Washington, D.C. - David S. Jonas has been named general counsel for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Jonas, who has been NNSA's acting general counsel since August 2004, joined NNSA as deputy general counsel in September 2001.

"Dave's expertise and distinguished legal and military portfolio has been a great asset for NNSA," said NNSA Administrator Linton F. Brooks. "He has served his country well and I am pleased he will continue to apply his talents to addressing the complex legal issues facing NNSA."

Prior to joining NNSA, Jonas served at the Pentagon as the nuclear nonproliferation planner for the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997-2001. There he negotiated numerous international agreements and worked extensively with the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Conference on Disarmament. For his service on the Joint Staff, he received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.

His service in the U.S. Marine Corps included a wide variety of command and staff billets. He served as a prosecutor and defense counsel, supervisory defense counsel, legislative counsel, supervisory appellate defense counsel, and served as the Staff Judge Advocate of the 3d Marine Division in Okinawa and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (afloat). He also commanded Headquarters Company, 5th Marine Regiment and Support Company, Headquarters and Service Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, San Diego. As counsel of record in the case of Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452 (1994), he became the first active duty judge advocate in the history of the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps to argue a case at the U.S. Supreme Court. He received the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces Award for Excellence in Legal Writing in 1992 and was selected by the Judge Advocates Association as the Outstanding Career Judge Advocate for the Marine Corps in 2000. He concluded his military service as a lieutenant colonel in 2001.

Jonas has a B.A. in Political Science from Denison University in Granville, OH, a J.D. from the Wake Forest University School of Law in Winston-Salem, NC and a LL.M. in military law (with criminal law focus) from the Judge Advocate General's School, U.S. Army, in Charlottesville, VA. He will receive an LL.M. in International and Comparative Law (with national security law focus) from Georgetown University Law Center in May 2005.

Established by Congress in 2000, NNSA is a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Energy responsible for maintaining and enhancing the safety, security, reliability and performance of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile without nuclear testing; working to reduce global danger from weapons of mass destruction; providing the U.S. Navy with safe and effective nuclear propulsion; and responding to nuclear and radiological emergencies in the U.S. and abroad.

Media contact(s):
Bryan Wilkes (202) 586-7371

Number: NA-05-09