Susan Livingstone Susan Morrisey Livingstone ( born January 13 , 1946 , in Carthage , Missouri ) is a former Acting U . S . Secretary of the Navy in the George W . Bush administration from January – February 2003 . She was the first and is so far the only woman to become Secretary of the Navy in U . S . history . Livingstone played a role in the effort to end coercive and abusive interrogation tactics at U . S . Naval Base Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . At the time , as Under Secretary of the Navy , Livingstone oversaw a large management portfolio , which included lawyers in the Navy General Counsel ' s office and investigators at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service who raised concerns about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base . Livingstone is a native of Carthage , Missouri and grew up in an Air Force family . She graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1968 with an A . B . degree and completed an M . A . in political science at the University of Montana in 1972 . She also holds a graduate degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy . Livingstone served at the Veterans Administration from 1981 to 1989 in a number of positions , including Associate Deputy Administrator for Logistics and the Associate Deputy Administrator for Management . Prior to her Executive Branch service , Livingstone worked for more than nine years in the Legislative branch on the personal staffs of both a Senator and two Congressmen . From 1989 to 1993 , during the George H . W . Bush administration , Livingstone served as Assistant Secretary of the Army ( Installations , Energy and Environment ) . In that position , her responsibilities included military construction , installation management , energy and environmental issues , domestic disaster relief and restoration of public infrastructure to the people of Kuwait following Operation Desert Storm . From 1993 to 1998 , Livingstone worked for the American Red Cross as Vice President of Health and Safety Services , as Acting Senior Vice President for Chapter Services , and as a consultant for Armed Forces Emergency Services . Prior to being nominated as the Under Secretary of the Navy , she had held the post of CEO of the Association of the United States Army ( AUSA ) and deputy chairman of its Council of Trustees . She also served as a vice president and a member of the Board of the Procurement Round Table , as well as a consultant on policy and management issues . Livingstone served as Under Secretary of the Navy from July 26 , 2001 to February 28 , 2003 . As the Under Secretary of the Navy , Livingstone was cited by General Counsel of the United States Navy , Alberto J . Mora for revoking Department of Defense regulations , authorized by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld , that allowed the use of coercive interrogation techniques on detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba . After the Naval Criminal Investigative Service ( NCIS ) Director David Brandt briefed Mora on alleged maltreatment of detainees at Guantanamo , Mora says he turned to Livingstone after his appeals to the Department of Defense General Counsel ' s office failed . In a memorandum to Navy investigators , Mora wrote of a January 3 , 2003 meeting with Livingstone that " this was the first of almost daily conversations or meetings that I had with Under Secretary Livingstone on [ detainee interrogation ] . Her views and mine [ in opposition to the treatment and policy ] coincided , and she provided great support . . . " On January 15 , 2003 , Rumsfeld suspended authority for the approved interrogation techniques . Since leaving the Navy , Livingstone has worked as a policy management consultant and has served as a member of the National Security Studies Board of Advisors , a board member of the Procurement Round Table and the NASA Return - to - Flight Task Group for safe return of Space Shuttle flights .