Tom Waters has served as the Director of Programs for the Middle East District since 2013. He is responsible for the District’s program execution and overseeing all aspects of the District’s Engineering, Construction, Contracting, and Programs and Project Management Division requirements.
The Middle East District provides design, construction execution, and related engineering services directly supporting U.S. Central Command and other activities within the USCENTCOM area of responsibility to establish the conditions for regional security and stability. With a staff of nearly 400, the Middle East District executes projects in the majority of the countries within the USCENTCOM area, from Egypt through the Middle East and Central Asia. The District, headquartered in Winchester, Virginia, oversees construction programs exceeding $6 billion. The District also provides contingency and field force engineering resources for Operations Inherent Resolve, Freedom’s Sentinel, Resolute Support, and other military activities throughout the region.
During his tenure with USACE, Mr. Waters has deployed numerous times to Iraq and Afghanistan, with service totaling more than three years. In Iraq, he served as the Deputy for Programs and Project Management for the Gulf Region Division's North District; he deployed twice as the Deputy Director for Iraq Electrical Reconstruction and once as the senior program manager for Task Force Restore Iraqi Electricity; and he deployed with the Mosul Dam Task Force as the first Project Executive Officer. In 2019, Mr. Waters served as the Acting Director, Programs and Business Directorate, for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic Division. In this assignment, he provided leadership and direction for the execution of the Division’s Military Construction, International and Interagency Support, and Foreign Military Sales programs.
Mr. Waters has private industry experience with Sverdrup Environmental and Jacobs Engineering in the mid-1990s, and he provided environmental science and engineering services as a consultant to the USACE. He joined USACE in November 2001, working at the Baltimore District in support of the D.C. Public Schools facilities rehabilitation program. In 2004, he transferred to the Transatlantic Programs Center in Winchester. Later, he joined Transatlantic Division as the Chief of the Military Programs Integration Division.
Mr. Waters holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from West Virginia University, located in his hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia, and a master's degree from the National Defense University, Eisenhower School. He is a graduate of the Defense Acquisition University's Senior Acquisition Corps and a graduate of the Army Management Staff College, and he is a Harvard Fellow.
Since joining USACE, Mr. Waters has earned two Meritorious Civilian Service Awards, the Army Engineer Regiment's Bronze de Fleury Medal, the Army's Civilian Soldier of the Year Award, three Superior Civilian Service Awards, two Commander's Awards, and the Global War on Terror Civilian Service Medal.