Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection Robert B. Stephan

Colonel Bob Stephan was appointed to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Infrastructure Protection in April 2005. In this capacity, he is responsible for the Department’s efforts to catalog our critical infrastructures and key resources and coordinate risk-based strategies and protective measures to secure them from terrorist attack.

His prior experience as Senior Director for Critical Infrastructure Protection in the Executive Office of the President (EOP), makes him a well qualified choice for the Assistant Secretary position. During his tenure with EOP, his duties included developing and coordinating interagency policy and strategic initiatives to protect the United States against terrorist attack across 13 critical infrastructure sectors.

Previous to his new position within IP, Colonel Stephan served as Special Assistant to the Secretary and Director of the Secretary’s Headquarters Operational Integration Staff. In this capacity, he was responsible for wide range of activities that included headquarters-level planning in the areas of strategic and operational planning, core mission integration, domestic incident management, training and exercises. He also directed the Interagency Incident Management Group, integrating Department and interagency capabilities in response to domestic threats and incidents.

Colonel Stephan held a variety of key operational and command positions in the joint special operations community during a 24-year Air Force career. During Operation Desert Storm, he deployed to Saudi Arabia as a joint battlestaff planner and mission commander supporting Joint Special Operations Task Force strategic interdiction operations in Iraq. As a commander of two Air Force Special Tactics Squadrons, Colonel Stephan organized, trained, and equipped forces for contingency operations in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Croatia, Liberia, Colombia, and Kosovo.

Colonel Stephan is a distinguished graduate of the USAF Academy, and holds a Bachelors Degree in Political Science. He is an Olmsted Scholar, and has earned Masters Degrees in International Relations from the University of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and The Johns Hopkins University.