Rear Admiral Olson is currently the Senior Director for DHS and Maritime Programs with MacAulay-Brown, Inc. Since retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard in 2006, he has been a maritime security consultant and a senior program manager for SAIC, leading the National Exercise Program. He worked national level exercises as well as Congressionally-mandated Cabinet level exercises with the Department of Homeland Security.
During his military career, Rear Admiral Olson served as Commander, U.S. Coast Guard District Seventeen (Juneau, Alaska), where he was responsible for operations covering 3.8 million square miles, 33,000 miles of shoreline, coordination with Federal, Alaska State, and International partners for the entire spectrum of CG missions.
Rear Admiral Olson also served as Director of Operations Capability, Coast Guard Headquarters, where he was responsible for planning, budgeting, and policy implementation for all coast Guard cutters, aircraft, boats, and command and control systems. During this time he was part of the original Department of Homeland Security implementation team, directed the initial development of the Enhanced Marine Safety and Security Teams, and led the national effort to build Maritime Domain Awareness for DHS. From 2000-2002 he was the Director, Joint Interagency Task Force West in Alameda. In this DOD Command he worked directly for the US Pacific Commander. While Director, his Command assured the seizure of a record 82 metric tons of cocaine.
Rear Admiral Olson was a career aviator, flying over 5500 hours in Sikorsky rescue helicopters for the U.S. Coast Guard. He was involved in hundreds of rescues while saving and assisting mariners in many extreme circumstances, including being stationed in Alaska for 12 years. During his career he commanded both Alaska Coast Guard Air Stations and later served as the District Commander.
Rear Admiral Olson is a graduate of the Harvard Program for Senior Executives in National and International Security, the Flag and General Officer CAPSTONE Course, the Air War College and the U.S. Army Flight Safety Officer Course. He has a BS degree from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a Masters of Business Administration from Adelphi University. He serves on several boards including the Coast Guard Foundation Board of Trustees.
