KEYNOTE ADDRESS: LEVERAGING WPS FOR FORCE RESILIENCY AND READINESS
The Honorable John “Sean” Coffey serves as the 24th General Counsel of the Department of the Navy (DON). As General Counsel, Mr. Coffey is the Department of the Navy’s Chief Legal Officer and head of the Office of the General Counsel. He leads more than 1,100 attorneys and professional support staff in 140 offices worldwide.
A native of New York City, Mr. Coffey is the oldest of seven children born to Irish immigrants. He is an honors graduate of the United States Naval Academy and Georgetown University Law Center. He served eight years on active duty, including assignments as a P-3C Orion mission commander, an intern to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the special military assistant to Vice President George H.W. Bush. After graduating from Georgetown, Mr. Coffey transitioned to the Reserves and returned to New York, where he practiced law for over thirty-five years, including several years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and most recently as Chair of Complex Litigation at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP.
After leaving active duty, Mr. Coffey continued to serve in the Reserves for eighteen years, flying anti-submarine missions, counter-narcotics missions, and armed missions in support of the blockade of the former Yugoslavia. Mr. Coffey was selected to serve as commanding officer both of a reserve P-3C squadron and the reserve component of the Enterprise carrier battle group staff, and served as a staff officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Mr. Coffey retired at the rank of Captain in 2004.
Prior to returning to public service, Mr. Coffey served as the President of the Federal Bar Foundation and on the boards of various non-profit organizations.
The U.S. Naval War College (NWC) hosted the 10th iteration of its Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Symposium onboard Naval Station Newport, May 2-3.
The symposium, themed “Advancing Gendered Security in a Complex World: Hard Power, Smart Power, Soft Power,” aimed to foster a shared understanding of the complex and dynamic global security environment through examination of women’s influence and experience as stakeholders and catalysts of change alongside men.
The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.
14 май 2024
