CRA, Inc.

CRA’s Chairman of the Board, Major General Bruce Lawlor (Army ret.) has guided CRA to a lead position in supporting Federal, State, municipal, local and tribal government counterterrorism elements. As former Secretary Tom Ridge’s Chief of Staff when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) was created, Gen. Lawlor helped create the nation’s counterterrorism strategies, policies and plans. He continues to have a daily interface with senior officials at the Federal, State, and local levels who are helping our nation raise its capabilities to prevent and respond to terrorism.

Under Gen. Lawlor’s leadership, CRA has become preeminent among the private sector firms providing terrorism prevention assistance to State, municipal, local and tribal governments. For example, CRA-USA helped the DHS develop a terrorism prevention strategy it is now implementing. CRA is helping DHS support the field by facilitating fusion process workshops and providing consultation on terrorism prevention to State and municipal law enforcement agencies.

General Lawlor was a distinguished service professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, the former Chief of Staff of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), former Senior Director for Protection and Prevention, White House Homeland Security Council, and the first Commanding General, Department of Defense Joint Task Force-Civil Support. Gen. Lawlor presently serves as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) to the Department of Homeland Security. He has extensive experience in homeland security policy formulation and operational planning, and homeland security operations execution.

Gen. Lawlor is experienced in U.S. Government homeland security policy making at the most senior levels. As DHS Chief of Staff, he managed the department’s policy decision making process, coordinated department operations, and provided oversight for implementation of the DHS Secretary’s decisions. While a member of the Homeland Security Council staff, he directed the development of U.S. Government strategic plans and policies, provided oversight of interagency coordination of inter- and intra-governmental programs, and provided policy input to senior U.S. Government officials concerning a broad range of homeland security related issues. Gen. Lawlor was one of five senior White House staff members who wrote the plan to create the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Gen. Lawlor also has experience in the design, stand-up, organization and operation of large, complex organizations. He stood-up and became the first commanding general of the Department of Defense’s Joint Task Force Civil Support (JTF-CS) that is now a part of the United States Northern Command. The mission of JTF-CS is to plan and integrate Department of Defense consequence management support to civil authorities following a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high yield explosives (CBRNE) event within the United States, its possessions or territories. Before commanding JTF-CS, Gen. Lawlor was the Deputy Director of Operations, Readiness, and Mobilization and Deputy Director for Military Support at Headquarters, Department of the Army where he provided oversight for the organization and stand-up of Weapons of Mass Destruction – Civil Support Teams (WMD-CSTs).

Gen. Lawlor has a doctor of science degree in engineering management, a juris doctor degree in law, and a masters degree in national security studies. He is a Harvard National Security Fellow and has served as an instructor at the U.S. Army War College. He is a member of the Vermont, Massachusetts and Florida Bar Associations.