Cherokee Nation Principal Chief congratulates Cherokee citizen Brad Carson on presidential nomination
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Cherokee citizen and former Oklahoma House District 2 Congressman Brad Carson has been nominated by President Obama to serve as the Under Secretary of the Army in the Department of Defense. Carson currently serves as General Counsel to the Department of the Army and the Department of Defense, a position held since 2012.
“I applaud President Obama for nominating Brad Carson to this post and hope the appointment is quickly approved by the U.S. Senate,” said Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker. “Brad is a Cherokee citizen and has committed his life to one of our Cherokee values: serving people. As a U.S. congressman he served the people of Oklahoma’s second district, as a CEO he served Cherokee Nation Businesses and the Cherokee people, and as military veteran he served his country with valor during the Iraq War. Brad is a true legal scholar, and given his diverse and expansive background, he will be a champion for our American military in his role as Army undersecretary.”
Carson served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2001 to 2005, representing Oklahoma’s eastern district. Following his congressional service, he was employed at Cherokee Nation Businesses in 2005 and served as chief executive officer from 2009 to 2010. Carson’s resume includes a fellowship at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and directorship of the National Energy Policy Institute at the University of Tulsa, where he was also a professor of business law.
Carson served on active military duty as a United States Navy officer deployed to Iraq, embedded with the United States Army’s 84th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Battalion from 2008 to 2009. Carson’s academic resume includes a bachelor of arts from Baylor University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar, a master of arts from Trinity College at Oxford University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.
The Oklahoma native has deep roots in Indian Country. Carson’s father was a longtime employee of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the family lived on reservations in Arizona, North Carolina, Nevada and Kansas.
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About Cherokee Nation
The Cherokee Nation is the federally recognized government of the Cherokee people and has inherent sovereign status recognized by treaty and law. The seat of tribal government is the W.W. Keeler Complex near Tahlequah, Okla., the capital of the Cherokee Nation. With more than 320,000 citizens, over 9,000 employees and a variety of tribal enterprises ranging from aerospace and defense contracts to entertainment venues, Cherokee Nation is one of the largest employers in northeastern Oklahoma and the largest tribal nation in the United States.
To learn more, please visit www.cherokee.org.
