About the Author

Dr. Michael W. Collier is a retired Associate Professor of Homeland Security at Eastern Kentucky University (EKU), Richmond, Kentucky. In his decade at EKU, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in critical thinking, intelligence studies, policy and legal analysis, ethics, strategic planning, leadership, and management. He was also the EKU Homeland Security Program Coordinator and the Co-Director and Principal Investigator for the Bluegrass State Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence, where EKU was the lead university of a federally funded multi-school consortium with a goal of preparing the next generation of national security and intelligence professionals. At EKU, he won multiple University Critical-Thinking Teacher-of-the-Year Awards, in addition to the 2017 Distinguished Faculty Award in the EKU College of Justice & Safety.

Before arriving at EKU, Dr. Collier spent a decade at Florida International University (FIU), Miami, Florida, first as a doctoral student and later as the Director of Research and Academic Programs at FIU’s renowned Latin American and Caribbean Center, a Title VI federally funded language and area studies center. At FIU, he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in research methodology and Latin American and Caribbean security and politics.

In a two-decade first career as a U.S. Coast Guard officer, Dr. Collier, with almost 10 years of sea duty, was a specialist in deep-water cutter operations and training and a sub-specialist in law enforcement and military intelligence. He served senior officer tours as Coast Guard and Police Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia; Commanding Officer, USCGC Thetis (WMEC 910) homeported in Key West, Florida; and Deputy Director of Intelligence (J2A), Joint Interagency Task Force East (later South) in Key West, Florida. He retired from the U.S. Coast Guard as a Commander in 1996.

Dr. Collier holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from FIU (2000), with a major in Foreign Policy and Security Studies and specializations in Comparative Politics and Research Methodology; an M.S. of Strategic Intelligence from the U.S. Defense Intelligence College (1986) (now National Intelligence University), Washington D.C., with concentrations in Soviet Studies and Latin American Studies; and a B.S. from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy (1974), New London, Connecticut, with concentrations in Management and Economics. His previous books include Political Corruption in the Caribbean Basin, Constructing a Theory to Combat Corruption (Routledge, 2005), Terrorism Preparedness in Florida, Improved Since 9/11, But Far From Ready (FIU, 2005, with Coleen Vincent), Security Analysis, A Critical-Thinking Approach (EKU, 2023), and Critical Belief Analysis for Security Studies (EKU, 2024, with Barnet Feingold). He also published numerous professional and scholarly articles and made scores of professional and scholarly presentations. Originally from Higginsville, Missouri, he now lives in Williamsburg, Virginia.