Bryan Better portrait
Lecturer Political Science

Oldfather Hall (OLDH) 522
(402) 472-2341
bbettey@unl.edu

Bryan Bettey currently serves as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Nebraska National Guard where he has led a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Civil Support Team, a CBRNE Enhanced Response Force Package and served on a Defense Coordinating Element in Joint Field Office. In 2003, he worked with a team of specialists to locate and excavate suspected WMD sites in Iraq. In 2012, he led a WMD Civil Support Team to identify and render safe a Chlorine gas accident. A past member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Omaha, he brings a depth of experience in Engineering, Homeland Security, Defense Support of Civil Authorities and Strategic, Operational and Tactical Planning in Joint, Interagency and International environments with multiple international experiences in the Republic of Korea, Kuwait and Iraq.

In addition to his more than 12 years of state and federal emergency response experience, he also received a Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Lowell Civil Engineering Department, a Master's degree in International Management at Troy University, and a Master's degree in Homeland Security from the U.S Army Command and General Staff College. He has also studied Advanced Joint Professional Military Education and National Security Policy Studies at the National Defense University Joint Forces Staff College.

Research Interests

  • Weapons of Mass Destruction
  • Terrorism
  • Homeland Defense and Homeland Security
  • Defense Support of Civil Authorities
  • National Security Programs
  • Policy, Security Engineering and Strategic and Operational Planning in Joint, Interagency and International Environments