Mr. Kenneth Lukins has 30 years of experience in crisis management, emergency response operations, law enforcement and drug intervention, security and anti-terrorism in maritime operations in the U.S. and around the world. Lukins is a trained response crisis and consequence manager for oil and hazardous materials spills and in seaport and maritime security operations.
Lukins served in the U.S. Coast Guard for nearly 20 years, retiring as a Chief, Marine Science Technician. During this tenure, he served as senior instructor for the Coast Guard’s Gulf Strike Team and developed the National Strike Force’s protocol for responding to terrorist incidents.
Lukins also developed and implemented the Oil Spill Removal Organization (OSRO) verification program for the National Strike Force to ensure that all U.S. ports were adequately covered for oil and chemical response. During his service, he formed CATHO (Customs Assist Team, Houston), an internal Coast Guard team that worked jointly with the U.S. Customs, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and local law enforcement agencies in drug interdiction and anti-smuggling efforts in and around the Port of Houston, Texas. Lukins’ team’s assignments included “Operation Checkmate,” a multi-agency drug interdiction effort throughout the Caribbean which also conducted VIP protection for dignitaries including then-Vice President Bush.
As a collateral assignment, Lukins became a founding member of the U.S. Department of Defense/Department of Justice Inter-Agency Board (IAB), a position he retains today as a subject matter expert. Lukins authored the IAB’s Standardized Equipment List for Response to Chemical Incidents, a document in use today by all levels of emergency responders throughout the U.S. for response to terrorism and chemical incidents. Lukins has extensive experience in all phases of emergency and remedial response. He has lectured extensively within industrial and college settings on emergency response, disaster mitigation, security and terrorism worldwide, and in the past few years, has been a guest lecturer at the University of Houston, Clear Lake campus on terrorism.
Lukins is also a member of the Energy Security Council and ASIS, and during his assignment to Houston through the mid-1980s, was a member of the Texas Narcotic Officers Association (TNOA). During his assignment to the Marine Safety Office in Juneau, Alaska (1992-1996) he served as President of the Chief Petty Officers’ Association (Juneau chapter) and as President of the Board of Directors for United Way, Southeast Alaska. Lukins is the recipient of numerous recognitions and awards, including 3 Commandant Medals, 2 Meritorious Achievements, and Humanitarian Award from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Sikorsky Life Saving Award.