 His last assignment, in 2006, was as the Presidentially-appointed Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.As the founding Assistant Secretary of this office, he implemented new federal legislation that established the office of the ASPR as the principal leader for all federal public health and medical response activities to deliberate or natural disasters in the U.S.The legislation established a federal role in the development and utilization of human and other material assets in preparedness and response, and systems for deploying and managing these assets in emergency situations.