Brian Fonseca

Brian Fonseca serves as the Director of the Jack Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies at Florida International University’s Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. He leads the institute's Program in National Security Studies, the Intelligence Community Center of Excellence, Department of State’s Diplomacy Lab, and the FIU-SOUTHCOM Academic Partnership. Since 2010, Brian has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Green School, teaching courses on social, political, and security dynamics in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Prior to joining the Institute for Public Policy, Brian held various leadership roles, to include Director Operations at FIU’s Applied Research Center and Senior Research Manager for Socio-Cultural Analysis in the Joint Intelligence Operations Center at United States Southern Command. As the Senior Research Manager for Socio-Cultural Analysis, Brian led SOUTHCOM's research on the social and cultural dimensions of Latin American and Caribbean populations, focusing on issues such as poverty, health, education, violence, and social and ethnic divisions. Brian has authored numerous classified and academic publications on a wide range of Latin American and Caribbean topics, and has conducted extensive field research throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Brian holds a Master’s Degree in International Business and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from FIU. He has attended Sichuan University in China, National Defense University in Washington D.C., and is currently working towards his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Miami. From 1997 to 2004, he served in the United States Marine Corps and facilitated the training of foreign military forces in both hostile theaters and during peacetime operations.