Robert K. Dawson (public official)

Robert K. Dawson (born January 22, 1946) was United States Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) from 1985 to 1987.

In June 1985, President of the United States Ronald Reagan nominated Dawson as Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), and, after Senate Confirmation, he held this office from December 1985 to May 1987.

His major effort as Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) was achieving enactment of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986.

In this capacity, he oversaw 1/4 of the United States federal budget, including the budgets of the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, and Energy, NASA, Environmental Protection Agency, Tennessee Valley Authority, the Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works Program, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Smithsonian Institution, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the National Gallery of Art.

In 1997, he founded Dawson & Associates, a lobbying firm specializing in federal water regulation and environmental permitting.