Appointment of John M. Poindexter as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs

The President announced today his intention to appoint John M. Poindexter as the Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. He will succeed Robert C. McFarlane.

Admiral Poindexter joined the National Security Council staff in June 1981 as Military Assistant to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

Immediately before joining the National Security Council staff, Rear Admiral Poindexter was Deputy Chief of Naval Education and Training and Chief of Staff of the Naval Education and Training Command in Pensacola, Fla. He continues in an active duty naval status in his new assignment.

In 1958 he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at the head of his class. He was a Burke scholar at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, where he earned the degree of doctor of philosophy in nuclear physics in 1964, studying under the Nobel laureate Rudolph Mossbauer.

He was on the personal staff of Secretaries of the Navy John Chafee, John Warner, and J. William Middendorf II from 1971 to 1974, and was Executive Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. James L. Holloway III, 1976-1978.

During his naval career, Admiral Poindexter served aboard a number of surface ships. He commanded the guided missile cruiser U.S.S. England (CG-22) and later commanded destroyer squadron 31. In this capacity, he was a battle group antisurface and antisubmarine warfare commander on deployments to the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific.

Admiral Poindexter and his wife Linda have five children and reside in Rockville, Md. He was born in Indiana on August 12, 1936.