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The Port of Baltimore
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July/August 201 2
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C
apt. Mark O’Malley has retired
af ter three years as the
Commander of U.S. Coast Guard
Sector Baltimore and is being
succeeded by Capt. Kevin Kiefer.
“The Port of Baltimore has been extremely
fortunate to have someone of the caliber of
Capt. O’Malley as commander of Sector
Baltimore,” said Maryland Port Administration
(MPA) Executive Director James J. White.
“We have made significant progress in Port
security in the last few years, and much of
that is due to Capt. O’Malley and his team.
We wish Capt. O’Malley the very best and
look forward to working with Capt. Kiefer.”
Kiefer is excited to be serving in such
a time-honored port. “It’s such a diverse
port, and so rich in history,” he said, adding
that he’s been reading books about the Port’s
past. “I like its history—and I like crab cakes!”
Kiefer was offered other assignments, but
he chose Baltimore because he was intrigued
by its mix of container, bulk and cruise ships,
plus historic landmarks such as Fort McHenry,
and its strong maritime tradition.
“I’m humbled to be able to work with
such an outstanding community,” he said.
“I think partnerships and communications
are two things that I look forward to
continuing and enhancing.”
Kiefer most recently served as Chief
of the Office of Port & Facility Compliance
in Washington, D.C., taking responsibility
for policies that safeguard the nation’s 361
helicopters were among the cargo filling 32
military command ships. “Wars can be won
or lost by their logistical supply chain.”
In 2010, the oil rig
Deepwater Horizon
lost five million barrels of oil in the Gulf of
Mexico. It was declared a spill of national
significance; the first time the national plan
for such an emergency was put into use.
In addition to his regular job, Kiefer was a
Staff Director in Washington, responsible
for gathering accurate information from
the Gulf that ultimately would be delivered
to the White House. “We call it ‘the lost
summer’ because we worked seven days a
week,” he said. “I went in thinking I would
do a three-week hitch and it would be
over — I spent probably five months doing
that and still keeping tabs on my old job.”
He worked with an interagency team
of scientists seeking the best way to stop
the oil gushing into the Gulf. “BP tried to
cap the well, but everything they did, we
oversaw it; everything they did they had to
run by us,” he said.
Earlier in his career, Kiefer, who grew up
in Cincinnati, Ohio, served as Commanding
Officer of the Port of Huntington, W.Va.,
the largest inland port in the country by
tonnage; that cargo includes coal loaded
from trains onto barges and often exported
through the Port of Baltimore.
Kiefer, who holds two master’s degrees
in engineering from the University of
Michigan, one in naval architecture and
marine engineering and the other in
manufacturing, chose the Coast Guard
Academy for college. “I was interested
in the military services, but the more
peacetime mission of the Coast Guard
Capt. O’Malley Retires as
Baltimore’s Sector Commander
Coast Guard’s
Kiefer Takes The Helm
Capt. Kevin Kiefer
Capt. Mark O’Malley
newsmakers
Kiefer was offered other assignments, but he
chose Baltimore because he was intrigued by
its mix of container, bulk and cruise ships.
BY NANCY MENEFEE JACKSON
seaports. A specialist in marine safety and
security, he focuses on issues such as port
recovery capability. His planning skills were
put to the test shortly after September 11,
2001 when he was stationed as the Chief
of the Port Management Department in
Corpus Christi, Texas, where one of the
nation’s largest military outload operations
took place, sending the equipment for the
4th Infantry division to Iraq.
“It was a huge military move,” he
recalled, noting that tanks, Humvees and
appealed to me,” he said.
Kiefer, who enjoys running and biking,
is married to wife Jennifer. His oldest
daughter Kristen, 21, attends the University
of Dayton, while 8-year-old son Brandon
and 5-year-old daughter Alaina keep him
busy with soccer and baseball.
The family got its first taste of Baltimore
earlier this summer when visiting the Inner
Harbor to see the Coast Guard’s
Eagle
, a
visiting, 295-foot sailing vessel,. They look
forward to more Maryland adventures.
