Commander Denise Kruse will relieve Captain Raymond Chartier as Director of the National Ice Center (NIC), Commanding Officer of the Naval Ice Center (NAVICECEN), and CO-Director of the North American Ice Service (NAIS), Suitland, MD at a ceremony to be held at the U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center in Washington, DC on December 16, 2008.
Captain Chartier has been Director/Commanding Officer since May 23, 2007.
Commander Kruse’s previous assignment was US Naval Central Command /Combined Maritime Force/Fifth Fleet Staff Oceanographer.
NIC is a multi-agency operational center operated jointly by the U.S. Navy (through NAVICECEN), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Coast Guard. The mission of NIC is to provide timely, accurate and relevant snow and ice products and services to meet the strategic, operational and tactical requirements of U.S. national interests across a global area of responsibility. It is the world’s only activity that routinely monitors sea ice conditions over the entire Arctic and Antarctic, North Atlantic, North Pacific, Great Lakes, and other ice-infested waters.