Chief of the National Guard Bureau

In 1908, the United States Army created the Militia Bureau to oversee training and readiness for the National Guard as part of implementing the Militia Act of 1903. From 1908 to 1911, Erasmus M. Weaver Jr. served as head of the Army's Militia Bureau, the first person to hold the position.[5] The National Defense Act of 1920 included a provision that the Chief of the Militia Bureau be a National Guard officer.[6][7][8] In 1921 Pennsylvania National Guard officer George C. Rickards became the first Guardsman to serve as Chief, and he held the post until his 1925 retirement.[9]

In September 1947, the Air National Guard was created, and the positions of Chief the Army Division Chief and Chief of the Air Division were established, with the directors subordinate to the NGB Chief.[10] In 1953, Air National Guard Director Earl T. Ricks served as acting Chief of the National Guard Bureau, making him the first Air Guard officer to hold the chief's position.[11] In the mid-1970s, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau position was upgraded from major general to lieutenant general, and La Vern E. Weber became the first NGB chief to wear three stars.[12]

In 2009, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau Craig R. McKinley was granted the rank of full general, the first bureau chief to hold that rank. The position also became the seventh member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2012 with the third expansion of the Joint Chiefs in the 2012 defense bill signed on 31 December 2011. McKinley was also bureau chief at that time. The sitting Joint Chiefs had opposed the addition of another member, but President Obama promised in his 2008 campaign to do so.[13]

On 30 June 2016, Lieutenant General Joseph L. Lengyel, the Vice Chief of the National Guard Bureau, was confirmed by the United States Senate for appointment as CNGB and promotion to General.[14] He was promoted and completed a transfer of authority ceremony with his predecessor on 2 August.[15]

This positional flag for the Chief of the National Guard Bureau was used from 1998 to 2008. The dark blue represented the Army National Guard, the light blue represented the Air National Guard. The badge in the center is the branch insignia of the National Guard Bureau. The two triangles in the upper fly are "flight devices" and represent the Air National Guard.

The version of the flag which appears in the information box at the top of the page was adopted in 2008 when the position of Chief of the National Guard Bureau was upgraded to full General (four stars).

• Senior Enlisted Advisor for the National Guard Bureau

Media related to Chiefs of the National Guard Bureau at Wikimedia Commons

• Biography, Frank J. Grass