Professor Spotlight

Dr. Chris Bonner / Security Studies and International Affairs

Madison Burstiner Copy Editor

When entering college, students are told again and again that their professors are one of the best resources for success available to them. Despite this, students occasionally struggle to have conversations with their instructors, ask for their insight or extra help, or discuss their career aspirations with people who know the industry best.

Professor Spotlight, a new series by The Avion, seeks to spotlight a new professor each issue, from all of the various disciplines and industries offered here at ERAU. By interviewing professors, we hope to learn and share with the ERAU community how their professors got to where they are, and how students can set themselves up for success in their respective industries. We also hope to break down barriers between students and their instructors, illustrating how these subject matter experts can be a priceless resource in helping students to take their first steps into their careers.

For the first entry in this series, The Avion’s Copy Editor Madison Burstiner sat down with Dr. Chris Bonner, Associate Professor of Security Studies and International Affairs to talk about his path towards joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Professor Bonner comes from a family with an incredible legacy of service to the United States, beginning with his grandfather, a police officer. His father was an FBI agent, and the inspiration for Bonner’s career.

This is the question that Dr. Chris Bonner, Associate Professor of EmbryRiddle’s Security Studies and International Affairs (SSIA) department, has asked countless students. Innumerable students, myself included, have wandered into his office hours for advice and direction about their careers. A career FBI agent with nearly thirty years of service to his name, Professor Bonner is one of the SSIA department’s most iconic professorsfor good reason.

Professor Bonner is known for entertaining students in his classes with incredible stories of his encounters while in the FBI, some stories so fantastic they are reminiscent of a TV crime drama or a blockbuster superhero flick. But though Bonner jokes of his stories that “some of them are true!”, the tales illustrate his extensive experience in federal law enforcement and intelligence, a career that many ERAU students dream about.

Of his father, Bonner notes, “I always told people if I could have been half the man that he was, I would consider myself a 100% success.”

And Professor Bonner went on to have one of his children, his son, join the Marine Corps. In an experience unlikely to be had by any other parent and child, Bonner was actually able to meet up with his son while they were both deployed to Iraq during the same time period, Bonner for the FBI and his son for the Marines (see photo on page 15).

With a family legacy like that, it is no wonder that Professor Bonner had the career he did. While with the FBI, Bonner gained investigative experience in white collar, violent and property crime, narcotics, intelligence, and counter terrorism.

Some highlights of his career include his coordination of the trial preparation of Saddam Hussein, the former President of Iraq that was convicted for crimes against humanity, including genocide. Bonner notes that this trial experience, which was unlike any other criminal trial he had participated in before, was unbelievable; and perhaps the pinnacle of his career.

Professor Bonner was a large part of history in this way- Saddam Hussein was tried and convicted by the Iraqi people for his crimes against them, some of which were simply unspeakable.

Of this experience, Professor Bonner said, “You walk in there, and all of a sudden you just stop, and catch your breath. And right in front of you, is Saddam Hussein. Which I considered one of the worst despots of the 20th century. And he’s sitting there, ten feet away from you… It’s as if Hitler was captured alive and we put him on trial… I was exposed to things that I thought that no human being would ever do to another human being.”

The trial of Saddam Hussein, though a career highlight, was no light-hearted affair. It is an example of the weight this career carries, of the mental and emotional hardship that can be experienced on any given day in this field.

Professor Bonner’s connection with Embry-Riddle goes deeper than his years as a professor. After the 9/11 attacks, counter terrorism became the number one priority of the FBI. On the day of the attacks, Professor Bonner was working in the Jacksonville FBI Field Office. An order came from headquarters notifying FBI Jacksonville that a student of the name of one of the 9/11 hijackers is enrolled at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Bonner received orders to find out if this was true, without fail. After a brief investigation, it was discovered that the ERAU student and the hijacker were not the same person, and simply shared a common name. Miraculously, Professor Bonner was able to locate the student by close of business that same day, and confirm the student was a totally different individual with no connection to the hijackings. But his work did not end there.

The weeks after 9/11 were not easy for any American, but those in the FBI were delegated a daunting task: investigating each tip they were given. Professor Bonner was no exception to this order, he and colleagues spent weeks chasing post 9/11 tips. But there was an unforeseen consequence of the inaccurate connection between EmbryRiddle and the hijackings. EmbryRiddle gained the reputation of the “place where they train terrorists.”

Professor Bonner was instrumental in combating this horrifying rumor, and restoring the reputation of the community we all call home. During these weeks he was not only busy clearing ERAU’s name, but defending the Daytona Beach Muslim community. The 9/11 attacks hurt every American, including Muslim Americans. Islamophobia ran rampant after 9/11, and Professor Bonner was no stranger to dealing with the direct consequences. When he would receive tips and calls to investigate local Muslim communities and even places of worship, Bonner was headstrong in upholding every Americans first and fourth amendment rights, a hard thing to do immediately following the deadliest attack on American soil.

He explains that “It’s simple. Are you gonna be on the right side or are you gonna be on the wrong side of things? Learn what the right side is and stay with it, stay true to your values.”

And Professor Bonner’s values, he explains, start with the constitution. A self described constitutionalist, Professor Bonner carried a pocket constitution with him for much of his career to remind himself of the limits of his power. “That was kinda my guiding light,” says Bonner fondly, “my guiding principle- the constitution of the United States.”

There is much more to be said about Professor Bonner’s extensive and impressive career, including an insane story of a day that began at 7 a.m., ended at 3 a.m., and consisted of a fight with and arrest of a fugitive (sans backup), visiting a husband accused of extortion, interviewing an inmate about his black market hussle, and responding to a bank robbery with a bomb discovered on scene that required the deployment of two separate bomb squads. (For those curious, this 20 hour day took place on Oct. 6, 1996, and was Bonner’s most memorable day in the FBI.) At the end of the day, Bonner’s favorite part of the FBI was just that: being in the FBI.

He remembers fondly, “I couldn’t wait to go to work the next day…I’m doing things that a lot of people could only imagine.” He also credits much of his success to his beloved wife, who he says was a constant pillar of support.

As students, we understand better than anyone the yearn for a job that is personally and professionally fulfilling, a job that challenges and excites us, and makes us into better people. Many of us are here at ERAU pursuing those careers.

If there is anything to be taken from this series, it is that the professors we have on campus are a priceless resource. And they want to help you. As Bonner says frequently, he truly enjoys mentoring students and providing career counseling.

Of his students, Bonner says, “They’re successful. That means I was successful. And that’s what makes me happiest.”

And to that end, Professor Bonner offers these words of advice: Identify your passion, your interests. What do you want to be when you grow up? Be prepared for some disappointment, not everyone gets selected.

Have plan B, C, D, through E in your back pocket. Ethics, ethics, and ethics. Be true to yourself, be true to your values. Find out what you want to do, what you want to be, and just go, go, go for it. Adapt and conquer!