Learn about Chris Y.’s journey from the DC Metropolitan Police Department to helping prepare and protect the U.S. Nuclear Security Enterprise in this installment of MELE’s Five Questions series.
Tell us a bit about your background and how it led to your current role as a Senior Exercise Planner working with the NNSA?
In 2015, I retired from the Metropolitan Police Department here in Washington, DC. I was a Sergeant on the Tactical Team and then moved to the Domestic Security Office, where I was responsible for the cities response to Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) threats.
About 5 years prior to my retirement, a federal office asked if I could assist as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) with their preventative exercise work throughout the country. When I retired, I went to work for this same office full-time, assisting with exercise planning all over the country. After being affiliated with MELE since 2010, in 2017, I joined as an employee on the current contract the as a Senior Exercise Planner, and now as the Contract Task Lead.
Why is the exercise planning function important to the Nuclear Security Enterprise?
Given the complexity of the Nuclear Security Enterprise (NSE) and the interagency partners associated with this mission, planning and exercising is critical to success. Although the NSE is broad, the office I work within is focused on the emergency response functions. As mentioned, the planning and exercise execution brings together all partners illustrating we can work together at all levels of government to complete this mission when called to do so.
How do you and your exercise planning colleagues gauge that you’ve done a good job when your training is put into real-world practice rarely? What signs do you look for during an exercise or in a trainee’s behavior to judge that what you’re teaching has sunk in?
I wouldn’t say we exercise to train; we exercise to validate a capability alongside our interagency partners. All of our programs train internally by way of technical drills, skill set development, and sustainment training. With that being said, we do have a Continuous Improvement Group embedded within our exercises. This group observes and identifies areas for improvement. This plan goes to the respective Program Managers for sustainment of successful procedures and implementation of the recommendations regarding improvements.
You’ve lived and worked in the Washington, DC area for years. What are your favorite and least favorite parts of living in the DMV?
I have always appreciated the history associated with Washington, DC, the museums, etc. What I don’t like…the TRAFFIC!
What is your favorite thing to do in your free time and why?
Spending time with my wife and my daughter’s 19-month-old twins.
