Richard G. Irwin
Richard Irwin is a former Senior Special Operations Program Officer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). His 28 years of service with the CIA has provided him with extensive operational and senior management expertise in all levels of crisis management, special event planning, physical, technical and operational security, counterterrorism, personal and VIP protection, force protection, post blast investigation, threat and vulnerability inspections, and surveillance and counter-surveillance—domestically as well as internationally. He served in several Central American and European posts, gaining extensive experience in dealing with foreign governments. His skills in this arena were further honed through his work with US federal, state and local law enforcement departments and agencies. These include the Department of State, Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, the Homeland Security Council and the National Security Council at the White House. Mr. Irwin is fluent in Spanish, Italian, and French. After distinguishing himself in Afghanistan following 9/11, Mr. Irwin was assigned to the White House at the direction of the Director of Central Intelligence. There he served as the Director of Incident Management in the Office of Homeland Security for a year, until February 2003. Elevated the next month to the position of Director of Incident Management for the Homeland Security Council at the White House, he served in this capacity until May 2004. At the request of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, Mr. Irwin was appointed Director of Incident Management for the Department of Homeland Security. Six months later, he detached from the Department of Homeland Security, retiring from the CIA on March 31, 2005. He immediately entered the private sector, assuming duties as Vice President of Alutiiq LLC. In January 2010, Mr. Irwin joined MELE and Associates, Inc.—a Hawaiian corporation focusing its considerable management capabilities on providing quality services to the federal government. He heads MELE's Homeland Security Division. Mr. Irwin’s journey with the CIA has taken him to 87 countries, giving him the opportunity to live overseas and to learn three languages. He served eight DCIs, and, while at the White House, President George W. Bush.
