John E . Gordon John Edward " Ted " Gordon is a retired United States Rear Admiral who served as Judge Advocate General of the Navy from 1990 until 1992 . Biography . John E . Gordon was educated at the United States Naval Academy and joined the United States Navy upon his graduation in 1964 . During the 1960s , he was posted on two different combatant ships , including during the Vietnam War . He later served as a contracting officer at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard . Gordon then attended the Temple University School of Law , receiving his J . D . in 1973 . He then joined the Judge Advocate General ' s Corps , U . S . Navy , in which capacity he held several military justice positions , including Deputy Officer in Charge of the Philadelphia Navy Legal Service Office and as Special Court Martial Judge . He next served as Deputy Navy Chief of Legislative Affairs ( Senate ) . In the 1980s , he served for over four years under United States Secretary of the Navy John Lehman as Special Assistant for Legal and Legislative Affairs . In 1986 , United States Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger named Gordon Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs , with Gordon being promoted to flag rank . In 1987 , he became Commander of the Naval Security Investigative Command ( NSIC ) . In this capacity , he oversaw the work of the Naval Investigative Service ( NIS ) , the United States Department of the Navy Security Program , and the Office of Naval Intelligence ( ONI ) . While Commander of NSIC , Gordon was concurrently Director of NIS and Assistant Director of ONI for Counterintelligence . During his time as Commander of NSIC , Gordon was responsible for the Navy ' s response to Operation Ill Wind , and oversaw the prosecution of Clayton J . Lonetree , a member of the Marine Corps Security Guard who allowed a Soviet spy access to the Embassy of the United States in Moscow . In 1989 , Gordon became Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Navy and Commander of the Navy Legal Services Command . He became Judge Advocate General of the Navy in 1990 . The Tailhook scandal broke in the wake of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Tailhook Association , held at the Las Vegas Hilton September 8 – 12 , 1991 . Over the course of this weekend , more than 100 U . S . Navy and United States Marine Corps aviation officers sexually assaulted 87 women , or otherwise engaged in " improper and indecent " conduct . In response to media reports about this meeting , on October 29 , 1991 , the Department of the Navy terminated all ties to the Tailhook Association , launching an investigation led by Rear Admiral Gordon and Rear Admiral Duvall M . Williams , Jr . , director of the Naval Investigative Service . Williams ' initial report blamed the incident primarily on the behavior of low - ranking enlisted men . However , when Williams subsequently made sexist remarks in the presence of Barbara S . Pope , Assistant Secretary of the Navy ( Manpower and Reserve Affairs ) , Pope went to United States Secretary of the Navy Henry L . Garrett III and demanded that he re - open the investigation . As a result , Garrett re - opened the investigation under Derek J . Vander Schaaf , the Inspector General of the United States Department of Defense . In September 1992 , Acting Secretary of the Navy Sean O ' Keefe revealed the contents of Vander Schaaf ' s investigation . Vander Schaaf concluded that the initial investigation had been a coverup more concerned with protecting the reputation of the Navy than with discovering the role of high - ranking officers in the scandal . Gordon criticized Vander Schaaf ' s report as " flawed and factually incorrect " and continued to maintain that the initial investigation had been thorough . Gordon retired from the US Navy with full honors . After leaving the Navy , Gordon took a job at Litton Industries as Vice President for Washington Operations , overseeing the company ' s interactions with all branches of government . He left Litton in 2001 , joining Alliant Techsystems as Vice President ( Washington Operations ) . He retired from Alliant in 2007 . Since 2007 , he has been a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies , where he sits on the Board of Regents