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Arthur E. (Gene) Brooks

Commander, Seventeenth Coast Guard District

Rear Admiral Brooks directs Coast Guard operations including search and rescue, maritime safety, environmental protection, fisheries law enforcement and military readiness in Alaska and the North Pacific.  Units and personnel under his command patrol over 3.8 million square miles of ocean and 33,000 miles of coastline, including some of the most treacherous waters in the world.  More than 950,000 square miles off the Alaskan coast are monitored to enforce the U.S. 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone.  An even larger area of the North Pacific is patrolled to stop illegal, large scale, high seas drift netting.  Maritime safety and environmental protection are priority missions.  The Port of Valdez is the trans-shipment point for 17 percent of the oil that America produces every day.  Preventing spills and accidents is a major task.  Alaska is also the world's second most popular cruise destination, bringing over 700,000 passengers to its waters every year.  Safety of these ships and passengers and protection of these pristine waters is a critical mission.

Rear Admiral Brooks was commissioned as an Ensign upon graduation from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1974.  His first duty assignment was aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) Dependable.  Other afloat tours included Commanding Officer, USCGC Point Harris; Executive Officer, USCGC Confidence; and Commanding Officer, USCGC Seneca.  Ashore tours included the Fifth Coast guard District Operations Center; Assistant Staff Legal Officer, Eleventh Coast Guard District; Head, Department of Professional Development; Staff Legal Officer; and Commandant of Cadets, Coast Guard Academy; Commander, Coast Guard Greater Antilles Section; Chief of Staff, Coast Guard Atlantic Area; and Deputy Director for Operations, U.S. Northern Command.

In addition to his Bachelor of Science degree from the U. S. Coast Guard Academy, Brooks holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Marshall-Wythe School of Law, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.  He was the Coast Guard Fellow in the Department of State's 39th Senior Seminar, National Foreign Affairs Training Center, Arlington, Virginia, and is a graduate of the Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government Senior Executive National and International Security Program.

Rear Admiral Brooks is married to the former Christine Morrissette of East Hartford, CT.  They have three children; Shawn, Keri, and Mike.