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Brigadier General
Linell A. Letendre
Permanent Professor 2015–
Dean of the Faculty 2019-
B.S., United States Air Force Academy
J.D., University of Washington
Linell Letendre (née Bartholic), the Academy’s 92nd Permanent Professor, was born in Jackson, Michigan, in 1974. She graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1996 as a Distinguished Graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Astronautical Engineering. She served as the Spring Cadet Wing Commander her first class year. After graduation, she served for two years as an Acquisitions Officer for the Air Force/Navy Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile Program Office, Eglin AFB, FL. From 1998 to 2001 she was a student in the Funded Legal Education Program at the University of Washington Law School, earning her Juris Doctorate with High Honors. She entered the judge advocate field in 2001 as Chief of Environmental Law and General Law, 375th Airlift Wing, Scott AFB, IL, and later she served as Area Defense Counsel at Scott, 2003–2004. In 2004 Linell came back to the Academy for a three-year tour as Assistant Professor of Law. During this period, she published on salient policy/legal issues, including “Religion in the Military: Navigating the Channel Between the Religion Clauses” (2007). Following her faculty tour, she was assigned as Chief of Strategic Communication Branch, Office of the Judge Advocate General, Pentagon, Washington, DC, 2007–2008. She next served as Deputy Chief, Military Personnel Branch, General Litigation Division, Air Force Legal Operations Agency, Arlington, Virginia, 2008–2009, and as Executive Officer, Civil Law and Litigation Directorate, 2009–2010. Moving back to the Pentagon, she served as Legal Advisor, Department of Defense Comprehensive Review Working Group, 2010, and as Air Staff Counsel, Administrative Law Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 2011. Returning to the Air Force Legal Operations Agency, now at Joint Base Andrews, MD, she served as Deputy Chief, Trial and Appellate Government Counsel Division, 2011–2012, before becoming the Staff Judge Advocate, 375th Air Mobility Wing, Scott AFB, 2012–2014. Through these assignments, she defended Airmen in courts-martial, represented the Air Force in appellate reviews, defended the Air Force in a range of federal civil litigation, and advised on important legal and policy issues, including those surrounding repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. She also co-authored “Military Lawyering and Professional Independence in the War on Terror” (2008), which was published in the Stanford Law Review. In 2014–2015 she was a Distinguished Graduate from the Eisenhower School, National Defense University, Washington, DC, where three of her autonomous systems papers won writing awards and were later published, including “Women Warriors: Why the Robotics Revolution Changes the Combat Equation” (Prism, 2016). Linell was appointed Permanent Professor and Head, Department of Law in 2015. Early in her tenure as the Law Permanent Professor, she established two major initiatives, the Leadership and Alternative Disputes Resolution Program and the Law, Technology, and Warfare Research Cell.
Update (2020): Linell Letendre was appointed Dean of the Faculkty in October 2019.