During the event, Phelan welcomed Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David J. Bligh as the next JAG of the Navy. The JAG is the senior uniformed legal advisor to both the secretary of the Navy and the chief of naval operations (CNO).

“I am honored to celebrate Major General Bligh’s assumption of command today,” said Secretary Phelan. “He is a proven warfighter, a seasoned leader, warrior, and patriot of the highest order. With his selection, a Marine once again takes the helm of the JAG Corps, only the second time in its history and the first since Colonel Remey was appointed as the inaugural Judge Advocate General in 1878.”

The Navy JAG Corps pursues a mission to provide full-spectrum legal services that enable naval and joint operations and advances U.S. national security. As the JAG, Bligh oversees approximately 2,500 officers, enlisted personnel, civilians, and Reserve members around the globe, who are assigned to the Office of the JAG (OJAG), the Office of Special Trial Counsel, and Naval Legal Service Command, as well as other operational, administrative, and joint
commands.

The Navy JAG Corps’ legal practice areas range from military justice, to claims and admiralty, to general litigation, to environmental and national security law.

“I am honored to serve as the 47 th Judge Advocate General of the Navy,” said Bligh. “Moving forward, we will build upon the JAG Corps’ storied legacy to ensure the naval force we serve is most ready when our nation calls.”

Bligh’s only Marine Corps predecessor, Marine Corps Col. William Butler Remey, was the first uniformed chief legal officer of the Navy from 1878 to 1892. Nearly a century later, in 1967, the Navy JAG Corps was established.

Bligh was commissioned through the Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Course program in 1988. Most recently, he served as the staff judge advocate to the commandant of the Marine Corps, while also supervising the Marine Corps Judge Advocate Division (JAD). Prior to that tour, Bligh was the assistant JAG (Military Law) at OJAG.

Other senior officials attending the assumption of office ceremony included White House Counsel David Warrington and Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Christopher Mahoney, as well as current and former Navy, Air Force, and Army JAGs, and sitting judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. The event also was widely attended by local Navy JAG Corps and JAD personnel.

During his remarks, Bligh emphasized that Navy JAG Corps personnel are part of both the professions of law and arms.

“Foundationally, we are combatants in the fullest sense of the word,” said Bligh. “We take the same oaths, share the same risks, and commit to the same mission as our fellow service members.”

“We are not just attorneys and paralegals who happen to wear the uniform. Rather, we are officers and enlisted men and women in the naval service, who serve with and for our fellow warriors. That reality requires us to carry ourselves not just as legal experts, but as warfighters.”

For more information about Bligh, please visit his biography at https://www.jag.navy.mil/about/leadership/jag/.

For more information about the Navy JAG Corps, visit www.jag.navy.mil and follow the organization on Facebook (@navyjag), Instagram (@usnavyjagcorps), LinkedIn (@us-navy-jag- corps), and YouTube (@NavyJAGCorps).