Governor names new Emergency Management Division leader

Governor Tom Vilsack has named a new person to head the Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management division. David Miller has been a top deputy in the agency since 1999, and has been serving as interim director since June.Miller says “it’s a wonderful opportunity” but he knows “it’s going to be a challenge.” Governor Vilsack made a public announcement of Miller’s promotion this afternoon. Vilsack says Miller has been an integral part of the state’s homeland security and emergency management team. Miller was hired by the agency in 1989 to be a coordinator for enhanced 9-1-1 service. For the past four years, he’s been the agency’s chief of staff. Miller began working in state government in the Department of Public Safety as a dispatcher. He left Iowa in 1984 to take emergency management coordinator jobs in Oregon and Montana before returning to Iowa in 1989. Miller, a Vietnam-era veteran, is a native of Sheldon. Ellen Gordon resigned her post as Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management administrator in June and is teaching in the Naval War College.