Gary Gordon

Gary A. Gordon, PhD, PE, MEMS, USA (Ret.)

Senior Adjunct Faculty

College
Fine Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
School of Criminology and Justice Studies
Phone
978-934-4139
Email
Gary_Gordon@uml.edu

Expertise

Transportation Security, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Hazmat Transportation, Emergency Management and Disaster-related Business Continuity/Continuity of Operations (COOP)

Research Interests

Critical infrastructure protection and resiliency, Operational security and infrastructure, Crime prevention through environmental design, Emergency management and transportation security, & Security and the transportation of hazmat.

Education

  • Ph.D.: Civil Engineering, Transportation Concentration, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • MBA: University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Diploma: Command & General Staff Officer Course, U.S. Army Command & General Staff College
  • M.S.: Civil Engineering, Transportation Concentration, University of Maryland
  • B.S.:Civil Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Biosketch

Gary Gordon, Ph.D. is a former Assistant Federal Security Director responsible for surface transportation (e.g., rail, transit, motor carrier, pipelines and ports, hazmat, and intermodal transportation) security for the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) South Central Region headquartered in Houston, TX. This included partnered security assessments and initiatives, the regulatory process, operational security oversight, infrastructure protection and hardening, and system redundancy. Coordination included national security programs and initiatives with the transportation providers, local, state and federal government agencies, and law enforcement in the region. Gordon represented TSA at the U.S. Coast Guard’s (USCG) Houston-Galveston Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC) and interfaced with other AMSCs in the region. He was actively involved with the USCG during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike on matters of transportation security and worked with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol on matters of transportation and border security. Other activities included Department of Homeland security (DHS) exercises, the roll out of the TSA and USCG Transportation Workers Identification Credential (TWIC) and emergency and incident management. 

Prior to joining TSA, he was President, CEO and Founder of a multimodal transportation engineering firm in the Northeast and Assistant Chief Engineer Design & Construction of the former B&M Railroad/ Guilford Rail. His experience focused on transportation infrastructure, operations and security and their interactions with the other Department of Homeland Security critical infrastructure sectors. Gordon also served in the U.S. Army Reserve retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel having had assignments with the U.S. Transportation Command, former U.S. Army Military Transportation Management Command, the predecessor of the 1205th Transportation Railway Operating Battalion, port transportation terminal units, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He is a District Staff Officer-Emergency Management for the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. 

Gordon is a Registered Professional Engineer and holds several professional certifications, to include Military Emergency Management Specialist, FEMA Level I Professional Continuity Practitioner, World Safety Organization’s Safety and Security Director (Rail Transit), and Engineer Specialty Qualification Designation for DSCA Emergency Management Support. He is a member of many professional and technical organizations.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Appreciation Award, Society of American Military Engineers, Resilience Committee, 2016 
  • Team Award, Mass Transit Security Field Implementation Team, DHS/TSA, 2008 
  • Defense Meritorious Service Medal (for a distinguished career), U.S. Department of Defense), 2001 
  • Joint Meritorious Unit Award (for support for Operations Allied Force and Joint Guardian), U.S. Department of Defense, 1999 
  • Joint Service Achievement Medal (for support for U.S. European Command for Operations Allied Force and Joint Guardian), U.S. Transportation Command, 1999 
  • Joint Service Commendation Medal (for support for TurboChallenge 98), U.S. Transportation Command, 1998 
  • Humanitarian Service Medal (for support for Hurricane Mitch disaster relief), U.S. Southern Command, 1998

Selected Publications

  • Gordon, G.A. and Young, R.R., “Securing Integrated Transportation Networks”, Elsevier (May 2024), ISBN: 9780323954099 
  • Gordon, G.A. and Young, R.R., “Intermodal Maritime Security: Supply Chain Risk Mitigation”, Elsevier, 2021, ISBN: 9780128199459 
  • Young, R. and Gordon, G. (2020), “Intermodal maritime supply chains: assessing factors for resiliency and security”, Journal of Transportation Security, 2020 
  • Young, R.R, Gordon, G.A. and Plant, J.F., “Railway Security: Protecting Against Manmade and Natural Disasters”, Routledge, 2018, ISBN: 9781420080643 
  • Gordon, G.A. and Young, R.R., “Natural disasters: hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons” in Encyclopedia of Security and Emergency Management, Shapiro, L. Maras, Marie-Helen (ed.), Springer, 2019 
  • Young, R.R. and Gordon, G.A., “Critical infrastructure: transportation systems” in Encyclopedia of Security and Emergency Management, Shapiro, Lauren and Maras, Marie-Helen (ed.), Springer, 2018 
  • Plant, J.F., Gordon, G.A. and R.R. Young, “Risk Assessment for the U. S. Railway System,” in Handbook of RAMS in Railway Systems, Mahboob, Qamar and Zio, Enrico (ed.), London: Taylor and Francis, 2018 
  • Gordon, G.A., “Lac Megantic Rail Disaster - Quebec, Canada, 2013” Case Study, Valcik, N.A. and Tracy, P. E., Case Studies in Disaster Response and Emergency Management, Second Edition, Routledge, 2017 (Subject matter expert and case study contributor)

Selected Presentations

  • Gordon, G, Young, R. et. al., “Practitioners Approach to the Challenges of Cross and Intermodal Resiliency”, Panel Session at SAME Joint Engineering Training Conference, 2022 
  • Young, R. and Gordon, G., “Practitioner-based Initiatives for Improving Inbound Container Security”, 2021 Port of the Future Conference, 2021 
  • Gordon, G. and Young, R., “Railroad Security: Possible Solutions and Best Practices”, Railroad Industry Exchange, Pennsylvania State University Altoona, 2018 
  • Gordon, G. and Young, R., “A Conceptual Risk Assessment Model for Maritime to Rail Intermodal Service”, Secure Rail Conference, 2017 
  • Gordon, G. and Young, R., “Redundancy and Resilience: Moving Hazmat by Rail” , Critical Infrastructure Symposium, SAME/The Infrastructure Security Partnership, 2016 
  • Gordon, G. and Young, R. (2015), “Railroad Network Redundancy: Operational Flexibility, Service Continuity, and Hazmat Routing Protection” 2015 Critical Infrastructure Symposium, Society of American Military Engineers/The Infrastructure Security Partnership 
  • Gordon, G., “Introduction to Railroad and Transit Security: A Practitioner’s Look”, AREMA Online Seminars, 2014 
  • Gordon, G., (2014) “HazMat Routing, ‘Need to Know’ and Security”, American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) Section on Transportation Policy and Administration, Southern Mississippi Center for Logistics, Trade and Transportation, 2014