Mr. Ahrens serves as the Chief, Emergency Response Operations (ERO) Branch with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Mr. Ahrens exercises management and oversight of CISA’s ERO, ESF-2, ESF-14, and National Security/Emergency Preparedness sections aimed at developing and maintaining information sharing and liaison relationships with relevant DHS stakeholders. He is charged with delivering trusted, value-added information regarding emergency response and critical infrastructure issues to internal and external customers.
Prior to DHS, Mr. Ahrens served with the Joint Improvised-Threat Defeat Agency (JIDA) from 2011 to 2015. There he led and coordinated multiple analytic teams providing strategic analysis of IED threat networks. Additionally, he was successful in building coalitions with foreign partner nations, including NATO. and served as the J-2 for Combined Joint Task Force Paladin (CJTF Paladin) in Afghanistan identifying future threat requirements to neutralize and mitigate trans-national and terrorist threats.
Mr. Ahrens served for over ten years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an Intelligence Officer and Military Police Officer where he participated in operations throughout Southeast and Southwest Asia. He also served as an Auxiliary Police Officer for the City of Hampton, VA.
Mr. Ahrens earned a B.A. in Political Science and Africana Studies from Luther College and an MBA in Project Management from American Intercontinental University. He is currently a Ph.D. student with Concordia University – Chicago. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and two children.