Brian Jenkins

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Brian Jenkins

Brian Michael Jenkins, born in 1942 in Chicago, is a leading Terrorologist who for most of his career has been based at the RAND Corporation where he developed one of the earliest terrorism research programmes.

Career

In the army

Jenkins was commissioned in the infantry at the age of 19, and became a paratrooper and ultimately a captain in the Green Berets. Whilst in the army studied at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala, [1] and was involved in the U.S. interventions in the Dominican Republic and later Vietnam. [2] During his first tour of Vietnam (1966-67) he recruited Vietnamese guerrilla forces to fight the Vietcong. [3]

He returned to Vietnam on a special assignment in 1968 to serve as a member of the Long Range Planning Task Group as a civilian advisor to General Creighton Abrams, commander of military operations in South East Asia. [4] He remained with the Group until the end of 1969 and returned to Vietnam on third "special assignment" in 1971. [5] Between these tours he worked at the RAND Corporation. [6]

Terrorism expert

Jenkins joined the RAND Corporation full time as a terrorism and counter-insurgency expert in 1972. He was one of the earliest terrorologists and according to Alex Schmid, in the early 1970s he was one of "only a handful of academic researchers who took ‘terrorism’ seriously" [7] Jenkins started a RAND terrorism research programme in 1972 and developed a database of terrorism incidents which later became the RAND Terrorism Chronology Database [8] but which was originally a file of 3” x 5” cards. [9]

After the Lod Airport and Munich Olympics massacres, the Nixon administration asked Jenkins to help set up a Cabinet-level committee to deal with the terrorism threat. He prepared a background report for Congress and was called to testify. [10] In 1978 he attended an anti terrorism conference in Florence, Italy organised by the Italian foreign affairs journal Affari Esteri Review, and the London based International Press Institute. [11] Jenkins told the conference that acts of terrorism are committed to attract media attention to the terrorists' cause. The conference led to public criticism of journalists and news organisations by the British Home Office Minister and former journalist John Harris, and a suggestion by Robert Mark, a former head of Scotland Yard, that the press and the police develop a “cooperation agreement” on their coverage of terrorism. [12]

During the 1980s Jenkins maintained a Security and Subnational Conflict Group, which in addition to maintaining the terrorism database, sponsored conferences and seminars, published articles and monographs dealing with terrorism and counterinsurgency, and provided experts to the media. [13] Jenkin's trips to Washington became more frequent. He also spent time with CIA Director William Casey, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and other administration advisors. [14]

As an important advisor in the construction of a counterinsurgency program in El Salvador in the early 1980s, Jenkins recommended that traditional methods be supplemented by the use of propaganda to discredit insurgents as "terrorists." [15] In another co-authored report in 1984, Jenkins recommended that the U.S. engage in low-intensity warfare against Nicaragua through a proxy army, actions that fall within Jenkins's own definition of state sponsored terrorism. [16]

In 1983 he served as an advisor to the Long Commission, convened to examine the circumstances and response to the bombing of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Lebanon. In 1984, he assisted the Inman Panel in looking at the security of American diplomatic facilities abroad and in 1985-86, he served as a member of the Committee of the Embassy of the Future, which established new guidelines for the construction of U.S. diplomatic posts. In 1989, he served as an advisor to the national commission established to review terrorist threats following the bombing of PanAm 103. [17]

That year Jenkins left RAND to join the corporate security firm Kroll Associates. [18] Whilst at Kroll Jenkins was involved in the New Jersey-New York Port Authority following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre, and in 1996 was appointed by Bill Clinton to be a member of the White House Commission on Aviation Safety and Security. [19]

Jenkins was Deputy Chairman at Kroll until 1998 when he rejoined RAND within months of his successor Bruce Hoffman. [20] From 1999-2000, he served as an advisor to the National Commission on Terrorism and since 2000, he has served as a member of the U.S. Comptroller General's Advisory Board. Jenkins is also the Director of the National Transportation Security Center at the Mineta Transportation Institute, and since 1997 has directed the institute's continuing research on protecting surface transportation against terrorist attacks. [21]

Resources

References

  1. ↑ Greg Krikorian, ‘Calmly taking terror’s measure’, Las Angeles Times, 31 January 2008
  2. ↑ Biography from the promotional website for Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (accessed 13 November 2008)
  3. ↑ Greg Krikorian, ‘Calmly taking terror’s measure’, Las Angeles Times, 31 January 2008
  4. ↑ Greg Krikorian, ‘Calmly taking terror’s measure’, Las Angeles Times, 31 January 2008; Biography from the promotional website for Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (accessed 13 November 2008)
  5. ↑ Biography from the promotional website for Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (accessed 13 November 2008)
  6. ↑ Greg Krikorian, ‘Calmly taking terror’s measure’, Las Angeles Times, 31 January 2008
  7. ↑ Speech given by Professor Alex P. Schmid on the occasion of Paul’s retrial. Accessed from URL <http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~cstpv/about/staffprofiles/pwretiral101007.pdf> on 28 June 2008, 13:47:59
  8. ↑ RAND Corporation News Release, 'BRUCE HOFFMAN TO HEAD RAND’S WASHINGTON OFFICE. LEADING TERRORISM EXPERT RETURNS AS THINK TANK BEEFS UP PROGRAM. ALSO BACK AT RAND: BRIAN JENKINS', 31 August 1998
  9. ↑ Brian K. Houghton, 'Terrorism Knowledge Base: A Eulogy (2004-2008)', Perspectives on Terrorism Volume II, Issue 7
  10. ↑ Biography from the promotional website for Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (accessed 13 November 2008)
  11. ↑ ‘Appeal to press over terrorism’, The Times, 19 June 1978; pg. 4; Issue 60331; col B
  12. ↑ ‘Appeal to press over terrorism’, The Times, 19 June 1978; pg. 4; Issue 60331; col B
  13. ↑ see Extract on the RAND Corporation from Edward S. Herman and Gerry O'Sullivan, The "Terrorism" Industry: The Experts and Institutions That Shape Our View of Terror ( New York: Pantheon, 1989)
  14. ↑ Greg Krikorian, ‘Calmly taking terror’s measure’, Las Angeles Times, 31 January 2008
  15. ↑ see Richard A, White, The Morass (New York: Harper & Row. 1984), pp. 88-94
  16. ↑ see Extract from Edward S. Herman and Gerry O'Sullivan, The "Terrorism" Industry: The Experts and Institutions That Shape Our View of Terror ( New York: Pantheon, 1989)
  17. ↑ Biography from the promotional website for Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (accessed 13 November 2008)
  18. ↑ RAND Corporation News Release, 'BRUCE HOFFMAN TO HEAD RAND’S WASHINGTON OFFICE. LEADING TERRORISM EXPERT RETURNS AS THINK TANK BEEFS UP PROGRAM. ALSO BACK AT RAND: BRIAN JENKINS', 31 August 1998
  19. ↑ Biography from the promotional website for Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (accessed 13 November 2008)
  20. ↑ RAND Corporation News Release, 'BRUCE HOFFMAN TO HEAD RAND’S WASHINGTON OFFICE. LEADING TERRORISM EXPERT RETURNS AS THINK TANK BEEFS UP PROGRAM. ALSO BACK AT RAND: BRIAN JENKINS', 31 August 1998
  21. ↑ Biography from the promotional website for Will Terrorists Go Nuclear? (accessed 13 November 2008)
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