Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum has served since April 2003 as chief of the National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Virginia. Blum graduated in 1968 from the University of Baltimore with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He received his commission from Officer Candidate School on August 28, 1971, along with a Master of Science in Social Science from Morgan State College in Baltimore in 1973.

 

From 1971 to 1996, Blum held numerous commands in the Maryland National Guard, including several Special Forces posts. From 1996 until 2001 he served as assistant division commander and then commanding general of the 29th Infantry Division (Light), Maryland Army National Guard. He then served as commanding general of the Multi National Division (North) as part of Operation Joint Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina until 2002. Blum served as chief of staff for the United States Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, before being selected for his current post.

 

Blum stirred a minor controversy when, in a speech to the NAACP on July 19, 2006, he implied that agnostics and atheists change their beliefs on the battlefield.

 

Official Bio

General Praises NAACP for Making National Guard Better (by Rudi Williams, American Forces Press Service)