Conrad C . Lautenbacher Conrad Charles Lautenbacher , Jr . ( born June 26 , 1942 ) is a retired Navy Vice Admiral , was the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere within the United States Department of Commerce and the eighth administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . He was appointed to the position on December 19 , 2001 and resigned effective October 31 , 2008 in anticipation of a new White House administration . He was born in Philadelphia . Education and career . Before joining the Department of Commerce , Lautenbacher formed his own management consultant business , and worked principally for Technology , Strategies & Alliances Inc . He was also president and CEO of the Consortium for Oceanographic Research and Education , which is a non - profit organization with the goal of increasing basic knowledge and public support across the spectrum of ocean sciences . He possesses a Master of Science degree and a Ph . D in applied mathematics from Harvard University . He graduated from the U . S . Naval Academy in 1964 and is a retired Navy Vice Admiral with 40 years of service . His Navy experience includes tours as Commanding Officer of the USS " Hewitt " ( DD - 966 ) , Commander of Naval Station Norfolk ; and Commander of Cruiser - Destroyer Group Five . He had additional duties as Commander of U . S . Naval Forces Central Command at Riyadh during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm . During his final tour of duty , he served as Deputy Chief of Naval Operations ( Resources , Warfare Requirements and Assessments ) in charge of Navy programs and budget . He had also served as Assistant for Strategy with the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel , and as Program Planning Branch Head in the Navy Program Planning Directorate . Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere . Administration . After an investigation into Bill Proenza ' s management of the National Hurricane Center , Lautenbacher removed him as Director on July 9 , 2007 . In September 2007 , he was returned to his old job at the southern region of the National Weather Service . Proenza had drawn criticism from colleagues for calling the eight - year old QuickSCAT system outdated . After the unauthorized killing of a gray whale by members of the Makah Indian tribe in September 2007 , Lautenbacher met with tribal leaders to discuss the issue . He collaborated with other federal agencies on a new program to track volcanic ash and report the risks to the aviation community . During Lautenbacher ' s tenure , the Open Rivers Initiative was started to provide funding and technical expertise for the community - driven removal of obsolete small dam and river barriers . According to the NOAA , over 3 , 500 large dams in the U . S . were considered unsafe in 2007 . On the subject of the Bush administration ' s plan to expand the tsunami warning and detection system , Lautenbacher has said that the need for more buoys is critical , because their sensors measure passing tsunamis , whereas tide gauges measure changing water levels close to the coast . Lautenbacher has rejected scientific claims that climate change is the greatest challenge facing humankind this century . In a November 2002 interview for the Australian television show " Lateline " , he said that evidence gathered so far fails to convince the US that extreme weather being felt around the globe is a direct result of climate change . In December 2004 , he called the decline in health among coral reef s a global issue , essential to life on Earth . Meetings and summits . Lautenbacher spearheaded the first Earth Observation Summit , which hosted ministerial - level representation from several dozen of the world ' s nations in July 2003 . Through subsequent international summits and working groups , he worked to encourage world scientific and policy leaders to work toward a common goal of building a sustained Global Earth Observation System of Systems that would collect and disseminate data , information , and models to stakeholders and decision makers for the benefit of individual nations and the world community . The effort culminated in an agreement for a 10 - year implementation plan for GEOSS reached by the 55 member countries of the Group on Earth Observations at the Third Observation Summit held in Brussels in February 2005 . He also has headed numerous delegations at international governmental summits and conferences around the world . This includes the U . S . delegation to the first and second Asia - Pacific Economic Cooperation Ocean Ministerial Meetings in Korea in 2002 and Indonesia in 2005 , and the annual meetings of the World Meteorological Organization , Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission , and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change . He also led the Commerce delegation to the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa .