Dr. Sonny Smith is currently the Director of Security for the Texas A&M Health Science Center. Prior to this position he was a Lieutenant with the Texas Office of the Attorney General (2010-2013) where he managed a team of Medicaid Fraud Investigators. Prior to moving to Houston, TX in 2009, Dr. Smith lived in Northern Virginia where he worked as a Program Director for the National Nuclear Security Administration's Office of Global Threat Reduction. He also served as an Adjunct Professor for George Mason University's Department of Public and International Affairs. He received his B.A. in Government from the College of William and Mary (1993) and his M.P.A. (2003) and Ph.D. (2009) in Public Administration and Public Affairs from Virginia Tech's Center for Public Administration and Policy.
Prior to returning to graduate school in 2001, he worked as a Virginia State Trooper and as a Special Agent in the United States Secret Service. In addition to his executive protection and criminal investigation duties he was also the Commonwealth of Virginia Nigerian Fraud Coordinator, the Commonwealth of Virginia Food Stamp Fraud Coordinator, and the Secret Service liaison to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Dr. Smith teaches the Bush School's online graduate courses in Homeland Security and Emergency Management; U.S. Border Security: Policies, Strategies and Issues; Domestic Intelligence Operations: Legalities, Policies and Procedures; Economic Policy Analysis, Public Management, and Research Methods for Homeland Security Studies. His favorite aspect of teaching is the interaction with the students and the exchange of ideas and perspectives on various issues.
