Washington – Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge has announced the appointment of Frank Cilluffo, GW’s associate vice president for Homeland Security, to the national Homeland Security Advisory Council. The panel of industry, academic and state and local government officials, including emergency responders, advises the Homeland Security secretary on a range of homeland security issues. Cilluffo joins Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Southwest Airlines founder and Executive Chairman Herb Kelleher as newly appointed members of the Council.

The three “bring a vast amount of experience from government, academia and the private sector to the Homeland Security Advisory Council,” said Secretary Ridge in a statement.

“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to continue to serve Secretary Ridge in his national efforts to secure the homeland from terrorism,” said Cilluffo. “Universities can and should play an important role in these efforts. GW recognizes this responsibility and stands ready to marshal and mobilize its vast resources to meet this national imperative.”

Cilluffo will be a familiar face on the panel. Before coming to GW in May 2003, he served as special assistant to President Bush for homeland security and was executive director of a presidential panel that was a precursor to the current Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Prior to his White House appointment, Cilluffo spent eight years in senior policy positions with the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank. At CSIS, he chaired or directed numerous committees and task forces on homeland defense, counterterrorism, transnational crime, and information warfare and information assurance.

Cilluffo has testified before the United States Congress on a number of occasions and has been a regular guest on major television and radio networks. In addition to publishing extensively in professional journals, magazines and newspapers worldwide, Cilluffo is co-author and editor of Combating Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Terrorism: A Comprehensive Strategy (2001); Cyber Threats and Information Security: Meeting the 21st Century Challenge (2001); Russian Organized Crime & Corruption: Putin's Challenge (2000); Cybercrime, Cyberterrorism, Cyberwarfare (1998); Russian Organized Crime (1997); and Global Organized Crime: The New Empire of Evil (1994).

For more information on all of GW’s homeland security experts and programs, please visit: www.homelandsecurity.gwu.edu or call 202-994-2437

Posted: December 18, 2003