Tristan B.L. Siegel is Deputy Counsel to the Inspector General. Before his appointment to this position, Mr. Siegel had several prior careers in senior leadership positions as a soldier, attorney, diplomat, and counternarcotics law enforcement officer in the U.S. Intelligence Community. His overseas assignments have included Afghanistan, Iraq, Korea, Germany, Japan, Belgium, and Hawaii.
Mr. Siegel holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, a Master of Science of Strategic Intelligence from the Defense Intelligence College, and a second Master's degree from the U.S. Army War College. He is also a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Customs Service Academy Intelligence Analyst Course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.
Mr. Siegel is presently an Army Reserve Colonel (O-6) with 27 years of military service. After enlisting in the Infantry in 1985, he was commissioned as a Military Intelligence officer. He has experience as a Battalion Commander, a Division Chief, a Branch Chief, a Chief of Congressional Liaison, and a Chief of Staff. As a Battalion Commander, Col. Siegel served as a fifth-level supervisor leading more than 400 military and Federal civilian personnel and managed $15 million of equipment and an annual budget of $5 million. He has received the Combat Action Badge, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Airborne Wings (Parachute Badge), and many other awards.
As a private sector lawyer, Mr. Siegel worked as a commercial litigator with several large international law firms in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. He achieved several multi-million-dollar victories in Federal court and arbitration as the lead trial attorney for corporate clients. Prior to law school, he served as a Federal law enforcement officer, intelligence analyst, and executive briefer to the Commissioner of Customs from 1988 to 1993, while assigned to the U.S. Customs Service, Office of Enforcement. From 2010 to 2011, Mr. Siegel deployed to Afghanistan, where he served as the senior U.S. Department of State diplomat in Marjah (Helmand Province), embedded with the Marines in the field, and focused on Afghan politics, governance, and rule of law issues.