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Edward Badolato was known professionally as an international expert in the fields of energy, contingency planning, and security, but to those who worked with Ed, he was our friend, mentor, and leader. He founded IIA in 2005 using his fifty years of experience in the military, government, and corporate world to bring first-rate homeland security training and consulting services to clients throughout the world.
After retiring from a distinguished career in the Marine Corps, Colonel Badolato served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary during the Reagan and Bush Administrations (1985-1989) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). He was the Secretary of Energy’s key troubleshooter for security matters and energy emergencies and the primary architect of the U.S. Government’s nuclear weapons security programs. He headed a team that completely revamped and modernized the entire U.S. nuclear security forces. Also during his four-year appointment, he managed the vulnerability assessments of the coal, gas, power, and petroleum industries and developed plans to mitigate damage to the U.S. energy infrastructure from natural disasters, terrorism, and sabotage.
Upon leaving DOE, Ed Badolato founded Contingency Management Services, Inc., an international security consulting firm. He led efforts to clean up the bombs and explosives after Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait’s oil fields for Texaco and Getty Oil Companies. In November 2002, CMS was acquired by the Shaw Group, and he was named Executive Vice President for the Shaw Group’s Homeland Security activities. His wide range of experience and contacts allowed him to address a full range of security issues with major corporations, the U.S. government, and foreign governments. In the area of critical infrastructure protection, he managed assessments of the threat, vulnerability, and risk of the national power grids, natural gas infrastructures, petro-chemical facilities and maritime services.
Ed Badolato chaired several boards and participated on countless committees for the industry including the Homeland Security Industries Association and the National Cargo Security Council. He was appointed by the White House as Chairman of the FAA’s Air Cargo Security Working Group to study the potential for terrorist bombing attacks on commercial aircraft and was a member of the White House Interagency Group on Terrorism. He was the senior energy consultant for the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection and a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism. Although it was clear Ed was serious about bringing the private and government sectors together to make our nation safer, he also cared about our future and that meant nurturing the next generation of homeland security professionals.
Col. Badolato was proactive when it came to mentoring the next generation. Somehow he always found time in his busy schedule to teach a class at Georgetown University, a seminar at a small college like Patrick Henry, or deliver a keynote address to hundreds of professionals at a conference. He was active on the Board of Advisors for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy’s Global Maritime and Security Transportation School and served on the Board of Visitors for his alma mater, Towson University.
Our friend Ed was known to say, “I get more done before noon, than most people get done all day!” He was right, and he showed us what hard work, focus, and a brilliant mind can accomplish. He provided IIA with a solid work ethic and a wealth of information with which we can carry on his work. There will never be another Ed Badolato, but what he taught us about leadership, honesty, patriotism, and a gold standard for quality will continue to live on in everyone who had the privilege to work with him.
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