Mary L . Walker Mary L . Walker ( born 1948 ) is a United States lawyer who served as General Counsel of the Air Force during the presidency of George W . Bush . She gained notoriety for her role in a 2003 review by the United States Department of Defense of the so - called Torture Memos . Biography . Mary L . Walker was born in Dayton , Ohio on December 1 , 1948 . She was educated at the University of California , Berkeley , receiving an A . B . in 1970 . She then attended the Boston University School of Law , receiving a J . D . in 1973 . Walker joined the legal department of the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in 1973 . She worked there until 1976 , when she joined the law firm of Richards , Watson , Dreyfuss & Gershon in Los Angeles . She made partner there in 1979 , working there until 1982 . In 1982 , Walker moved to the United States Department of Justice as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Land and Natural Resources Division . From 1984 to 1985 , she was the Deputy Solicitor of the United States Department of the Interior . On September 18 , 1985 , President of the United States Ronald Reagan nominated her to be Assistant Secretary of Energy ( Environment , Safety , and Health ) . She subsequently held this office until 1988 . She spent 1988 - 89 as Vice President of Law Environmental Inc . She was a partner at Richards , Watson & Gershon in San Francisco from 1989 to 1991 . She was a partner of Luce , Forward , Hamilton & Scripps in San Diego from 1991 to 1994 , and then at Brobeck , Phleger & Harrison in San Diego from 1994 to 2001 . She was also a U . S . Commissioner on the Inter - American Tropical Tuna Commission from 1988 to 1995 . An evangelical Christian , she participated in the founding of the San Diego Professional Women ' s Fellowship , a group related to Campus Crusade for Christ . On September 26 , 2001 , President George W . Bush nominated Walker to be General Counsel of the Air Force . She held this office for the duration of the presidency of George W . Bush . As of 2009 , she is the longest serving General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force in its history . Role in Torture Memos Controversy . On January 15 , 2003 , United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ordered a review of certain enhanced interrogation techniques authorized by the so - called Torture Memos of 2001 . Two days later , William J . Haynes , II , the General Counsel of the United States Department of Defense designated Walker as the head of an interdepartmental working group tasked with implementing the Secretary ' s request . The next week , Walker received a 2001 memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel , authored by John Yoo and signed by Jay Bybee , the head of the Office of Legal Counsel . On January 23 , 2003 , General Counsel of the Navy Alberto J . Mora , a member of the working group , reviewed a hard copy of that memorandum in Walker ' s office ( no other copies were made pursuant to instructions of William J . Haynes , General Counsel of the Department of Defense ) . This prompted a disagreement between Walker and Mora : Mora believed that the memorandum displayed " catastrophically poor legal reasoning " , but Walker agreed with Yoo ' s reasoning concerning the powers of the President . Mora believed that Yoo ' s memo was " fundamentally in error . " Walker encouraged him to share his views and to meet with Haynes . Mora , accordingly , circulated an opposing draft memo , entitled " Proposed Alternative Approach to Interrogations " . Haynes did not accept Mora ' s views . On March 6 , 2003 , by unanimous vote of all members , the working group presented its recommendations to Secretary Rumsfeld , determining that the reasoning behind the earlier memorandum was sound , although significantly the working group did not rely on the Justice Department memorandum in its entirety because they did not need to for the recommendations they made . The working group ' s final report was presented on April 4 , 2003 . Secretary Rumsfeld adopted the majority of the new techniques proposed . At the Administration ' s request , the Justice Department subsequently reviewed the Working Group ' s recommendations that were adopted and fully endorsed them .