AIR STATION BARBERS POINT

Captain Murphy assumes command having most recently been assigned as Chief of the Coast Guard’s Office of Search and Rescue at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In this role he was responsible for oversight of the nation’s Search and Rescue System, providing guidance to federal agencies and states, leading the National Search and Rescue Committee, and representing the United States at international aeronautical and maritime response organizations.

A 2002 graduate of Naval Flight School in Pensacola, Florida, Captain Murphy has earned designations as an Instructor Pilot, Flight Examiner, and Alaska Qualified Aircraft Commander. His aviation assignments include Air Station Elizabeth City, North Carolina, Sector San Diego, California, Air Station Sitka, Alaska as Operations Officer, and Air Station Clearwater, Florida as Executive Officer. Captain Murphy also completed tours of duty as a Student Engineer on the USCG Cutter MUNRO in Alameda, California and as a Mathematics Instructor at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut. At the Academy, he enjoyed serving as a Coastal Sail Training Leadership Instructor and advisor to the class of 2012.

Captain Murphy holds a Master of Science in Operations Research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a member of the United States Coast Guard Academy’s class of 1999. His personal decorations include the Coast Guard Meritorious Service Medal with one gold star, the Coast Guard Commendation Medal with two gold stars, and the Coast Guard Achievement Medal with three gold stars.

CDR Barker proudly serves as the Executive Officer having most recently served as a Federal Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He also recently served as an Officer Personnel Management (OPM) Branch Chief where he was responsible for all O-5 and below officer assignments. He also oversaw officer selection panels that included command screening, cyber specialty selection, and flight training selection.

His previous assignments include Aviation Assignment Officer at OPM, Assistant Operations Officer at Air Station Barbers Point, MH-65 Instructor Pilot and Flight Examiner at the Coast Guard’s Aviation Training Center, Aircraft Commander at Air Station Corpus Christi, and Deck Watch Officer aboard the Coast Guard Cutter LEGARE.

A 2006 graduate from the Coast Guard Academy with a B.S. in Government, he finished Naval Flight Training in 2010 and received his master’s degree in Executive Leadership from Liberty University in 2016. He completed Joint Professional Military Education through Air University in 2018 and is an alumni of the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies where he was a member of the inaugural Advanced Maritime Security Cooperation course with over 90 international Fellows.

CDR Barker’s military awards include the Meritorious Service Medal, two Commendation Medals, the Humanitarian Service Medal, and the Coast Guard Achievement Medal. He was selected in 2017 as the Fleet-Wide Instructor Pilot of the Year across all airframes.