Rear Admiral Frederick J. Kenney (U.S. Coast Guard, Ret.)

Rear Admiral Kenney serves as Special Envoy for Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) on the Maritime Policy Team (MPT). In this role, he advises the CEO and the MPT on diplomatic and regulatory matters arising from CLIA’s interactions with the United Nations and other treaty and regulatory bodies, in particular the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Prior to his work with CLIA, he was the Director of Legal and External Affairs at the IMO, London. During his tenure at the IMO, he was responsible for advising the Secretary-General on all legal issues associated with the functioning of the Organization, with special emphasis on matters of treaty law and the law of the sea; providing legal counsel to the Secretariat staff in their support of the IMO’s committees and subcommittees, as Secretary for the Organization’s Legal Committee, and overseeing the Organization’s role as depositary for the 53 multilateral conventions adopted under the aegis of the IMO. He also oversaw the operation of the IMO’s Public Information Service, its Maritime Knowledge Centre and External Relations Office.

In July 2022, Rear Admiral Kenney was seconded to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs where he served as the initial UN Coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative. In this role, he was responsible for the development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure the safe delivery of grain and other foodstuffs from Odessa-area Ukrainian ports.

Prior to joining the IMO, he served as Judge Advocate General and Chief Counsel of the United States Coast Guard (USCG), attaining the rank of Rear Admiral. He was commissioned by the USCG in 1981 after graduating from Officer Candidate School. During his 33-year career with the USCG, he spent nearly five years at sea, including serving on a polar icebreaker as a deck watch officer and conducting law enforcement and security operations.

His legal assignments over the span of 22 years included leadership, as Judge Advocate General, of nearly 300 attorneys and 100 legal support personnel, responsible for the delivery of all legal services to the USCG around the globe; executive assistant and Chief of the Coast Guard's Office of Legal Policy and Program Development; Staff Judge Advocate, First Coast Guard District, Boston, Mass.; Coast Guard Liaison Officer to the Office of Oceans Affairs, U.S. Department of State; Chief of the Marine Safety and Environmental Protection Law Branch and subsequently head of the Office of Maritime and International Law, Washington, DC, where he was the head of the United States’ delegation to the IMO’s Legal Committee. Notably, he was a Member of the U.S. delegation to 12 different IMO committees and subcommittees.

Rear Admiral Kenney has extensive experience as a prosecutor, defense counsel and appellate counsel in criminal cases. From 1999 to 2011, he served on several legal capacity-building missions in developing countries on behalf of the United States, and from 2009 to 2010, he served as an appellate judge on the Coast Guard Court of Criminal Appeals. He also served as lead agency counsel in cases before the United States Supreme Court, and in the litigation arising from the Macondo 252/Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

His operational assignments included service as Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Pacific Area Tactical Law Enforcement Team, San Diego, Calif.; Officer in Charge, Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, Alameda, Calif.; and First Lieutenant and Operations Officer aboard Coast Guard Cutter Westwind, a polar icebreaker. Extended temporary operations assignments include duty as Senior Coast Guard Officer, Allied Forces Southern Europe, during the blockade of the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, and in the Office of Law Enforcement, Seventh Coast Guard District, Miami, Fla.

His military decorations include the Coast Guard Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (three awards), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal with Operational Distinguishing Device (three awards), the Coast Guard Commendation Medal with Operational Distinguishing Device (two awards), the Coast Guard Achievement Medal and the NATO Medal. Non-military awards include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Gold Medal, the Department of State Superior Honor Award, and the Department of Justice Certificate of Commendation.

Over the course of his career, he has published several law review articles, has lectured widely, an adjunct professor of maritime law at Georgetown University Law Center and the U.S. Defense Institute for International Legal Studies, as well as a visiting lecturer at the World Maritime University in Malmo Sweden and the International Maritime Law Institute in Malta. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Swansea University Institute of International Maritime Law. Rear Admiral Kenney is a member of the bars of the State of California, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the U.S. Supreme Court. He earned his juris doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law and B.A. in Economics from Michigan State University.