CGJAG/20181228

1

History of the Coast Guard Legal Program

The Coast Guard Legal Program Begins

The Coast Guard legal program began as the Military Discipline Branch in the Office of 

Operations after an Act of Congress of May 26, 1906, created a military discipline system 

for the Revenue Cutter Service. The branch remained in the Office of Operations 

following the creation of the Coast Guard on January 28, 1915, with the merger of the 

Revenue Cutter Service and the Lifesaving Service. The function of the branch during 

these early years was primarily to review the several types of Coast Guard courts, to 

prepare actions for the Secretary of Treasury, and to perform other matters of military 

discipline. Edward P. Harrington served as the head of the Military Discipline Branch 

after creation of the Coast Guard and held the title of chief legal officer, although 

contemporaneous vouchers refer to him as a law and contract clerk.

The Legal Division is Created

The Revenue Act of 1934 placed all legal duties and functions of the Department of the 

Treasury in the newly created Office of the General Counsel of the Treasury Department. 

As a result, a Legal Division was established as a part of the organization of Coast Guard 

Headquarters with the division chief designated chief counsel. Organizationally, the 

Legal Division was part of the commandant’s staff, and the chief counsel worked under 

the direction of the assistant commandant. Joseph P. Tanney, who had succeeded the 

retiring Harrington in 1931, became the first chief counsel.

The Revenue Act of 1934 and the efforts of Herman Oliphant, the first general counsel of 

the Treasury Department, substantially enlarged the functions and responsibilities of the 

Coast Guard Legal Division that was created in 1934 by creating a legal advisory service 

to provide legal opinions, both formal and informal, to the Coast Guard administrative 

officers. Over time the General Counsel assigned regularly other legal work concerning 

contracts, real estate, legislation, regulation review, and other matters affecting the Coast 

Guard to the Legal Division. 

Kenneth F. Harrison assumed the position of chief counsel in 1938 upon Tanney’s 

resignation to enter the private practice of law. The General Counsel of the Department 

of the Treasury assigned Harrison to the Coast Guard by where he had been serving since 

his employment from the War Department in 1930. 

Coast Guard Law Expands in World War II

The outbreak of war in Europe was swiftly followed by the Neutrality Act of 1939. This 

act, together with the transfer of the Lighthouse Service to the Coast Guard in the 

summer of 1939 resulted in a considerable increase in the functions and duties of the 
CGJAG/20181228

2

Coast Guard and its Legal Division. These additional responsibilities required an increase 

in resources, and several attorneys, stenographers, and clerks were assigned to the Legal 

Division and the position of assistant chief counsel was created. When President 

Roosevelt declared a State of Limited National Emergency and activated the Espionage 

Act of 1917, a Port Security program was established with extensive organization, 

regulations, and responsibilities. The size of the Coast Guard continued to increase, and 

the passage of emergency legislation, such as the Coast Guard Reserve Act, added to the 

duties and responsibilities of the Legal Division. 

The transfer of the Coast Guard to the Navy on November 1, 1941, created several legal 

challenges, particularly regarding the transition from the Coast Guard disciplinary system 

to that of the Navy under the Articles for the Government of the Navy. The sudden entry 

of the United States into World War II on December 7, 1941, resulted in a rapid 

expansion of the Coast Guard to carry out its war missions. Almost all of the attorneys in 

the Legal Division were civilians at the time. Most were commissioned in the Coast 

Guard Reserve during the war – including Harrison who, having served as an officer in 

the Army Reserve for sixteen years before World War II, was appointed as a lieutenant 

commander on May 30, 1942. He rapidly advanced in grade, first to commander sixteen 

days later, and then to captain in May 1943. 

Coast Guard regulations in 1940 for the first time provided for a law officer as a member 

of the staff of each Coast Guard District. As these positions filled, law officers were also 

provided to captains of each major port and the major independent units such as Supply 

Depots and Training Stations. The Legal Division faced difficult problems during the 

first year of World War II. Besides the increased demands for opinions, legal advice, and 

other legal functions, the recruitment and indoctrination of law officers and the formation 

of a service-wide legal organization for the first time required considerable time and 

attention. The Legal Division was required to provide the full range of advice and 

opinion not only to the administrative officials at Coast Guard Headquarters but also to 

District Coast Guard offices. 

Coast Guard commanders and officers, unaccustomed to having lawyers close at hand, 

did not know what to do with them or whether they could be trusted. Mr. Harrison took 

on this issue when he addressed the chiefs of staff of the districts who were assembled at 

Headquarters in the summer of 1942:

I regret to say that in some quarters there is a general antipathy against 

lawyers. They are looked upon as obstructionists and causes of delay when 

something is desired to be done. This is a mistaken viewpoint, gentlemen. 

The role of the lawyer, as a legal adviser, is to ascertain what his client 

wishes to do and the procedure he proposes to follow, and then advise the 

client whether there is any legal objection to such action. If the objective is 

legally permissible, but the procedure is faulty from a legal point of view, 

it is the role of the lawyer to advise his client in what manner the action 

may be taken without legal objection. He should exhaust every ingenuity 
CGJAG/20181228

3

he possesses to support the action which his client wishes to take. ... The 

value of the district law officer ... depends upon the extent his services are 

utilized. ... Whenever a Coast Guard officer acts upon the legal advice 

given to him by the District law officer, the District law officer shares with 

him the responsibility for the action taken.

Executive Order 9083, which became effective on March 1, 1942, transferred the major 

functions of the former Bureau of Maritime Inspection and Navigation to the Coast 

Guard. This move resulted in an extensive field of new legal activity for the Legal 

Division. For the first time, the Coast Guard was vested with the authority to regulate 

certain phases of an industry - namely, the administration of vessel inspection and 

navigation laws. These statutes encompassed a system that had grown piecemeal for 150 

years; they were difficult of construction and interpretation, particularly in view of the 

special considerations and adjustments resulting from the emergency conditions arising 

from the war. To handle this new workload, a special section in the Legal Division was 

created and designated the Admiralty and Maritime Section. 

At this time the Legal Division at Coast Guard Headquarters was organized into eight 

sections reporting to the chief counsel. The sections were: Opinion, Port Security, 

Admiralty and Maritime, Contracts, Real Estate, Courts and Boards, Legislative, and 

Patent. In addition, there were several special assistants to the chief counsel who were 

assigned special projects and tasks not falling within the cognizance of any particular 

section. 

The Office of the District Law Officer in each district was organized along the same lines 

as that of the Legal Division at Headquarters, except that in the small offices the work of 

several sections was combined. There were no legislative or patent sections on the district 

level. During World War II, the staff of the Legal Division was composed of 

approximately twenty-five non-lawyers assigned to legal work in the field offices that 

included law offices in fifteen Coast Guard districts. 

With the end of World War II and the resulting massive demobilization, the civilians 

commissioned as reserve officers reverted to their civilian status and many returned to 

private practice. Captain Harrison returned to civilian status in April 1946, but retained 

his commission in the Coast Guard Reserve, eventually being appointed the Reserve’s 

first permanent Rear Admiral on June 28, 1956. 

The post-World War II period contained few legal billets for active duty Coast Guard 

officers with law degrees. In late 1947, for instance, of the twenty-one people assigned to 

the Legal Division in Coast Guard Headquarters only three were commissioned officers. 

The other eighteen were civilians. There were no field personnel whose time was fully 

devoted to the handling of the legal matters that arose in the various Coast Guard district

offices. The legal section headed by the district law officer that had existed in each 

district office during World War II had been consolidated in July 1947 into an 

organizational component headed by the “Legal and Intelligence Officer.” This office 
CGJAG/20181228

4

was responsible to the district chief of staff for the performance of all duties other than 

those duties concerning legal matters, for which the Legal Officer reported to the chief 

counsel. In the performance of legal duties, he advised the district chief of staff, but was 

responsible to the Legal Division and the chief counsel at Coast Guard Headquarters. 

Coincidentally, a Coast Guard Reserve Voluntary Legal and Intelligence Unit 05-8 was 

established in 1949 and was commanded by Harrison in his Reserve capacity until 1960.

During the late 1940’s some lawyers returned to active duty in the Coast Guard after a 

brief period as civilians in private practice. Despite the scarcity of legal billets for 

military lawyers following World War II, many landed in quasi-legal billets, such as 

Marine Inspection and Investigation Offices, Captain of the Port Offices, and Port 

Security Units. 

Uniformed Law Specialists Are Created 

Enactment of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) in 1950 created an 

immediate need for legal officers and resulted in the establishment of a single legal billet 

in each Coast Guard district as the staff legal officer. To fill these billets, the Coast Guard 

used some of the lawyers commissioned during World War II. However, the service felt 

the need for career-oriented lawyers, so the Coast Guard instituted a program of 

postgraduate education in law for its regular officers. In 1949-1950, prior to the effective 

date of the UCMJ, five Coast Guard officers entered law school. Each year thereafter, 

varying numbers of officers received assignments to law schools, with the number 

stabilizing at two per year by the mid 1950’s and continuing at that rate through 1969. 

The increased legal responsibilities and workload resulting from the UCMJ also caused a 

number of military lawyers to be added to the Legal Division at Coast Guard 

Headquarters as “Special Assistants to the Chief Counsel,” who remained Rear Admiral

Harrison. Enactment of the UCMJ also required a Judge Advocate General for the Coast 

Guard for the first time and Congress assigned that duty to the General Counsel of the 

Department of the Treasury, although many of the duties were subsequently delegated to 

the Chief Counsel.

The Legal Division Becomes the Office of the Chief Counsel & the First Military Chief 

Counsel is Appointed

When the Office of the General Counsel of the Treasury Department was created and the 

Legal Division in Coast Guard Headquarters was established in 1934, the chief counsel 

and his staff in the Legal Division operated under the supervision of the general counsel 

of the Treasury Department. The transfer of the Coast Guard to the newly created 

Department of Transportation in 1967 provided an opportunity to take a fresh look at the 

Legal Division. 

At the time, the Legal Division was under resourced and its organization had not 

appreciably changed over time. At the same time, there was no established office of the 

General Counsel in the newly created Department of Transportation. A call went out to 

all of the modal administrations to provide personnel to staff the new department until 
CGJAG/20181228

5

permanent personnel could be hired. Captain William L. Morrison, a military attorney 

who was then serving as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Coast Guard following a number 

of command and legal tours, was assigned in April, 1967, as Assistant to the General 

Counsel. Captain Morrison’s assistance in organizing the General Counsel’s office,

which included a study of other general counsel offices and the legal offices of the new 

modal administrations, provided him a unique perspective to assess the Legal Division. 

Coincidentally, the Administrative Management Division of the Coast Guard instituted a 

study of the Legal Division in 1968. Recommendations of the study led to reorganization 

and realignment of the Legal Division, including its elevation to office level and making

the Office of Chief Counsel responsible directly to the Commandant. The Office of 

Chief Counsel now consisted of six divisions: Maritime and International Law, 

Regulations and Administrative Law, Procurement Law, General Law, Military Justice, 

and Claims and Litigation. The Regulations and Administrative Law Division also was 

responsible for the Coast Guard legislative program, but that function was later 

transferred to a new Legislation Division.

The 1968 reorganization also established the position of chief counsel as a military billet 

with the same rank as other office chiefs – rear admiral. On January 1, 1969, now Rear 

Admiral Morrison, who had been promoted in January 1968, and reassigned to the Coast 

Guard, was assigned as chief counsel in 1968, succeeding Mr. Harrison who retired in 

1968 at the age of 68. The Chief Counsel would remain a military billet from that time 

forward. The Assistant Chief Counsel remained civilian. 

The creation of the Office of Chief Counsel in 1968 was timely because it coincided with 

the Military Justice Act of 1968, which radically changed the military justice system, 

creating the Courts of Military Review, military judges, and greatly expanding the role of 

attorneys in the military justice system. As a result, the Coast Guard field legal corps 

expanded rapidly. Civilian attorneys were offered reserve commissions to fulfill shortterm needs, and the post-graduate program was expanded from two to ten students per 

year to provide a larger cadre of career law specialists. 

Although the need for additional attorneys to fulfill the mandates of the Military Justice 

Act of 1968 abated by the mid-1970’s , the number of military lawyers assigned in the 

field and, to a lesser extent, in the Office of Chief Counsel, continued to rise. 

This period also marked the accession of the first African-American law specialist, Merle 

James Smith, Jr., who graduated from the George Washington School of Law in 1974. 

Also the first African-American to graduate from the Coast Guard Academy in 1966, he 

served in Vietnam before attending law school. He left active duty in 1979 but remained 

in the Reserve, eventually retiring as a commander. 

The continuing growth of law specialists in the mid-70’s was principally due to two acts: 

the Magnuson Fisheries Conservation and Management Act in 1976, which established 

the 200-mile Fisheries Conservation Zone (precursor to the Exclusive Economic Zone) 

and expanded the Coast Guard’s role in enforcing fisheries laws; and the Federal Water 
CGJAG/20181228

6

Pollution Control Act of 1973, which greatly expanded the Coast Guard’s role in 

environmental protection. The post-graduate training for career military attorneys 

continued, but the rate slowed to about six per year by the early 1980’s. 

In addition to implementing the reorganization of the Office of the Chief Counsel, Rear 

Admiral Morrison served as the legal advisor to the first United Nations Law of the Sea 

Conference. Other judge advocates would participate in the development of the United 

Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, including future Judge Advocate General 

John E. Crowley, Jr. After Rear Admiral Morrison was assigned to district command in 

1973, he was succeeded by Rear Admiral R.A. Ratti (1973-1976), Rear Admiral G.H.P. 

Bursley (1976-1978), Rear Admiral C.F. DeWolf (1978-1981), and Rear Admiral E.H. 

Daniels (1981-1986). 

The Coast Guard Realigns

Rear Admiral J.E. Vorbach became Chief Counsel during Coast Guard “realignment” 

that began in 1987 to add 500 billets to meet the expanding "War against Drugs" when 

the Coast Guard was unable to obtain congressional approval to augment the force. The 

district offices in New York City and San Francisco were closed, and some support 

functions were withdrawn from the remaining ten districts and consolidated in two new 

Maintenance and Logistics Commands in New York City and Alameda, California. 

Among the functions transferred to the new commands were claims, defense advocacy, 

real property, contract law, and civilian personnel law; the personnel needed to perform 

these functions and support the legal needs of the Maintenance and Logistics Command 

commanders and their units nationwide were also transferred. As a result, the number of 

attorneys in the Coast Guard remained unchanged, although their distribution changed 

substantially. However, the number of legal support personnel declined by 15 percent, 

primarily at the district level. 

The ultimate effects of realignment probably were not what anyone expected. The loss of 

clerical personnel meant that there were far fewer people to maintain the office law 

libraries, act as court reporters for courts and boards, or perform ordinary clerical tasks. 

As a result, the chief counsel successfully convinced the chief of staff to purchase 

computers for every lawyer and support staff assigned to the districts and Maintenance 

and Logistics Commands together with a suite of hardware and software that put the legal 

program at the forefront of the Coast Guard’s office automation effort. Each attorney was 

given word processing, E-mail, and calendaring software. Every computer came 

equipped with the modem and software necessary to use both LEXIS and WESTLAW, 

and each office was equipped with a laser printer, color daisy wheel printer, and a 

scanner. All of the computers within each office were networked, and every legal office 

was linked via E-mail, giving attorneys from Boston to Honolulu and Juneau to Miami 

the ability to exchange documents and pleadings. In 1987, this was leading-edge 

technology, especially in the Coast Guard. 
CGJAG/20181228

7

Another effect was that the Maintenance and Logistics Command Pacific Legal Staff, 

believing that its defense advocacy branch was understaffed, entered into a memorandum 

of agreement in 1988 by which the Navy Legal Services Office (NLSO) on Treasure 

Island assumed responsibility for Coast Guard defense advocacy needs in exchange for 

the deail of two Coast Guard law specialists. In 1991, the next chief counsel, Rear 

Admiral Paul E. Versaw, entered into a similar agreement with the Norfolk NLSO. This 

later ripened into an agreement with the Judge Advocate General of the Navy to provide 

all trial defense services for the entire Coast Guard in return for the detail of four law 

specialists to Naval Legal Services Offices and/or Trial Services Offices in Seattle, 

Norfolk, and Washington, D.C. In 2015 and 2016, four additional judge advocates were 

assigned to Navy Defense Service Offices. 

The Coast Guard retained responsibility for the appellate defense function and, in 1987,

Lieutenant Commander Robert Bruce became the first uniformed judge advocate of any 

service to argue before the Supreme Court in Solorio v. United States, the first direct 

appeal of a military justice case to the Supreme Court after 1983 amendments to the 

Uniform Code of Military Justice. Lieutenant Commander Allen Lotz would later argue 

Ryder v. United States in 1995, in addition to serving as co-counsel in Edmond v. United 

States in 1997, a case in which Lieutenant Richard Beyer also served as co-counsel. 

In 1991, Rear Admiral Versaw made other changes to the post-realignment legal program 

in order to “re-level” the workload in the district and legal offices. He moved the 

Maintenance and Logistics Command Atlantic Advocacy Branch to the Fifth District 

Legal Office in Portsmouth, Virginia. Second, he centralized the household goods claims 

processing function in the Second District Legal Office in St. Louis. Third, he added 

attorney billets to several district offices to bring their complement of law specialists to at 

least three, which had been found to be the districts and Maintenance and Logistics 

Commands partly to put a necessary second clerical person at the smaller districts, and 

also to revitalize the Legal Assistance Program which had very nearly died due to 

realignment. 

Two other significant changes occurred in the early 1990’s. First, as a result of the Exxon 

Valdez oil spill, Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 which greatly added to 

the Coast Guard’s regulatory responsibilities. Additional attorneys were added to the 

Coast Guard to write more than eighty major regulatory packages needed to implement 

the Act, and a legal division was established at the National Pollution Fund Center, which 

was created to administer the fund set up by the Act. Second, in response to increasingly 

complex legal issues related to compliance with environmental laws, the chief counsel 

created the Environmental Law Division at Headquarters. 

On February 18, 1996, Mr. Robert Horowitz became Deputy Chief Counsel, replacing 

Mr. Rue Helsel, who, after serving over a decade in the position, retired on September 30, 

1995. Mr. Horowitz would serve in the position until November 19, 2000, when he was 

detailed as Director of Finance and Procurement. 
CGJAG/20181228

8

The Coast Guard Streamlines

The 1996 Coast Guard streamlining and reorganization had its impact on the legal 

program. Organizationally, the Office of the Chief Counsel became just the Chief 

Counsel as the existing legal divisions at Coast Guard headquarters became Offices. The 

Second District Legal Office was disestablished along with the district with the legal 

responsibilities moving to the Eighth District in New Orleans. With the closure of 

Governors Island, the Maintenance & Logistics Command Atlantic Legal Division 

moved with the command to Norfolk, Virginia and established an Atlantic Area 

Operational Law Branch in Portsmouth. Perhaps the most significant change was the 

elimination of the Fifth and Eleventh Districts, along with their legal staffs. With the 

Atlantic and Pacific Area commands assuming responsibility for the Fifth and Eleventh 

Districts’ functions, the legal staffs at both Maintenance and Logistics Commands 

expanded their duties to include service to the district commands. During this same 

period, the legal program added five new billets located at Marine Safety Offices in New 

York, Hampton Roads, New Orleans, Houston and Los Angeles/Long Beach. A result of 

work between the legal, marine safety, and Administrative Law Judge programs, these 

billets will provide needed, on site legal services to the investigations and suspension and 

revocation process. 

Rear Admiral John E. Shkor, the only officer to serve two tours as Chief Counsel, from 

1993 to 1996, and 1998 to 1999, and the only officer who, having served as Chief 

Counsel, was promoted to vice admiral, presided over the dramatic changes following 

enactment of the Oil Pollution Act, and shepherded the legal program through the 

difficult changes of streamlining. Rear Admiral Paul M. Blayney, who served from 

1996-1998, also played a significant role during this turbulent time. During this period 

Mr. Robert S. Horowitz became Deputy Chief Counsel.

Among his many other accomplishments, Rear Admiral Jay S. Carmichael, who served 

as Chief Counsel from 1999 to 2001, and was assigned in 2003 as the first Military 

Assistant to the Secretary of Homeland Security, created the seal of the Chief Counsel 

that has remained unchanged since.

Coast Guard Law Responds to 9/11 & the Judge Advocate General is Designated

On September 11, 2001, Rear Admiral Robert F. Duncan was serving as Chief Counsel 

during the attacks on New York and Washington. In the immediate aftermath of the 

attacks, Coast Guard attorneys drafted and published essential orders and rules, including 

requirements for 96-hour advance notice of vessel arrivals and naval vessel protective 

zones. Coast Guard attorneys joined Department of Defense attorneys in assisting 

families of the victims of the Pentagon attack and were assigned to a Department of 

Defense task force that began assembling evidence to support the trial of terrorists before 
CGJAG/20181228

9

military commissions. Rear Admiral Duncan led the Homeland Security Strategic Task 

Force established by the Commandant to pave the way for fundamental doctrinal 

changes. 

Coast Guard attorneys played a leading role at the twenty-second Assembly of the 

International Maritime Organization which convened in November 2001. At the urging 

of the United States delegation, led by the Commandant, the Assembly adopted 

Resolution A.924 (22), Review of Measures and Procedures to Prevent Acts of Terrorism 

which Threaten the Security of Passengers and Crews and the Safety of Ships. The 

resolution called on IMO committees to review, on a high priority basis, existing 

instruments to determine whether other maritime security measures were appropriate. 

This resolution, adopted in record time, led to a variety of other actions by the IMO. In 

April 2002, the IMO began a review of the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful 

Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation, 1988, and its Protocol. In December 

2002, a Diplomatic Conference on Maritime Security adopted amendments to the 

International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to enhance maritime 

security, including a new chapter on ship and port facility security and a complementary 

International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code. 

On November 25, 2002, Congress enacted the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 

2002 which created a comprehensive regime for ship and port security. Coast Guard 

attorneys played an integral role in drafting the legislation, synchronizing many of its 

provisions with international measures that would be adopted the following month at the 

IMO. The Maritime Transportation Security Act triggered the most ambitious and 

extensive in Coast Guard history; the rulemaking was also adopted in the most 

abbreviated period in our history: interim rules were published in seven months; the final 

rules were published on October 22, 2003, becoming effective on November 1. This 

rulemaking, begun by the Maritime Safety and Security Council under Rear Admiral 

Duncan, was concluded by Rear Admiral John E. Crowley, Jr., who became Judge 

Advocate General in 2003. 

The Homeland Security Act was enacted on the same day as the Maritime Transportation 

Security Act. Coast Guard counsel played an important behind-the-scenes role during 

negotiations on Capitol Hill concerning the transfer of the Coast Guard to the Department 

of Homeland Security, ensuring that the Coast Guard transferred intact and that its 

military maritime multi-mission character would be preserved. 

The Homeland Security Act also amended the Uniform Code of Military Justice to afford 

the Secretary discretion to designate any official to serve as Judge Advocate General of 

the Coast Guard. On March 1, 2003, the date on which the Coast Guard transferred to the 

new department, Tom Ridge, Secretary of Homeland Security designated the Chief 

Counsel and Deputy Chief Counsel as the Judge Advocate General and Deputy Judge 

Advocate General of the Coast Guard. Rear Admiral Duncan became the first military 

Judge Advocate General of the Service. Mr. Calvin M. Lederer, who succeeded Mr. 

Robert Horowitz as Deputy Chief Counsel in June 2002, became Deputy Judge Advocate 
CGJAG/20181228

10

General. On July 12, 2006, Coast Guard law specialists became judge advocates when 

the Coast Guard Maritime and Transportation Act of 2006 became law.

Another dramatic development affecting the Coast Guard after 9/11 was passage of the 

Intelligence Authorization Act of 2002, which amended the National Security Act of 

1947, to place the intelligence element of the Coast Guard within the Intelligence 

Community. Commander Kevin D. Lunday was assigned to advise Ms. Francis 

Townsend who later was appointed the first Assistant Commandant for Intelligence (and 

who would later become Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and 

Counterterrorism). As the intelligence program would grow, so would the number and 

sophistication of military and civilian counsel supporting it. In 2014, Kevin Lunday, who 

by then had commanded the Maritime Intelligence Fusion Center Atlantic, would be 

promoted to rear admiral, and in 2015, another judge advocate, Rear Admiral Steven J. 

Andersen would be assigned as Assistant Commandant for Intelligence.

In June 2002, the Integrated Deepwater System contract was awarded to Integrated Coast 

Guard Systems, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northup Grumman. This 

contract was intended to launch a recapitalization of Coast Guard vessels, aircraft, and 

command, control, communications, computers and intelligence valued then at $24 

billion. Although the award followed 9/11, the Deepwater program had been planned 

since the mid-1990’s. Coast Guard procurement counsel participated in every aspect of 

the program design and the award process. Subsequently they would participate in the 

sweeping revision of the program to accommodate post 9/11 requirements, downstream 

procurements, and the Coast Guard’s response to reverses that would occur in the 

program. 

The year 2002 also saw appointment of Vice Admiral Thomas J. Barrett as the first judge 

advocate to serve as Vice Commandant of the Coast Guard, and the second judge 

advocate after Vice Admiral Shkor to serve as a vice admiral. In 2014, Charles D. 

Michel, became the third judge advocate to become a vice admiral when he became 

Deputy Commandant for Operations and the second judge advocate to become Vice 

Commandant in 2015. In 2016, his promotion to admiral made him the first career judge 

advocate in any of the armed services to reach four-star rank. Air Force General Russell 

E. Dougherty, promoted in 1972, had been a judge advocate but terminated his judge 

advocate status in 1952 to retain his pilot rating. Other judge advocates have served in 

other flag positions throughout the Coast Guard. Many other judge advocates have 

served in command at sea in small and large cutters, including Captain Jason R. Hamilton 

who commanded Coast Guard Cutter Healy when it became the first United States 

surface vessel to reach the North Pole without assistance, and command ashore, as well 

as in staff positions at all levels of the Coast Guard. 

In August 1, 2003, the Judge Advocate General established Legal and Defense Services 

as a staff element to manage the legal assistance program and provide legal assistance in 

the National Capitol Region, and provide all physical disability counsel representation 

and criminal appellate defense, as well as manage trial defense billets and oversee other 
CGJAG/20181228

11

criminal defense services provided to the Coast Guard by the Navy. This moved the 

appellate defense function out of the Office of Military Justice and responsibility for legal 

assistance out of the Office of Legal Policy and Program Development. Over time, the 

number of appellate defense counsel increased and a Chief of Legal Assistance for the 

Coast Guard was created to support civilian legal assistance attorneys who had been hired 

for all district and Maintenance and Logistics Command offices. 

Professional development of attorneys was enhanced from 2004 through 2006, with the 

first Coast Guard military attorneys attending the Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal 

Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia, to earn a master of laws (LLM) degree 

and serving year-long follow-on fellowships at the Center for Law and Military 

Operations. The decision to invest in the Charlottesville LLM rather than a subjectmatter specific LLM was intended to provide a broader experience for officers to better 

prepare them for future leadership positions and exposure to judge advocates in other 

services. A Missions Law Course for operations law judge advocates and attorneys was 

run for the first time in 2006, followed in later years by creation of an Advanced 

Missions Law Course held in alternate years with the Missions Law Course. 

CGJAG Responds to Hurricane Katrina

On 29 August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast region and more than 

fifty Coast Guard attorneys – active, reserve, and civilian – from across the nation 

deployed to support the Coast Guard response to Katrina, and later, Hurricane Rita. 

Attorneys assigned the 8th Coast Guard District, now commanded by former Judge 

Advocate General Robert F. Duncan, supported the initial lifesaving and pollution 

response. In succeeding days and weeks, a Coast Guard attorney deployed as the legal 

advisor the Vice Admiral Thad Allen, the Principal Federal Official. 

Other Coast Guard attorneys from a variety of disciplines provided real time on-demand 

advice and supported Coast Guard, DHS and federal interagency actions in response to a 

wide range of issues, including authority for inland search and rescue operations; law 

enforcement and force protection while escorting convoys of supplies; authority for 

removal of debris and pollutants; authority for forcible evacuations; facilitating the 

waiver or extension of certification, manning and licensing requirements for crews of 

commercial vessels; waiver of user fees associated with vessel inspection and licensing 

applications; applicability of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act to floodwater 

removal operations; execution of a temporary waiver to the Jones Act allowing foreignflagged vessels to supplement U.S. vessel movement of petroleum products in the 

Coastwise trade; interpretation of the applicability of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 

Act to foreign vessels chartered to assist in the survey and repair of damaged oil and gas 

platforms; advising on the use of the Oil Spill Liability Trust fund or the Stafford Act to 

pay for pollution response; and evaluating the safety and security regulations applicable 

to cruise ships utilized to provide temporary housing. 
CGJAG/20181228

12

Legal assistance and claims teams fanned out across the Eighth and Seventh Coast Guard 

Districts to support Coast Guard people, 60 percent of whom in Louisiana, Alabama, and 

Mississippi suffered catastrophic losses. Legal teams provided legal assistance to over 

1000 clients and assisted with approximately 600 personal property claims. Attorneys in 

the field and at headquarters supported Congressional, Government Accountability 

Office, and Inspector General investigations, and creatively resolved numerous 

operational issues. 

In this same period, Captain William D. Baumgartner, who would become Judge 

Advocate General in 2006, led efforts at a diplomatic conference from October 10-14, 

2005, to finalize amendments to the maritime terrorism convention: the 1988 Convention 

for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Maritime Navigation. Coast 

Guard judge advocates deployed to Iraq to participate in the prosecution of terrorists in 

the Criminal Court of Iraq and one judge advocate served as a member of the command 

cadre of Patrol Forces Southwest Asia. 

Modernization of Legal Services

One of Admiral Thad Allen’s principal initiatives when he became Commandant in 2006 

was to critically examine Coast Guard operational and mission support functions and 

organization and initiate far reaching organizational changes that included dissolution of 

the two Maintenance and Logistics Command whose functions would be merged in a 

Mission Support organization, creation of a Force Readiness Command (FORCECOM) 

and an Operations Command (OPCOM) in place of the two Areas, and creating two new 

vice admiral billets to serve as Deputy Commandant for Operations and Deputy 

Commandant for Mission Support, while doing away with the Chief of Staff. CGJAG 

was intimately involved in all aspects of the complex Modernization effort, including 

drafting legislation that became law that authorized appointment of four vice admirals, 

besides the Vice Commandant. When Admiral Robert Papp became Commandant, he 

modified Admiral Allen’s concept, adopting the Mission Support concept but preserving 

the two Areas, while retaining FORCECOM in a different and smaller form. 

Rear Admiral Baumgartner initiated parallel Legal Modernization, under the leadership 

initially of Captain Gary Felicetti. Legal functions and structure were examined in the 

context of principles for the organization of legal services, resulting in Principles for the 

Delivery of Legal Services from which flowed a number of changes during the tenure of 

Rear Admiral Baumgartner and Rear Admiral Frederick Kenney, who became Judge 

Advocate General in 2011. Among the changes were insertion of the Judge Advocate 

General in the rating chains of staff judge advocates, creating a Senior Executive position 

to lead the Procurement Law practice, and creation of the Legal Service Command 

(LSC). LSC was resourced by the legal divisions of the former Maintenance & Logistics 

Commands, and was designed to support the Mission Support organization, provide 

matrixed counsel to support the staff judge advocates for the two Areas and the 5th and 

11th Districts, provide specialized practice area support to staff judge advocates, manage 

contingency planning and execution, and otherwise support all of CGJAG. LSC was 
CGJAG/20181228

13

activated on April 23, 2009, under the command of Captain Beth Pepper. She was 

succeeded by Captain Steven J. Andersen who, during his tenure, led the CGJAG 

response to Super Storm Sandy in 2013. 

Rear Admiral Kenney continued execution of Legal Modernization with a number of 

initiatives, including more direct involvement in and control of judge advocate 

assignments, rebranding the Legal Program as CGJAG, and initiating “CGJAG 2.0” that, 

among other changes that occurred in 2013, including creation of the Office of 

Intelligence and Information Law, merger of the Office of Environmental Law into the 

Office of Maritime and International Law, moving Property Law back into the Office of 

General Law from the Office of Environmental and Property Law from which it came in 

2004, creating an integrated and centrally managed Reserve CGJAG program, and in 

connection with a number of Coast Guard initiatives to combat sexual assault, the Coast 

Guard’s Special Victim’s Counsel program, which, in 2014, was subsumed in an Office 

of Member Advocacy and Legal Assistance which replaced the Office of Legal and 

Defense Services.

CGJAG Responds to Deepwater Horizon

In January, 2010, Coast Guard attorneys supported Coast Guard forces that deployed to 

provide humanitarian support after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Their efforts 

called up reservists, prepared Coast Guardsmen for deployment, and provided legal 

support to deployed forces. Not long after Haiti, on the evening of April 20, 2010, the 

Transocean-owned, BP chartered, Marshall Islands-flagged Mobile Offshore Drilling 

Unit, Deepwater Horizon, located approximately 72 miles Southeast of Venice, 

Louisiana, reported an explosion and fire onboard. After an intense search and rescue 

operation led by the Coast Guard that saved 115 of the 126 crewmembers, the Deepwater

Horizon sank on April 22, severing the riser that connected the MODU to the Macondo 

wellhead, triggering the largest oil spill response operation in United States history, and 

declaration of the first “Spill of National Significance.” 

While the 8th District Staff Judge Advocate provided initial support to the Federal OnScene Coordinator, Cal Lederer, who became Acting Judge Advocate General after Rear 

Admiral William Baumgartner was reassigned as Commander of the 7th Coast Guard 

District just before the blowout, designed a legal support structure that drew on CGJAGwide resources spanning operations at all levels of the response. Coast Guard attorneys 

deployed to the Incident Command Posts in Houma, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama, 

and attorneys from the 7th District Staff Judge Advocate supported the Incident 

Command Post in Miami. A legal staff, typically numbering five attorneys, supported the 

Unified Area Command, with the legal advisor seated literally at the right hand of the 

FOSC while the UAC operated in Robert Louisiana in the first several weeks of the 

response. Legal advisors were also assigned to Admiral Thad Allen, the National 

Incident Commander. The Acting Judge Advocate General, the Legal Service Command, 

and other offices provided support in depth to deployed attorneys. Coast Guard 

attorneys advised the NIC and FOSC regarding their authorities under the Oil Pollution 
CGJAG/20181228

14

and the Clean Water Acts, and on a wide range of novel issues, including the decision to 

direct BP to fund the construction of $360 million of barrier islands, protection of 

endangered species including sea turtles and other marine life, air quality monitoring 

relating to in situ burns, worker safety for responders on the beach and in wetlands, 

public safety, and international implications of the spill. Increasing response assets in the 

Gulf led to development of an expedited process to waive the “Jones Act”, which limits 

coastwise trade to U.S.-flagged vessels, to introduce additional response vessels, and 

promulgation in ten days of an emergency regulation reducing response requirements in 

other part of the United States to permit the movement of oil skimmers. Coast Guard 

attorneys were active on Capitol Hill, briefing members and staffs, and led drafting and 

advocacy of legislation to ensure adequate funding for the response, increasing draws on 

the Oil Spill Liability Emergency Fund and lifting the cap on funding to $1.5 billion. In 

the first week of the response, CGJAG drafted the charter for a joint Minerals 

Management Service (which later became the Bureau for Ocean Energy Management, 

Regulations, and Enforcement) and Coast Guard investigation into the disaster. Coast 

Guard lawyers were also detailed to a Department of Justice criminal investigation and 

the Coast Guard’s Incident Specific Preparedness Review. Then Captain Frederick 

Kenney, who, as Chief of Maritime and International Law, played a significant role in all 

aspects of the CGJAG response, took the lead role in referring the Deepwater Horizon 

incident to the Department of Justice for litigation against the responsible parties. Coast 

Guard counsel helped draft the complaint and litigate the case. They also responded to 

litigation challenging aspects of the response. Throughout the response, CGJAG 

response documentation specialists preserved response documentation and later 

established a repository for digital and printed data. Judge Advocates played other 

significant roles in the response. In the early days, Captain David Nichols, 8th District 

Staff Judge Advocate, served as the first chief of staff for the UAC. Captain Steven 

Poulin, who became Judge Advocate General in 2014, but was Mobile Sector 

Commander when Deepwater Horizon began, served as the Incident Commander for the 

eastern part of the Gulf. 

CGJAG in the Global War on Terror and Defense Operations

Beginning in 2003, Judge advocates supported the effort to try terrorists before military 

commissions, including preparation of cases for prosecution in the Army’s Criminal 

Investigation Task Force, design of military commissions in the Office of the Department 

of Defense General Counsel, and managing the process in the Office of Military 

Commissions. Between 2006 and 2016, fifteen Coast Guard judge advocates deployed in 

support of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, some in conjunction with their 

fellowship at the Center for Law and Military Operations, and some in cooperation with 

the Navy or at the request of the Department of Defense. A number of judge advocates 

participated in the prosecution of terrorists in the Criminal Court of Iraq. Rear Admiral 

Steven J. Andersen, who became Judge Advocate General in 2016, served a year in the 

NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan and Combined Security Transition CommandAfghanistan from 2010 to 2011. One judge advocate was Executive Officer of the Patrol 
CGJAG/20181228

15

Forces Southwest Asia, the squadron of six patrol boats deployed in the Northern Arabian 

Gulf since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. 

In 2012, Captain Timothy Connors became the first Coast Guard judge advocate to be 

selected to be a combatant command staff judge advocate, at NORTHCOM. By 2014, 

Coast Guard judge advocates were assigned to all combatant commands except EUCOM. 

In 2017, Captain William Dwyer became the second Coast Guard judge advocate to serve 

as a combatant command staff judge advocate when he was assigned to SOUTHCOM. 

Judge advocates have also served in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 

been assigned to or supported the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies. 

CGJAG Today

Coast Guard legal services are provided by 270 attorneys (163 Judge Advocates in legal 

specialty billets and 107 civil service attorneys); 87 paralegals, legal technicians, and 

other support staff; and 48 Coast Guard Reserve Judge Advocates. Coast Guard legal 

professionals are located in 13 offices and staffs of the Judge Advocate General at Coast 

Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and in 20 legal offices at major Coast Guard 

units. The Coast Guard has approximately 225 Judge Advocates serving on Active Duty 

in both legal and non-legal assignments. Of the Judge Advocates, approximately 60 are 

currently performing out-of-specialty tours such as Commanding Officers of Coast Guard 

Cutters and as Coast Guard Sector Commanders and Captains of the Port. In 2019, six 

Judge Advocates are flag officers and a seventh has been selected for flag rank. Rear 

Admiral Andersen serves as the Judge Advocate General. Former Judge Advocate 

General and 1st District Commander Rear Admiral Steven Poulin serves as Director of 

Operations at SOUTHCOM. Former Commander of Coast Guard Cyber Command and 

Assistant Commandant for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and 

Information Technology Rear Admiral Kevin Lunday serves as 14th District 

Commander. Rear Admiral Melissa Bert, former Deputy Director of Operations at 

NORTHCOM, serves as Director of Governmental and Public Affairs. Rear Admiral 

Laura Dickey succeeded Rear Admiral Bert at NORTHCOM. Captain Andrew Sugimoto 

was selected in 2018 for promotion to rear admiral. This will be the largest number of 

Judge Advocates to serve as flag officers at one time since 2004 when there were six.