J . Daniel Howard J . Daniel Howard ( b . Aug . 24 , 1943 ) was Special Assistant to President of the United States Ronald Reagan from July 1986 to February 1988 , United States Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs from February 1988 to May 1989 and Under Secretary of the Navy from 1989 to 1993 . Biography . Early years , 1943 — 1974 . J . Daniel Howard was born August 24 , 1943 , in Chattanooga , Tennessee . After high school , he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps , serving in Japan from 1961 to 1965 . Upon leaving the Marines , he enrolled at the University of Chattanooga , receiving a B . A . in 1969 . After college , Howard moved to Denver to work as a field representative for the American Red Cross . He later returned to school , enrolling at the University of Tennessee and receiving an Master of Arts in 1972 . He then moved to Washington , D . C . to become a Foreign Service Officer trainee . Foreign Service Officer , 1974 — 1987 . Howard ' s first posting as a member of the United States Foreign Service was in Japan , where he was a language trainee in Yokohama 1974 - 1975 , and then served as director of the American Center in Sapporo from 1975 to 1977 . From 1977 to 1980 , he was the press attaché of the Embassy of the United States in Tokyo . In 1981 - 82 , he was a cultural affairs officer of the American Embassy in Warsaw . During that period martial law was declared in Poland . Howard was detained by the Communist government authorities three times and was ultimately declared " persona non grata " and expelled in May , 1982 . He then went to Cyprus where he was a public affairs officer at the American Embassy in Nicosia . He was involved in the evacuation of Americans from nearby Beirut in the wake of the 1983 embassy bombing , the bombing of the embassy annex , and of the bombing of the Marine Barracks . His last two weeks in Cyprus were spent attempting to resolve the TWA Flight 847 hijacking . Howard returned to the United States in 1985 to serve as a public affairs adviser to the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the United States Department of State . He received the State Department ' s Superior Honor Award for his work on the People Power Revolution in the Philippines in 1986 . In 1986 , President of the United States Ronald Reagan named Howard a Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary for Foreign Affairs at the White House where he worked directly for National Security Advisor Frank Carlucci and his deputy , General Colin Powell . Howard focussed on arms control issues and remained through the signing of the Intermediate - Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in January 1988 . He also dealt with many issues associated with the Iran – Contra affair . Assistant Secretary of Defense ( Public Affairs ) , 1988 — 1989 . On December 21 , 1987 , President Reagan nominated Howard to serve as Assistant Secretary of Defense ( Public Affairs ) and Howard would hold this post from February 1988 through May 1989 . He worked for Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci and dealt with the aftermath of the shooting down of Iran Air Flight 655 by the U . S . S . " Vincennes " and the explosion of a gun mount on the U . S . S . " Iowa " . He again supported Secretary Carlucci in direct negotiations designed to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union including a historic first visit by a U . S . Secretary of Defense to Moscow and Sevastapol in 1988 . He received the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award . Under Secretary of the Navy , 1989 — 1993 . On July 31 , 1989 , President George H . W . Bush nominated Howard as Under Secretary of the Navy . After confirmation by the United States Senate , Howard entered office on August 7 , 1989 . Howard ' s time as Under Secretary was dominated by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent catastrophic drop in the defense budget , the 1991 Gulf War and the post - war Tailhook scandal . He took over as Acting Secretary of the Navy in June , 1992 when Secretary of the Navy Henry L . Garrett III was forced to resign by President Bush in the wake of that scandal . Howard immediately ordered a Navy and Marine Corps - wide " standdown " for training designed to prevent sexual harassment . Defense Comptroller Sean O ' Keefe replaced him as Acting Secretary the following month . The Department of Defense Inspector General issued a blistering report in September 1992 in which he concluded that Under Secretary Howard , the Navy Inspector General , the Chief Judge Advocate and the Director of NCIS had failed to conduct an adequate investigation into allegations of misconduct ; had been overly focused on lower ranking personnel ; and had been more concerned with protecting the reputation of the United States Navy than with getting to the bottom of the allegations . It was widely speculated that O ' Keefe would have Howard ( and the Navy IG ) resign at the same time that Judge Advocate General of the Navy Rear Admiral John E . Gordon and Naval Investigative Service Director Rear Admiral Duvall M . Williams , Jr . were ousted for their attempts to turn the Tailhook investigation into a whitewash , but , in a move that drew surprise , O ' Keefe announced that he continued to have " complete confidence " in Under Secretary Howard saying that he was much more " sinned against than sinned . " As such , Howard served out the rest of the Bush administration and left office on January 20 , 1993 . Howard retired from the Foreign Service in June , 1993 with the rank of Minister - Counselor and received the Meritorious Honor Award for career achievements .