Rear Admiral
William D. Baumgartner
Judge Advocate General
US Coast Guard
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Rear Admiral
Baumgartner assumed his duties as the Judge Advocate General and Chief Counsel of the United States Coast Guard in April 2006. In this capacity, he is the Coast Guard’s senior legal advisor and is responsible for all aspects of the service’s legal program which includes over 280 attorneys and approximately 100 support personnel.
A native of Collinsville, IL, he is a 1980 graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy where he received Bachelor of Science degrees in Marine Engineering and Electrical Engineering. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of New Orleans and a Juris Doctor degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School where he also served as an editor on the Harvard Law Review.
Prior to his current assignment, Rear Admiral Baumgartner served as Chief, Office of Maritime and International Law, at Coast Guard Headquarters and headed the U.S. delegation to the Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organization. He has also served as the Staff Judge Advocate for the Seventh Coast Guard District in Miami, FL and as the Chief of Staff for Homeland Security Task Force Southeast, an interagency task force charged with planning for and executing Caribbean mass migration deterrence and response operations. Previous legal assignments also include tours at the Eighth Coast Guard District, in New Orleans, LA, Coast Guard Maintenance & Logistics Command Pacific in Alameda, CA, and Naval Legal Services Office West in San Francisco, CA.
Prior to joining the Coast Guard’s legal program, Rear Admiral Baumgartner specialized in surface operations and served as the Commanding Officer of USCGC POINT VERDE and USCGC PENOBSCOT BAY, as a deck officer on USCGC DEPENDABLE, and as an operations center controller for the Eighth Coast Guard District where he directed search and rescue, law enforcement and other Coast Guard operations in the Gulf of Mexico. He also served as the Chief, Inventory Management Branch at Coast Guard Supply Center Brooklyn.
His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit (two awards), the Meritorious Service Medal, the Coast Guard Commendation Medal (three awards), the Coast Guard Achievement Medal (three awards) and the Commandant’s Letter of Commendation.