Buddie Joe "B. J." Penn (born April 2, 1938) was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installation and Environment) in the

United States Department of the Navy The United States Department of the Navy (DoN) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the United States of America. It was established by an Act of Congress on 30 April 1798, at the urging of Secretary o ...

from 2005 to 2009. He briefly served as acting

United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

from March 13, 2009 to May 19, 2009. (Archived by WebCite a
WebCite

Biography

B. J. Penn was born in 1938 in

Peru, Indiana Peru is a city in, and the county seat of, Miami County, Indiana, United States. It is north of Indianapolis. The population was 11,417 at the 2010 census, making it the most populous city in Miami County. Peru is located along the Wabash Rive ...

and was educated at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

(

B.S. 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 ...

) and

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

(

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

). He would later also acquire a certificate in Aerospace Safety from the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

and a certificate in National Security for Senior Officials from the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

. He is also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle S ...

within the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

. Penn began his career in the United States Navy as a

United States Naval Aviator A naval aviator is a commissioned officer or warrant officer qualified as a crewed aircraft pilot in the United States Navy or United States Marine Corps. United States Coast Guard crewed aircraft pilots are officially designated as "Coast Guar ...

, ultimately amassing 6500 hours of flight time in sixteen different aircraft. He was named the Navy's

EA-6B Prowler The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, four-seat, mid-wing electronic-warfare aircraft derived from the A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6A was the initial electronic warfare version of the A-6 used by the United ...

Replacement Training Squadron Student Pilot of the Year in 1972. He went on to serve as the Executive Officer / Commanding Officer of VAQ 33 within the

Fleet Electronic Warfare Support Group The Fleet Electronic Warfare Support Group's (FEWSG) mission as part of the US Navy was to provide electronic warfare simulation in a controlled environment during fleet exercises to help operators deal with EW threats, VAQ-33, VAQ-34 and VAQ-35 ...

; as Battalion Officer at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

(including serving as Officer-in-Charge of the

Plebe In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words "commoners". Both classes were hereditary. Etymology The precise origins of ...

Detail for the class of 1983); as

Air Officer An air officer is an air force officer of the rank of air commodore or higher. Such officers may be termed "officers of air rank". While the term originated in the Royal Air Force, air officers are also to be found in many Commonwealth nations ...

on the USS ''America'' (CV-66); as special assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations; as Commanding Officer of

Naval Air Station North Island Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado (N ...

; and as Deputy Director of the Navy Office of Technology Transfer & Security Assistance. Penn left the Navy for the private sector in 1995, joining

Loral Corporation Loral Corporation was a defense contractor founded in 1948 in New York by William Lorenz and Leon Alpert as Loral Electronics Corporation. The company's name was taken from the first letters of each founder's surname. History Loral Corporation or ...

as Director of International Business; his work at Loral focused on airborne Electronic Warfare and Defensive Electronic Counter Measure Systems. In 1996, Loral sold its defense electronics and system integration businesses to Lockheed Martin and Penn was assigned to Lockheed Martin's Corporate Staff responsible for developing markets in Central and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

. In 1998, he transferred to the Lockheed Martin's Naval Electronics and Surveillance Systems working Advanced Programs; there he focused on

Interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...

CONOPS A concept of operations (abbreviated CONOPS, CONOPs, or ConOps) is a document describing the characteristics of a proposed system from the viewpoint of an individual who will use that system. Examples include business requirements specificatio ...

for the Joint Strike Fighter Program, on upgrading the technology used in the F-16 Fighting Falcon, on efforts to develop

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controlle ...

and Autonomous Undersea Vehicles, and on C4ISR initiatives. Penn returned to the U.S. Navy in October 2001 as Director of Industrial Base Assessments. In this capacity, he was responsible for the Navy's industrial base, i.e. for ensuring that

defense contractors Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

had sufficient capacity and capabilities to meet the Navy's ongoing needs for national defense.

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

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 ...

named Penn Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Installation and Environment), and Penn assumed this post on March 1, 2005. Under President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

, he briefly served as acting

from March 13, 2009 to May 19, 2009. He currently serves as an advisor and director including on the board of Lone Star Analysis.

References

External links

Biography at the U.S. Navy website (archived snapshot 2012-10-09)
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Penn, B. J. 1938 births George W. Bush administration personnel Obama administration personnel George Washington University alumni Living people People from Peru, Indiana Purdue University alumni United States Naval Aviators United States Secretaries of the Navy