General Counsel of the Army

General Counsel of the Department of the Army
General Counsel of the Department of the Army
AGC
	Seal of the Office of the General Counsel
	Flag of the General Counsel and the Assistant Secretaries of the Army
	Incumbent; Carrie Ricci; since January 3, 2022
	Department of the Army; Office of the Secretary
Style	The Honorable
Reports to	Secretary of the Army; Under Secretary of the Army
Seat	The Pentagon, Arlington County, Virginia, United States
Appointer	The President; with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Constituting instrument	10 U.S.C. § 3019
Formation	1949
First holder	Karl Bendetsen
Deputy	Principal Deputy General Counsel (PDGC)
Salary	Executive Schedule, level IV
Website	ogc.altess.army.mil

The General Counsel of the Army (also known as the Army General Counsel, abbreviated AGC) is the chief legal officer of the U.S. Department of the Army and senior legal advisor to the Secretary of the Army.

U.S. law provides that the General Counsel shall be appointed from the civilian life by the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the United States Senate, and that the Secretary of the Army prescribes the duties of the office.^[2]

The Office of the General Counsel of the Army also provides legal advice to the Under Secretary of the Army and the five Assistant Secretaries of the Army, as well as other members of the Army Secretariat. The General Counsel of the Army also plays a role in supervising the Office of the Judge Advocate General and the Office of the Chief Counsel of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Partial list of General Counsels of the Army

Name	Term start	Term end	President appointed by	Secretary served under
Karl Bendetsen^[3]	1949	1950	Harry Truman	Gordon Gray
Francis Shackelford^[4]	1950	1952		Frank Pace
Bernard A. Monaghan^[4]	1952	1953		Frank Pace, Robert T. Stevens
John G. Adams^[4]	1953	1955	Dwight Eisenhower	Robert T. Stevens
Frank Millard^[4]	1955	1961	Dwight Eisenhower	Wilber M. Brucker
Powell Pierpoint^[4]	1961	1963	John F. Kennedy	Elvis Jacob Stahr Jr., Cyrus Vance
Joseph A. Califano Jr.^[5]	1963	1964	John F. Kennedy	Cyrus Vance
Alfred B. Fitt^[6]	1964	1967	Lyndon B. Johnson	Stephen Ailes, Stanley Rogers Resor
Robert E. Jordan III^[7]	1967	1971	Lyndon B. Johnson	Stanley Rogers Resor
Robert W. Berry^[8]	1971	1974	Richard Nixon	Robert Frederick Froehlke, Howard Callaway
Charles D. Ablard^[9]	1975	1977	Gerald Ford	Martin Richard Hoffmann
Jill Wine-Volner^[10]	1977	1980	Jimmy Carter	Clifford Alexander, Jr.
Sara E. Lister^[11]	1980	1980	Jimmy Carter	Clifford Alexander Jr.
Delbert Spurlock^[12]	1981^[13]	1983	Ronald Reagan	John Otho Marsh Jr.
Susan J. Crawford^[14]	1983	1989	Ronald Reagan	John Otho Marsh Jr.
William J. Haynes II^[15]	1990	1993	George H. W. Bush	Michael P. W. Stone
William Thaddeus Coleman III^[16]	1994^[17]	1999	Bill Clinton	Togo D. West Jr.
Charles A. Blanchard^[18]	1999	2001	Bill Clinton	Louis Caldera
Steven J. Morello^[19]	2001	2004	George W. Bush	Thomas E. White, Francis J. Harvey
Brad Carson	2012	2014	Barack Obama	John M. McHugh
Alissa Starzak	2015	2017	Barack Obama	Eric Fanning, Patrick Murphy, Robert M. Speer
Earl G. Matthews (Acting)	2017	2018	Donald Trump	Robert M. Speer, Mark Esper
James E. McPherson	2018	2020		Mark Esper, Ryan McCarthy
Michele Pearce (acting)	2020	2021		Ryan McCarthy
Craig R. Schmauder (senior official)	2021	2022	Joe Biden	John E. Whitley (acting), Christine Wormuth
Carrie Ricci	2022	Incumbent	Joe Biden	Christine Wormuth