Tom Maertens
Dealing effectively with the threat posed by terrorism is the defining issue confronting the American military, the Department of Homeland Security and, to a significant degree, local law enforcement. The nature of that threat continues to evolve, requiring flexible, adaptive responses to keep the American people safe.
To provide a better understanding of the danger terrorism poses, Cook County Higher Education presents a two-hour lecture, Terrorism 2012: The nature of the threat by a visiting expert.
Tom Maertens, in addition to being an avid North Shore fisherman, is a career Foreign Service officer who served in the White House as National Security Council director for nonproliferation and homeland security in the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. At the time of the 9/11 attacks, he was serving as deputy coordinator for counterterrorism at the U.S. State Department.
During his Foreign Service career, in addition to Washington, D.C., Maertens also served in Russia after the breakup, Ethiopia, Austria, Colombia and Panama. He retired in 2002 and returned to Mankato, his hometown.
Maertens serves on the graduate faculty at Minnesota
State University Mankato.
On Wednesday, Sept. 5, Maertens will inaugurate a new series of occasional “Visiting Professor” lectures at Higher Education’s North Shore Campus with his talk on terrorism. Maertens will speak from 5 to 7 p.m. Cost to attend the lecture is $15, payable at the door. To register for the terrorism talk, call Higher Ed at 387-3411 or email highered@northshorecampus.org.
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