.

## Legal career

Cragin was admitted to practice before the Courts of Maine and the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine in 1970, having ranked first in the 1970 Maine Bar Exam. From 1970 to 1990 he practiced law with Verrill and Dana in Portland, Maine. In 1974, he was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1979 he was admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and before the U.S. Tax Court and the U.S. Court of Veterans Appeals.
While at Verrill Dana, Cragin practiced general litigation and served as general counsel to Maine Medical Association and Maine Hospital Association. In his statement before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, Senator William S. Cohen stated "Given his expertise, he was the principle author of much of the health-care legislation adopted by the Maine Legislature during the 1970s".

## Federal service

In 1990, he was nominated by President George H. W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate in 1991 as Chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
He later served in several senior capacities in the Department of Defense including Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness (31 March 2000 to 23 May 2000, and 20 January 2001 to 31 May 2001) Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Personnel & Readiness, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs (1998-2001), and Acting Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Civil Support. While at the Pentagon, he participated in a number of special investigations including the identification of the remains interred in the Vietnam Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and a bi-lateral investigation with the Republic of Korea regarding alleged events in July 1950 at No Gun Ri. On behalf of Secretary of Defense, William S. Cohen, Cragin broke down barriers to the integration of active and reserve forces including the transition of Guard and Reserve ID cards to match those carried by active duty servicemembers.
In 1999, Mr. Cragin led the initiative announced by President Clinton and Secretary Cohen to develop Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection Teams (RAID Teams). These teams were subsequently named Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Teams (WMDCST).

## Later career

After retiring from federal service in 2001, he became a partner in the Washington, DC office of Blank Rome, LLP. In 2003 he joined System Planning Corporation (SPC) of Arlington, Virginia as its Senior Vice President for National Intelligence, Security and Response.
He served as Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans from 2008 to 2009.

## Political candidacy

Cragin sought the Republican nomination for Governor of Maine in 1978 and 1982. After finishing second in the 1978 Republican gubernatorial primary, Republican members of the Maine Legislature nominated him for Attorney General. Cragin expressed concerns about potential conflicts of interest as a result of his law firm's extensive legal practice across Maine. The Maine Legislature requested an opinion from the Justices of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court seeking to clarify whether Cragin's association with the law firm, Verrill Dana, LLP, would pose any legal issues if he were elected Attorney General. The Justices declined to answer the question, and Cragin withdrew his candidacy.
In 1982, Cragin again sought the Republican nomination for Governor of Maine. In a three-way contested primary, he received his party's nomination. He was defeated in the general election by the Democratic incumbent, Joseph Brennan, by a vote tally of 281,066 to 172,949.
Cragin served as Chairman of the Budget Committee of the Republican National Committee for many years. He served as Chief Sergeant-at-Arms at the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana.

## Boards and Charitable Organizations

Since 1984, Cragin has served on the Board of Directors of the Margaret Chase Smith Foundation, serving for the past several years as the Board President. From 1986 to 1988, he served as a member of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS).