U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Office of Public Affairs

NEWS RELEASE

MMS Welcomes New Chief of Public Affairs

 The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service announced the selection this week of Curtis Carey as the new chief of public affairs. In this capacity, Carey will lead a national team that oversees media relations, as well as constituent and public affairs programs.  He will also be responsible for formulating public affairs policies and plans, and advising bureau and departmental management on public interest issues.

 Carey comes to the MMS from the NOAA National Weather Service, where he served as public affairs chief.   He brings with him a unique combination of federal government, military, private sector, and academic communication experience.

 He began his career at a top 40 market ABC television affiliate, where he worked as an assignment editor from 1984 to 1986.  He also worked as a radio announcer and sportscaster.

 Between 1986 and 1991, Carey served in the U.S. Navy as a television and radio broadcaster in Japan, and later as the assistant public affairs officer aboard the aircraft carrier USS Independence. 

 In 1991 Carey left active-duty Navy life behind and worked for the U.S Naval base in Yokosuka, Japan – the largest overseas U.S. Navy base in the world.  He was quickly promoted to deputy public affairs officer for the base, and later to public affairs officer.

During his time in Japan, Curtis found time to work as a freelance photojournalist for CNN Tokyo, and as an English instructor for Britannica International Masters Academy.  In 1995, Carey left Japan and returned to the United Sates to work as the deputy public affairs officer for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service in Denver.

 Carey’s professional awards and accomplishments include the Zenkokai Association Award for international relations from the Japan Prime Minister's Office and the Rear Admiral Thompson Award, the Navy's top award for public affairs excellence

He is a member of the Public Relations Society of America, and is an adjunct professor of interpersonal/small group communication and public speaking at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

 MMS is the federal agency responsible for managing the nation’s oil, natural gas, and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf in federal offshore waters.  It also collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral revenues from federal and American Indian lands.  Revenues collected by MMS from royalties, rents, bonuses and other sources from federal onshore and offshore leases are distributed to the U.S. Treasury; to the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands; to the National Historic Preservation Fund and the Reclamation Fund; to individual states where the leases are located; and to Indian tribes and individual allottees.  Those revenues totaled more than $6 billion in 2002 and more than $127 billion since the agency was created in 1982.

-MMS-

MMS Internet website address: http://www.mms.gov