Kevin Clement

Kevin Clement is a Homeland Security and Emergency Management professional at the University of Houston where he serves as Executive Director, Strategic Partnerships at the Technology Division at the Cullen College of Engineering and the Borders, Trade, and Immigration (BTI) Institute. Mr. Clement has significant expertise in strategic and operational planning, anti-terrorism and border security operations, critical infrastructure security and resilience, and continuity of operations. At the University of Houston, Mr. Clement serves as Director of the Security and Strategic Trade Management Academy, a Department of State course in nonproliferation for foreign trade officials. He has directed the annual Port of the Future Conference and the Conference to Combat Human Trafficking: Research and Technology since their inception. He was the co-chair and host of the 2021 Maritime Risk Symposium. From 2017-2021, Mr. Clement led the effort to develop a Unified Regional Response to a Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attack in the South East Texas Regional Planning Commission (SETPRC). He instituted a research-based approach to review terrorist and Active Attacks and a doctrinal review of guidance from government and professional law enforcement and medical organizations. As part of this effort, he conducted a series of seven Homeland Security Workshops in the functional areas of: Tactical Response (2), Medical Response, Public Information, Intelligence, Operational Communications, and Victims and Family Services (2). Mr. Clement planned and conducted tabletop exercises for tactical response, medical response, and Executive Leadership to a Complex Coordinated Terrorist Attack for leaders and first responders from Jefferson, Orange, and Hardin Counties. He led the development of a Unified Regional Response Plan for the South East Texas Region. As a result of this effort, he produced bi-lingual Emergency Message templates, template response plans, Compendium of Federal Assets, the Community Action Plan, synchronization matrices, drills for first responders, and draft policies for areas of concern. He trained first responders in their use. He was the primary planner and director of the culminating full-scale exercise OPERATION GOLDEN TRIANGLE in May 2021. Mr. Clement later produced a series of eight (8) Homeland Security symposia in 2021-2022 for the City of Houston. Mr. Clement came to Texas in 2009, as the senior planner and later the Director, Emergency Management Group for Abrams Learning and Information Systems, (ALIS). He worked in the Texas Border Security Operations Center in support of the State of Texas in homeland security, border security, emergency management, and intelligence analysis. He was responsible for coordinating border security support requirements to include planning, preparation, response and mitigation activities for the State of Texas, Council of Governments, counties, and municipalities. In this capacity, he wrote and coordinated: the State of Texas border security operations plan, Operation BORDER STAR 2010, and the six sector plans for Coastal Bend, Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Del Rio, Marfa, and El Paso; the Joint Operations and Intelligence Centers Common Operating Procedures; and the State of Texas Support Plan for Super Bowl XLV. After reorganization of Texas Department of Safety’s roles and responsibilities for borders security, he served as a consultant to the Texas Rangers for whom he advised on security during the trial of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints and created contingency plans for the Texas Response to Terrorist Attack and Significant Criminal Attacks; Response Plan to Prison Violence; and Response Plan to Prison Escape. He developed training exercises, operations orders, and conducted After Action Reports for the Texas Ranger Reconnaissance Team. He wrote the Operation Border Star Orientation Guide, and Standard Operating Procedures for the Texas Rangers Reconnaissance Team. He was a co-author of the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Contingency Plan for Cross Border Violence. Mr. Clement served in the Texas Office of Homeland Security from December 2012 – October 2016. In this capacity he authored the Texas Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resiliency Plan (TISR), its accompanying Action Plan, and Texas’ Guide to Critical Infrastructure Working Groups. He led the 2013-2016 Continuity of Operations (COOP) planning and exercise initiative for Texas state agencies. At the request of FEMA, he developed and co-facilitated two national webinars on Continuity of Operations. Mr. Clement was the driving force behind joint DHS-Texas pilot programs to operationalize the Resilience Implementation Process, the development of Critical Supply Chain (Oil and Natural Gas) Workshops; and design of a template for Regional Disaster Resilience Action Plans. He led the Texas initiative to revise and enact the new Bomb-Making Materials Awareness Program (BMAP) and the implementation of the Multi-Jurisdiction IED Security Planning Program in Texas municipalities. He initiated and led in the development of the state’s Preventive Radiological and Nuclear Detection Program and facilitated the Texas Nuclear Sector Working Group. Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Clement served in the active Army for 23 years, leaving service when he became a single parent of three daughters. During his career, he served with distinction in operational and command assignments in light infantry and armored infantry units. He spent 10 years of service in overseas assignments in Korea and Europe. Assigned to the Pentagonin1992, he was diverted from his original assignment to Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations (War Plans) at the request of the Deputy Chief of Staff (Personnel) in the wake of Congressional hearings on the Navy Tailhook Scandal. LTC Clement was tasked to overhaul the Army Equal Opportunity Program and Army plans, policies, and programs as they related to Equal Opportunity for soldiers and their families. He significantly restructured the Army’s Equal Opportunity Complaint Procedures; revised AR 600-20 Army Command Policy and created the Department of the Army’s Prevention of Sexual Harassment Action Plans (I & II). These policies and program initiatives were signed into law as the Mosely-Brown Amendment to the 1995 National Defense Authorization Act, requiring their adoption by the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. LTC Clement briefed the House Armed Services Committee Task Force on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services (1993) and served as Expert Advisor to the Undersecretary of the Army for the March 1994 House Armed Services Committee Congressional Hearings on Sexual Harassment. He authored the Army’s Report to Congress on Strategies to Eradicate Sexual Harassment (1993), and the Army’s Report to Congress on Treatment of Women in the Military (1993); and the Department of the Army Pamphlet on Prevention of Sexual Harassment. He led the Policy Team for the Secretary of the Army’s Task Force on Extremism (1995-1996) and was primary author of its final report and current policy to combat extremism in the Army. He authored the Army’s Whistleblower Policy. Due to the success of this work, he was a highly requested consultant on command culture and policy development, serving as an advisor to then Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Boorda, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Royal Canadian Defense Ministry, the Australian Defense Ministry, the Defense Intelligence Agency, U. S. Public Health Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Maryland State Police. He conducted discrete inquiries/investigations into political and media sensitive issues as directed by the Secretary of the Army and the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs). Mr. Clement is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and a Distinguished Honor Graduate (summa cum laude) of the U.S. Naval War College with a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. He has also received a master’s degree in International Relations at Salve Regina University. An accomplished trainer and planner, he is a Certified Emergency Manager (CEM); a Texas Emergency Manager (TEM); and a FEMA Master Continuity Practitioner. Mr. Clement has served on the DHS State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council (SLTTGCC) (2013-2016) where he served as Co-Chair of the Regional Initiatives Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee. He is a Distinguished Member of the Advisory Board for the University of Houston’s Center for Logistics and Transportation Policy, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Institute for Homeland Security at Sam Houston State University.