Contact Us
Office of Intelligence, Security and Emergency Response (S-60)
Office of the Secretary of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, SE
Washington DC 22201
Phone:
(202) 366-6525
Meet Our Staff
- Michael W. Lowder, Director
- Robert Lee, Deputy Director
- Lawrence W. Hopkins, Associate Director for Intelligence
- Vincent Pierce, Associate Director for Plans and Policy
- Charles Benard, Program Director for National Security Programs
- Janet Benini, Associate Director for International Preparedness Programs
- Jennifer Roberson, Program Manager for Training and Exercises
- Wiliam Stuckey, Manager of the Crisis Management Center
- Jeremy Greenberg, Program Manager for National Response Programs
- Thomas A. Sachs, Associate Director for Business Services and Administration
Main Contact Information
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Office |
Contact |
|---|---|
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Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response |
202-366-6525 |
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Crisis Management Center |
202-366-1863 |
IMMEDIATE OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
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Name and Email |
Title |
Office Number |
|---|---|---|
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Director |
202-366-6530 |
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Deputy Director |
202-366-3058 |
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Associate Director for Business Services and Administration |
202-366-4539 |
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Administrative Officer |
202-366-0216 |
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Staff Assistant |
202-366-6525 |
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POLICY and PLANS DIVISION
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Name |
Title |
Office Number |
|---|---|---|
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Associate Director for Policy and Plans |
202-366-3579 |
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Deputy Associate Director for Policy and Plans |
202-366-6945 |
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Policy Program Analyst |
202-366-2836 |
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| Borkar, Gitanjali | Policy Analyst | 202-366-4616 |
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Senior Public Health Advisor |
202-366-0533 |
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Policy and Plans Senior Analyst |
202-366-8113 |
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Interagency Fellow, U.S. Army |
202-366-0895 |
OPERATIONS DIVISION
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Name |
Title |
Office Number |
|---|---|---|
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202-366-1863 |
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National Response Program Manager |
202-366-3037 |
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Deputy National Response Program Manager |
202-366-0642 |
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National Response Operations Planner |
202-366-0737 |
PREPAREDNESS DIVISION
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Name |
Title |
Office Number |
|---|---|---|
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National Security Program Manager |
202-366-0441 |
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Deputy National Security Program Manger |
202-366-4367 |
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| Marerro, Carlos | National Security Programs | 202-366-0513 |
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Associate Director for International Preparedness Programs |
202-366-4550 |
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Senior Advisor & International Programs |
202-366-4397 |
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| Brown, Gregory | International Preparedness Programs | 202-366-1622 |
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Training and Exercise Program Manager |
202-366-0216 |
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Deputy Training and Exercise Program Manager |
202-366-9003 |
PROTECTIVE SERVICE DIVISION
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Name |
Title |
Office Number |
|---|---|---|
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Special Agent In-charge |
202-366-6413 |
Michael W. Lowder
Director
Michael W. Lowder serves as the Director of the Office of Intelligence, Security, & Emergency Response (S-60) for the U.S. Department of Transportation. A member of the Senior Executive Service, Mr. Lowder is the Department’s Emergency Coordinator providing leadership for all departmental civil transportation intelligence issues, security policy, and emergency preparedness, response, and recovery activities related to emergencies that affect the viability of the transportation sector.
Prior to this Mr. Lowder served as the Deputy Director of the Response Division for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Washington, D.C. where he was responsible for policies, and procedures and for response operations in major disasters and emergency incidents, and other Incidents of National Significance. Mr. Lowder has been designated and served as both a Principal Federal Official (PFO) and a Federal Coordinating Officer (FCO).
Mr. Lowder has served as the Response and Recovery Division Director for FEMA’s Region IX, in San Francisco, California. Mr. Lowder was a member of FEMA’s National Emergency Response Team (ERT-N), and the Domestic Emergency Response Team (DEST), and has worked on numerous disaster and emergency operations throughout the United States.
Background
Prior to his work with FEMA, Mr. Lowder has more than 25 years of experience in the law enforcement, fire, and emergency services field in the State of North Carolina as a Special Agent with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and as the Director of Emergency Services with Bladen County, North Carolina.
Mr. Lowder has represented the U.S government at conferences in Russia, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and Turkey, as well as throughout the United States. He represented the U.S. at a NATO-RUSSIA counter terrorism exercise in Kaliningrad, Russia. He serves on the Executive Board on the FBI’s National Joint Terrorism Task Force (NJTTF) as well as representing the Department on National Security Council (NSC) and Homeland Security Council (HSC) policy committees and advisory groups.
Robert Lee
Deputy Director
Mr. Lee is a member of the Senior Executive Service and has been the Deputy Director, for the Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response since September 2008. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Lee was the Department Emergency Response Training and Exercise Program Manager. He has also served as Acting Director of the Office of Security for seven months.
Mr. Lee came to the U.S. Department of Transportation from a 17-year career in private industry where he was the Senior Vice President of Community Research Associates (CRA), a leading professional services company that provided exercise and training support to a wide range of Federal, State, and local government customers. Mr. Lee has been involved as a planner in counterterrorism exercises since 1996 and managed hundreds of counterterrorism/emergency response exercises for Federal, State, and local governments.
As a contractor for the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Mr. Lee conducted over 35 emergency response exercises at United States Embassies and U.S. Consulates overseas. Additionally, Mr. Lee worked for three years as a contractor in direct support of the American Red Cross National Disaster Operations Division providing hurricane response training and exercises to American Red Cross State Chapters in hurricane prone states and areas.
Background
Prior to joining private industry as a training and exercise expert, Mr. Lee served as a professional military officer in the United States Army. His worldwide assignments included tours of duty in South Vietnam and Germany serving in a variety of Command and Staff positions within Infantry and Assault Helicopter units. Mr. Lee spent the last six years of his 22 year military career in the Pentagon serving on the Army and Secretary of Defense Staff. Mr. Lee ended his military service in 1988 as a Regular Army Lieutenant Colonel.
Mr. Lee is a graduate of Paris American High School, Paris France, and holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mr. Lee also earned an M.A. degree in Management from Central Michigan University. Additionally he is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College, in Norfolk, Virginia; the U.S. State Department National Security Executive Leadership Seminar; and the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education for Leadership in Crisis.
Mr. Lee is a recipient of two U.S. Secretary of Transportation Gold Medals for exceptional operational performance (one for the Department’s response to hurricane Katrina and Rita in 2005: and one for the Department response to hurricane Irene in 2011); the Secretary’s Valor Award in 2008; and the U.S. Department of Transportation Silver Medal for Outstanding performance and exemplary leadership in 2008. On a personal level, Mr. Lee is an active member of his community and has served as a board member on several local associations. This includes being an Assistant Scout Master/Committee Board Chairman for a Boy Scouts of America Troop and a former Disaster Action Team Leader volunteer in the American Red Cross Chapter of Alexandria, Virginia. Mr. Lee is married and has two sons, both of whom are Eagle Scouts.
Lawrence W. Hopkins
Associate Director for Intelligence
In August 2002, Mr. Lawrence V. Hopkins assumed duties as Associate Director for Intelligence, Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation.
Background
Mr. Hopkins, a native of Philadelphia, PA, enlisted in the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1967. For the first 13 years of his Air Force career, he served in a variety of law enforcement and security positions, in the U.S., and overseas. He received a commission as Second Lieutenant in 1980 from the Officer Training School, Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. Following his commission, he attended the Air Force Officer Intelligence Course, graduated from the 16-week course, and was then assigned as an intelligence officer. Following a successful 34-year career in the United States Air Force, Mr. Hopkins was retired from active duty in the USAF as a Lieutenant Colonel on August 1, 2001.
Vincent Pearce
Associate Director for Policy and Plans
Vincent Pearce works in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, leading the development of Departmental policy and Departmental participation in interagency policy development related to intelligence, security, and emergency response. He previously led DOT’s activities in federal disaster response, including managing Emergency Support Function 1 – Transportation, under the National Response Framework. In 2005, this included transportation for the evacuation of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. In 2010-2011 he served as the Department’s first surface transportation advisor at the US Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Background
He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from NC State, an MBA from Harvard, and over 35 years of professional experience in the field of transportation. Before entering the civil service, he spent 24 years in the private sector, where he led business units at Honeywell and Booz-Allen Hamilton. He has managed numerous domestic transportation systems projects and programs and has worked extensively overseas. He serves as a DOT liaison to the National Academy of Sciences’ Transportation Research Board’s highway s security panel and was a charter member of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Special Committee on Transportation Security and Emergency Management. He previously chaired the Institute of Transportation Engineers Committee on Homeland Security and Evacuation and served as a US delegate to the International Standards Organization. He has spoken extensively, and authored numerous articles on transportation security and disaster management.
Charles Benard
Program Manager for National Security Programs
Charles Benard is the Manager, Continuity Programs, Office of Intelligence, Security and Emergency Response. Mr. Benard was born in Germany to a military family and attended International and Defense Department schools before graduating from Munich American High School. He attended the University of Munich and received his Masters Degree in Political Science (European equivalent) from the University of Vienna. He is fluent in German.
Background
He began his professional career as the Director of Civil Rights for a Department of Defense agency before joining the Department of Transportation in a similar capacity. He later was the Assistant Manager for National Security Programs before transferring to the Federal Aviation Administration as the Continuity Program Manager. He is currently the Program Manager for National Continuity Programs for the Department.
He is married to Col. Elizabeth Austin-Benard, USMC and they reside in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Janet Benini
Associate Director for International Preparedness Programs
Janet Benini leads the Department of Transportation’s work in the Transportation International Crisis Preparedness area. Her Division coordinates the Department’s activities NATO’s Civil Emergency Preparedness Programs, the Disaster Assistance Working Group of the US/China Transportation Forum, and transportation disaster preparedness under the Asia/Pacific Economic Cooperation initiative, the US/Canada Transportation Civil Emergency Preparedness Committee and others. She also manages the DOT efforts under the State Department’s Civilian Response Corps program.
Ms. Benini is a career emergency manager, who joined DOT in 1998 as the Deputy Director of the Office of Emergency Transportation. From 2003 – 2005, she served at the White House Homeland Security Council as the Director of Response and Plans. She was the lead for the team that developed the Homeland Security Scenarios, and the White House lead for the National Response Plan.
She received a Hammer Award for Reinventing Government from the Vice President for her work in preparing for Y2K, a Special Commendation medal from the Transportation Secretary for her work following the attacks of 9/11, and together with other colleagues from S60, a Secretarial Gold Medal for the response to Hurricane Katrina. She recently was awarded a Secretarial Silver Medal for her work with China’s Ministry of Transport.
Ms. Benini is a part-time college professor, on emergency management topics, at Georgetown University Public Policy Institute and George Washington University.
She is married to Aldo Benini, an international humanitarian and researcher. She has two daughters and four grandchildren.
Jennifer Roberson
Program Manager for Training and Exercises
Jennifer Roberson is the Training and Exercise Manager within the Office of Intelligence, Security and Emergency Response, representing and coordinating the Departments participation in all interagency matters involving emergency response training and exercises. She has over ten years of exercise experience at the local and federal levels, as well as in the private sector. She helped to lay the foundation for what would become the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) with her work on the Nunn-Lugar-Domenici Domestic Preparedness Program. Upon her arrival at the Department of Homeland Security in March 2003, she became part of the team responsible for developing the core doctrine of HSEEP, as well as for working with States and Territories to develop State Homeland Security Training and Exercise Plans.
Background
Additionally, she was responsible for oversight of the State Exercise Support Program, working with states and territories to identify ways in which DHS could assist in exercise planning and conduct through temporary provision of contract personnel. Further, Ms. Roberson was involved in planning for Senior- and National-level exercises. Following her five years at the National Exercise Division, Ms. Roberson spent two years at the United States Fire Administration, serving as the Continuity of Operations lead, the Administrator's representative to interagency wild land fire organizations, and USFA's representative to FEMA's Policy Working Group.
Ms. Roberson holds a degree in Justice from American University, and is a life member of the Glen Echo Volunteer Fire Department in Montgomery County, Maryland. She resides in Loudoun County, VA and is a native Floridian who loves living where there are four seasons.
William Stuckey
Manager for the Crisis Management Center
William “Bill” Stuckey is the Manager of the Department of Transportation’s Crisis Management Center. The Crisis Management Center resides under the DOT Office of Intelligence, Security and Emergency response (S-60) and is the primary operations center for the Secretary of Transportation. He has held this position since March 2008.
From March 2003 to March 2008, Mr. Stuckey served in the Department of Homeland Security as a Senior Watch Officer in the Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC), served as a member of the DHS Headquarters Operational Integration Staff (I-Staff), was a founding member of the DHS Incident Management Division, and served as the Exercise Director for the Office of Operations Coordination.
From December 2001 to March 2003, Mr. Stuckey served in the White House Office of Homeland Security. He was a founding member of the Office of Homeland Security Coordination Center, and served as communications aide/military aide to Governor Tom Ridge, the Advisor to the President for Homeland Security.
Mr. Stuckey is retired from 26 years active duty in the United States Coast Guard. He entered boot camp at Cape May, New Jersey, in 1978 and, having spent most of his career in operations both ashore and afloat, retired as a Lieutenant in 2004.
Mr. Stuckey is married to Miriam Santaliz, of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He and his wife have two children. Christopher is a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and is living in Maine, and his daughter Alexandra is a freshman in college. Mr. Stuckey was born in Lexington, Nebraska, and presently resides in Bowie, Maryland.
Jeremy Greenberg
Program Manager for National Response Program
Mr. Jeremy Greenberg serves as the Manager for the Department of Transportation’s National Response Program. In this capacity he is responsible for coordinating Emergency Support Function #1 – Transportation activities, and the Regional Emergency Transportation Program. Prior leading the National Response Program Mr. Greenberg was the Deputy Manager for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Crisis Management Center.
Mr. Greenberg came to the Department of Transportation from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, where he was the Operations Branch Chief with the National Exercise Division. He was responsible for overseeing the design, development and conduct of exercises at the Federal, State and local levels including several National Level and International Exercises. Before joining the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Mr. Greenberg served as a Legislative Assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives and as a Program Assistant for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Mr. Greenberg holds a BA from American University and MA from the College of International Security Affairs at The National Defense University and is also a volunteer firefighter, emergency medical technician and adjunct instructor with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department in Fairfax, Virginia.
Thomas A. Sachs
Associate Director for Business and Administration
Tom Sachs is the Associate Director for Business Services and Administration in the Office of the Secretary, Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response. The responsibilities of Business Services and Administration include Strategic Planning, Financial Management, Travel Management, Human Resources Processing, Equipment Inventory, Records Management and Administrative Support for the Office of Intelligence Security and Emergency Response. Tom is also responsible for all disaster response financial issues under Emergency Support Function-1, Transportation, as identified by the National Response Framework.
Tom began work in disaster management in November 2001 on a detail as an operations officer at the DOT Crisis Management Center. He was responsible for monitoring the status of the nation’s transportation systems, analyzing information, preparing reports, and conducting briefings. Following the detail, Tom became Program Manager for Business Services and Administration in July 2002.
Work in disaster management followed a 25-year career auditing government programs. Tom started at the Department of Transportation, with the Office of Inspector General in May 1992. He was a program manager responsible for evaluations of highway and transit projects, including audits of the $750 million Springfield Interchange highway project and the $600 million South Boston Transitway. Prior to becoming a program manager, Tom was responsible for audits of DOT programs, FAA major system acquisitions, and FAA operations. Tom came to DOT after 7 years as a staff auditor with the California’s Auditor General’s Office, the State of California’s equivalent to the US Government Accountability Office. He audited numerous state operations including the Department of Corrections, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Bureau of Automotive Repair and the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). During the audit at USCB, Tom identified fraudulent invoices that resulted in the arrest and conviction of the Chancellor and other USCB employees and several contractors. From 1982 to 1995, Tom was an auditor with the US Department of Agriculture, Office of Inspector General San Francisco Regional Office where he conducted evaluations of nationwide farm programs. From 1976 to 1982, Tom evaluated government program operations, first as an evaluator with the US Government Accountability Office in Washington, DC, its regional office in Detroit, Michigan, and its Washington Regional Office. While at with the US Government Accountability Office, Tom conducted audits covering a variety of subjects including the justification for 20 year military retirements, the government role in resolving auto repair complaints and the effectiveness of US Customs operations.
Tom’s bachelor’s degree is in Political Science from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his Masters in Management is from the Central Michigan University.
Updated: Thursday, February 21, 2013