top of page
Dr. Charles Russo, 3CIA, 3CIA, IFPC
Dr. Charles M. Russo, 3CI, 3CIA, IFPC
Doctor of Philosophy
Experienced academic leader | PhD Advisor | Cybersecurity | Criminal Justice | Senior Intelligence Analyst (Retired, USIC)
Royse City, Texas
About Charles M. Russo, Ph.D.
A veteran of the US military and a 30-year Intelligence career in the US Intelligence Community. I earned my Ph.D. in Public Safety Leadership with a concentration in Criminal Justice in 2018 and have gone on to a second career in higher education. Having served as an Adjunct Faculty and full-time faculty for a number of public, private, and for-profit universities, I have also served as the Associate Dean of Intelligence Management Programs with National American University, Henley-Putnam School of Strategic Security. I enjoy reading history, philosophy, and current events in my leisure time. Furthermore, I am an aficionado of cigars and single-malt scotch.
My Story
In late 2023 I embarked on a new career, serving as a Juvenile Probation Officer with the Rockwall County, Texas Juvenile Services. In October 2022, I started with ThriveDX a Cybersecurity company, teaching college level Boot camps. I retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on 16 October 2016, taking a teaching assignment with the State University of New York at Canton until 2018, at which time I reentered the US Intelligence Community, work as a private contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency, Counter-Terrorism Center in McLean Virginia. However, let us go back to when I enlisted into the United States Navy in 1990 and served a total of 20 years between active duty and reserves, attaining the rank of Petty Officer First Class (E-6) a non-Commissioned Officer in Intelligence. Early in my active duty career, I served a combat tour onboard the Battleship Wisconsin (BB-64) during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm (1990-91). My military specialty was in Naval Intelligence. Having attended and graduated the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center, my first intelligence duty station was Naval Criminal Investigative Services’ (NCIS) Multi-Threat Analysis Center (formerly the Anti-Terrorist Alert Center) as a Counter-Terrorism and Counter-Intelligence Analyst in Washington DC.
Follow-on assignments included Commander, Sea Control Wing - Pacific Fleet in San Diego California as an Intelligence Analyst, Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection Officer as well as Special Security Officer. My military intelligence experiences included all-source intelligence and HUMINT (Human Intelligence). I also served as a Naval Reservist after the attacks upon the United States working at the FBI’s National Infrastructure Protection Center, then the Defense Intelligence Agency's - Military Infrastructure Office, J-2’s Afghanistan Crisis Cell (Joint Chiefs of Staff), and Joint Intelligence Task Force - Combating Terrorism due to the events of September 11th, 2001. I had the distinguished opportunity to serve as a Defense Contractor within the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and several other partners within the Intelligence Community. In 2010, I began the newest adventure with the FBI as an Intelligence Analyst working in Collection Management and White-Collar Crime matters in Sacramento
California and the Intelligence Unit of the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center in Northern Virginia at the Laboratory Division. Since joining the Bureau, I served temporary duty as a Field counselor at the FBI Academy's Intelligence Basic Course in 2014. As of October 2016, he retired from government service in the US Intelligence Community and FBI to teach full-time. In 2018 to 2019, I worked as a contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency in Collection Management within the Counter-Terrorism Center, Gulf Horn Department.
Education has been important to me, but only after I was in my 30’s. Upon graduating high school back in the late 1980s, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life; I attended a local junior college (2 years) with little motivation or direction. My education did not pick back up until after 2001, when I started an Associate of Sciences' (AS) degree in Criminal Justice, thinking I wanted to get into law enforcement as a career outside the military. After receiving the AS in 2003, I went on to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Intelligence Studies with a concentration in Terrorism from American Military University (2008). In 2010, I pursued a Master of Arts in National Security Studies with a focus in Collection, finishing in mid-2012. Currently, I completed a Ph.D. in Public Safety Leadership with a concentration in Criminal Justice from Capella University in August 2018.
Over the years, the unique exposures to the world and higher education not only heightened my interest in academic and scholarly pursuits but also influenced efforts to assist others in their journeys. Education, in any form, is an amazing process of exploration, reflection, and confirmation. I enjoy providing students with guidance through this process, so they achieve their overall academic goals.
bottom of page