Major General Tony L. Corwin, the former Legislative Assistant to the Commandant and Director of Legislative Affairs for the United States Marine Corps (USMC), will join the firm as a principal on Wednesday, December 1, 2004. General Corwin, who brings three decades of military experience to the firm, will be based in Blank Rome's Washington, D.C. office. General Corwin has spent the last seven years working with the United States Congress as the liaison for the USMC, working directly with both House and Senate budget authorizers and appropriators. Prior to his work on Capitol Hill, General Corwin served as the Commanding Officer for the 8th Marine Regiment at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. General Corwin also spent three years in the Pentagon as Deputy Executive Secretary for the Secretary of Defense, under Secretaries Richard B. Cheney, Les Aspin and William J. Perry. In this role, he was responsible for the daily coordination of all action items for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense. Prior to his service in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill, General Corwin spent the previous twenty years as an infantry officer in the Corps. After graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Education from East Central University in Oklahoma, General Corwin attended The Basic School in Quantico, Virginia. Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant through the Platoon Leaders Course (PLC) program in 1973, General Corwin has served at bases throughout the US and abroad in a variety of roles. Additionally, he is a graduate of Amphibious Warfare School, Command and Staff College, and The National War College. In 1988, General Corwin joined the 2d Battalion, 8th Marines and subsequently was assigned as the Commanding Officer of the battalion. In this capacity, he deployed the Battalion as the ground combat element for the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Special Operations Capable (SOC), a major operations force in Northern Iraq during the first Gulf War. The addition of General Corwin to the Blank Rome Government Relations LLC will add additional policy understanding and industry know-how for the firm's defense and national security industry clients. His hiring adds to the momentum of Blank Rome's fast-growing government relations practice, which began in May 2003 following the merger of Blank Rome LLP and Dyer Ellis & Joseph LLP, two law firms with established histories of government affairs expertise. Since then, the firm has grown briskly, attracting clients from a variety of industries.