After completing his initial nuclear power and submarine training, Donald served on the , , and . Donald was Commanding Officer of the , from October 1990 to February 1993. He served as Commander, Submarine Development Squadron Twelve from August 1995 to July 1997. From June 2002 to July 2003, he was assigned as Commander, Submarine Group Eight; Commander, Submarine Force Sixth Fleet (CTF 69); Commander, Submarines Allied Naval Forces South; and Commander, Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine Force (CTF 164) in
Naples, Italy. Most recently, he served as Commander, Naval Submarine Forces; Commander, Submarine Force,
U.S. Atlantic Fleet; Commander, Allied Submarine Command, Atlantic; and Commander, Task Forces 84 and 144 in
Norfolk, Virginia. His shore assignments include the Pacific Fleet Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board and on the staff of the Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion. He also served at the
Bureau of Naval Personnel (BUPERS), on the
Joint Staff, and as Deputy Chief of Staff for C4I, Resources, Requirements and Assessments for the
U.S. Pacific Fleet. Admiral Donald began his tenure as Director of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, on 5 November 2004—a unique eight-year posting which was originally created and served in by Admiral
Hyman G. Rickover. The appointment as Director is both a military and civilian position as it is the head of both the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program in the
Department of the Navy and the
National Nuclear Security Administration in the
Department of Energy. See
Naval Reactors for more information. As reported on March 25, 2008, Donald was assigned by
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to investigate the
2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident where
nuclear missile fuses were mistakenly sent to the island of
Taiwan. Gates, when accepting the resignations of both
Secretary of the Air Force Michael W. Wynne and
Chief of Staff of the Air Force General
T. Michael Moseley on June 5, 2008, cited the report's findings of a "decline in the Air Force's nuclear mission focus and performance" and a "lack of a critical self-assessment culture" in the Air Force. However, specific details of Admiral Donald's report remain classified. Admiral Donald was relieved as Director, Naval Nuclear Propulsion by Admiral
John M. Richardson, on 3 November 2012. ==Civilian career==