James P Terry

James P. Terry is chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals, in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Until early 2005 he served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, having previously been Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Regional, Global, and Functional Affairs in that bureau. He served as legal counsel to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, from 1992 to 1995. In addition to earning undergraduate and graduate degrees from the...See more

James P. Terry is chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals, in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Until early 2005 he served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, having previously been Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Regional, Global, and Functional Affairs in that bureau. He served as legal counsel to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, from 1992 to 1995. In addition to earning undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Virginia, he received a JD degree from Mercer University and LLM and SJD degrees from George Washington University. He is also a 1986 graduate (with distinction) of the Naval War College. A retired Marine colonel, he was head of the Research and Policy Branch of the Judge Advocate Division of the Marine Corps, and served as the Staff Judge Advocate to III Marine Expeditionary Force during the first Gulf war, chief trial counsel for Naval Legal Services at Subic Bay in the Philippines, and as a military judge at Quantico. His career includes service in Vietnam as an infantry officer and aboard ship as a detachment commander, as well as more than twenty years as a judge advocate. He is widely published in the areas of national security law and coercion control. See less