On September 16, the United States Senate confirmed Gordon O. Tanner, Alpha Phi/Alabama 1970, as the General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Air Force and Chief Legal Officer and Chief Ethics Official for the Air Force in Washington, D.C. In this role, he will provide oversight, guidance and direction for legal advice provided by more than 2,600 Department of the Air Force military and civilian lawyers worldwide.
Prior to his appointment, he retired from the Senior Executive Service as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, located in the Pentagon, Washington, D.C. He acted for and assisted in executing the responsibilities of the Assistant Secretary in the supervision of manpower, military and civilian personnel, Reserve component affairs, and readiness support for the Department of the Air Force. He provided guidance, direction and executive oversight to the Deputy Assistant Secretaries for Management Integration, Strategic Diversity Integration, Reserve Affairs and the Deputy for the Air Force Review Boards Agency.
In addition, Mr. Tanner served as the Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Air Force. He provided oversight, guidance, and direction regarding legal advice on matters arising within the Department of the Air Force. Mr. Tanner assumed this position after one year as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Reserve Affairs), Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower and Reserve Affairs), the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for coordinating, planning and establishing policy for the Air National Guard, Air Force Reserve and Civil Air Patrol. He also served as the Department of Defense Executive Agent for the National Science Foundation Antarctica Program/Operation Deep Freeze.
In his prior private practice, Mr. Tanner was a Senior Partner in the Financial Institutions and Real Estate Group of a large multistate firm that practiced in almost all fields of law, with clients located in Europe, Asia, Canada and all fifty states. He represented clients in a broad range of industries including banks and financial institutions, real estate joint ventures and development firms, as well as emerging high technology firms.
Mr. Tanner retired as a Colonel in the US Air Force Judge Advocate General Corps Reserves. His Reserve assignments included service in the Office of the Air Force General Counsel; as the Senior Reserve Individual Mobilization Augmentee to the Staff Judge Advocate, Fourteenth Air Force, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. (Air Force Space Command); and as the Senior Individual Mobilization Augmentee and Instructor at The Judge Advocate General School Maxwell AFB, Ala.
Mr. Tanner, formerly of Mobile, Alabama, and his spouse, Robert Patlan, reside in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.