For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 27, 2002
Statement by the Press Secretary
General Wayne A. Downing, U.S. Army (Ret.), has resigned his position
as Deputy Assistant to the President, National Director and Deputy
National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism. Coming out of
retirement, General Downing joined the National Security Council staff
in October,2001 with a mandate to organize and staff the NSC's Office
of Combating Terrorism and the Office of Homeland Security's
Intelligence and Detection Directorate following the attacks of
September 11.
In this position, General Downing coordinated the military,
diplomatic, law enforcement, intelligence, financial, and strategic
information activities designed to deter, disrupt, and destroy
terrorists and those who harbor, protect, or support them. He also
worked with the Office of Homeland Security to ensure that our
national counterterrorism efforts, domestic and international, are
seamless.
General Downing will be replaced by General John A. Gordon, USAF
(Ret.). General Gordon joins the National Security Council staff from
the Department of Energy where he served as the Under Secretary for
Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA).
Prior to assuming his post at the Department of Energy, General
Gordon served as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, Central
Intelligence Agency from October 1997 until June 2000. He served as
the Associate Director of Central Intelligence for Military Support at
the Central Intelligence Agency from September 1996 until October
1997.
General Gordon previously served on the National Security Council
staff from 1989 until 1993, as a Special Assistant to the President for
National Security Affairs and Senior Director for Defense Policy and
Arms Control. The General 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.
The Administration has valued General Downing's leadership and
his legacy of a highly effective Office of Combating Terrorism and an
Intelligence and Detection Directorate manned by seasoned professionals
supported by processes and structures which will serve our country well
into the future. We look forward to General Gordon's leadership in
building on this legacy to enhance further the security of our nation.
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