Robert Dowling Named 2018 Distinguished Alumnus at Centralia College

Robert Dowling, the Centralia College 2018 Distinguished Alumnus, has spent his life catching criminals.

“I was either going to be a really great criminal or really great at catching them,” Dowling said Friday at the luncheon where he accepted his award from Centralia College Foundation. “I chose the latter.”

Dowling attended Centralia College for one year in 1979 and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree from Central Washington University and a master’s degree from Washington State University. He worked as a special agent for the Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) for 13 years. Dowling served as the counterintelligence director to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, supported Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and has served as a senior special agent worldwide.

A few hours after receiving his award, Dowling was the keynote speaker at the Centralia College graduation ceremony. Dowling discussed elements of who, what, where, when, why and how that he uses in his career. Then he told the graduates that what they had to determine now was the where, when, why and how.

“This is the part of the speech where I wrap it up and I am supposed to say something brilliant, prophetic, memorable, humorous or all the above,” Dowling said. “So, to the Centralia College graduating class of 2018, with the help of a few props, here goes.”

Dowling began juggling three balls — one represented the graduates’ past, one their present and the third ball made of clay represented their malleable future.

Dowling said in an interview that he believes the reason he was chosen for the award, and to deliver the keynote, was for his most recent professional endeavor. 

Dowling is the founder and president of Tactical Institute, which is staffed by wounded veterans who monitor social media for security threats. The team has detected and prevented 22 public school shootings, he said Friday.

“The 22 that have been not only verified, but confirmed, you can go back and google each one of them,” Dowling said. “It comes up with pictures of the kids with weapons. The intent being there — through interrogation or other physical evidence — that these were, no kidding, 22 ... Sandy Hook (type) events that would have gone down, but didn’t because of my team.”

Dowling’s team consists of wounded veterans, many of whom served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The team legally monitors social media remotely through a highly secure internet portal. He credits the honor from Centralia College Foundation to them.

“I’ve become very good about unwinding the who, what, when, where, why, how,” Dowling said. “Such that now we can make those predictions using the same tradecraft and technology to go fast forward. And that’s what I have been teaching my guys. Let’s go stop these things before they happen. Let’s find a way to predict crime before it occurs. We’re not 100 percent yet, but we are getting really good at what we do.”

Dowling noted in an interview that an average of 22 veterans take their own life each day.

“My commitment is not only to make my veterans’ lives better, but to see how we can reduce that number by basically legally monitoring their life outside of the military,” Dowling said. “We haven’t done that well yet. We should be seeing a dent now in that number of 22 and we’re not. It’s a real problem and it’s taking care of our veterans — that’s the problem. It’s not a gun problem, it’s not a money problem, it’s a caring about those who served our country and give us our freedom problem.” 

Past distinguished alumni who have received this honor include those such as Brian Valentine, former senior vice president of Windows, Microsoft and Orin Smith, former president and chief executive officer of Starbucks and Laura Dowling, Robert Dowling’s sister. 

Many of Dowling’s family members attended the luncheon, along with members of Centralia College Foundation and members of the board of trustees.

“This place was the foundation of my career,” Dowling said at the luncheon. “It taught me what you can do with the next chapter once you complete the first chapter.”

When asked what advice Dowling would give himself when he left Centralia College, he said it was similar to the advice he gave the Centralia College graduates.

“The advice I would have is never quit believing in yourself and just when you think that you’re failing, don’t give up,” Dowling said. “I think the other thing would be don’t be adverse to taking some risks, putting in for jobs that you don’t think you have a chance to get. I’ve always been able to get those jobs even though I didn’t think I had a chance to get them. So if you say ‘I’m not going to get that job,’ well it’s 100 percent that you’re not going to get that job.”