The Honorable Togo Dennis West, Jr.

Togo D. West, Jr. has served in the Administrations of three presidents. He served under President Gerald R. Ford as Associate Deputy Attorney General in the U. S. Department of Justice. In the Administration of President Jimmy Carter, he was General Counsel of the Navy, later, the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and, thereafter, General Counsel of the Department of Defense. He served in President Clinton’s Administration as Secretary of the Army. In the second Clinton Administration he was Secretary of Veterans Affairs and a member of the President’s Cabinet. While Secretary of the Army, he also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Panama Canal Commission.

Secretary West was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Field Artillery Corps upon graduation from college in 1965. He served on active military duty in the Army's Judge Advocate General Corps, in the Office of the Judge Advocate General and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs. For his military service, he was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal, and for his public service, he has received decorations for distinguished service from the Departments of Defense, Army, Air Force, Navy, and Veterans Affairs.

Secretary West is the Chair-elect of the Greater Washington Board of Trade and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Washington Hospital Center. He is an Eagle Scout with Bronze Palm, he has been named Distinguished Eagle Scout by the Boy Scouts of America and was awarded the Silver Buffalo Award for his national contributions to America’s youth. Currently, he is the President of the National Capital Area Chapter of the Boy Scouts of America.