ECHO Lead David Von Behren reflects on his eventful first year.
October 26, 2022
minute read time
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Public Affairs Manager for the Office of Legacy Management (LM) David Von Behren likes to joke that he started in the dark when he joined LM a year ago this week.
LM Program Director Carmelo Melendez, left, LM Public Affairs Manager David Von Behren, center, and LM Program Analyst Rich Rogers tour the Atomic Legacy Cabin in Grand Junction, Colorado, earlier this year.
“It was fall here so it felt like night when I started at 6 o'clock in the morning,” Von Behren said. Just as he settled into his desk at LM’s Westminster, Colorado office, the eco-friendly building’s design, detecting no motion, kicked in and switched off the lights.
“I’m just sitting alone at my desk in the dark, and I thought, REALLY?!”
The memory prompts a chuckle today, especially because he said that visual couldn’t be further from the truth: he wasn’t alone or in the dark.
“Lots of people approached me and said, ‘Let us help you understand what LM is,’” Von Behren said.
“They were all wise and cautioned me that it takes a while to understand the complexity of LM’s unique mission and the complexity of stewardship.”
Von Behren, a veteran journalist who previously served as the public affairs director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) considers his front row seat to history a privilege.
“I always say that public relations is the ultimate backstage pass, because I've been able to see and do so many things,” he said.
When he was selected to lead the Education, Communication, History, and Outreach (ECHO) Team at LM, he didn’t expect it to open the door to a whole new world of purpose-driven work.
LM ECHO Manager David Von Behren visits with Barbara Michel of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management during a visit to the site of a former uranium mill in Moab, Utah, in September.
“My career has always been at that crossroads of public health and public relations and that's what appealed to me coming to LM, but the work that I did for FNS was much more grassroots.”
The ECHO team’s mission is to communicate information about former nuclear defense sites to a diverse array of stakeholders. Initially, he said, the pivot from one federal agency to another with a dramatically different scope was daunting.
“There is an enormous amount of science to assimilate and a lot of technical details. All of those things were probably the biggest shift for me.”
Despite the pandemic still looming large last fall, David hit the ground running. As flights and LM sites began opening up, he was able to log some serious miles.
“I realized how fortunate it is that I’ve been able to see seven (LM sites),” Von Behren said. “While they all are very different, the focus is consistent across LM; that we approach site management with an eye toward protecting public health and the environment.”
Von Behren ’s first day on the job was Oct. 25, which coincided with the new employee training day this year. Reflecting on the action-packed year that took him from the darkened hallways of a fully remote office to the mountains of Spokane, Washington, and the valleys of Moab, Utah, he reconsiders his initial assessment of LM’s work.
“It was hard to see it at first, but now when I look back, I realize I was right. This is a public health job,” Von Behren said, in reference to grassroots community engagement.
“There is a lot of engagement. It’s just a different focus on long-term stewardship and public health versus immediate public health needs.”
Heading into a post-pandemic era, Von Behren said he can speak the DOE language but isn’t quite fluent.
“I understand so much more now. I still keep my acronym list right next to me, and I have one in my backpack. I always have it with me, because I certainly haven't learned them all.”