Rear Admiral Sean P. Regan is the Deputy Director of Operations for Headquarters, United States Northern Command (USNORTHCOM). The Directorate of Operations is the principal advisor to the Commander USNORTHCOM on all operational matters, providing strategic guidance to plan and execute USNORTHCOM missions within the area of responsibility; conducting Homeland Defense including land, air, and maritime operations, as well as Defense Support of Civil Authorities.
RDML Sean Regan last completed a military fellowship at the Council on Foreign Relations prior to that he served as Chief of Staff, Coast Guard Atlantic Area.
RDML Regan is a 1992 graduate of Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
Between 1992 and 2002, he served in a variety of operational assignments related to oil and hazardous material response, marine accident investigations, merchant vessel inspections, hazardous material cargo management, and waterways management in major seaports. In 2002, he served as Executive Officer of the Coast Guard’s first anti-terrorism team on the U.S. east coast. Then in 2004, he commanded the Maritime Safety and Security Team, New Orleans. Under his command, MSST NOLA conducted homeland security missions across 12 states and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Notably, this unit provided immediate critical support in the wake of the hurricane KATRINA in 2005 where he led over 400 security and search and rescue forces in the metropolitan area conducting rescues and providing security for the massive urban search and rescue effort.
In 2006, he attended the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College, Quantico Virginia earning a Master of Arts in Military Science. Promoted to Commander in 2007, he managed Maritime Homeland Security policy in the Coast Guard’s Office of Counterterrorism and Defense Operations.
Between 2009 and 2011, he served at the White House as Director, Maritime Security Policy and Director, Arctic Region Policy on the President’s National Security Staff (NSS). On the NSS, he advised the National Security Advisor, Homeland Security Advisor and President on issues such as piracy, Arctic oil drilling, mass migration, the Fukashima nuclear release, and maritime security policy.
In 2011, he attended the U.S. Naval War College, College of Naval Warfare, Newport, Rhode Island earning a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies. From 2012 through 2014, he served as Deputy Sector Commander, Sector Southeast New England where he led over 150 Coast Guard members and six patrol boats across nearly every Coast Guard mission. At Sector, he furthered regional port security, search and rescue, ship inspections, and state, federal, and civilian inter-agency coordination.
In 2014, he assumed command of the Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT), the Coast Guard’s east coast maritime law enforcement counter-terrorism unit. MSRT supported National Security Special Events, deployments to the Caribbean and U.S. Central Command, Bahrain.
Between 2016 and 2019, he served as the Chief of Operations, US Coast Guard Atlantic Area coordinating operational and policy support for two-thirds of all Coast Guard effort world-wide. Here, he coordinated Coast Guard forces for natural disaster response, counter-drug operations, and Coast Guard operations from the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf. As Chief of Staff, he led the organization and executive support for a 3-Star operational command, five subordinate District Commands, and 49 operational Coast Guard units.
RDML Regan’s awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (awarded twice), the Meritorious Service Medal (awarded five times), the Coast Guard Commendation Medal, and the Coast Guard Achievement Medal (awarded two times).
(Current as of June 2022)
