Core Program

All students, including research fellows, normally must complete the core curriculum. The core program averages 13 class contact hours per week when elective courses are not in session and nine contact hours per week during elective periods. Core courses generally meet in the mornings. There are seven core courses. Three meet in the fall semester. Three meet in the spring. The final course, 6700: Field Studies, meets across both semesters.

6100 - Introduction to Strategy

This course introduces the elements of strategy, critical thinking and strategic analysis to develop and provide the foundational strategic thinking skills required for the balance of the curriculum. Using selected frameworks and examples of strategy, students begin their year-long examination of the components of national security strategy; assumptions behind strategic choices; relationships among the instruments of national power; orchestration of the instruments of power in pursuit of national security objectives; methods of evaluating the utility of different strategies; and the roles of leadership and ethics in national security strategy.

6200 - War and Statecraft

This course analyzes the distinctive and multi-faceted phenomenon of war, to include its character, conduct, nature, and scope; its military and non-military dimensions; and the ramifications of using violence to achieve political objectives. Simple dichotomies of war and peace are rejected here. Two central themes run throughout the course. First, examining the intersections between War and Statecraft, the course explores how war appears within, and also shapes, a political, economic, social and historical context. This approach offers insights into the complex, intertwined and multi-dimensional aspects of war, especially the causes of wars, their character and conduct, and their post-conflict challenges. Second, the study of history and theory affords an opportunity to examine how, like a state; war has aspects of both continuity and change over time. Beginning with the Peloponnesian War, students grapple with case studies in revolutionary war, industrial warfare, counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and irregular warfare, up to the present day. The historical overview is interspersed with analyses of Clausewitz, Sun Zi, Mao Tse-Tung, and other classic theorists. The goal is to provide a solid theoretical foundation for developing and designing strategy, particularly understanding the military instrument of power and how it can be employed in combination with other instruments of statecraft in pursuit of political aims.

6300 - Diplomacy and Statecraft

This course analyzes the tools of statecraft available to a nation in order to achieve its national security objectives short of war. Specifically, the course analyzes the nature, purposes, capabilities and limitations of the instruments of statecraft (the military instrument is examined for purposes short of war), and investigates and critiques a variety of ways that diplomacy orchestrates these instruments. The course explores how instruments of power differ from, but is dependent upon, underlying national power, particularly in the areas of economics and information. Discussions reference peace, crisis and war to provide a comprehensive review of the instruments' role in national security strategy. The course has a particular emphasis on the economic and financial instruments, which are probably the least understood but most important national instruments of power. The course provides detailed information on the other tools available to national security strategists, the various uses of those tools; both singly and in conjunction with one another, and helps set the stage for the end-of-year applications in national security strategy course.

6400 - The Domestic Context and U.S. National Security Decision-Making

This course provides the students with an understanding of the complex reality of the domestic context in which American strategists must make decisions. It considers the domestic context from multiple perspectives. It evaluates how broad domestic political and cultural factors, as well as resource and economic constraints, affect policy formulation and execution. The course further examines the structure and process of U.S. national security decisions. Here the course considers both the historical, philosophical and constitutional foundations of inter-agency and inter-branch processes, and their subsequent evolution and current form. One element of this investigation is a study of American civil military relations. Finally, the course focuses on individual and group level decision-making, to include a discussion of individual leadership and legitimate dissent within the U.S. national security policy process.

6500 - The Global Context

The purpose of this course is to help students understand the world and emerging strategic challenges from a perspective that is not U.S.-centric. Students study selected nation-states and international regions, developing a familiarity with the role played by culture and history, as well as the key emerging trends in that region. They analyze international trends and developments, compare and contrast regional contexts and national perspectives, and recommend how best to prioritize U.S. interests within and across regions. The course also examines how non-state actors, transnational actors and global trends shape the strategic environment. Students will develop a working knowledge of the international security context that is essential for creating, analyzing and carrying out national security strategy and policy.

6600 - Applications in National Security Strategy

This capstone course integrates and synthesizes the fundamental themes from the entire curriculum. The course examines a series of strategic national security and homeland security challenges confronting the nation today. Students work in small groups to assess select transnational security issues, determine U.S. objectives, identify key assumptions, and develop a range of policy options that include evaluations of the risks and benefits of each option. Students will practice the critical thinking skills introduced in course 6100 and select the military instruments (6200) and non military instruments (6300) best suited to these security challenges. Each challenge also requires an assessment of key domestic and national decision making enablers and constraints (6400) as well as a keen appreciation for the global context (6500) in which the U.S. must develop and implement its strategy. In keeping with the goal of "putting theory into practice," students will produce a written policy options paper designed for senior decision makers and develop a briefing for "real world" senior officials.

6700 - Field Studies in National Security

The Field Studies program combines in-class study with international travel to provide students a first-hand examination of a specific country, region, or issue. Understanding the formulation and implementation of policy and strategy requires in-depth knowledge of the current and prospective foreign policy situation in nations and regions affected by U.S. policies, and even more importantly, an understanding of how such strategic judgments are formulated. The Field Studies program is designed to integrate all the themes of the core courses and meet NWC/JPME objectives by providing a "test bed" for the synthesis of the entire year's curriculum. These studies provide opportunities for NWC students and faculty to discuss policy issues with political, military, business, media, and academic leaders of other nations that affect the security of their nations and regions as well as the security of the United States. This interaction moves NWC strategic education from the theoretical world to the world of reality. There is no classroom substitute for the intensive learning that comes from face-to-face exchanges and personal experiences gained through discussions and activities associated with regional travel.