Course Catalogue

6901 Strategic Thought
Strategy is core to the art of the national security professional, but what does strategy exactly mean in the 21st century? Is the nature of war becoming more complex? What is the appropriate relationship between strategy and policy? What strategic changes will the future hold? A significant challenge for modern defense planners is that they must anticipate threats in an era of uncertainty and against enemies for which accessible and detailed evidence is crucially deficient. This course will explore this conundrum by examining the theory of war and warfare using thinkers like Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, Lawrence, Mao, Galula, van Creveld, Kaldor, and Smith, and Liang and Xiangsui. Students will examine how the theory and practice of strategy interact in case studies such as the Peloponnesian War, the American Revolution, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, and the Lebanon War of 2006. This course seeks to equip students with conceptual tools to forge effective strategy for the post 9-11 security environment. 3 credits

6902 Force and Statecraft
This course examines the role military power has historically played in shaping cooperation, competition and conflict among nation-states. It examines the interrelationship between military and nonmilitary instruments of power. Students will explore different models of the international system and basic tenets of strategic thought. After reviewing the structure of the US national security decision-making process and America's post-World War II national strategy, the course will conclude with an examination of nuclear, conventional and low-intensity conflict and strategy. 3 credits

6903 The Origins of Conflict and War
The existence of war is often thought to be synonymous with the existence of man. Traditional conceptions of war involve great power militaries engaging in hostilities over the ownership of physical territory. In the 21st century, as we consider the dominant role of non-state actors engaging in conflict over identity and ideology, we must explore whether this indicates a change in war’s origins. Through multiple levels of analysis, this course will arm students with an interdisciplinary approach to examining and identifying the origins and causes of armed conflict and war. Further, it will provide students with the theoretical framework necessary to recognize and address the strategic challenges facing political, military, economic, and diplomatic actors in today’s international security environment. Through a combination of historical study and theoretical analysis, this course will ultimately provide students with a concrete understanding of why war occurs, while illuminating possible strategies for future conflict prevention and peaceful resolution. 3 credits

6904 Warriors of the Mind: Strategic Influence in the 21st Century
Modern war is fought on the plain of ideas as much as on the physical battlefield, and the best weapons may not fire bullets but stem from the power of influence. This course explores the dimensions of this emerging battle space and hones strategic thinking. Specifically, it will expose students to a comprehensive and strategic framework for understanding the advantages, limitations, and challenges of strategic influence. It will equip them with the requisite tools to understand, assess, and influence target audiences. The course will draw on unorthodox case studies-both historical and contemporary-from the military and private sector. Case studies include the 2006 Lebanon War, Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign, Afghan Idol, eBay’s foray into China, and the movie “The Dark Knight” viral marketing campaign. These cases will illustrate core principles of influence and demonstrate how future strategists must become impressionists if they seek to win conflicts dominated by ideology, religion, and ethnic strife. 3 credits

6905 The Information and Cyber Revolutions
The technological innovations of recent decades are likely to have a profound impact on the conduct of war and on global security. The ongoing Information and Communications Revolutions have brought about numerous challenges like cyberwar, cyberterrorism, and cybercrime. While most of these terms are widely used, proper nomenclatures and taxonomies are still being debated amongst academics and security practitioners. More importantly  because the Information Revolution’s direct consequences and byproducts are so extraordinarily fast paced, broad, and profound  there is still much work to be done in determining how these technological transformations will contribute to paradigmatic changes in human experience and in the conduct of warfare. This course will focus on many of these topics by identifying the underlying characteristics of the ongoing technological revolutions, exploring their various security implications, examining the politically relevant international actors who are leveraging these technologies, understanding cybervulnerabilities, and arriving to a sophisticated understanding on how the nexus between information and cyberdomain has become a strategic point of convergence influencing the origin, conduct, and outcome of 21st century conflict.
3 credits

6906 US Foreign Policy
This course sets policy context for prosecution of war on terrorism, by placing current problems in the larger setting of persisting themes in US foreign policy. It examines foreign policy challenges in critical regions, considers linkages between terrorist organizations around the globe, and relates US responses to national interests, resources, domestic politics, ideology and agencies. The course addresses the challenges of coalition-building and alliance-cohesion, costs, risks of military interventions, and the problems of nation-building and reconstruction. 3 credits

6907 Military Power and the International System
This course begins with the development of the modern nation-state system and the different concepts of national, international and global security. In addition, it offers insight into political, technological, social and organizational factors transforming the military instrument of power. The major section focuses on the evolving role military power has historically played in shaping cooperation, competition and conflict in the international system. Students will examine the interaction of political and military strategies of Great Powers shaping European/Western history over several subsequent epochs from the Middle Ages to the Post Cold War era. The course will conclude with a discussion of current international security policies and doctrines, possible future structures of the international system, and the transformation of war. This course prepares students to understand the evolution of the modern nation state system and the role that military force has played in shaping it. 2 credits

6908 Strategic Scenarios for Post-Industrial Futures
Our generation believes that it is “post-industrial” with unique, complex and surprising security problems. This course examines these claims and therefore is about strategic management for discontinuous, as opposed to smoothly evolving, change. We examine innovative methods of futures analysis, including scenario construction, and presents some ideas for utilization and adaptation of ideas such as net assessment, Project Horizon, alternative history, wicked problems, opposed-systems design, Black Swans, the Innovator’s Dilemma, the Art of the Long View, Sources of Power, Why Smart Executives Fail, and the Psychology of Intelligence Analysis. 2 credits

6909 Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction
The 9/11 Commission warned that “the greatest danger of another catastrophic attack in the United States will materialize if the world’s most dangerous terrorists acquire the world’s most dangerous weapons.” Also, the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism concluded “unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency, it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013.” This course will provide in-depth coverage of the threats imminent from the proliferation of nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological weapons. Specifically, the course will provide students with an understanding of terrorism involving weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Students will learn about WMD proliferation theory, technical aspects of WMD, the history of WMD proliferation, current debate on the likelihood of WMD terrorism, and policy tools available to address the threat of WMD by state and non-state actors. The course will also cover an overview of policies and institutions intended to prevent proliferation of these weapons, what can be done to strengthen these efforts, and what can be done to limit the risk when proliferation does occur. Policy choices relating to North Korea, Iran, nuclear terrorism, black-market nuclear technology networks will be explored in depth. 2 credits

6910 Controlling the Bomb: Understanding Nuclear Security and Policy
The nuclear era began in 1945 with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Six decades later the possibility of a mushroom cloud rising over a major city continues to shape international affairs and strategic analysis. Today, the greatest threat to global security is the spread of nuclear weapons to dangerous states and non-state actors. To counter the risk of nuclear proliferation, the United States, in coordination with the international community, is undertaking a comprehensive response consisting of treaties, agreements, and programs to secure nuclear materials, technologies, and expertise. Many nations recognize the importance of the proliferation threat and, in April 2010, President Obama hosted delegations from 46 countries at a Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC to strengthen the global response. In this course, students will evaluate the role of nuclear weapons in the 21st century and what can be done to prevent proliferation. The course will draw upon contemporary case studies and lecturers with years of experience to explore the course themes. 2 credits

6912 Armed Groups and Irregular Warfare
Over the last two decades, non-state armed groups - terrorists, insurgents, militias, and criminal organizations - have been proliferating in number and importance. Today, armed groups can pose major security challenges to the United States, even without acquiring weapons of mass destruction. These challenges are not confined to distant lands. Some armed groups have developed power projection capabilities; they can strike across the globe to include the US homeland. Armed groups employ irregular warfare strategies and irregular, traditional, and even catastrophic means to undermine the legitimacy of state actors and erode the will and influence of the United States. As the nature of warfare has changed, so too must the US response. This course examines the complex and diverse nature of armed groups and their use of Irregular Warfare within the context of the new security paradigm; assess the challenges armed groups and Irregular Warfare pose to US security; and explores the existing and new approaches for meeting these threats and challenges. 2 credits

6915 Governance, Gangs, and Violencia: Latin American and the Caribbean Networks
This course examines the coercive strategies and interactions of armed groups -- such as gangs, criminal syndicates, militias, terrorist bands, web hackers, and pirates -- with other actors and environments. It explores the policy implications as traditional social and political institutions deal with these violent entities. We further explore what happens when individuals and traditional communities, desiring stable rule of law, find themselves confronted with the consequences of anarchic, fragmented, and adaptive social arrangements. Cases from Latin America, the Caribbean region, and other countries and dimensions illustrate conceptual discussions and policy implications. 2 credits

6916 Non-Western Strategic Thought I
This course explores alternative ways of approaching strategic thought. Students examine classical Chinese strategic thought rather than more contemporary works such as Maoist thought (which Western thought considerably influenced). Students will engage primary Chinese texts on strategy as well as commentaries and interpretations that will bring these primary texts to life. These commentaries will place this non-Western conception of strategy within the relevant Chinese philosophical outlook-particularly that of Taoism. It is in coming to appreciate the roots of Chinese thinking-its philosophical and linguistic roots-that one comes to understand just how different a framework of thought can be from our own. Students will learn about a way of thinking of strategy that will continue to be of great global importance. As a by-product of learning about a completely different way of thinking, students will come to a better understanding of their own way of thinking. 2 credits

6917 Non-Western Strategic Thought II
Please contact the Office of Student Services for information. 2 credits

6918 South Asia: From the Mogul Empire to Osama bin Laden
This course is a required elective in the Master of Arts Degree in Strategic Security Studies South and Central Asia program. It touches on the people, geography, history, and politics of South Asia prior to 2001, with an emphasis on state formation, state viability and the roots of security issues in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Students will identify the key dynamics affecting state formation in those two countries, including colonialism, partition, modernization and backlash, foreign invasion, civil war, and political Islam. They will understand the strategies each state developed to respond to those dynamics. And they will evaluate how successful each state was in meeting the challenges of state formation and emerging questions of security. Students will be asked to understand and apply basic concepts of comparative political science: they will identify elements in Afghanistan’s and Pakistan’s national experiences that are unique and what elements they share in common with other developing states in the world. To that end, students are introduced to different academic models to Afghanistan and Pakistan, including modernization theory, the political development literature, globalization, and post-colonial independence, and asks students what insights these paradigms generate, if any, into the successes and failures of state formation in South Asia at the turn of the millennium. The purpose of the course is to prepare students to be long-term South Asia area experts, who understand the origins of security concerns in the region and are able to evaluate and apply the concepts of this course in an academic, policy, intelligence, or military setting. 2 credits

6920 Geostrategy
Geostrategy is a required core course in the Master of Arts in Strategic Security Studies program. This course is designed to enable students to define and critically analyze the dimensions of the contemporary security environment. In Section I, students will explore the concept of security and how that concept has changed in the post Cold War and post 9/11 environments. A key feature of the contemporary security environment is the proliferation of actors both in number and type. In Section II, students will examine a complex array of new actors and new linkages among them. These actors include not only states, but also international organizations, armed non-state actors, and super empowered individuals and groups. As the number of actors has proliferated, so too has the number of security challenges. In Section III, the course examines the key dynamics and threats that define the contemporary security environment. Students will focus on globalization, scarcity, state failure, democratization, ethnic and sectarian conflict, cyber attacks, and WMD proliferation. In the final section of the course, students will examine the actors and security dynamics explored in Sections I, II and III across Africa, South and Central America, the Middle East and the Maghreb, Central and Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe. The purpose of the course is not to create regional experts but to develop a working knowledge of the international security context that is essential for creating, analyzing, and carrying out national security strategy and policy. 3 credits

6921 Political Islam: Origins, Threats, and Counterstrategies
The course gives an overview of political Islam, with an emphasis on radical political Islam. It provides an in-depth analysis of the ideological roots, structural causes, and organizational structures of radical political Islamic movements by examining various movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and Jamaat al-Islamiyya. Through a comparative analysis of these movements, the course lays out the commonalities in their rhetoric, the conditions under which they emerge and radicalize, and the types of threat they pose to democratic legal order. Drawing on these findings, the course offers counterstrategies against these threats. 2 credits

6922 Jihadist Global Strategies
This elective course examines current geopolitics with a particular focus on the surge, expansion and evolution of Salafi-Jihadi and Khomeinist-Jihadi movements. Students will be introduced to the evolution of strategic options during and after the Cold War and before and after September 11, 2001. Students will assess current strategies and analyze future options. 2 credits

6923 Al Qaeda and the Adversaries of the Future
Few had heard of Al Qaeda al Jihad prior to the morning of September 11, 2001. Almost a decade later, and in spite of the numerous publications that include “Al Qaeda,” “Al Qaida,” “Al-Qaeda,” “Al Qeda” or “Al Queda” in their titles, the label still refers to a misunderstood phenomenon. Knowing Al Qaeda al Jihad (al Sulbah) requires a rigorous, comprehensive, multidisciplinary, and multidimensional analytic approach. This is the approach to be adopted in this course towards two broad objectives: (1) to produce a sophisticated assessment of Al Qaeda (2) to extrapolate lessons, theories, and trends for understanding twenty-first century adversaries. The first goal will be achieved by examining various Al Qaeda dimensions including: ideology, strategy, doctrine, organizational architecture, operational reconceptualization, and technological adoption/adaptation. The second goal will be aided by multidisciplinary analytic frameworks (and theories) used as heuristic tools to identify and understand current and future trends among armed non-state actors. 2 credits

6924 Afghanistan and Pakistan: Policy and Practice
This course is a required, one credit elective lecture and travel seminar for the MASS South and Central Asia program. It gives students the opportunity to hear from distinguished and experienced experts in Afghanistan and Pakistan from a variety of fields, and allows students the opportunity to travel throughout the region in order to develop a stronger understanding of regional security concerns. The goal of the seminar is to build up the network of Afghanistan and Pakistan specialists and allow students to evaluate the experiences and reflections of high level experts.

6925 American Way of War
This course will examine some of the most salient examples of the environment of irregular warfare and its meaning, drawing on the American experience since the revolution looking not only looking to the elements that contributed in shaping the American 'way of war', but the evolution of American experience and understanding of IW and further how that background and experience might inform current ideas about what is to be done. The American experience informs us not only about ourselves and how we think about and perceive the world and America’s role in it, but also affords us an opportunity to understand what in the experience in the past might tell us about the present. Students will be expected to develop a critical understanding of the role that IW has played in an American context, past and present, and will be required to develop a related research paper. 3 credits

6926 Democratization and US National Security
This elective course examines the theoretical foundation of democracy and the manner in which the US promotes democracy abroad. It is divided into three parts. First, we will examine the potential for state failure and discuss ways in which democracy can alleviate ethnic conflict. Next, we will examine the basic components of democracy. Finally, we will examine the role democracy promotion plays in US foreign policy and see the role that it plays in American identity. We will use these concepts to examine strategies of nation building through discussion of Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia-Herzegovina, East Timor, and Afghanistan. 3 credits

6927 War and Democracy
This course will examine the nexus between war and democracy. It will begin by assessing the claims of democratic peace theory, the notion that democracies are inherently peaceful and that democracies are less likely to engage in war. It will also examine the post-Cold War correlate that democratization will improve the prospects for international peace, and it will examine whether the democratic peace thesis is applicable to domestic and civil wars. In the second part of the course, students will examine Thucydides’ contention that protracted war made Athens less democratic. Democracies face a number of challenges during war, and we will assess these in terms of a few long wars, including the Second World War, Vietnam and the current War on Terror. Finally, students will examine the nexus between war termination and democracy. Why is it so difficult for democracies to manage expectations, realize the objectives of war, and bring war to a successful conclusion? 2 credits

6928 Principles of Political Warfare
A nation’s political, economic and military tools must serve a common purpose. It is widely recognized that our ability to win a war is dependent on winning politically as much as it is militarily. Despite this fact, America’s ability to wage effective political warfare is, at best, underdeveloped. Our unwillingness to recognize that international political activity can and should be considered a form of warfare, as well as our own cultural and bureaucratic obstacles, make it extraordinarily difficult for the US to conduct political warfare. This course will begin by reviewing the links between grand strategy and political warfare. It will then identify its various elements and examine how these various elements are used to achieve a country’s strategic objectives. We will analyze several political warfare campaigns and determine the reasons for these campaigns’ success or failure. Finally, we will propose ways to overcome existing obstacles to an effective political warfare capability. 3 credits

6929 Power, Ideology and Legitimacy
This course will examine the genesis, conceptual development and relationship between power and legitimacy, focusing particularly on how ideologies are used either to justify rule or oppose the established order. The initial part of the course will focus on the greater debates of political philosophy relevant to the meaning of these and other intimately related concepts, such as justice and the nature of the sovereign. The second section will revisit the different interpretations given to these concepts, looking at how they are operationalized throughout time. Finally, an in-depth analysis of radical Islam will help answer two questions: How do ideology, legitimacy and power interact with the current challenge posed by religiously inspired armed non state actors whose goal is to fundamentally alter the current international system? How can the state employ its sources of power and legitimacy to approach this challenge? 3 credits

6932 Science and Policy of Biowarfare and Bioterrorism
This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the living agents or organic products of potential use in warfare, terrorism, or criminal activities in the context of diplomatic and political implications of such weapons of mass destruction. Students will gain an appreciation of the scientific and political scope of biological agents and their potential for deployments against humans, animals, and plants. Information regarding clinical and scientific features or environmental issues of biological agents, toxins or chemical agents is included. How to distinguish innocent from questionable use of dual-use high tech equipment will be discussed. The roles of various agencies including the Homeland Defense Department will be elucidated. Responsibility of the Private Sector, Federal, State, and local agencies and the military in homeland defense are examined. Solutions such as political, psychological, and physical deterrence, counterforce, active defense, and crisis and consequence management etc will be discussed. 3 credits

6934 Science, Technology and National Security
This course addresses some of the essential questions that need to be addressed in a course on science, technology, and national security policy, such as the role of science and technology in the development of national security policy, the importance of politics in scientific and technological endeavors, the trade-off calculations decision makers must make when making the kind of “cardinal choices” associated with science, technology, and national security, the factors at work in the processes associated with scientific and technological innovation, and impact technology has had on the ability to win wars, for example in the case of the war with Iraq.
3 credits

6940 National Security Decisionmaking
How are national security decisions made, especially in light of the need to anticipate future events, achieve goals, reduce surprise and avoid disaster in the public as well as private sector? This course relates analytical tools to decision-making styles of organizations and individuals in different environments, especially competitive settings such as combat, international relations and business. Students will examine complexity, nonlinearity and chaos theory; systems dynamics; and scenario construction.
3 credits

6941 Professional Research Project
Under the guidance of a CISA faculty member, this independent study course enables International Counterterrorism Fellows to research and write a counterterrorism plan for their country. 3credits.

6942 Methods of Analysis and Argumentation
How well leaders, executives, managers and other decision-makers analyze, evaluate and argue over their options affects the quality of decisions and policies. Effective decision-makers use not only their direct knowledge but also their skill at estimating when they need help. Therefore, CISA 6942 provides an introductory overview of methods of analysis and argumentation to equip decision-makers to utilize methods from different sources and under varied conditions, and to help them pursue future additional study as needed. Focusing on modern complex security challenges such as terrorism, the course examines the application of these methods: Their ideas, the tools they offer, and the situations that may evoke them, and options for their further study. The course frequently discusses the logic of arguments, the approach of different natural sciences, social sciences, mathematics, law, journalism and politics. The course also examines similarities and differences between a written communication, such as a report, and a verbal communication, such as a briefing. Our goal is clarity, self-awareness, and a critical perspective on alternatives, developing arguments, presenting findings, and recommending actions. The course aims mainly at students with professional backgrounds and will utilize student experience for examples and problems. This course also enables students to start on their student research project. 3 credits

6943 Thesis
This course enables the student to complete the Master’s Thesis, a requirement for the Master of Arts in Strategic Security Studies. Students enroll in this course near the end of their program of study and select a faculty member to act as their thesis advisor. Upon faculty approval of the completed thesis, students will earn 6 credits. Students have one year from enrollment in 6943 to meet the requirements. Any delays beyond the one year (three semesters) time frame require approval from the Thesis Advisor and Dean of Academic Affairs. Part-time students should not register for 6943 until their thesis proposal has been approved by the Academic Policy Council. 6 credits

6945 Globalization and National Security
Globalization and National Security examines the phenomenon of globalization, its drivers, and its implications to national security in the 21st century. Globalization has revolutionized and accelerated the way goods, services, information, and ideas are sourced, produced, delivered, and circulated worldwide. Greater integration and interconnectivity have dramatically improved the quality of life for global citizens. However, all these benefits have been accompanied by increased risks that threaten not just the global economy but international security due to intense competition for labor, capital, technology, and natural resources around the world. This course analyzes the different socio-economic drivers of globalization and concludes with an evaluation of national and international strategies to address the national security challenges posed by globalization. 2 credits

6949 Strategy and Security of Small Countries
What are the critical factors that influence the security of small countries? In global politics and regional relations, how do small countries define policies and implement strategies to promote their own vital interests? This course provides students with the opportunity to analyze enduring or recurrent defense and security problems of small and micro countries, understand how these actors relate to the 21st Century security environment, and assess decision-making perspectives of these states in the face of transnational threats or when engaging with larger or much more powerful challengers. 2 credits
6950 Foundations of Homeland Security
Foundations and Issues of Homeland Security frames the topic of homeland security. Topics include: Threat, Threat Definition and Assessment; Means and Methods for Securing the Homeland; Introduction to Organization and Coordination Issues; and Law, Legal Institutions, and Legal Constraints on Roles & Missions. 3 credits

6951 Organizing Homeland Defense
This course addresses the bureaucratic and organizational issues surrounding homeland defense. Particular attention is paid to the role of the Department of Defense in protecting the homeland. 3 credits

6953 Strategic Leadership for Homeland Security
This course prepares prospective senior leaders to think critically about strategic challenges in homeland defense and to employ best available tools to craft solutions. Students will develop strategies for linking national resources and capabilities with homeland defense objectives. 3 credits

6954 Critical Infrastructure Protection
Critical infrastructure protection is a subject assessed in either very broad or very sector-specific terms. This course is interested in questions of both practical and analytic significance: how is it criticality assessed? Who bears responsibility at which level of government? What is the role of the private sector? How is information shared? What constrains impede stronger efforts? Students will address these and other challenging questions as part of a collective consideration of policy options in this dynamic homeland security arena. The class is part of an ongoing debate on the subject and students should attempt to develop policy prescriptions in their areas of interest and expertise. The course requires active class participation and the preparation and delivery of in-class briefings (with accompanying short briefing paper). 2 credits

6960 Democracy, Leadership, and Civil Military Relations
This course examines from a theoretical and historical perspective the military institutions of the US as they relate to the democratic state. It covers such topics as the concept of the military profession and the professional military ethic. At the core of the course is consideration of the work of several scholars who have attempted to develop a theory of civil-military relations, using such concepts as power, professionalism and ideology to organize their theoretical approach. The various traditions in the history of the American approach to war are analyzed and evaluated: the Hamiltonian, the Jeffersonian, the Wilsonian, and the Jacksonian. Against this background, the course proceeds to analyze critically the American experience in and approach to war, using various case studies as the empirical data for testing the theories and determining which traditions best explain the American approach. 3 credits

6961 Statecraft, Peacekeeping and Nation Building
This course will help the student explore the changes in the nature of conflict in the last decade of the 20th century and the implications for the 21st century by examining the boundaries of peace operations, the actors, the organizational structures and the resources required to perform these extremely complex missions. This course will examine the roles of the United Nations, the United States, NATO, and nongovernmental organizations across the range of peace operations-from peacekeeping to peace enforcement and peacemaking to peace-building. 3 credits

6962 US Special Operations
To gain a general understanding of the nature of special operations forces and of their modes of employment, this 2 credit elective course introduces the student to the essential history of US special operations forces and their use. The student grapples with challenges of global terrorism and assessment of success. 2 credits

6967 Stability Operations
This elective course examines how to employ a “whole of government” approach to stabilization and reconstruction outcomes. This seminar adopts an ends, ways and means analytical framework to determine better orchestrated interagency outcomes along 6 government lines of development, namely Security, Governance and Participation, Humanitarian Assistance and Social Well-Being, Economic Stabilization and Infrastructure, and Justice and Reconciliation. Students will learn to work within Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) environments and will leave the course better able to think strategically about national security and the interagency process within an ever-changing global security environment across the full spectrum of conflict. 2 credits

6968 Interagency Communications for Stability Operations
The ability to communicate effectively is a vital tool for interagency leaders working stability operations. Messages must be conveyed rapidly and with due clarity in order to generate the strategic effect required. Leaders must develop their ability to harness and leverage various forms of communication media to convey their intent. In a seminar environment, students will focus on real-life stability operation case studies and role play appointments to practice and improve their abilities to brief, present questions, interview and actively listen. Students will also learn the pros and cons of various types of communication media. 2 credits

6970 Conflict Management of Stability
Operations I
This course prepares students to think strategically about preventing conflict; restoring peace by resolving or terminating conflict before escalation; and/or assisting with rebuilding the post-conflict peace. It uses a common framework of analysis for conflict management to equip the student to review a variety of conflict landscapes. Lessons are drawn from case studies that include Haiti (1994); East Timor (1999); Nepal (2000); Japan (1945-1952) Sierra Leone (2000); Indonesia (2004-2005) and Iraq. 3 credits

6971 Conflict Management of Stability
Operations II
There is new emphasis on coherent, whole-of-government roles in international reconstruction and stabilization operations. This course characterizes and analyzes the relevant national and international agencies, actors, and approaches. The goal is to help students think strategically about managing in this challenging and fundamentally changed organizational and security environment. Students will utilize a variety of frameworks on a range of case studies including USAID in Afghanistan today, DHS in Hurricane Katrina (2005), The United Nations and Cyprus today, a NATO view of nation building in Germany (1945-1955), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Kosovo (1999-2007), the International Committee of the Red Cross in Lebanon (2006) and State S/CRS in Sudan in the future. 3 credits

6972 Conflict Management of Stability
Operations III
This course seeks to prepare prospective senior leaders to think critically about strategic challenges in conflict management and to employ best available tools to lead solutions within a demanding and new security paradigm. It enhances student understanding of the nature, function and qualities of the art of leadership required within the interagency to achieve strategic results by exposing participants to the art and science of techniques including communication, presentation, negotiation and influence. The student applies these new found techniques to a conflict management scenario in a reconstruction and stabilization operations capstone decision game. 3 credits

6974 Irregular Warfare: Strategy and Operational Art I
This course examines irregular warfare from a strategic perspective with emphasis on the operational art. Counterinsurgency and counterterrorism are treated as forms of warfare that must be approached with the same conceptual tools employed in traditional combat. Key figures and eras are examined in depth with any eye toward irregular warfare concepts, and strategies employed to combat internal upheavals. The course relies heavily on such case studies and their associated primary documents to help students grasp the challenges of combating internal warfare and the employment of operational art to counter insurgent operations. To highlight these fundamental issues of warfare, the course draws upon analyses of strategic response campaigns constructed to neutralize insurgent and terrorist programs, and salient cases of major combat. 2 credits

6975 Dynamics of Terrorism
This course examines terrorism as a contextual phenomenon produced by the manner in which individuals, organizations, and the state are situated within larger surroundings. Case studies and use of primary documents are used to explore the multiple forms of and motives for terrorism. Students examine origins of terrorism in the splintering of social movements, followed by the strategic and operational choices faced by the splinter and its members. Works by key theorists are supplemented by in-depth examination of particular episodes of terror to emphasize that even agency (individual choice) is bounded by a host of social and personal factors and constraints. 3 credits

6976 Dynamics of Counterterrorism
This course provides an examination of the counterterrorism response at the national and international levels. Case studies and use of primary documents allow students to examine the implications for appropriate and comprehensive response. Students analyze strategic response by exploring the appropriate campaigns constructed to neutralize components of insurgent strategy. As a culminating exercise, students develop a national counterterrorism plan. 3 credits

6977 Irregular Warfare: Strategy and Operational Art II
This course examines irregular warfare from a strategic perspective with emphasis on the operational art. Counterinsurgency and counterterrorism are treated as forms of warfare that must be approached with the same conceptual tools employed in traditional combat. Key figures and eras are examined in depth with any eye toward irregular warfare concepts, and strategies employed to combat internal upheavals. The course relies heavily on such case studies and their associated primary documents to help students grasp the challenges of combating internal warfare and the employment of operational art to counter insurgent operations. To highlight these fundamental issues of warfare, the course draws upon analyses of strategic response campaigns constructed to neutralize insurgent and terrorist programs, and salient cases of major combat. (6974 is not a prerequisite) 2 credits

6978 Terrorism and Crime
This course examines the growing national security threat posed by the relationship between terrorism and crime. The unprecedented pace of globalization and technological advance in the post-9/11 world has enhanced the effectiveness of terrorist groups and criminal organizations, allowing each to benefit from the strengths of the other. Drawing on a series of case studies, Terrorism and Crime analyzes how terrorists and crime syndicates leverage criminal activities (e.g., drug trafficking, money laundering, arms trafficking, human smuggling, counterfeiting, and cyber crimes) to promote their mutual and respective interests. The course concludes with an evaluation of strategies that address these terrorist and transnational criminal threats at both the national and international level. 2 credits

6980 Strategy and Policy of Irregular Warfare

6981 Small Wars Lost and Found

6982 International Law and Global Security
International Law and Global Security is designed to introduce students to the core principles and defining features of the international legal system, and to the changing role of international law in contemporary national and global security. Emphasis will be placed on the applicability of international law to armed conflict, counterterrorism, and containing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. 2 credits

6985 The Media and the Military
An analytical view of the enduring issues attending the relationship between the mass media and the national security community. The course will feature examples from history and from the current day that illustrate the problems and opportunities of this frequently contentious relationship. 2 credits

6986 Media, Change and Strategy
“I don’t know where I’ve been, and I’ve just been there!” -Butch Cassidy (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Ever wonder how you can assume responsibility for making and implementing a strategy responsive to great change when you are still not sure what is changing, why, and where that change is going to lead? This course explores the effects of media revolutions past and present, the complex challenges brought by the rise of “new media,” and the frustrating and risky process of change and innovation in strategy. 2 credits

6987 How Congress Works
This course will allow students to navigate and gain an understanding of the Congressional legislative, oversight, and budgetary process in the context of national security and defense. This study requires an examination of the Constitution, reviewing the real world context where it is applied to include the legislative branch, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and the executive branch/White House, assessing how the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community play in this process, and analyzing current decisions that affect future budgetary and policy decisions. 2 credits

6988 Internal Security Strategies
What are the elements of an effective and efficient internal security strategy? How does a nation’s internal security strategy differ from its overall national security strategy? Equally important, how does a nation go about solving the formidable problem of integrating its internal and external security strategies? Using several case studies, this course will examine how five nations have rewritten their internal security strategies in the post-9/11 era to deal with the threat posed by transnational terror organizations. In so doing, we will attempt to understand how each nation has gone about balancing civil rights and security, integrating law enforcement and intelligence, and resolving the competing interests of the political, diplomatic, military, judicial, and intelligence establishments. The objectives of the course will be to build a framework by which to, first, understand strategy building process and, second, assess the effectiveness of each nation’s internal security strategy. 2 credits

6989 Law Enforcement vs. Intelligence: The Role of Internal Security Organizations
This course examines how the Internal Security Establishments (ISEs) of five democratic nations -the U.S, U.K., France, Germany, and Israel - are carrying out modifications in their structure and methods in the post 9/11 era. In so doing, the course attempts to understand the problems faced in bringing about these changes, chief them being that of balancing freedom and security. While the focus will be primarily on tactical and operation levels of counter terrorism, the course will also analyze business plans, organizational structure, operational methods, and threat assessment criteria. The ultimate objective in this course is to learn more about how a nation under threat from international terrorism builds and maintains an effective and efficient domestic security infrastructure. 3 credits

6990 Combating Terrorism Strategies and Policies
This course examines the ongoing challenge to US national security posed by the threat of international terrorism. The course will examine the causes of the rise of the global terrorist threat, the motives and methods of the terrorists, and the ways in which the United States is waging war to prevent future terror attacks and safeguard the homeland. Readings include primary source documents related to the continuing conflict, as well as classics in terrorism literature. 3 credits

6991 Intelligence in Counterinsurgency Operations
Intelligence is a critical part of political/military conflict at the tactical through the strategic levels of operations. This course will consider intelligence activities from the perspective of commanders and non-intelligence staff officers conducting counterinsurgency operations. It will focus on the capabilities and limitations of intelligence, as well as the challenges of using intelligence to support policy and to guide the instruments of national power, including military force. Detailed historical and more limited contemporary case studies will provide lessons of successful and unsuccessful uses of intelligence in counterinsurgency operations. 2 credits

6994 Strategic Intelligence and the War on Terrorism
This course offers an intellectual and historical foundation for understanding the American intelligence community, the intelligence process, and its role in national security policy. It examines how intelligence agencies operate in a democratic society, how perspectives differ between providers and users of intelligence, and the role of Congressional oversight. To evaluate strengths and weaknesses of strategic intelligence, students focus on its role in the Cold War, the 1990-91 Gulf War, the 1998 strikes against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Sudan, the 1999 Kosovo War, the failure of strategic warning prior to September 11, 2001, and the US invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003. Lessons derived from these case studies equip students to separate fact from fiction in the ongoing debate, and to evaluate reforms proposed or underway. Such analytical rigor is essential for students of the American policy process as well as their foreign counterparts in a global coalition in the War on Terrorism. 3 credits

6998 Independent Study
With prior faculty approval, students have the opportunity to conduct further independent study. Topic of study and requirements for credit must be approved by the faculty member and the Dean of Academic Affairs prior to registration for CISA 6998. 1-3 credits