DHS Names Maritime Security Advisory Committee Members

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security today announced the appointment of the following individuals to serve on the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee. "On behalf of Secretary Ridge, I am delighted to welcome these advisors to our team," said Admiral Thomas H. Collins, commandant of the Coast Guard. "We look forward to working with the Committee to continue strengthening our efforts to protect our ports and waterways while keeping them open for commerce."

The advisory committee has been established to provide advice to the Department of Homeland Security via the U.S. Coast Guard on matters such as national maritime security strategy and policy, actions required to meet current and future security threats, international cooperation on security issues, and security concerns of the maritime transportation industry as mandated by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002.

Members of the committee are:

Christopher Louis Koch, president & CEO, World Shipping Council

Joseph H. Langjahr, vice president and general counsel, Foss Maritime Company

Thomas E. Thompson, executive vice president, International Council of Cruise Lines

John C. Dragone, vice president, operating division, Maritrans Operating Company, L.P.

Mary Frances Culnane, manager, San Francisco Bay Area Water Transit Authority

Basil Maher, president and chief operating officer, Maher Terminals

Charles Raymond, chairman, president, and CEO, Horizon Lines

Alice K. Johnson, senior supervisor, PPG Industries, Inc.

Timothy J. Scott, global director, emergency services and security, The Dow Chemical Company

Mark Witten, senior regulatory advisor, Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Business Unit, ChevronTexaco

Robert R. Merhige, III, deputy executive director, Virginia Port Authority

Jeffery Wayne Monroe, director of ports and transportation, Portland, Maine

Lisa Himber, vice president, Maritime Exchange for the Delaware River And Bay

Wade M. Battles, managing director, Port of Houston Authority

John Hyde, security and compliance director, Maersk Sealand Inc.

William Eglinton, director of training, Seafarers International Union of North America, AFL CIO

James Stolpinski, president, Local 920, International Longshoremen’s Association

David Halstead, chief, Florida Domestic Security Preparedness, Florida Department of Law Enforcement

Theodore Louis Mar, chief, marine safety branch, California Department of Fish and Game

Victor Zaloom, professor and chair of industrial engineering and director, engineering graduate programs and Center for Ports and Waterways, Lamar University