Gary Seffel

Staff Director, National Maritime Domain Awareness Coordination Office

Gary Seffel, Staff Director

Mr. Seffel became Director of the National Maritime Domain Awareness Coordination Office (NMCO) on October 1, 2008.

Mr. Seffel helped stand up NMCO in August 2007 as its Deputy Director and its senior representative from the Department of Homeland Security and the US Coast Guard. He has been involved with Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) issues since his recall to active duty as a Navy Captain on the Fleet Forces Command Information, Plans and Strategy staff during 2002 and 2003.

Following his tour with Fleet Forces Command, he joined the Coast Guard leadership effort in improving MDA at the national level. He was a key contributor to the National Concept of Operations for MDA and a leader in the development and co-author of the ground breaking Interagency Investment Strategy for MDA. These documents were developed within the interagency and provide funding recommendations to improve MDA across several departments within the federal government and were produced in response to National Security Council and Homeland Security Council tasking.

Prior to his work with MDA, Mr. Seffel held a variety of leadership positions in the information technology industry as a project and business development manager within the defense and government markets with domestic as well as international clients. Immediately following his active service in the US Navy he worked in the banking and finance industry in New York and Washington, DC.

Commissioned as a US Navy Ensign via the Navy ROTC program, he was designated a Naval Flight Officer in 1979. He served on active duty in several assignments until 1986 when he joined the Navy Reserve. He has over 2000 hours as a mission commander in the E-2C early warning command and control aircraft in a variety of operations and environments and currently serves as a Chief Inspector, Explosives Safety Inspection for the Naval Ordinance Safety and Security Activity in his Reserve capacity.

Mr. Seffel is a native of New Braunfels, Texas. He holds a Bachelors degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University, Master in Business Administration from the University of Rochester, Simon School and Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

This page was last updated on July 8, 2010.