KIM E. PETERSEN

MARITIME SECURITY EXPERT WITNESS

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KIM'S PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

CNN International described Kim E. Petersen as, “one of the leading transportation security and counterterrorism experts in the world”.  He has over 40 years of combined experience in maritime security, special operations, national security, and intelligence operations.  He is the founder of such companies as SeaSecure and the Mobius Security Group, and is frequently seen on network news programs as an expert on maritime security and counterterrorism.  He has worked for President George H.W. Bush and former Secretaries of State Henry A. Kissinger and Alexander M. Haig, and has held senior staff positions at the US Senate and US Department of Defense. He served as a Captain in the US Army (Reserve) with the 11th Special Forces Group (Airborne) until retiring as a service-disabled veteran.

Education

  •  University of Oxford, Said Graduate School of Business, DipGB


  •  Harvard Business School, LPR, BNV, OPM


  •  Virginia Commonwealth University, BA, Philosophy


  •  University of Richmond, Military Science, US Army ROTC


Maritime Security Positions

  •  Director of Security: Princess Cruises

  •  Director of Security: Renaissance Cruises

  •  Governor & Executive Director: Martime Security Council

  •  Senior Instructor: US Federal Law Enforcement Training Center - Ship & Seaport

     Security and Antiterrorism Program

  •  Visiting Professor: United Nations World Maritime University, Malmø, Sweden -

     Maritime Security & Terrorism

  •  Chancellor, Maritime Security Institute

  •  Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy (M&RA)

  •  Senior Advisor on Maritime Security (Florida's 'Port Czar'):  Florida Ports Council,

     Governor's Office, and FSTED

  •  US Army Special Forces: Amphibious Reconnaissance Operations


Professional Appointments


  •  Director  •  Governor Emeritus:  Maritime Security Council


  •  Advisor: US Senate MTSA Legislative Working Group

  •  Member: International Council of Cruise Lines' Executive Security Committee

  •  Chairman:  Passenger Ship Security Committee, Maritime Security Council


  •  Chairman:  1997 International Conference on Cruise Ship Counterterrorism


  •  Member:  Federal Ad Hoc Working Group on Maritime Intelligence and


     Security, US Maritime Administration

  •  Advisor: International Maritime Organization ISPS Code Draft Working Group

  •  Commissioner:  Fairfax County Transportation Safety Commission


  •  Delegate, Council on Foreign Relations: "Adapting Border Controls to Support


      Caribbean Trade & Development," Trinidad, West Indies

  •  Lecturer at the Royal College of Military Science on Terrorism and Maritime


      Security, Shrivenham, England

  •  Member:  Canadian Marine Advisory Council Government Working Group,


      Toronto, Canada

  •  Member:  Steering Committee for International Perspectives on Maritime


      Security, US Dept. of Transportation

  •  Lecturer at HM Security Service (MI-5) on Maritime & Port Security, London

  •  Distinguished Lecturer by the Board of Governors of the Bankers Club




Professional Background

Kim E. Petersen is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on maritime security and counterterrorism and has conducted assessments in over 50 countries, including most of the Middle East.


Mr. Petersen was the founder and CEO of Mobius Security Group and its several specialized subsidiaries—SeaSecure, RailSecure, and EnergySecure.  These subsidiaries became leading security consultants to the maritime, railway, and energy industries, respectively, and allowed the parent organization, Mobius, to offer its clients an array of complementary security solutions.  Mr. Petersen built Mobius Security Group into a premier global security consulting firm, with projects valued in excess of $100 million.  TranSystems purchased Mobius Security Group in February 2007.  Mr. Petersen became a Principal at TranSystems, as well as an advisory member on its Board of Directors and the President of the security line of business.  He retired in 2012.


Following university, Mr. Petersen's career began as a Captain in the US Army's Special Forces, where he specialized in special operations, unconventional warfare, and counterterrorism as a member of the USAR.  He was later recruited to serve on the senior staff of former US Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger from 1978-1980 and again in 1985-1986.   Between this period, Mr. Petersen served as the Director of Security for former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig.  


His government service includes tenure as a federal law enforcement agent and undercover experience in domestic antiterrorism investigations.  He has been an advisor to several federal agencies and served as a senior staff member in both the US Senate and US Defense Department in the areas of national security and intelligence. In 1989, President-elect George H. W. Bush appointed him Chief of Security Operations for the Presidential Transition — reporting directly to the former CIA Director of Security. Mr. Petersen later performed infrastructure security surveys in Kuwait during the first Gulf War prior to the ceasefire.


Princess Cruises recruited him in 1995 as their Director of Global Security to create what was later described as the leading international security and counterterrorism program in the passenger ship industry.  Following this success, he went on to Renaissance Cruises where he developed a similarly successful program.  During this period Mr. Petersen was a member of the ICCL (International Council of Cruise Lines) Executive Security Committee, and was elected a Governor in the Maritime Security Council (an international body that represents almost 70% of the world’s merchant shipping).  Within two years, he was elected the Council’s Executive Director, a position he held for nine years until 2006, when he retired and was appointed Governor Emeritus.


Since the mid-1990s, Mr. Petersen has found time to serve as a senior instructor in maritime counterterrorism at the US Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, as well as a visiting professor at the UN’s World Maritime University in Malmø, Sweden.  For over a decade, he taught maritime terrorism and seaport security to the US Navy, USCG, Army, FBI, foreign law enforcement and intelligence services, and numerous state and local police departments and seaport authorities.  He is currently a lecturer and instructor for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) where he trains foreign, federal, state, and local law enforcement on the acquisition and management of confidential informants.  In recognition of his global work in maritime security, in 1997 Mr. Petersen was given the first and only award by the US Secretary of Transportation and the DoT’s Director of Intelligence and Security for “promoting maritime counterterrorism and raising the standards of transportation security throughout the world.”


Mr. Petersen helped to draft the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) and has testified before the US Senate on critical legislation and counterterrorism issues.  In recognition of his expertise, in 2002 he was appointed to the US Senate Port Security Working Group.


To meet the growing safety and security needs of the seaports and shipping industries, in early 2001 Mr. Petersen created SeaSecure, which became what is believed to be the largest maritime security company in the United States.  Building on the success of SeaSecure, Mr. Petersen founded SeaSecure’s sister and parent organizations, cultivating an impressive domestic and international client base for each company.  All told, Mr. Petersen’s companies performed hundreds of security vulnerability assessments in dozens of countries, with clients that included governments ranging from the US to China, Jordan to Turkey, Djibouti to Haiti, as well as some of the world’s largest seaports, shipping companies, and cruise lines.


Mr. Petersen is a sought after maritime security expert witness and international lecturer whose writings have been published in many periodicals, journals, and books.  He has been featured on numerous news programs, such as CNN, BBC, NPR, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, CBS’s “Sixty Minutes,” and ABC’s “20/20.”



Publications & Resources

Below you will find a partial list of articles written by Kim E. Petersen:

  

  •   Superyacht Magazine-Maritime Security & Private Yachts

  •   World Cruise Review-Threat of Global Terrorism

  •   Intersec Magazine-Maritime Drug Smuggling & Terrorism

  •   Florida Shipper Magazine-Seaport & Container Security

  •   Intersec Magazine-Protecting Ports & Ships

  •   Florida Shipper Magazine-Port Security Technology

  •   Intersec Magazine-Nigerian Piracy

  •   Cargo Security Magazine-Terrorism & Railroad Security

  •   Intersec Magazine-Terrorism and the Maritime Industry

  •   Cargo Security Magazine-Maritime Intel Sharing

  •   US Senate Testimony of Kim Petersen


Articles written about Kim E. Petersen:


  •   Security Magazine-Cover Article on Kim Petersen

  •   Florida Shipper Magazine-SeaSecure & Kim Petersen Profile

  •   Inter-American Dialogue-Interview Kim Petersen re. al-Qa'ida


"Maritime Security Expert Witness" "Cruise Ship Security Expert Witness"

"Cruise Ship Security Expert Witness"  "Maritime Security Expert Witness"

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