Response Prevention Planning Logistics
|
|
Captain Meredith L. Austin, Sector Commander Sector Delaware Bay, United States Coast Guard
CAPT Austin is a 1985 graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Science. In 1994, CDR Austin received a Master of Science in Public Health in Industrial Hygiene from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and in 2007 she received a Master of Arts in Homeland Security from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. She has served at a variety of Coast Guard units including the icebreaker USCGC POLAR SEA, Marine Safety Offices in Louisville, Kentucky and Galveston, Texas, the Eleventh Coast Guard District in Long Beach, California and Training Center Yorktown, Virginia.
In July 2001, she assumed command of the Pacific Strike Team, with responsibilities to respond to oil and hazardous materials discharges for the Coast Guard and the Environmental Protection Agency for the Western United States, Alaska, Hawaii and the Pacific Territories. In June 2004 she assumed command of the National Strike Force (NSF), consisting of the three regional Strike Teams, the Public Information and Assist Team and the National Strike Force Coordination Center. Noteworthy responses include the World Trade Center disaster, The Capitol Anthrax and Ricin incidents, the massive NSF response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, The Shuttle Columbia recovery, and the 2002 Winter Olympics. CAPT Austin is also a Certified Type I Coast Guard Incident Commander and Certified Industrial Hygienist.
In 2007, she was promoted to Captain and became the first Planning and Exercises Division Officer for the newly established United States Deployable Operations Group. In this function, she oversaw the planning for 27 units consisting of 3000 Special Missions personnel conducting global missions and improved the Coast Guards and DHS interagency cooperation with other federal, state and local agencies. She personally made numerous deployments including coordinating the first ever joint DHS, state, local and private sector officials infrastructure protection security operations and the 2008 Republican National Convention.
CAPT Austin’s awards include the CG Meritorious Service Medal (with Operational Device, 3 awards), CG Commendation Medal (with Operational Device, 2 awards), DOT 9-11 Medal, CG Achievement Medal (with Operational Device, 3 awards) Commandant's Letter of Commendation (with Operational Device, 2 awards) and the Marine Safety Designation.
For questions or comments about this web site, please e-mail the Sector Webmaster or call (215) 271-4803
Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF)