James E McPherson
Under Secretary of the Army
James E McPherson was confirmed by the United States Senate on 23 March 2020. He
was appointed by the President of the United States and sworn in as the 34th Under
Secretary of the United States Army on 25 March 2020. From 2 January 2018, to 24
March 2020, Mr. McPherson served as the 22nd General Counsel of the Army.
As the Under Secretary of the Army, Mr. McPherson is the Secretary of the Army’s
senior civilian assistant and principal adviser on matters related to the management and
operation of the Army. He is also the Chief Management Officer of the Army and, in that
position, he is the Secretary’s principal adviser on the effective and efficient organization
of business operations and transformation initiatives. He also serves as the Senior
Official for all Executive and Senior Professional personnel actions and is responsible for
developing policies and programs and supervising and directing all civilian senior leaders.
For his two years as the General Counsel of the Army, Mr. McPherson served as the chief
lawyer of the Army ultimately responsible for determining the Army’s position on any legal
question. He served as legal counsel to the Secretary of the Army, Under Secretary, the
five Assistant Secretaries, and other members of the Army Secretariat. He also exercised
technical supervision over the Offices of the Judge Advocate General of the Army, the
Command Counsel of Army Material Command, and the Chief Counsel of the Army Corps
of Engineers.
For the ten years immediately prior to his service as General Counsel of the Army, he
was the Executive Director of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG),
a professional association of the state, territorial, and District of Columbia attorneys
general providing a forum for the exchange of knowledge, experiences, and insights
on subjects of importance to its members. Before joining NAAG, he served as General
Counsel for the DoD Counterintelligence Field Activity where he provided legal advice on
counterintelligence, operational, and policy matters, intelligence oversight, contract and
fiscal law, ethics, and administrative law.
In 2006, Mr. McPherson completed a distinguished career in the United States Navy,
retiring as the Judge Advocate General of the Navy. His career included assignments as
a Trial Attorney, Senior Prosecutor, Senior Defense Attorney, and Commanding Officer
of a Trial Service Office. His assignments as a Staff Judge Advocate included shore
assignments overseas, on major command staffs, and afloat. He served as legal counsel
to both the Vice Chief and Chief of Naval Operations. His first flag assignment was as
the Deputy Judge Advocate General of the Navy and Commander, Naval Legal Service
Command. In 2004, President Bush appointed and the Senate confirmed him as the
Navy’s 39th Judge Advocate General – the senior uniformed attorney in the Department of
the Navy providing legal counsel and strategic advice to the Chief of Naval Operations and
Secretary of the Navy. His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal,
the Legion of Merit (two awards), and the Meritorious Service Medal (four awards). He
began his professional career as an enlisted soldier in the US Army serving at the Presidio
of San Francisco, South Korea, and the 1st Infantry Division.
Mr. McPherson is a 1977 graduate of San Diego State University and a 1981 graduate of
the University of San Diego School of Law. He holds a Master of Laws degree in military
law from the Judge Advocate General’s School of the Army.
Mr. McPherson and his wife Jennifer have been married twenty-seven years and have two
adult children.
14 ARMY 245: Call to Duty