Scott West began his law enforcement career in 1987, as a criminal investigator with the US Customs Service. In 1990, he transferred to the United States Environmental Protection Agency and spent the next nineteen years as a criminal investigator (Special Agent) with the US EPA, Criminal Investigation Division. He advanced to the position of Special Agent-in-Charge (SAC), ran the Washington (DC) Field Office, San Francisco Area Office, and retired as the SAC of the Seattle Area Office in October 2008. Scott first learned about the work of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) in the mid 1980s.  He was impressed by the no nonsense approach to direct action and intervention and first met Captain Watson in 1990. Since that time, he has provided advice on law enforcement matters for SSCS. Because Scott respected the fact that SSCS ignored politics and took action to enforce environmental laws and regulations, which most governmental organizations fail to do, he retired from the EPA to become much more involved in Sea Shepherd.

He is working as an operative in the SSCS Department of Intelligence and Investigations. He has worked in the Galapagos Islands with SSCS and the local officials setting up task force training for enforcement against poachers. He joined Operation Waltzing Matilda in 2009 and joined the Antarctic campaign working on security and weapons tactics for the MY Steve Irwin. In September 2010, he organized a ground campaign in Taiji, Japan and spent 3 months documenting the daily capture and slaughter of dolphins as seen in the Academy Award winning film The Cove. He returned to Japan in March of 2011, to document the Dall’s porpoise slaughter in Otsuchi. Scott and his crew were caught up in the tsunami and spent the night alone in their cars on a high hillside all night as the city was washed away and burned. They walked out of the debris the following day and returned to the U.S. providing some of the first stories and film footage of the chaos and destruction they were fortunate enough to escape.

Scott also has a background in naval intelligence. He worked in the intelligence field while on active duty in the late 1970’s and again as an Intelligence Officer in the Naval Reserve. Scott has a versatile background. He holds a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and a Master of Divinity (M.Div.). He lives near Seattle with his wife and two daughters.