By Nathan DiPillo and Derek Kantar, An Article Out Loud from Domestic Preparedness, January 17, 2024.
Without transportation and communications, emergency response can move at an uncomfortably slow pace, enough so that life, property, and the environment may be unnecessarily compromised. The integrated transportation network must be protected from threats and other risks.
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Nathan DiPillo
Nathan DiPillo currently serves as a California Governor’s Office appointee assigned to the California Office of Emergency Services as a Critical Infrastructure Analyst in the State Threat Assessment Center. Before state service, he functioned as a critical infrastructure specialist with the Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). He also spent over 15 years with the Transportation Security Administration, where he assisted in standing up the agency with policy development, training, and recruitment. He has over 25 years in the emergency management and security industry, beginning as a resident firefighter/emergency medical technician. He also served with the California State Military Department, and Army National Guard in the 223rd Training Command ending his career as a Sergeant First Class. During that time, he served in many units, finishing his career attached to the 102nd Military Police Training Division in an Opposition Force Unit. He currently serves on a small-town planning commission and assisted in coordinating an emergency family communications group in his local area. He possesses a Master of Emergency Management/Homeland Security from the National University and other Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and military certifications.
Derek Kantar
Derek Kantar serves as the Chief of Emergency Planning and Response with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). With over 30 years of public and private sector transportation planning experience, his current focus is helping integrate various multimodal transportation systems into Caltrans and the broader Emergency Support Function 1 (ESF-1) Transportation community through better collaboration during disaster response and recovery efforts. He received his BA and MA in Geography from California State University, Fullerton.
