J. D. Gordon

Jeffrey D. Gordon
Born	1967 (age 56–57)
Nationality	USA
Occupation	Senior Fellow
Known for	Pentagon's Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp spokesman

Jeffrey D. Gordon (born October 24, 1967) is a communications consultant to several conservative Washington, DC-based think tanks. Gordon is also a contributing columnist to Fox News, AOL News, the Washington Times and other media outlets. Previously, he was a Commander in the United States Navy.

Gordon's final assignment in the Defense Department was to serve as a Pentagon spokesman. Gordon, a career officer, joined the secretary's office under Donald Rumsfeld. Documents relating to the Rumsfeld's promotion of Gordon have not been made available to the public despite repeated requests. It is not clear, for example, what qualifications and experience prompted the promotion, however, since 2005 Gordon served as the spokesman for the Western Hemisphere, which notably included issues related to the extrajudicial detention of captives seized during the "global war on terror", in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.

Gordon was responsible for justifying an explanation for the DoD prohibition for military personnel using social networking services like myspace, or to use sites like youtube.

On October 2, 2007 Gordon went on record offering an explanation as to why so often captives, who have been cleared for release, have continued to be held in Guantanamo.

“All detainees at Guantanamo are considered a threat to the United States — to include those transferred yesterday. As a condition of repatriation, nations accepting detainees must take steps to prevent the return to terrorism, as well as providing credible assurances of humane treatment.”

Gordon was one of the chief proponents who routinely cited the danger posed by recidivism amongst former Guantanamo detainees, including during both the Bush and Obama Administrations. As recently as July 21, 2009, Gordon told CNN's Peter Bergen that one in seven detainees are confirmed or suspected of having returned to terrorism.

In February 2007, Gordon was also responsible for justifying the restrictions placed on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) jet, a larger aircraft than had been used by her predecessor, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.).

Prior to his post in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Gordon served in the Secretary of Navy's office, under Gordon England, as the director of public affairs plans. Like England, Gordon moved from the Dept. of the Navy to Rumsfeld's office in 2005.

Previously, Gordon served as the Navy spokesman in various assignments and geographical locations since the early 1990s to include at 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 Sasebo, Japan; and Atlantic Fleet Headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia.

While based in Puerto Rico from 1999 to 2001, Gordon was widely recognized as the primary spokesman for defense of the Atlantic Fleet's controversial training range on Vieques Island, which had been occupied by protestors in an attempt to force the Navy's departure after decades of major Fleet exercises.

Earlier in his career, Gordon served at Guantanamo Bay as the Naval Base spokesman for the Haitian and Cuban refugee crises of 1994. Later that year, he deployed to Haiti with the Multi-National Force for the restoration of President Jean Bertrand Aristide to power.

Gordon received his undergraduate, graduate and professional education from Penn State University, Norwich University, Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and U.S. Air Force Command and Staff College.

He was born in New York City, and grew up in central New Jersey.

Complaint against Miami Herald

On July 25, 2009 Howard Kurtz, writing in the Washington Post, described a letter Gordon had written to a senior editor at the Miami Herald. The letter claimed Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg had made crude jokes at his expense that implied he was a gay man. He complained that the jokes were not "light-hearted", but "were delivered with harsh invective." Kurtz noted that Gordon is scheduled to retire from the Navy soon, and he speculated that this "may help explain the unusually harsh nature of his complaint."

As Howard Kurtz noted, the Miami Herald did acknowledge that Rosenberg had employed profanity.

Political Activities

As of September 1, 2011, Gordon became Vice President of Communications and Foreign Policy and Security Advisor for 2012 Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.