ATI's Scott Beeson Awarded Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal
Honored for His Assistance during Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico
CHARLESTON, S.C., May 26, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Advanced Technology International (ATI), an SCRA affiliate, announced today that Captain Scott Beeson, an SCRA/ATI employee and Coast Guard Reservist, was recently awarded the Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal for his role in assisting Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen during last summer's Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Captain Beeson was cited for meritorious service as the National Incident Command's Chief of Staff during May and June 2010.
Under extraordinarily challenging, high pressure circumstances, Captain Beeson built from scratch the first ever National Incident Command, a 200 person organization focused on addressing the information management, strategic communication and interagency coordination at the national and international level. Working in concert with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Captain Beeson coordinated the reallocation of over 130,000 feet of oil spill containment boom across a five state region in a single day, ensuring environmentally sensitive areas along the Louisiana coast were protected. Captain Beeson was presented the medal by Captain Michael White, the Coast Guard Sector Charleston Commander, at a ceremony on the Coast Guard Base.
Using lessons learned from his participation in Charleston's Project SeaHawk, Captain Beeson created the Interagency Solutions Group to forge a "whole of government" response to time-sensitive, government-wide policy issues. Captain Beeson also established the NIC Strategic Planning Group to address long-term national and international aspects of the incident response, such as the potential Loop Current impacts on Cuba and a Gulf-wide hurricane demobilization and remobilization plan.
The SeaHawk Interagency Operations Center (IOC) in Charleston, SC, brings together stakeholders from federal, state and local, law enforcement, fire, emergency management, transportation safety and the maritime industry, working collaboratively in a daily partnership to ensure South Carolina's ports are safe, secure and open for business. ATI engineers and system architects played a lead role in the development of Project SeaHawk's multi-agency command center. Established Representatives from the participating agencies worked long and hard to bring together their "unique yet complementary" authorities, jurisdictions, capabilities and resources. Chartered by Senator Ernest F. Hollings in 2003, Project SeaHawk served as a pilot project and maritime security testbed for six years, before becoming the Department of Homeland Security's first Interagency Operations Center established under the SafePort Act in October 2009.
Captain Beeson was a member of SeaHawk's executive leadership team from 2003-2010.
"We are extremely proud of Scott and are honored that he joined the ATI team," said SCRA Executive Vice President and ATI President Rick Self.
"This award showcases the talent of our employees and their dedication to our Nation," said SCRA CEO Bill Mahoney. "Scott took a leadership role and applied lessons learned from his participation in Charleston's SCRA-managed Project SeaHawk to focus on communications and interagency coordination to assist in the oil spill clean-up. We congratulate him on this Coast Guard award for meritorious service."
About SCRA
SCRA is a global leader in applied research and commercialization services with its headquarters in South Carolina. SCRA has a dual mission:
- To advance the Knowledge Economy - SCRA affiliate SC Launch is an economic development program that helps early-stage companies to commercialize innovations and create jobs. Learn more at www.sclaunch.org.
- To deliver technology solutions to complex challenges - SCRA affiliate Advanced Technology International (ATI) leads applied research collaborations that develop technologies to improve the mission effectiveness of Federal agencies and the business execution of Corporations. Learn more at www.ati.org.
In support of both missions, SCRA builds and manages research facilities that include wet labs, secure rooms for sensitive work and advanced high-tech manufacturing shops.
SOURCE SCRA
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