Jeffrey D . Gordon Jeffrey D . " J . D . " Gordon ( born October 24 , 1967 ) is an American communications consultant and retired career United States Navy officer . He has worked with numerous conservative Washington , DC - based think tanks as a Senior Fellow on national security , foreign policy and communications issues . Gordon is also a contributing columnist to Fox News , AOL News , " The Washington Times " and other media outlets . According to " The Washington Times " , Gordon founded Protect America Today , a national security - themed Super PAC in February 2012 . Previously , he served as a spokesman for the Navy and for the Department of Defense in the Western Hemisphere , retiring as a Commander . He managed communications and press relations in a wide variety of conditions over a 20 - year career , including posts in Europe , Latin America and Asia . As a spokesman for the Pentagon in his last assignment from 2005 - 2009 , he dealt with sensitive issues related to the extrajudicial detention of captives since 2002 at the Navy ' s base at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba . Early life and education . Gordon was born in New York City in 1967 , grew up in central New Jersey and graduated from Wall High School , located at the Jersey Shore . Gordon received his undergraduate and graduate education from Penn State University and Norwich University . He attended two executive courses at Harvard Law School ' s Program on Negotiation . Naval career . After graduating college , he was commissioned as an officer in the Navy , and initially assigned to the Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek , Virginia . He had additional professional training at the U . S . Air Force Command and Staff College . Since the early 1990s , Gordon served as a Navy spokesman in various assignments and geographical locations , to include the Pacific Fleet Headquarters in Pearl Harbor , Hawaii ; Naval Forces Southern Command in Roosevelt Roads , Puerto Rico ; Naval Support Activity , Naples , Italy ; Amphibious Force Seventh Fleet based in Okinawa , Japan ; and Atlantic Fleet headquarters in Norfolk , Virginia . In 1994 , Gordon served at Guantanamo Bay as the Naval Base spokesman for the Haitian and Cuban refugee crises . Later that year , he deployed to Haiti with the Multi - National Force for the restoration of President Jean Bertrand Aristide to power . While based in Puerto Rico from 1999 to 2001 , Gordon served as a spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet during controversy associated with its training range on Vieques Island . It had been occupied by protestors who were trying to force the Navy to leave . It had used the range in support of decades of major fleet exercises . Gordon also served in Navy Office of Information ( CHINFO ) as the director of public affairs plans . In 2005 , he transferred to the Office of the Secretary of Defense , where he served as the Pentagon spokesman for the Western Hemisphere , first under Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and later Secretary Robert Gates . In this period , notable issues were related to the extrajudicial detention of captives in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp s in Cuba as well as increasing U . S . tensions with Venezuela under Hugo Chavez , and increasing cooperation between the U . S . and Mexico against drug cartels . Gordon contributed to developing Defense Department policies related to the use of social networking services and sites such as YouTube by military personnel , which DoD prohibits . He served as the spokesman to explain DoD ' s position on these issues . On October 2 , 2007 , Gordon explained why the Defense Department continued to hold certain detainees at Guantanamo , although they had been cleared for release . He touched on the need to ensure that receiving countries treated them properly . On July 21 , 2009 , Gordon told CNN ' s Peter Bergen that one in seven detainees are confirmed or suspected of having returned to terrorism . Gordon retired from the Navy as a Commander . Complaint with The Miami Herald . In his position as Pentagon spokesman , on July 25 , 2009 Gordon wrote to a senior editor at " The Miami Herald , " reporting what he characterized as sexual harassment by its reporter Carol Rosenberg , whose beat is the Guantanamo detention camp . He said that Rosenberg had made crude jokes at his expense . " The Miami Herald " conducted an internal investigation , and reported on August 3 , 2009 that it had concluded that , while Rosenberg had used profanity , she had not satisfied conditions of sexual harassment . Gordon returned to the issue a year later in a column written for " Fox News " on August 9 , 2010 . In discussing the Pentagon having banned four reporters from Guantanamo , including Rosenberg , he said that Rosenberg was " notorious for clashes " and claimed she used language to him " . . . that would make even Helen Thomas blush " , referring to a prominent reporter at the White House . By October 2011 , when Gordon was serving as the chief spokesman for Herman M . Cain in his presidential campaign and was asked about the Rosenberg incident , he asserted he could no longer remember the details of his complaint against the reporter . On October 31 , 2011 " The Atlantic Wire " repeated Gordon ' s 2009 claim : " I ' ve been abused worse than the detainees have been abused " and compared it with his blithe dismissal of complaints at the time about sexual harassment allegation against his boss , presidential candidate Herman Cain . Political activities . After the Navy , Gordon began his work in politics as a senior communications adviser to the Liberty & Freedom Foundation , where he worked to organize and handle communications for public speaking events by former Alaska Gov . Sarah Palin in Florida and California during the 2010 Congressional campaign cycle . At the time , Palin ' s speaking tour was the focus of intense national media attention , and credited by many with the Republican landslide in Congress , where it recaptured the majority from the Democrats . In 2011 , Gordon became Vice President of Communications and Chief Foreign Policy and Security Adviser for the 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain . Grace Wiler of " Business Insider " described Gordon ' s dual role as both campaign spokesman and foreign policy adviser as further evidence that Cain had " completely thrown out the conventional campaign playbook . " From its analysis of Gordon ' s columns and television appearances prior to the campaign , " The Nation " magazine wrote , " it would appear that Cain is getting the same national security advice he would from Dick Cheney . " After the Cain campaign ended , Gordon returned to his role as a Senior Fellow and adviser to several Washington , DC based think tanks , as well as conservative columnist and television commentator . In February 2012 , he founded a national security - themed Super PAC , Protect America Today . Throughout the duration of the 2012 Presidential campaign , Gordon ran political ads in eight states to " Save 1 million jobs " , a reference to stopping further cuts to defense spending , including sequestration . Winning candidates backed by Gordon included Sen . Dean Heller ( R - NV ) , House Speaker John Boehner ( R - OH ) , Rep . Ileana Ros - Lehtinen ( R - FL ) , Rep . Mario Diaz - Balart ( R - FL ) and Rep . Steve Daines ( R - MT ) .