The President today announced his intention to nominate Tidal W. McCoy to be Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower, Reserve Affairs & Installations). Since 1979 Mr. McCoy has served as assistant for national security affairs to Senator Jake Garn (R-Utah).
After graduation from West Point in 1967, he spent almost 5 years as an Army field artillery officer in command and staff assignments in the United States, Europe, and Vietnam. Mr. McCoy was assigned by the Army to the Defense Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency and was employed as a civilian by the Central Intelligence Agency as an intelligence officer. For 5 years Mr. McCoy worked full-or part-time as staff assistant in the immediate office of five Secretaries of Defense. He has also served as a staff member of the National Security Council; as scientific assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Engineering, and Systems; and as the Director of Policy Research in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Mr. McCoy's work in his various assignments has covered a wide range of U.S. foreign and defense policy issues and intelligence subjects. His awards are numerous, they include the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal.
Mr. McCoy has a master's degree in business finance from George Washington University. He was born in Gainesville, Fla., on April 25, 1945. He currently resides in McLean, Va.
Ronald Reagan, Nomination of Tidal W. McCoy To Be an Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/246765