President Obama has nominated Paul L. Oostburg Sanz ’99 to be general counsel of the Navy, and Solomon B. Watson IV ’71 as general counsel of the Army.
Sanz is currently the general counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services, where he has advised on matters including the passage of the annual National Defense Authorization Act, detainee policy, the activities of the Department of Defense to counter the illicit narcotics trade, and international legal issues.
From 2001 to 2006, Sanz [photo left] was the deputy chief counsel for the Democratic staff of the House Committee on International Relations. In the early 1990s, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, teaching English in secondary schools, and in 1994, while working for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, he conducted political party training for the first all-inclusive elections in South Africa. He holds an M.P.A. from Princeton University and a B.S.F.S. from Georgetown University.
Watson [photo right] served as general counsel of The New York Times Co. from 1989 until 2006. He was responsible for the management of the legal governance and compliance functions of the company. He joined the legal department of The Times Company in 1974, and was a member of the company’s management executive committee. Before joining the Times, Watson served as an associate at the Boston law firm Bingham, Dana & Gould, and was on the advisory board of the Agent Orange Settlement Fund. He served in the U.S. Army as a lieutenant in the Military Police Corps from 1966 to 1968, and was awarded the Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal for his service in Vietnam. He earned his B.A. from Howard University.