Speakers

Brigadier General Linell A. Letendre is Dean of the Faculty, U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado. She commands the 750-member Dean of Faculty mission element and oversees the annual design and instruction of more than 500undergraduate courses for 4,000 cadets across 32 academic disciplines. She also directs the operation of five support staff agencies and faculty resources involving more than $350 million.

The general graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1996 as a distinguished graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Astronautical Engineering. After serving as an Acquisition Officer, she became a Judge Advocate through the Funded Legal Education Program. Brig Gen Letendre graduated from the University of Washington law school with high honors and was named to the Order of the Coif and the Order of the Barristers. She is barred at the U.S. Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Washington, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. Prior to this assignment, she served as the Permanent Professor and Head of the Air Force Academy's Department of Law.

Brig Gen Letendre previously served as a Staff Judge Advocate at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, and also represented the Air Force in appellate review of all courts-martial as the Deputy Chief Trial and Appellate Counsel. Additionally, she previously served as the Legal Advisor for the DoD Comprehensive Review Working Group, where she advised on legal and policy issues surrounding repeal of "don't ask, don't tell." She also defended the Air Force in a range of federal civil litigation involving military personnel, served as Chief of Strategic Communication for the Judge Advocate General and defended Airmen as an area defense counsel.