Judge Aldana has served with the Coast Guard since 1994 in multiple leadership positions. As chief trial judge, headquartered in Washington, D.C., he presided over felony trials throughout the country while overseeing a trial judiciary composed of 10 judges.
He is also an alumnus of the NJC, having completed five courses since 2000: Advanced Evidence for the Military Trial Judiciary; Enhancing Judicial Bench Skills; Scientific Evidence and Expert Testimony; Judicial Philosophy and the American Law for the Military Trial Judiciary; Ethical Issues in the Law: A Novel Approach; and Evidence for Military Judges.
Prior to being named the Coast Guard’s chief trial judge, he served as an appellate judge (2015-16) and trial judge (2005-2011). Before that, he was chief legal officer of the Eighth Coast Guard District in New Orleans, Louisiana. In that role, he oversaw the largest field legal office in the Coast Guard, providing legal support to more than 4,700 personnel at more than 80 operational units in 26 states.
Before his posting in New Orleans, he served as chief counsel of the Legal Engagements Division of the Defense Department’s U.S. Africa Command, which is based in Stuttgart, Germany. He led the U.S. military’s efforts in advancing the rule of law by working with African partner nation militaries and organizations such as the International Institute of Humanitarian Law and the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies.
His many other assignments within the Coast Guard include having served as commanding officer of Coast Guard Personnel Services Support Unit in Seattle and as executive officer of Coast Guard Base Seattle. His many honors include the Department of Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
In the aftermath of 9/11, he was deployed as a legal adviser to the Department of Defense Criminal Investigation Task Force in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, conducting criminal investigations against suspected terrorists detained by U.S. forces. He also served as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Enforcement Section.
Outside of his military service, Aldana has been active in leadership of the American Bar Association, which helped launch the National Judicial College in 1963 and still supports the College financially. He is currently a member of the ABA Law and National Security Advisory Committee. He recently completed service on the board of the ABA Rule of Law Initiative and on the ABA Commission on Diversity and Inclusion 360. He is a past chair of the ABA Solo, Small Firm and General Practice Division. He also served as assembly speaker of the ABA Young Lawyers Division and was a member of the ABA House of Delegates.
A Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, he served as co-chair of the Washington State Fellows, and in 2011 he was awarded the Outstanding State Chair Award by the American Bar Foundation.
While stationed in Seattle, he served as president of the Asian Bar Association of Washington. He was a co-founding board member of the Filipino Lawyers of Washington, chair-elect of the Washington State Bar Legal Assistance to Military Personnel Section, and he was the Washington State Supreme Court’s appointee to the Civil Legal Aid Oversight Committee.
Judge Aldana is a 1991 cum laude graduate of Seattle University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. While in college he served as student body president and as a congressional intern on Capitol Hill. He received his Juris Doctor in 1994 from the University of Washington School of Law.
He is admitted to practice in Washington state and before the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the U.S. Supreme Court.
