Mary L. Walker

[1] In 1982, Walker accepted an appointment in the United States Department of Justice as Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Land and Natural Resources Division.

[1] On September 18, 1985, President of the United States Ronald Reagan nominated her to be Assistant Secretary of Energy (Environment, Safety, and Health).

[2] An evangelical Christian, Walker co-founded the Professional Women's Fellowship in San Diego, a group related to Campus Crusade for Christ.

Two days later, William J. Haynes, II, the General Counsel of the United States Department of Defense designated Walker as the head of a departmental working group tasked with implementing the Secretary's request.

[4] Walker established a committee of the senior lawyers in the Pentagon, both military and civilian, and a career-level working group having expertise in the substantive issues and additional techniques to be given legal and policy review.

As the two working groups proceeded to conduct their review, on January 23, 2003, General Counsel of the Navy Alberto J. Mora, a member of the senior legal group, reviewed a hard copy of that memorandum in Walker's office[5] (copies were not made widely available pursuant to instructions of William J. Haynes, General Counsel of the Department of Defense).

On March 6, 2003, by a unanimous vote, all members of the senior legal group (including the Navy) presented their recommendations for new techniques to Secretary Rumsfeld.

At the Administration's request, the Justice Department subsequently reviewed the Working Group's recommendations that were adopted by Secretary Rumsfeld and fully endorsed them.