Office of Intelligence, Security and Emergency Response

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Biographies

Robert M. Lee, Jr.

Deputy Director
Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response
Office of the Secretary
U.S. Department of Transportation

Mr. Lee was selected as the Deputy Director, Office of Intelligence, Security, and Emergency Response in September 2008 after being the Emergency Response Training and Exercise Program Manager for the U.S. Department of Transportation since 2005. During this period Mr. Lee was the Departmental representative and coordinator for all interagency matters involving emergency response training and exercises. Mr. Lee is a recipient of the Secretary of Transportation’s Gold Medal for operational performance during the Department’s response to hurricane Katrina in 2005.  

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 all four Top Officials (TOPOFF) counterterrorism exercises since 2000 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 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 Red Cross State Chapters in hurricane prone states. 

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 and is a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College, in Norfolk, Virginia. Mr. Lee is a graduate of the U.S. State Department National Security Executive Leadership Seminar. 

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 volunteer as a Disaster Action Team Leader in the American Red Cross Chapter of Alexandria, Virginia. Mr. Lee is married and has two sons, both of whom are Eagle Scouts.