Friday, October 10, 2008

Draper taps retired general John Gordon as board chair

By Mass High Tech Staff

The non-profit defense research institute, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., has found a new board chairman in retired U.S. Air Force Gen. John Gordon. The four-star general will replace Draper’s current chairman John Kreick who is retiring and has held the post since 2001.

The naming of a high-ranking military official, of the likes of Gordon, as chairman of the board is a departure for Draper. Kreick came from an academic and industry background, where Gordon’s career has been in military defense and senior White House advisory roles.

Gordon served as homeland security advisor to President George W. Bush in 2003.

Gordon was also the deputy national security advisor and later director for Counter Terrorism for the National Security Council from the 2002 to 2003, and the deputy director of central intelligence for three years beginning in 1997. During the first Bush administration, Gordon also held the post of director of operations for the Air Force Space Command.

Gordon was the first head of the National Nuclear Security Administration and Under Secretary of Energy, and he held responsibility for the U.S.’s nuclear weapons program.

Gordon’s 32-year career in the military concentrated on R&D, strategic planning and missile and space operations. In addition, he was a physicist at the Air Force Weapons Laboratory in New Mexico.