Raised in
Kingston, Pennsylvania, Gordon was educated at the
United States Naval Academy and joined the
United States Navy upon his graduation in 1964. During the 1960s, he was posted on two different
combatant ships, which included service during the
Vietnam War. He later served as a
contracting officer at the
Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Gordon attended the
Temple University School of Law, receiving his
Juris Doctor in 1973. He then joined the
Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy, in which capacity he held several military justice positions, including deputy officer in charge of the Philadelphia
Navy Legal Service Office and as
special court martial judge. Gordon next served as Deputy Navy
Chief of Legislative Affairs (
Senate). In the 1980s, he served for over four years under
United States Secretary of the Navy John Lehman as special assistant for legal and legislative affairs. In 1986,
United States Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger named Gordon Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs, with Gordon being promoted to
flag rank. In 1987, he became commander of the Naval Security Investigative Command (NSIC). In this capacity, he oversaw the work of the
Naval Investigative Service (NIS), the
United States Department of the Navy Security Program, and the
Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI). While Commander of NSIC, Gordon was concurrently Director of NIS and Assistant Director of ONI for Counterintelligence. During his time as Commander of NSIC, Gordon was responsible for the navy's response to
Operation Ill Wind, and oversaw the prosecution of
Clayton J. Lonetree, a member of the
Marine Corps Security Guard who allowed a
Soviet spy access to the
Embassy of the United States in Moscow. In 1989, Gordon became Deputy
Judge Advocate General of the Navy and commander of the
Naval Legal Service Command. He became Judge Advocate General of the Navy in 1990. The
Tailhook scandal broke in the wake of the 35th Annual Meeting of the
Tailhook Association, held at the
Las Vegas Hilton September 8–12, 1991. Over the course of this weekend, more than 100 Navy and
United States Marine Corps aviation officers
sexually assaulted 87 women and seven men, or otherwise engaged in "improper and indecent" conduct. In response to media reports about this meeting, on October 29, 1991, the Department of the Navy terminated all ties to the Tailhook Association, launching an investigation led by Rear Admiral Gordon and Rear Admiral
Duvall Williams, director of the
Naval Investigative Service. Williams' initial report blamed the incident primarily on the behavior of low-ranking enlisted men. However, when Williams subsequently made
sexist remarks in the presence of
Barbara S. Pope,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs), Pope went to
United States Secretary of the Navy Henry L. Garrett III and demanded that he re-open the investigation. As a result, Garrett re-opened the investigation under Derek J. Vander Schaaf, the
Inspector General of the
United States Department of Defense. In September 1992, Acting Secretary of the Navy
Sean O'Keefe revealed the contents of Vander Schaaf's investigation. Vander Schaaf concluded that the initial investigation had been a coverup more concerned with protecting the reputation of the navy than with discovering the role of high-ranking officers in the scandal. Gordon criticized Vander Schaaf's report as "flawed and factually incorrect" and continued to maintain that the initial investigation had been thorough. Gordon retired from the US Navy with full honors. ==Later life==