Expertise
Intelligence analysis, intelligence/information sharing, maritime domain awareness, state & local fusion centers
Research Interests
The role of intelligence in the incident command system. Maritime operational intelligence in counter/anti terrorism operations.
Education
US Naval Academy, BS, 1986
Naval War College, 1991
Univ. of Maryland-College Park, MPP, 1993
US Sports Academy, MSS, 2004
Biosketch
With over 25 years experience in maritime security operations, all-source intelligence collection & analysis operations, maritime domain awareness, crisis management, state & local intelligence fusion center operations, counter/anti terrorism analysis, and open source intelligence, Hickey is regarded as a leader in the fields of maritime and open source intelligence. His career encompasses 25+ years in the U.S. Navy and the national intelligence community in operational and key positions pertaining to counter terrorism, maritime and homeland security.
Hickey, currently an information sharing action officer with the Director of National Intelligence’s National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office, has spent the past 21 years in the national intelligence community, where he was the first civilian intelligence professional to work for all three military maritime agencies in their strategic intelligence centers (USN, USMC, USCG). A former Navy surface warfare officer, he caught the "intel bug" as the Combat Information Center Officer onboard the USS Manitowoc (LST-1180) in the late 1980s.
His first post active duty intelligence position was as a plank-owner of the Office of Naval Intelligence's SABER Division, providing threat intelligence to the Navy's surface community in 1993. Duty with the Marine Corp Intelligence Activity's Expeditionary Warfare Support Division followed, as Hickey became the Intelligence Community's subject matter expert on the littoral environment and integrated beach/anti landing defenses. Moving to the Coast Guard's Intelligence Coordination Center in 1997, Hickey was the Coast Guard's senior terrorism analyst and created Coastwatch, the Coast Guard Intelligence Program's indications and warning intelligence program for its maritime homeland security efforts.
Sandwiched between a two-year active duty period with the Office of Naval Intelligence, Hickey worked for iJET International, a leader in open source intelligence and travel security, as Director of Watch Operations. While mobilized, Hickey was the Deputy Chief of the Office of Naval Intelligence's Maritime Target Development Division. This effort was dedicated to identifying, tracking and disrupting commercial shipping networks associated with international terrorism.
From 2004-2010, Hickey specialized in supporting homeland security programs at the national, state and local levels while working with CENTRA Technology, Inc. He was the senior analyst assisting in the development of the Boston Regional Intelligence Center and the Mass Bay Transit Authority’s Intelligence Unit. He also provided open source intelligence analysis training to state and local intelligence fusion centers and DHS agencies nationwide.
Hickey, a Navy Master Training Specialist, has been instrumental in many training efforts as an instructor, curriculum designer and program designer for a number of military and non-military programs:
- Naval Education & Training Center-Newport & Naval Reserve Intelligence Training Program
- Office of Naval Intelligence & Coast Guard Intelligence
- Dept. of Homeland Security’ Office of Intelligence & Analysis
- DNI’s RASER Program
- Daniel Webster College’s Homeland Security Program
- University of Massachusetts Lowell’s Security Studies Graduate Program
A graduate of the US Naval Academy, Naval War College, and the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, Hickey lives in the Washington DC area with his family.