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Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Spotlight on America: Charity pays off mortgage for family of fallen NYPD officer

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Bipartisianship

Comments: 0

Anatasios-Tsakos

A charity dedicated to honoring military and first responders who make "the supreme sacrifice" for America will pay off the mortgage on the home of a fallen New York Police Department officer.

The family of NYPD officer Anastasios Tsakos will never have to pay the mortgage on their East Northport home ever again, according to Tunnel to Towers CEO Frank Siller.

Tsakos, a 14-year veteran of the police department, was struck and killed on April 27 while assisting officers at the scene of an earlier crash on the Long Island Expressway in Queens.

The 43-year-old who was hailed a humble public servant, doting father and a "perfect picture of the American dream" at his funeral, is survived by his wife, Irene, and their two children, a 6-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son.

After his death, Irene was worried about being able to keep her family in the home, which they purchased last year, according to Tsakos’ brother, Teddy.

"She told me what are we going to do now? Am I going to have to move again?" Teddy Tsakos said in a statement.

Two hours later, Siller called to tell them not to worry and that "the kids are going to grow up in this house," Teddy Tsakos said.

The Tunnel to Towers Fallen First Responder Home Program relieves some financial responsibilities placed on families of fallen law enforcement officers by paying off their mortgages.

The foundation has spent over $250 million to honor and support our first responders, veterans and their families for the past two decades.

Like the surrounding community, Siller deemed Anastasios Tsakos a hero.

"We are devastated by this tragic loss. Officer Tsakos was one of our city’s heroes who went to work to keep us and our city safe and he did not make it home to his wife and children." Siller said.

Anastasios Tsakos was struck around 2 a.m. while standing next to his police car. The car that hit Tsakos was driven by a woman who police say was intoxicated and driving with a suspended license. She fled, but was arrested a short time later.

As a result, a family "woke up to the unimaginable news that they would never see their husband and father again," Siller added.

Tsakos, raised in Greece and New York City, was a member of the department’s elite highway unit and was proud of his work taking drunk and reckless drivers off the streets, NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said.

With the department curbing overtime, he’d go to court to testify on his own time because he hated seeing people get away with wrongdoing, Shea said.

The police commissioner posthumously promoted Tsakos, known to friends as Taso, to detective first grade and presented a gold detective shield to his wife.

Photo: NYPD Highway Officer Anastasios Tsakos (Tsakos Family/Tunnel to Towers Foundation works)

Link: https://www.foxnews.com/us/tunnel-to-towers-fallen-nypd-officer

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