Rear Admiral Thomas Atkin became the Assistant Commandant for Intelligence and Criminal Investigations in April 2011.
Prior to assuming his current position, Rear Admiral Atkin served as the Assistant Commandant for Operational Policy and Planning. He has also served as the acting Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, Security and Stewardship. In his roles as Assistant Commandant, Rear Admiral Atkin was responsible for developing and promulgating national marine safety, security, and environmental protection doctrine and policy, as well as ensuring policy alignment throughout the Coast Guard and among federal partners. In addition, he served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security Counter-Terrorism Advisory Board and the Marine Safety & Security Council.
In other Flag assignments, Rear Admiral Atkin served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Transborder Security on the National Security Staff where he led multiple transnational security policy portfolios and interagency committees related to the national security of the United States. He also served as the first Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Deployable Operations Group (DOG) where he directed a community of 27 deployable, specialized force units and more than 3,000 Coast Guard personnel in executing homeland security, homeland defense, disaster response and recovery operations worldwide.
Rear Admiral Atkin's operational assignments included Deputy Principal Federal Official to the Gulf Coast; Chief of Staff to the Principal Federal Official for Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in New Orleans, LA; Commanding Officer, Tactical Law Enforcement Team (TACLET) North in Chesapeake, VA; Commanding Officer, TACLET Gulf in New Orleans, LA; Operations Officer, TACLET Seven in Miami, FL; Navigator, Coast Guard Cutter ALERT in Cape May, NJ; Deputy Group Commander in New Orleans, LA; and Coast Guard Liaison to Joint Task Force One Six Zero at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. His staff assignments included Chief, Maritime Homeland Security and Defense Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense; Chief of the Counterterrorism Division in the Chief of Naval Operations Office, Deep Blue; Chief, Office of Law Enforcement and Intelligence for the Eighth Coast Guard District, New Orleans, LA; Fisheries Enforcement Officer for the Eighth Coast Guard District, New Orleans, LA; Mathematics Instructor, Assistant Football Coach, and Head Lacrosse Coach at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, CT.
Rear Admiral Atkin hails from Duncanville, TX and has two sons. He is a graduate from the United States Coast Guard Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematical Sciences. He also holds a Master of Science in Management Science from the University of Miami.