Jeh Johnson Jeh Charles Johnson ( born September 11 , 1957 ) is an American civil , criminal trial lawyer , and General Counsel of the Department of Defense from 2009 to 2012 during the first Obama Administration . Johnson is a graduate of Morehouse College ( B . A . ) and Columbia Law School ( J . D . ) , and is grandson of noted sociologist and Fisk University president Dr . Charles S . Johnson . Barack Obama nominated him to become Secretary of Homeland Security in October 2013 . Johnson ’ s first name ( pronounced “ Jay ” ) is taken from a Liberian chief , who reportedly saved his grandfather ’ s life while Dr . Johnson was on a League of Nations mission to Liberia in 1930 . Career . Johnson served as Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1989 - 1991 . From 1998 - 2001 , he was General Counsel of the Department of the Air Force under President Bill Clinton . Prior to his appointment as General Counsel of the Department of Defense , Johnson was a partner at the New York law firm Paul , Weiss , Rifkind , Wharton & Garrison LLP of which he was the first African American to be elected to that firm ’ s partnership and to which he returned after his four years at the Defense Department . He was elected a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers in 2004 . On January 8 , 2009 , he was named by President Barack Obama to be General Counsel for the Defense Department . In December 2012 , he resigned this position effective at the end of the year to return to private practice . Federal prosecutor . Johnson began his legal career at Paul , Weiss in the mid - 1980s . In 1989 he left to serve as an assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York , a position he held until 1991 . In that position , Johnson prosecuted public corruption cases . Air Force General Counsel . Johnson returned to Paul , Weiss in 1992 and was elected partner at the firm in 1994 . In 1998 , Johnson was appointed General Counsel of the Air Force by President Bill Clinton after confirmation by the U . S . Senate . As General Counsel , Johnson was the senior legal official in the Air Force and Governor of Wake Island , in the Pacific Ocean . His tenure coincided with Operation Allied Force in 1999 . He was awarded the Decoration for Exceptional Civilian Service for his efforts . Private practice . After his service in the Clinton administration , Johnson returned to Paul , Weiss in 2001 , where he was an active trial lawyer of large commercial cases . Johnson was a member of the Executive Committee of the New York City Bar Association . From 2001 to 2004 , he served as chairman of the City Bar ’ s Judiciary Committee , which rates and approves all federal , state and local judges in New York City . In 2007 , Johnson was nominated by the New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination to be Chief Judge of New York though the incumbent , Judith Kaye , was ultimately reappointed by former Governor Eliot Spitzer . Democratic Party involvement . Johnson is active in Democratic Party politics , as a fundraiser and adviser to presidential campaigns . Johnson served as special counsel to John Kerry ' s 2004 presidential campaign , and was an early supporter of Barack Obama ' s presidential campaign , active as a foreign policy adviser and as a member of his national finance committee . General Counsel of the Department of Defense . On January 8 , 2009 , President - elect Barack Obama announced Johnson ' s nomination as Department of Defense General Counsel . On February 9 , 2009 , he was confirmed by the Senate . As General Counsel of the Defense Department , Johnson was a major player in certain key priorities of the Obama Administration , and he is considered one of the legal architects of the U . S . military ’ s current counterterrorism policies . In 2009 , Johnson was heavily involved in the reform of military commissions , and testified before Congress numerous times in support of the Military Commissions Act of 2009 . In February 2010 , the Secretary of Defense appointed Johnson to co - chair a working group , along with Army General Carter Ham , to study the potential impact of a repeal of the military ' s " Don ’ t Ask , Don ’ t Tell " policy . In November 2010 , following an extensive study , Johnson and General Ham reported that the risk to overall military effectiveness of a repeal would be low . The report was hailed as a thorough and objective analysis . The Washington Post editorial page wrote : In August 2010 , Johnson was part of the public dialogue over the Wikileaks release of classified Pentagon documents known as the Afghan War Diary or The War Logs . “ The Department of Defense will not negotiate some ‘ minimized ’ or ‘ sanitized ’ version of a release by WikiLeaks of additional U . S . government classified documents , ” he wrote in a letter to Timothy J . Matusheski , a lawyer representing the online whistle - blowing organization " pro bono " . In August 2012 , Johnson also wrote to the former Navy seal who authored the book “ No Easy Day ” and warned him of his material breach of his non - disclosure agreements with the Department of Defense . In January 2011 , Johnson provoked controversy when , according to a Department of Defense news story , he asserted in a speech at the Pentagon that deceased civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr . would have supported the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq , despite King ' s outspoken opposition to American interventionism during his lifetime . Johnson argued that American soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq were playing the role of the Good Samaritan , consistent with Martin Luther King Jr . ' s beliefs , and that they were fighting to establish the peace for which Dr . King hoped . Jeremy Scahill of the liberal Salon . com called Johnson ' s remarks " one of the most despicable attempts at revisionist use of Martin Luther King Jr . I ’ ve ever seen , " while Justin Elliott ( also of Salon . com ) argued that based on Dr . King ' s opposition to the Vietnam War , he would likely have opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan , as well as the covert wars in Pakistan and Yemen . Cynthia Kouril has defended Johnson ' s remarks , arguing in her blog that his speech has been misinterpreted . In a February 2011 , speech to the New York City Bar Association , Johnson " acknowledged the concerns raised " about the detention of alleged WikiLeaks source Private Bradley Manning and " stated that he had personally traveled to Quantico to conduct an investigation . " Human rights attorney and journalist Scott Horton wrote that " Johnson was remarkably unforthcoming about what he discovered and what conclusions he drew from his visit . " Johnson ’ s tenure as General Counsel was also notable for several high - profile speeches he gave on national security . In a speech he delivered at the Heritage Foundation in October 2011 , Johnson warned against “ over - militarizing ” the U . S . government ’ s approach to counterterrorism : “ There is risk in permitting and expecting the U . S . military to extend its powerful reach into areas traditionally reserved for civilian law enforcement in this country . ” At a speech at Yale Law School in February 2012 , Johnson defended “ targeted killings , ” but also stated : Finally , at the Oxford Union in England in November 2012 , shortly before his resignation , Johnson delivered a widely noted address entitled “ The conflict against al Qaeda and its affiliates : how will it end ? ” in which he predicted a “ tipping point ” at which the U . S . government ’ s efforts against al Qaeda should no longer be considered an armed conflict , but a more traditional law enforcement effort against individual terrorists . Johnson stated : Johnson ’ s speech at the Oxford Union received wide press attention , and much editorial acclaim as the first such statement coming from an Obama Administration official . Department of Homeland Security . On October 17 , 2013 , President Obama nominated Johnson to be U . S . Secretary of Homeland Security . " The Washington Post " reported " Johnson , an African - American , would bring further racial diversity to Obama ' s Cabinet . The first black U . S . president has been criticized for having a high number of white men in top Cabinet roles . "