Rear Admiral James A. Watson Named as BSEE Director

US Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today named Rear Admiral James A. Watson IV as the Director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). BSEE was one of the two agencies to succeed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) on 1st October 2011. Admiral Watson will begin as BSEE Director on 1st December 2011, and will succeed Michael R. Bromwich. 

In naming Admiral Watson, Secretary Salazar praised outgoing director Bromwich, who was brought into the department in June 2010 to serve as director of the then-BOEMRE and to oversee the fundamental restructuring of the agency. Director Bromwich led regulatory and institutional reforms that have significantly strengthened oversight and regulation of offshore oil and gas development. Bromwich will stay on through the month of December as a Counselor to the Secretary to ensure a smooth transition of leadership. He will leave the Department at the end of December.

 

Admiral Watson is currently the US Coast Guard's Director of Prevention Policy for Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship in Washington, D.C. He served as the Deputy Commander of the Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command in April 2010, and on 1^st June 2010, was designated as the Federal On-Scene Coordinator for the all-of-government response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Prior to serving at Atlantic Area Command, Rear Admiral Watson was promoted to Rear Admiral in 2007 as the Director of Prevention Policy for Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship, where he was responsible for Waterways Management, Boating Safety, Commercial Vessel Safety and Security, Ports and Cargo Safety and Security, Maritime Investigations, and Quality Traveling Inspectors.