Deborah Loewer
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Deborah A. Loewer was the first warfare qualified woman promoted to flag rank in the
United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. She was frocked to the rank of rear admiral (lower half) on October 1, 2003 and retired in 2007.


Career

Deborah Ann Loewer is from Springfield, Ohio. She was commissioned as an
ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...
on 17 December 1976 after graduating as the top ranking female student and second in her class of 110 students at the
Officer Candidate School An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a commission as officers in the armed forces of a country. How OCS is run differs between countries and services. Ty ...
(OCS) in Newport, Rhode Island. She was the first female battalion commander at Naval Officer Candidate School. From 1976 until March 1979, she served as the U.S. Navy's Pay and Allowance Functional Manager at the Bureau of Naval Personnel (PERS-3) in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
She was selected to be one of the first women officers in Surface Warfare and in 1979 graduated number one in her class at the Surface Warfare Officer Basic Course in Newport,
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
. As one of the first women officers assigned to shipboard duty, then-
Lieutenant, junior grade Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...
Loewer served on the
destroyer tender A destroyer tender or destroyer depot ship is a type of depot ship: an auxiliary ship designed to provide maintenance support to a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. The use of this class has faded from its peak in the first half of ...
as electrical division officer,
operations officer Military operations is a concept and application of military science that involves planning the operations for the projected maneuvering forces' provisions, services, training, and administrative functions—to allow them to commence, insert, t ...
,
navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...
, and administrative officer. Further assignments included a tour on the destroyer tender , where as a
lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...
Loewer served as engineer and executive officer, and on board the
fleet oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. The ...
, where she served as executive officer. As a commander, she served as the commanding officer of the ammunition ship from 1993 to 1995 and, at the rank of captain, as the commanding officer of the fleet oiler from 1998 to 2000. Shore tours included assignment as military assistant to
Deputy Secretary of Defense The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the sec ...
John P. White from 1995 to 1997 and military assistant to Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen from 1997 to 1998. In September 2000, she was requested for a return tour of duty as the military assistant to Secretary Cohen. A year later, she assumed duties as Director,
White House Situation Room The Situation Room, officially known as the John F. Kennedy Conference Room, is a conference room and intelligence management center in the basement of the West Wing of the White House. It is run by the National Security Council staff for the ...
and Director, Systems and Technical Planning Staff. She was selected for
rear admiral (lower half) A rear admiral in the uniformed services of the United States is either of two different ranks of commissioned officers: one-star flag officers and two-star flag officers. By contrast, in most other countries, the term "rear admiral" refers only t ...
while she was in this position. She became vice commander of the Military Sealift Command in July 2003, headquartered in Washington, D.C. as such, Rear Admiral Loewer was second-in-command of a global transportation agency with a workforce of more than 8,000 and a fleet of more than 120 active ships whose primary mission is to move U.S. military cargo for deployed U.S. forces. Loewer became the commander of Mine Warfare Command on 13 January 2005.


September 11 attacks

While it would usually have been the responsibility of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice or her deputy, Stephen Hadley, to be present on a presidential trip to handle any national security questions that might arise, in the instance of President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's trip to the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in
Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...
,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, in the recollection of Rice, Bush's trip was "such a short trip that we decided not to do that". In their place, they sent Loewer, a captain at the time and the director of the
White House Situation Room The Situation Room, officially known as the John F. Kennedy Conference Room, is a conference room and intelligence management center in the basement of the West Wing of the White House. It is run by the National Security Council staff for the ...
. On September 11, 2001, between 8:46 a.m. and 8:55 a.m., Loewer was traveling in President Bush's motorcade toward Booker Elementary School when she learned of the first crash of an airplane into the
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from her deputy in the Situation Room at the White House. According to some reports, as soon as the motorcade reached the school, Loewer ran from her car to Bush's car, and informed Bush of what would become a series of terrorist attacks on the United States that day.


Awards and decorations

*  
Defense Distinguished Service Medal The Defense Distinguished Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members for exceptionally distinguished performance of duty contributing to the ...
with Gold Star *   Defense Superior Service Medal *   Legion of Merit *  
Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: * Meritorious Civilian Service Award *Meritorious Service Me ...
with Gold Star *  
Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...
with two Gold Stars *  
Presidential Service Badge The Presidential Service Badge (PSB) is an identification badge of the United States Armed Forces which is awarded to members of the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Space Force, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Coast Guard as well as other ...


Education

Loewer received her
Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree in theoretical mathematics and
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...
from Wright State University in 1976. She was selected as an Olmsted Scholar and studied at the
Defense Language Institute The Defense Language Institute (DLI) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) educational and research institution consisting of two separate entities which provide linguistic and cultural instruction to the Department of Defense, other f ...
in Monterey, California, and the
Goethe Institute The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...
in Stuttgart, Germany. Upon graduation, she went on to earn her
Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in
international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
from the
University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...
in Kiel, Germany, in 1986.


See also

*
Women in the United States Navy Many women have served in the United States Navy for over a century. As of 2020, there were 69,629 total women on active duty in the US Navy, with 11,076 serving as officers, and 58,553 enlisted. Of all the branches in the US military, the Navy ...


References


External links


Navy's First Warfare-Qualified Woman Promoted to AdmiralOfficial Navy biography

Olmsted Scholar
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loewer, Deborah Living people 1954 births People from Springfield, Ohio Wright State University alumni University of Kiel alumni United States Navy rear admirals (lower half) Recipients of the Legion of Merit Female admirals of the United States Navy Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States) 21st-century American women