Dimas Chavez of Potomac was honored as one of three Eastern New Mexico University Foundation and Alumni Association’s Outstanding Alumni last month. Chavez (BA 60) distinguished himself over the course of his career at the following organizations: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the U.S. Department of State (DOS) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Chavez served as the employee relations manager at LANL from 1975-80 and as assistant to the director from 1980-83. After his post at LANL, the NSF tapped him to work as a program manager and special assistant to the director from 1983-87.
From the late 1980s to 2000, he held numerous posts at the DOS. First, the DOS appointed Chavez as a branch chief for the Security Countermeasures Program from 1987-89, where he led the implementation of the inaugural overseas Radio-Frequency Shielding Program designed to protect the sensitive, electronic information of overseas U.S. posts. Second, Chavez served as the inaugural branch chief for the Construction Accreditation Program from 1989-97. Third, he held the post as senior security inspector for the Moscow Oversight Team as the lead physical and technical security inspector during the construction of the New Moscow Embassy Compound during the last three years of the 20th century.
In 2000, Chavez transitioned from the DOS to the CIA and served the CIA for the first decade of the 21st century. His posts included senior technical and physical security officer from 2000-03 and director of Marine Security and Liaison Inspection Division from 2003-07. In these roles, he built upon the expertise he developed at DOS by overseeing the technical, security and infrastructural integrity of various, critical overseas facilities essential to U.S. intelligence efforts.
Chavez remains active in retirement and penned his life story in his 2014 autobiography “On My Own,” which is available through Los Alamos National Museum and Amazon.