Michael C . Wholley Michael C . Wholley is the current General Counsel for NASA and a retired United States Marine Corps Brigadier General . Biography . Early life and education . Wholley was born on October 7 , 1944 in Lawrence , Massachusetts , attending Central Catholic High School . Wholley was commissioned through the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Harvard University after receiving his B . A . degree in History and Literature in 1966 . He holds a J . D . degree from the University of Virginia Law School in 1977 ; an LL . M degree from George Washington University in Environmental Law and Land Use in 1985 ; and a master ' s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College in 1989 . Military career . After being commissioned , Wholley attended The Basic School and competed training to become a United States Naval Aviator in 1968 . Trained in the F - 4 Phantom II , he flew combat missions in the Vietnam War with VMFA - 115 and VMFA - 542 from February 1969 to February 1970 , and was promoted to captain in July . Upon returning to the United States , he was assigned to VMFA - 251 at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort as a pilot , and later , and as the legal officer to Marine Aircraft Groups 31 and 32 . In January 1972 , he was ordered to duty with the Royal Air Force at RAF Coningsby as an F - 4 fighter weapons instructor . At the completion of this tour , he was allowed to attend law school at the University of Virginia , where he received his law degree in 1977 . After completing Naval Justice School , he was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune , where he served as a defense counsel , trial counsel , chief trial counsel , military justice officer , review officer , and deputy staff judge advocate . In December 1979 , he was reassigned as the Staff Secretary and served in that position until being transferred to Okinawa as a military judge in July 1981 . From 1982 to 1984 , he served in the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy as an advisory attorney . In 1984 , he was selected for the Special Education Program and attended the George Washington University Law School where he received a Master of Law Degree , with highest honors , in land use management and control ( environmental law ) . In July 1985 , Wholley was assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point as the Staff Judge Advocate . He was reassigned in July 1987 as the Staff Judge Advocate and Director of Legal Services for 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing . He was promoted to colonel in July 1988 and subsequently attended the Naval War College , Newport , Rhode Island , graduating in June 1989 . He was then assigned as Staff Judge Advocate for Marine Corps Combat Development Command at Marine Corps Base Quantico from July 1989 until July 1992 . He was then assigned as the Chief Judge , Navy - Marine Corps Trial Judiciary at Washington , D . C . . On April 15 , 1993 , he was nominated for promotion to brigadier general and assignment as the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant of the Marine Corps and Director of the Judge Advocate Division , assuming the billet on September 29 , promoted on October 7 . Post - military . After retiring from the military in 1996 , he served as Executive Director of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation . In June 2004 , Wholley was appointed as the General Counsel for NASA . Awards . Wholley was awarded :