Edward Hecker

Edward Hecker serves as a senior policy advisor to the director of civil works, director of IWR and the director of contingency operations for the Headquarters, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). He is responsible for providing advice and policy support to USACE leadership in the development, coordination and facilitation of strategic initiatives including civil works transformation, USACE infrastructure strategy, emergency management, flood risk management and related water resources missions and activities.  

In his previous assignment as director of contingency operations and homeland security for the Corps, he was responsible for providing leadership in the coordination and facilitation of USACE Homeland Security missions in support of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Army, and the Department of Defense. Program manager for all USACE efforts to assist federal, state, and local emergency management and emergency response organizations with mitigation, planning, training, and exercises necessary to build and sustain capabilities to provide protection from and respond to any emergency or disaster, including a terrorist incident involving weapons of mass destruction as well as other natural or manmade hazards. Responsibilities also include leadership of the Corps’ Homeland Security and emergency management community of practice and protection of the Corps critical water resources infrastructure  

Hecker began his governmental career in the Corps Baltimore District office (Civil Project Management), and transferred to the headquarters, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, DC, before moving to San Francisco, California. In San Francisco, he was the chief, Emergency Management for the South Pacific Division, which encompassed California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and portions of Idaho, Colorado, and Wyoming. He was the program manager for the Corps response to the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.  

In October 1991, Hecker returned to Washington, DC to assume the position of the chief, Readiness Branch of the Operations, Construction and Readiness Division, having responsibility for overall management of the Corps disaster preparedness and response missions. Ed and his wife Sylvia reside in Severn, Maryland. He has a bachelor's from the John Hopkins University and has earned national recognition and awards for his performance and leadership during the Corps’ response to major disasters, including Tropical Storm Agnes (1972), Hurricane Hugo/Loma Prieta Earthquake (1989), Hurricane Andrew (1992), the Midwest Floods (1993), Terrorist Attacks on Sept 11th (2001), and Hurricane Katrina (2005).