Why He Matters
As general counsel of the United States Department of the Navy, Paul L. Oostburg Sanz is the department’s chief legal officer. He became general counsel on March 12, 2010. He is the 22nd person to hold that position. As general counsel, Oostburg Sanz is the Navy’s chief legal officer. According to the Navy’s website, he provides legal advice and services to the Secretary of the Navy, as well as the Under Secretary, the Assistant Secretaries and their staffs. According to the Navy’s website, he “manages over 700 attorneys in 140 offices worldwide, assists in the oversight of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and advises senior Navy and Marine Corps officials on litigation, acquisition, contractual, fiscal, environmental, property, personnel, legislative, ethics, and intelligence law issues. As General Counsel, he is also the senior ethics officer as well as the debarring authority on acquisition matters for the Department of the Navy.”
Path to Power
Oostburg Sanz has a bachelor’s degree from the Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown, a master’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University, and a law degree from Harvard University.
Early in his career, Oostburg Sanz was a a graduate fellow for the United States Agency for International Development in Mozambique and the United States Department of State in Liberia, a Peace Corps volunteer in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, a project officer for the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and a law clerk for Judge José Fusté in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. In his work with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Oostburg Sanz helped conduct political party training during South Africa’s historic 1994 elections.
From 2001 to Dec. 2007, he was the Democratic deputy chief counsel for the committee on International Relations in the United States House of Representatives, specializing in Western Hemisphere issues and the Millennium Challenge Account. Oostburg Sanz served as the general counsel for the committee on Armed Services in the United States House of Representatives from Jan. 2007 to March 2010.
Oostburg Sanz is married to Tonya Robinson. He is from Washington.
At a Glance
Current Position: General counsel of the United States Department of the Navy
Career History: General counsel of the Committee on Armed Services in the U.S. House of Rep. (Jan. 2007 to March 2010); Democratic deputy chief counsel for the Committee on International Relations in the U.S. House of Rep. (2001 to Dec. 2006); law clerk for Judge José Fusté in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico
Hometown: Washington, DC
Alma Mater: Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown, B.S.F.S.; Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University, M.P.A. 1997; Harvard Law School, J.D., 1999
Spouse: Tonya Robinson