This course will provide an introduction to the American national security apparatus and the principal threats it seeks to manage. It will review relevant theories of international relations to understand and explain the international security environment, examine ongoing security concerns, examine varying strategic approaches for the conduct of American national security, and review the historical development and contemporary policies and practices of American national security institutions. These theories, practices, and institutions will be examined through the lens of case studies of specific security concerns, from terrorism to human security to warfare. Students completing this course will demonstrate an understanding of the national security policy process, the international security environment, theoretical and strategic perspectives on national security, and the history and practices of American national security institutions, including the armed forces, the Central Intelligence Agency, and more.

While war seems like unrestrained violence, the American security establishment is meaningfully constrained in numerous ways, some relating to concrete laws and policies and others relating to broader ethical concerns. This course will provide an introduction to national security law and ethics, including U.S. Constitutional Law relating to war powers, U.S. domestic laws and institutions, international laws and norms of warfare, ethical debates concerning these laws, and studies of historical cases which have stressed or stretched these laws, including the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attacks. Students completing this course will demonstrate a general understanding of domestic and international law in the area of national security, and an understanding of ethical reasoning relating to the conduct of U.S. security.

This course explores current major conflicts around the world by examining their causes, history, and possible future outcomes. Students will explore the role of geography, economics, religion, culture, and other factors as they relate to global politics to better understand foreign policy approaches to complex geopolitical tensions. 

This course provides a broad overview of the role of intelligence work – and in particular U.S. intelligence efforts – in maintaining and enhancing the country’s national security posture. The history of the intelligence community from the Second World War onward is examined in terms of how that community has evolved over the years. Emphasis is placed upon the interplay and challenges that the intelligence community face with policy makers. Included is an examination of case studies that illustrate intelligence successes and failures that have had a significant impact on national security. Also covered is the evolving unique nature that the cyber domain plays in cyber/national security issues. 

One of the recent key emerging areas of research is the role of psychological, social, and cultural processes in cyber conflict. Following the kill chain upstream you will find at the end a human with motivations and objectives, This course examines a number of critical elements involved in the relationship between humans and digital technology as it relates to cyber and national security, including the role that motivations for malicious online acts and how social dynamics affect the emergence of relationships between non-nation state actors and nation states, the evolving nature of social movements and communities online and the emergence of cyberterrorism as a new entrant into the cyber threat matrix.