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.