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James Daniel Howard (born August 24, 1943) was Special Assistant to President of the United States Ronald Reagan from July 1986 to February 1988,United StatesAssistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs from February 1988 to May 1989 andUnder Secretary of the Navy from 1989 to 1993.
Howard was born August 24, 1943, inChattanooga, Tennessee. After high school, he enlisted in theUnited States Marine Corps, serving inJapan from 1961 to 1965. Upon leaving the Marines, he enrolled at theUniversity of Chattanooga, receiving aB.A. in 1969. After college, Howard moved toDenver to work as a field representative for theAmerican Red Cross. He later returned to school, enrolling at theUniversity of Tennessee and receiving anM.A. in 1972. He then moved toWashington, D.C. to become aForeign Service Officer trainee.
Howard's first posting as a member of theUnited States Foreign Service was inJapan, where he was a language trainee inYokohama 1974–1975, and then served as director of the American Center inSapporo from 1975 to 1977. From 1977 to 1980, he was thepressattaché of theEmbassy of the United States in Tokyo. In 1981–82, he was a cultural affairs officer of the Americanembassy inWarsaw. During that periodmartial law was declared in Poland. Howard was detained bythe Communist government authorities three times and was ultimately declaredpersona non grata and expelled in May, 1982. He then went toCyprus where he was a public affairs officer at the American embassy inNicosia. He was involved in the evacuation of Americans from nearbyBeirut in the wake ofthe 1983 embassy bombing, the bombing of the embassy annex, and ofthe bombing of the Marine Barracks. His last two weeks in Cyprus were spent attempting to resolve theTWA Flight 847 hijacking. Howard returned to the United States in 1985 to serve as a public affairs adviser to theBureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of theUnited States Department of State. He received the State Department'sSuperior Honor Award for his work on thePeople Power Revolution in thePhilippines in 1986.
In 1986,President of the United StatesRonald Reagan named Howard aSpecial Assistant to the President and DeputyPress Secretary for Foreign Affairs at theWhite House where he worked directly forNational Security AdvisorFrank Carlucci and his deputy, GeneralColin Powell. Howard focussed on arms control issues and remained through the signing of theIntermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in January 1988. He also dealt with many issues associated with theIran–Contra affair.
On December 21, 1987, President Reagan nominated Howard to serve asAssistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs) and Howard would hold this post from February 1988 through May 1989. He worked forSecretary of Defense Frank Carlucci and dealt with the aftermath of the shooting down ofIran Air Flight 655 by theU.S.S.Vincennes andthe explosion of a gun mount on the U.S.S.Iowa. He again supported Secretary Carlucci in direct negotiations designed to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union including a historic first visit by a U.S. Secretary of Defense toMoscow andSevastopol in 1988. He received theDepartment of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award.
On July 31, 1989, PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush nominated Howard asUnder Secretary of the Navy. After confirmation by theUnited States Senate, Howard entered office on August 7, 1989. Howard's time as Under Secretary was dominated by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent catastrophic drop in the defense budget, the 1991Gulf War and the post-warTailhook scandal.
He took over as Acting Secretary of the Navy in June, 1992 when Secretary of the NavyHenry L. Garrett III was forced to resign by President Bush in the wake of that scandal. Howard immediately ordered a Navy and Marine Corps-wide "standdown" for training designed to preventsexual harassment. Defense ComptrollerSean O'Keefe replaced him as Acting Secretary the following month. TheDepartment of Defense Inspector General issued a blistering report in September 1992 in which he concluded that Under Secretary Howard, theNaval Inspector General, theJudge Advocate General and the Director ofNaval Investigative Service (NIS) had failed to conduct an adequate investigation into allegations of misconduct; had been overly focused on lower ranking personnel; and had been more concerned with protecting the reputation of theUnited States Navy than with getting to the bottom of the allegations.[1] It was widely speculated that O'Keefe would have Howard (and the Navy IG) resign at the same time that Judge Advocate GeneralRear AdmiralJohn E. Gordon and NIS Director Rear AdmiralDuvall M. Williams, Jr. were ousted for their attempts to turn the Tailhook investigation into a whitewash, but, in a move that drew surprise, O'Keefe announced that he continued to have "complete confidence" in Under Secretary Howard saying that he was much more "sinned against than sinned."[1] As such, Howard served out the rest of the Bush administration and left office on January 20, 1993. Howard retired from the Foreign Service in June, 1993 with the rank of Minister-Counselor and received theMeritorious Honor Award for career achievements.
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| Preceded by | Under Secretary of the Navy August 7, 1989 – January 20, 1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of the Navy (acting) June 26, 1992 – July 7, 1992 | Succeeded by |
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