Brian Michael Jenkins (born 1942) is an American expert on

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

and transportation security. During his nearly four decades of analysis, Jenkins has advised governments, private corporations, the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, and the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

on terrorist threats.

Biography

Jenkins was born in 1942 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. He joined the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

at 19. He served with the

7th Special Forces Group The 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (7th SFG) (A) is an operational unit of the United States Army Special Forces activated on 20 May 1960. It was reorganized from the 77th Special Forces Group, which was also stationed at Fort Bragg, North ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

and with the

5th Special Forces Group The 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (5th SFG (A)) is one of the most decorated active duty Special Forces (United States Army), United States Army Special Forces groups in the U.S. armed forces. The 5th SFG (A) saw extensive action in the Vi ...

in Vietnam. He subsequently served as a civilian with the Long Range Planning Task Group advising General

Creighton Abrams Creighton Williams Abrams Jr. (September 15, 1914 – September 4, 1974) was a United States Army general who commanded military operations in the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972, which saw United States troop strength in South Vietnam reduce ...

, commander of military operations in Vietnam. He was featured in the 1980 documentary about the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War. From 1989 to 1998, Jenkins was deputy chairman of security firm Kroll Associates. He currently serves as Senior Advisor to the President of the

RAND Corporation The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financ ...

and Director of the Mineta Transportation Institute's Transportation Security Center. He also served as a member of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security, 1996–1997 and as an advisor to the National Commission on Terrorism, 2000. He has served as an advisor to the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other natio ...

, the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

, the

Department of Energy A Ministry of Energy or Department of Energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-relat ...

, the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began oper ...

, and other government agencies. Jenkins is the author of many books, including '' Unconquerable Nation'' (2006) and ''Will Terrorists Go Nuclear?'' (2008).

Quotes

* "Terrorism is theater" (1974) * "Terrorists want a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead" (1975)

References

External links

Biography on RAND
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Brian Michael University of California, Los Angeles alumni American male non-fiction writers 1942 births Living people