John Alexander Gordon was an American air force general who served as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He also served as the President's Homeland Security advisor from 2003 to 2004.
Military career
Gordon entered the Air Force through the Reserve Officer Training Corps program in 1968. His early assignments were in research, development and acquisition where he was involved in improving the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missile and in developing and acquiring the Peacekeeper ICBM. He was a long-range planner at Strategic Air Command and served with the U.S. State Department in the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs. Later, he commanded the 90th Strategic Missile Wing, the only Peacekeeper ICBM unit. He has served with the National Security Council in the areas of defense and arms control, including the oversight and completion of the START II negotiations. He then became a senior member of the secretary of defense's staff and later, the director of operations, Air Force Space Command, responsible for overseeing and developing policy and guidance for the command's operational missions. He also has served as special assistant to the Air Force chief of staff for long-range planning, where he was responsible for restarting and integrating a long-range planning process into the Air Force. Prior to assuming the deputy director position, he was associate director of central intelligence for military support, Central Intelligence Agency. He retired from the Air Force on August 1, 2000.
Post-military career
Following his Air Force retirement, Gordon was chosen as the first administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration and also Under Secretary of Energy, responsible for the U.S. nuclear weapons program, a position he filled from June 2000 to June 2002. He next served as the Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism, then assumed duties as Homeland Security Advisor from June 2003 to June 2004. On September 16, 2004, he was inducted into the Naval Postgraduate School Hall of Fame. In October, 2005 John A. Gordon, US Air Force, retired, former Homeland Security Advisor to the White House, and member of the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age was appointed to the VirtualAgility, Inc. Board of Advisors. Gordon joined the board of EDO Corporation in early 2007, and also served on the Board of Trustees of Analytic Services, Inc. Gordon died on April 19, 2020 at the age of 73.
February 1979 - August 1980, staff officer, research and development, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
August 1980 - May 1982, executive assistant to the undersecretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C.
May 1982 - January 1983, deputy director, Office of Policy Analysis, Department of State, Washington, D.C.
January 1983 - July 1985, office director for strategic nuclear policy, and director for defense and arms control matters, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Department of State, Washington, D.C.
June 1987 - May 1989, vice commander, then commander, 90th Strategic Missile Wing, Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming
May 1989 - January 1993, special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for defense policy and arms control, National Security Council, Washington, D.C.
January 1993 - June 1994, deputy undersecretary of defense and chief of staff for policy, Department of Defense, Washington, D.C.
