HEAR OUR INTERVIEW WITH SDSU PROFESSOR JEFFREY MCILLWAIN, AN EXPERT ON TERRORISM AND REFUGEE ISSUES

By Miriam Raftery

November 28, 2015 (San Diego) – In the wake of the Paris terror attacks and the Syrian refugee crisis, our East County Magazine show on KNSJ radio interviewed Jeffrey McIllwain, PhD, an SDSU professor with special expertise on national security, humanitarian and refugee issues who brings a thoughtful, multi-faceted approach to these complex issues.

Hear part 1 of our exclusive interview,  in which Dr. McIllwain discusses options for responding how to balance risk vs. humanitarian concerns in America’s response to terrorism and refugee concerns:  https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/sites/eastcountymagazine.org/files/au...

Dr. McIllwain is co-founder and former co-director of SDSU’s  graduate program in Homeland Security , serves on the faculty at SDSU’s Weber Honors College, and also teaches emergency management at SDSU’s College of Extended Studies.  He is former director of the International Security & Conflict Resolution program, and coordinator of the graduate program in Criminal Justice and Criminology at SDSU. In addition, he serves as an adjunct faculty member in the Operational Studies department at Joint Special Operations University, the war college for U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), and a subject-matter expert on the Islamic State for I Marine Expeditionary Force.

He holds a Ph.D. in criminology at Penn State and a graduate certificate in counter-terrorism from An Garda Siochána College in the Republic of Ireland. He has also studied history of mass human migrations after World War I and World War II, and has done master’s and undergraduate work in military and diplomatic history. He also comes from a family of immigrants, bringing a multi-faceted perspective to some of the most important issues facing our nation today.

In Part II of our interview airing next week, Dr. Illwain will discuss emergency management strategies to disasters such as wildfires and flooding, as well as other catastrophic occurrences. His interest in disaster preparedness and response started in his youth, when his family’s home was destroyed and his mother killed by a jetliner crash in their Cerritos neighborhood.

You can learn more about Dr. McIllwain and  his weekend course on emergency management, which is open to the public and teaches you how to be a survivor, not “zombie chum”, at http://www.ces.sdsu.edu/blog/2015/09/survivor-or-zombie-chum-learn-the-difference-in-fascinating-one-unit-weekend-course-introduction-to-emergency-management/.