Lieutenant Colonel Reid Sawyer
Expert Bio
Lieutenant Colonel Reid L. Sawyer, the Director and one of the founders of the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, is participating in a fellowship at the FBI for the academic year 2011-2012 . A career intelligence officer, he has served in a variety of special operations assignments, involving operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Africa, and South America. Lieutenant Colonel Sawyer actively advises a number of federal, state and local governmental agencies regarding the terrorist threat and is a member of the Fire Department of New York Terrorism Task Force. He has edited two books on the challenges facing policymakers from terrorism and other transnational threats, Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Readings and Interpretations (3rd edition) and Defeating Terrorism, and has lectured widely regarding the terrorist threat and available responses to the threat. In addition to teaching at the United States Military Academy, Lieutenant Colonel Sawyer also is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in International Relations from the United States Military Academy, a Masters of Public Administration from Columbia University and is presently completing his doctoral dissertation at Columbia University. His research centers on counterterrorism policy and strategy and the effectiveness of national policy instruments in countering terrorist threats.