Security Studies (SEST)
SEST 2001 Intro to Strategy Mil Ops 3 Credits
War is an activity so tied to the human condition that it cannot help but shape and reshape society, politics, economics, and other aspects of our existence. This course introduces students to its core concepts: the political nature of war; what constitutes grand strategy; the importance and perils of strategic culture; the levels of war and their interaction; the civil-military and bureaucratic dynamics that shape strategy development; and the fundamentals of strategic logic used to formulate and evaluate strategies.
Level: Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 3000 Inside the Nat Sec Enterprise 3 Credits
In this intensive, four-day, thirty-six-hour course (3 credits), students learn about the instruments of national power (diplomatic, informational, military, and economic) and how they are used to achieve strategic objectives in support of U.S. national security policy. Students will learn about the institutions and processes that shape U.S. national security policy. The course culminates in a simulation in which students will role-play key national security actors and develop viable policy proposals regarding an evolving security crisis. Students will be graded on the written proposal they create as well as their ability to get their proposal adopted through the competing interests, institutions, and objectives of other players.
Level: Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students.
SEST 3001 Understanding War 3 Credits
This course introduces students to strategy formulation and war. Core concepts include the nature of war, what constitutes military strategy and why it can be difficult to create and implement, and an overview of the organizational culture of the U.S. military services and how it impacts strategy. Through the use of historical case studies, this course demonstrates the effectiveness and limitations of the military instrument of power and provides students with a framework of how to assess military strategy during wartime.
Level: Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students.
SEST 3002 Contemporary Sec Challenges 2 Credits
This course explores contemporary issues and challenges in the field of national security. Topics covered include nuclear weapons, terrorism, artificial intelligence, alliances, multinational corporations, international organizations, intelligence, and great power competition with China and Russia. Students will write policy memoranda and op-eds and present brief presentations on contemporary security challenges throughout the course.
Level: Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students.
SEST 3003 Congress and National Security 3 Credits
This course explores the critical role Congress plays in the formulation, implementation, and oversight of U.S. national security policy. Students will learn how the national security-related committees in Congress function, about the defense budget, Congress’s interactions with the executive branch, including the Department of Defense and military services, and contemporary policy debates today.
Level: Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students.
SEST 3004 Decision Making in War 1 Credit
This course offers a unique and immersive study of decision making in the context of war, set against the backdrop of a Civil War battlefield. Students will engage in an in-depth exploration of military strategies, leadership challenges, and critical decisions. Through a guided tour of the battlefield, expert lectures, and interactive discussions, students will analyze how terrain, resources, technology, and human factors influenced the outcomes of these pivotal conflicts. Emphasizing the complexities and ethical considerations of wartime decision-making, the course integrates historical data, and contemporary military theory, providing an understanding of leadership under pressure. Field exercises and scenario-based learning activities enable students to apply theoretical knowledge to simulated situations, fostering skills in strategic thinking and crisis management.
Level: Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Undergraduate level students may not enroll.
SEST 3007 Understand Contemp Sec Threats 3 Credits
This course explores contemporary issues and challenges in the field of national security. Topics covered include nuclear weapons, terrorism, artificial intelligence, alliances, multinational corporations, international organizations, intelligence, and great power competition with China and Russia. Students will write policy memoranda and op-eds and present brief presentations on contemporary security challenges throughout the course.
Level: Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Undergraduate level students.
SEST 3011 Intel National Security 3 Credits
This course will explore the organization and functions of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC), its interaction with national security policymakers, and the challenges it faces in defining its current and future roles. Students will evaluate issues of intelligence collection, analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action, and appreciate how and why decision-makers use intelligence. The course will highlight some of the major debates about the role, practices, achievements, and problems of U.S. national intelligence.
The course seeks to cultivate the ability to engage in critical thinking, analysis, and independent learning around issues in intelligence. To that end, reading, discussing, and writing about the assigned material will be the central activities of the course. The goal is for students to leave the class possessing not only a better understanding of specific concepts and events in the discipline of intelligence, but also an increased ability to express that knowledge in prose and speech. This course should be useful for students considering an intelligence career, for those who may have government jobs and deal with intelligence professionals, and for students interested in how the IC operates within the context of the U.S. government as a whole.
Restrictions: Level (Undergraduate) This course will only be available to students who have been accepted to the SSP Summer Institute program.
Level: Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 4444 Combating Terrorist Financing 3 Credits
This course explores how terrorists and terrorist organizations—from Foreign Terrorist Organizations like al Qaeda and the Islamic State to Domestic Violent Extremist groups like anti-government militias and white supremacist organizations—are funded and resourced, how they move and access money, and how governments and other international actors seek to combat the financing of transnational threats. The course considers what the goals of counter-terror financing efforts are or should be, and whether these efforts are effective, worthwhile and how to improve them. It investigates how terrorist groups finance their activities and transfer funds, and analyses key choke points through which illicit funds may flow. The course examines the tools available to states, international organizations, and the private sector to either follow the money or stem the flow of illicit funds—two effective but mutually exclusive lines of effort. The course also covers policy debates such as the comparative utility of financial tools in national security, the relative benefits of following or freezing funds, and more. The course includes case studies and group work to provide students hands-on exposure to the course themes.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 4445 The Forensics of Mass Killing 3 Credits
How do you conduct forensic investigations of genocide and mass killings on the ground? How do you examine the killing techniques of genocide and crimes committed in public or secret? How do perpetrators use propaganda for terrorism, genocide and follower recruitment? In the class, Fr. Patrick Desbois, a forensic anthropologist and author of "The Holocaust by Bullets" and "The Terrorist Factory" will answer these questions. Fr. Desbois will familiarize students with his recent investigation of crimes committed by ISIS in Iraq and Syria against the Yazidis and the crimes carried out by the Einsatzgruppen during the Holocaust. The class will compare ground investigation techniques, crime methodology and outcomes.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 4447 Jewish-Muslim in MidEastNAfr 3 Credits
This course dissects past experiences and narratives of Jews, Arabs, Africans and Muslims that impact upon our present and future. 'We do not live in the past, but the past in us,' declared historian U. B. Phillips. The future of Jewish-Muslim coexistence depends on how we understand historical narratives from Moses to Mohammed and then to our times. The future of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, for example, depends on our understanding of competing historical narratives. Similarly, the Abraham Accords were named and implemented based on a shared Jewish-Muslim legacy of Abraham. What does this mean for future peace agreements between Israel and Arab or Muslim nations? We will traverse through Arabia, Morocco, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Syria, Iran and Arabia. Drawing on a depth of history and culture, we will study policy implications for the U.S. government, its allies, and the directions to be taken at the contemporary crossroads of Jewish-Muslim relations in the Middle East. By studying a different interpretation of history and consciousness, away from conflict theories, this course charts how Israel, Jewish, Arab and Muslim relations can be changed for the future.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 5000 Theory Practice of Security 3 Credits
Students in the Security Studies Program (SSP) are required to take this course in their first semester of the program. The course is designed by the SSP core faculty to provide a conceptual and substantive foundation for the M.A. curriculum.
Theory and Practice of Security has three main objectives. First, the course seeks to provide students with a basic understanding of the major theories and concepts used in security studies. We survey theories of war and peace – and the related dynamics of deterrence, coercion, cooperation, and intervention – in order to give students general frameworks for analyzing international security issues in any era. Second, the course examines the origins of the major interstate conflicts of the past century – including World War I, World War II, and the Cold War – in order to give students both historical grounding and an appreciation of the applicability of theory to evidence. Third, the course aims to introduce some of the key security challenges of the post-Cold War era and the 21st century, in order to give students a foundation for exploring contemporary security problems in greater depth in subsequent SSP courses.
Theory and Practice of Security has three main objectives. First, the course seeks to provide students with a basic understanding of the major theories and concepts used in security studies. We survey theories of war and peace – and the related dynamics of deterrence, coercion, cooperation, and intervention – in order to give students general frameworks for analyzing international security issues in any era. Second, the course examines the origins of the major interstate conflicts of the past century – including World War I, World War II, and the Cold War – in order to give students both historical grounding and an appreciation of the applicability of theory to evidence. Third, the course aims to introduce some of the key security challenges of the post-Cold War era and the 21st century, in order to give students a foundation for exploring contemporary security problems in greater depth in subsequent SSP courses.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5001 Strategy/Policy/Military Ops 3 Credits
This is one of the two core courses in the Security Studies Program (SSP) and is a required course for all SSP students in their first semester. The goal of the course is to provide students with an understanding of how strategy is made and wars are fought. The course introduces students to foundational concepts such as the political nature of war; what constitutes grand strategy and military strategy; the role strategic culture plays in war; the levels of war and their interaction with one another; the civil-military and bureaucratic dynamics that shape strategy development; and the fundamentals of strategic logic used to formulate and evaluate strategies. The course begins with an overview of core concepts pertaining to war and strategy formulation. Students will then apply those core concepts to historical case studies, beginning with World War I and continuing to the present day.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5100 US National Security Policy 3 Credits
Every administration comes to power believing that it controls the destiny of US national security policy. It anticipates it will redefine America's national interests, lay out a multi-year strategy for protecting those interests, and pursue its domestic and international agenda. That illusion usually lasts a month or two. Then reality hits. This course examines that reality. This course does not catalog the potential threats to America or examine US allies and interests in different regions. Threats, allies, and interests are ever-changing. Instead, the course examines the policy strategies, structures and tools that frame the US response, regardless of the threat, allies, or interests involved.
The objective of the course is to equip students with the intellectual foundation and technical competence required to analyze contemporary US national security issues and solutions. The course emphasizes defense and other coercive means of foreign policy and examines the role of force as an instrument of statecraft. This course is designed for students who may work in the US national security establishment.
The objective of the course is to equip students with the intellectual foundation and technical competence required to analyze contemporary US national security issues and solutions. The course emphasizes defense and other coercive means of foreign policy and examines the role of force as an instrument of statecraft. This course is designed for students who may work in the US national security establishment.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5210 Theory Prac of Intelligence 3 Credits
Fall: This course explores two primary questions: what is intelligence good for, and how can we know? Intelligence is generally viewed as an applied subject, studied primarily by practitioners. This course bridges the gap between theory and practice, encouraging students to examine the role of intelligence organizations in government and how the secrecy surrounding intelligence contributes to, and challenges, national security and transparency in governance. While the primary focus will be on the American intelligence system, the course addresses comparative issues in the study of intelligence, including themes and examples that transcend particular national and political contexts. This course will introduce students to fundamental issues in intelligence studies, including the role of intelligence in national security decision-making, elements of intelligence success and failure, and oversight. Class participants will gain a working understanding of the different types of intelligence, the range of responsibilities that elements of an intelligence community hold, and the relationship between intelligence and the policy-making process. Beyond technical aspects of intelligence functions, students will explore the political context that frames intelligence operations, evaluating how intelligence information relates to high-level government decision-making and to the conduct of foreign policy. Finally, students will consider some of the major normative questions regarding intelligence, such as: what the appropriate role for intelligence should be in a democracy, how transparent intelligence should be to the public, and how its vast array of activities should be supervised. Course Format This course is a seminar; the course is formatted to facilitate student-driven learning. Participants will be expected to come to class prepared and to demonstrate active, critical exploration of course material throughout the semester. Class meetings will focus on group discussion of course material, led each week by student presentations on class readings. Spring: This course will explore the organization and functions of the U.S. intelligence community, its interaction with national security policymakers, and the challenges it faces in defining its future role. Students will evaluate issues of intelligence collection, analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action, including how decision-makers use intelligence. The course will highlight some of the major debates about the role, practices, and problems of national intelligence.
The course seeks to improve students’ writing skills and to cultivate the ability to engage in critical thinking, analysis, and independent learning. To that end, reading, discussing, and writing about the assigned material will be the central activities of the course. The goal is for students to leave the class possessing not only a better understanding of specific concepts and events, but also an increased ability to express that knowledge in prose and speech.
Learning Goals Students will: 1. Analyze national security events in the context of intelligence issues and understand the role of intelligence in the national security policy process. 2. Write, analyze, review, and brief in accordance with standards employed in the Intelligence Community. 3. Gain a broad view of the evolution of intelligence, the uses of intelligence in shaping policy, and the various aspects of intelligence, including collection, analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action. 4. Develop an understanding of the complexity of intelligence and the kinds of issues that intelligence practitioners must consider.
The course seeks to improve students’ writing skills and to cultivate the ability to engage in critical thinking, analysis, and independent learning. To that end, reading, discussing, and writing about the assigned material will be the central activities of the course. The goal is for students to leave the class possessing not only a better understanding of specific concepts and events, but also an increased ability to express that knowledge in prose and speech.
Learning Goals Students will: 1. Analyze national security events in the context of intelligence issues and understand the role of intelligence in the national security policy process. 2. Write, analyze, review, and brief in accordance with standards employed in the Intelligence Community. 3. Gain a broad view of the evolution of intelligence, the uses of intelligence in shaping policy, and the various aspects of intelligence, including collection, analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action. 4. Develop an understanding of the complexity of intelligence and the kinds of issues that intelligence practitioners must consider.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Course attribute:
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5260 Advanced Military Operations 3 Credits
This course will examine conventional military operations from the period of World War I to the present. The course format will consist of a mixture of roughly 50 percent military and 50 percent description of how modern military forces are organized, equipped, and trained for conventional combat operations. Students will develop an understanding of how military forces have evolved during this period as well as how military technology has changed in the past century and how those changes gave influenced the way operations are conducted. While the majority of the course will focus on conventional combat, there will be some reference to so-called “low intensity” operations such as counter-insurgency, in so far as those types of operations have had a bearing on how conventional forces prepare for and conduct operations.
The course will start with a brief overview of the state of military art and science at the turn of the 20th Century. This will be followed by an overview of 20th Century military campaigns that will continue into the early 21st Century.
(posted 10-22-08)
The course will start with a brief overview of the state of military art and science at the turn of the 20th Century. This will be followed by an overview of 20th Century military campaigns that will continue into the early 21st Century.
(posted 10-22-08)
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5300 Core: International Security 3 Credits
This is a required course for students in the Security Studies Program who have a concentration in International Security. It is also suitable for non-specialists who are interested in a survey of international security issues. The course examines a wide array of military and non-military factors that influence international security. The first section of the course provides students with a theoretical and conceptual overview of the traditional security agenda. The second section of the course looks at how the security agenda has been broadened to include sub-national and transnational challenges, such nuclear proliferation, cyber and biosecurity threats, environmental and demographic stress, democratization, political violence (civil and ethnic conflict, insurgency, and terrorism), and protracted conflicts. The third section of the course examines responses to this contemporary security agenda, concluding with a discussion about U.S. grand strategy in the face of these security challenges.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5370 Ethnic Conflict Civil War 3 Credits
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a framework for understanding and analyzing ethnic conflicts. The first part of the course provides a general overview for understanding ethnic and nationalist conflict. The second part of the course analyzes the causes of ethnic conflict and civil war, including psychological, historical, political, ethnic, ideological, religious, and economic factors. The third part of the course examines domestic strategies for dealing with ethnic and political differences, including accommodation, domination, co-optation, assimilation, secession and genocide. The fourth and final part of the course examines international responses to ethnic and nationalist conflict, including the use of policy instruments such as economic measures, mediation, and military force. A wide selection of case studies are used to illustrate theoretical arguments. The course is run as a seminar.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5460 Terrorism/Counterrorism 3 Credits
This course examines the nexus of terrorist threat and governmental response. It has been crafted with the events of September 11th 2001 and since in mind and therefore is intended to acquaint students with the dynamics of both terrorism and counterterrorism and by doing so to establish a solid foundation upon which further expertise can be built.
The course considers a wide range of questions in order to provide students with a deeper understanding of the threat of terrorism today. Among the questions it examines are: What is terrorism? How has the threat of terrorism changed over time? What motivates different types of terrorist groups? When does terrorism succeed and fail? How can terrorism best be fought? Specifically, the course will analyze both terrorism's effectiveness as a means to achieve political change and the challenges faced by the liberal democratic state in responding to domestic and/or international terrorist campaigns. The first part of the course seeks to provide the student with a firm historical foundation and clear understanding of the aims, motivations and justifications of terrorists. The second part of the course then focuses on terrorist tactics, targeting, and motivation. The final part addresses some of the key policy issues facing liberal democratic states in responding to domestic and/or international terrorism, thereby enabling students to better understand the power and limitations of the liberal democratic state in countering terrorism.
The course considers a wide range of questions in order to provide students with a deeper understanding of the threat of terrorism today. Among the questions it examines are: What is terrorism? How has the threat of terrorism changed over time? What motivates different types of terrorist groups? When does terrorism succeed and fail? How can terrorism best be fought? Specifically, the course will analyze both terrorism's effectiveness as a means to achieve political change and the challenges faced by the liberal democratic state in responding to domestic and/or international terrorist campaigns. The first part of the course seeks to provide the student with a firm historical foundation and clear understanding of the aims, motivations and justifications of terrorists. The second part of the course then focuses on terrorist tactics, targeting, and motivation. The final part addresses some of the key policy issues facing liberal democratic states in responding to domestic and/or international terrorism, thereby enabling students to better understand the power and limitations of the liberal democratic state in countering terrorism.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5500 Analyzing War:Op Art Mil Cam 3 Credits
This course examines military operations as the critical bridge between strategy and tactics, focusing on how armed forces design, conduct, sustain, adapt, and assess campaigns in pursuit of political and strategic objectives. Whereas SEST 5001 introduces students to the logic of strategy and the enduring problem of using force for political ends, SEST 5500 moves inside the campaign itself: how military organizations generate and employ combat power, integrate capabilities across domains, respond to friction and uncertainty, and evaluate success or failure. Through historical and contemporary cases, students will study operational art, force generation, logistics, learning and adaptation, combat effectiveness, joint and combined operations, and the challenges of military action under political constraint. The course emphasizes structured analysis of military performance, asking why some campaigns achieve their operational aims while others fall short, how material, organizational, technological, and political factors shape outcomes, and how military professionals and policymakers can assess operations rigorously. By the end of the course, students will be better prepared to connect strategic purpose to operational execution and to evaluate the employment of military power in clear, disciplined, and policy-relevant terms.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 5514 Methods of MilAnalysis 3 Credits
This course will cover several technical approaches for understanding and analyzing key subjects in military affairs. Methodologies range from simple quantitative tools for understanding combat to defense budget calculations to primers on military technology. None require elaborate prerequisites! The course will address these subjects:
the defense budget;
models and simulations of combat;
subjects in military technology such as WMD, missile defense, and cybersecurity;
military basing, transport, supply, and logistics.
Although the course is not built exclusively around the current policy debate, case studies will often examine contemporary issues in U.S. and international security.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 5526 Modern Conv Mil Ops 3 Credits
Most of the world’s military establishments spend the majority of their time and resources preparing for combat against the armed forces of another nation-state. Even with the obvious strategic implications of the post-September 11, 2001 “Global War on Terrorism”, the overwhelming majority of the U.S. military’s modernization program is still devoted to enhancing the conventional combat capability of this nation’s armed forces.
This course will cover the evolution of conventional air, land, and naval operations from the early 20th Century to roughly 2030. The course format will consist of a mixture of roughly 50 percent military history and 50 percent description of how modern military forces are organized, equipped, and trained for conventional combat operations. Students will develop an understanding of how military forces have evolved during this period as well as how military technology has changed in the past century and how those changes influenced the way operations are conducted. While the majority of the course will focus on conventional combat, there will be some reference to so-called “low intensity” and “irregular warfare” operations such as counter-insurgency, in so far as those types of operations have had a bearing on how conventional forces prepare for and conduct operations.
This course will cover the evolution of conventional air, land, and naval operations from the early 20th Century to roughly 2030. The course format will consist of a mixture of roughly 50 percent military history and 50 percent description of how modern military forces are organized, equipped, and trained for conventional combat operations. Students will develop an understanding of how military forces have evolved during this period as well as how military technology has changed in the past century and how those changes influenced the way operations are conducted. While the majority of the course will focus on conventional combat, there will be some reference to so-called “low intensity” and “irregular warfare” operations such as counter-insurgency, in so far as those types of operations have had a bearing on how conventional forces prepare for and conduct operations.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 5650 Nuc Weapons: Hist/Strat/Tech 3 Credits
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 5700 Tools for Tech Policy 3 Credits
This course explores two essential questions: what are the tools for technology policy, and how can policymakers best wield them to meet important security, economic, and social goals? Science and technology are increasingly critical to national security, and national security concerns will increasingly shape the scientific enterprise. Policymakers must develop the knowledge, best practices, and tools to help advance scientific research, promote technologies that help solve urgent global challenges, and safeguard the fundamental values at the heart of the social contract. Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and advanced computing, biotechnologies and biomanufacturing, communication and networking technologies, and renewable energy generation and storage are poised to transform decision making from the boardroom to the battlefield. Policymakers must not only adapt to this new strategic environment, but also anticipate the most salient trends and shape them accordingly.
In many ways, technology statecraft today is more complex and cross-cutting than in the past. It is not just governments that matter but also private companies, academic researchers, philanthropies, and state and local governments who are funding, inventing, and deploying cutting-edge technology. Intensifying geopolitical competition and rapid advances in science and technology require policymakers to employ an array of tools to influence the design, development, and deployment of critical and emerging technologies. Leaders must operate at the seams of foreign and domestic policy, balance national security and economic priorities, and integrate diverse perspectives across foundational sectors of our societies. They must devise policy under conditions of limited resources and mounting transnational challenges, while also navigating growing strategic competition among the major powers. Tradeoffs and tensions are inevitable, but the demand for wise policy and strategy leadership is indispensable.
This course is organized in three parts. First, we will explore the tools that protect sensitive technologies and slow down competitors: export controls, investment screening, and economic sanctions. Next, we will grapple with the tools that promote technological innovation and help nations run faster: investments in research and development, support for public-private partnerships, and greater government action around a modern industrial and innovation strategy. Finally, we will consider the tools that project influence, foster greater technology situational awareness, and enable the rapid adoption of new capabilities: diplomacy and arms control, international technical standards, and horizon scanning of the global science and technology landscape. Each of these tools are part of the modern toolkit of technology statecraft and all are critical to the responsible development of critical and emerging technologies in the 21st century.
In many ways, technology statecraft today is more complex and cross-cutting than in the past. It is not just governments that matter but also private companies, academic researchers, philanthropies, and state and local governments who are funding, inventing, and deploying cutting-edge technology. Intensifying geopolitical competition and rapid advances in science and technology require policymakers to employ an array of tools to influence the design, development, and deployment of critical and emerging technologies. Leaders must operate at the seams of foreign and domestic policy, balance national security and economic priorities, and integrate diverse perspectives across foundational sectors of our societies. They must devise policy under conditions of limited resources and mounting transnational challenges, while also navigating growing strategic competition among the major powers. Tradeoffs and tensions are inevitable, but the demand for wise policy and strategy leadership is indispensable.
This course is organized in three parts. First, we will explore the tools that protect sensitive technologies and slow down competitors: export controls, investment screening, and economic sanctions. Next, we will grapple with the tools that promote technological innovation and help nations run faster: investments in research and development, support for public-private partnerships, and greater government action around a modern industrial and innovation strategy. Finally, we will consider the tools that project influence, foster greater technology situational awareness, and enable the rapid adoption of new capabilities: diplomacy and arms control, international technical standards, and horizon scanning of the global science and technology landscape. Each of these tools are part of the modern toolkit of technology statecraft and all are critical to the responsible development of critical and emerging technologies in the 21st century.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 5732 Nuc Deterrence: Past,PresFut 3 Credits
This course is an advanced Introduction to nuclear deterrence, focused on questions of nuclear strategy and the role of nuclear weapons in world politics. Part I introduces major concepts and controversies in the study of nuclear deterrence, including the role of nuclear weapons in world politics and state strategy, and debates about the effects of the nuclear balance. Part II delves into the historical episodes that have motivated and complicated these questions, starting with America’s atomic monopoly in World War II and then moving to the age of nuclear parity and the arms race with the Soviet Union. Superpower nuclear strategy, nuclear crises, arms control, missile defense, and concerns about nuclear escalation are all addressed, along with the rise of regional nuclear powers such as Israel, India, and Pakistan. Part III leverages the theories and empirical evidence from the first two parts of the course to explore contemporary topics in nuclear deterrence. These include debates about the future of the U.S. nuclear posture and U.S. nuclear strategy toward China, North Korea, Iran, and potential non-state nuclear actors. The class addresses non-proliferation and technical aspects of nuclear weaponry relatively briefly, as these topics are covered in other classes offered at the university.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5733 CyberOps in the Age of AI 3 Credits
Cyber operations now reach into nearly every corner of national security work—military policy, intelligence, counterterrorism, diplomacy, and homeland security—which makes them a useful lens onto some of the most important questions in contemporary security studies. How does the U.S. government organize itself to confront emerging threats? How do statutory authorities shape what different departments can and cannot do? How do Congress's authorization and appropriations processes constrain executive action? Where do private companies fit in a national security landscape once dominated by government? And how do allies and adversaries navigate an increasingly contested international environment?
This is not a technology course. Students will build a working understanding of the interagency process and the distinct roles and missions of the Defense Department, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Treasury Department, the Intelligence Community, and the White House—knowledge that travels far beyond cyber. They will engage enduring debates about civil-military relations, deterrence, the private sector's proper role in national defense, and how leaders use (and misuse) historical analogy to make decisions. Readings include primary sources—statutes, executive orders, and congressional testimony—alongside case studies drawn from real operations against a range of adversaries.
Assessment rests on a student-designed research paper and an oral defense modeled on professional briefings common in government and industry, not on technical proficiency. No background in computer science is required or expected. Students interested in U.S. national security policy, military operations, international security, intelligence, or terrorism will find that the course equips them with frameworks and vocabulary they will use throughout their careers, whether or not they ever work on cyber again.
This is not a technology course. Students will build a working understanding of the interagency process and the distinct roles and missions of the Defense Department, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Treasury Department, the Intelligence Community, and the White House—knowledge that travels far beyond cyber. They will engage enduring debates about civil-military relations, deterrence, the private sector's proper role in national defense, and how leaders use (and misuse) historical analogy to make decisions. Readings include primary sources—statutes, executive orders, and congressional testimony—alongside case studies drawn from real operations against a range of adversaries.
Assessment rests on a student-designed research paper and an oral defense modeled on professional briefings common in government and industry, not on technical proficiency. No background in computer science is required or expected. Students interested in U.S. national security policy, military operations, international security, intelligence, or terrorism will find that the course equips them with frameworks and vocabulary they will use throughout their careers, whether or not they ever work on cyber again.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 5734 Artificial Intel Natl Sec 3 Credits
In this course, we will examine one of the topics most central for the future of national security policy: artificial intelligence, or AI. We will begin first by examining what AI is and isn’t, and discuss how the underlying technology works. We will then proceed to survey the national security landscape and consider how AI will impact key policy and strategy decisions in the near future. Topics discussed include autonomous weapons, intelligence collection and analysis, massive cyber attacks, propaganda, and technology competition. We will also focus on the AI strategies of two major nations, the United States and China.
No technical background is required for this class, though we will introduce some important ideas that are relevant to how AI works. Students will be assessed through a mid-term exam that assesses understanding of key concepts, as well as through one research paper in which they examine how AI is changing an area of national security policy. In addition, class participation is a vital component of this class, as a substantial portion of each week will be oriented toward discussion.
No technical background is required for this class, though we will introduce some important ideas that are relevant to how AI works. Students will be assessed through a mid-term exam that assesses understanding of key concepts, as well as through one research paper in which they examine how AI is changing an area of national security policy. In addition, class participation is a vital component of this class, as a substantial portion of each week will be oriented toward discussion.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 6370 Ethnic Conflict Civil War 3 Credits
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a framework for understanding and analyzing ethnic conflicts. The first part of the course provides a general overview for understanding ethnic and nationalist conflict. The second part of the course analyzes the causes of ethnic conflict and civil war, including psychological, historical, political, ethnic, ideological, religious, and economic factors. The third part of the course examines domestic strategies for dealing with ethnic and political differences, including accommodation, domination, co-optation, assimilation, secession and genocide. The fourth and final part of the course examines international responses to ethnic and nationalist conflict, including the use of policy instruments such as economic measures, mediation, and military force. A wide selection of case studies are used to illustrate theoretical arguments. The course is run as a seminar.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6400 The Evolution of Asia Strategy 3 Credits
This course examines the complex evolution of strategy in Asia. It traces American strategy towards the region from the nation's founding through the Second World War, Cold War, and contemporary "pivot to Asia" initiative. Students will also analyze strategic frameworks employed by regional powers—China, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, and ASEAN nations—alongside approaches by external players including Russia and the EU. They will also explore how economic interdependence, territorial disputes, historical grievances, and emerging security challenges shape strategic calculations across this dynamic theater. Through detailed case studies of pivotal historical incidents and in-depth examinations of critical flashpoints—including the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, East China Sea, and Korean Peninsula—students will gain a comprehensive understanding of the various factors that drive strategy formulation in one of the world's most consequential geopolitical arenas.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6410 Technology National Security 3 Credits
In this class, students will be introduced to a range of emerging technologies and their impact on national security. Topics will include artificial intelligence, quantum information science, biotechnologies, and cyber operations, among others. The first hour of each class will feature remarks from an expert guest lecturer with policymaking experience in the topic at hand, followed by time for student questions. The second portion will feature a moderated discussion led by the professor covering the lecture and the assigned readings. By the end of the semester, students will gain a better understanding of the wide range of emerging technologies that will confront national security decision-makers in the years ahead, how each technology affects the U.S.-China relationship, and how these topics reflect, inform, and sometimes conflict with one another.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6502 Research Methods:Sec. Studies 3 Credits
Research Methods for Security Studies
This course is a graduate seminar that covers social science research methods and their application to security studies questions. The objective of the course is to familiarize students with the diverse set of qualitative and quantitative methods that they can use to conduct rigorous research on topics related to the study of international and national security policy. Each session of the course will cover a different methodology and an application of that methodology to a set of questions or topics within the security studies domain. The application will demonstrate the use of the method, highlight the insights the method can provide, point out the strengths and weaknesses of the method, and identify relevant data sources. Methods covered will include literature reviews, case studies, interviews, and surveys as well as quantitative analysis and basic statistics, experimental methods, social network analysis. Topics covered as applications will include terrorism, civil and ethnic war, third-party military interventions, nuclear deterrence, cyber warfare, interstate conflict and cooperation, and societal violence (riots, protests, etc.). The specific methods and topics covered can be modified to reflect student interests. Learning Outcomes During the course, students will learn and apply qualitative and quantitative social science research methods to security studies questions. Students will become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of specific methods while also learning how to use these methods to overcome the challenges of conducting research on issues related to international security and conflict. By the end of the course, students will be able to develop research designs and project proposals that rigorously address challenging questions and will have the tools needed to carry out these research plans.
This course is a graduate seminar that covers social science research methods and their application to security studies questions. The objective of the course is to familiarize students with the diverse set of qualitative and quantitative methods that they can use to conduct rigorous research on topics related to the study of international and national security policy. Each session of the course will cover a different methodology and an application of that methodology to a set of questions or topics within the security studies domain. The application will demonstrate the use of the method, highlight the insights the method can provide, point out the strengths and weaknesses of the method, and identify relevant data sources. Methods covered will include literature reviews, case studies, interviews, and surveys as well as quantitative analysis and basic statistics, experimental methods, social network analysis. Topics covered as applications will include terrorism, civil and ethnic war, third-party military interventions, nuclear deterrence, cyber warfare, interstate conflict and cooperation, and societal violence (riots, protests, etc.). The specific methods and topics covered can be modified to reflect student interests. Learning Outcomes During the course, students will learn and apply qualitative and quantitative social science research methods to security studies questions. Students will become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of specific methods while also learning how to use these methods to overcome the challenges of conducting research on issues related to international security and conflict. By the end of the course, students will be able to develop research designs and project proposals that rigorously address challenging questions and will have the tools needed to carry out these research plans.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6503 Writing:Security Professionals 3 Credits
The national security field is filled with brilliant people nobody can understand. Their ideas drown in insider language called “wonk.” Wonk is also used by exceptionally non-brilliant people to disguise that they don’t have anything new to say.
This course will help students identify the wonk within and exorcise it. The ability to make a powerful argument clearly is critical to influencing national security debates, which should be the goal of every good practitioner. Students will turn what they’ve learned at Georgetown into simple ideas anyone can understand. The practice of writing will help students discover what they believe about the most critical questions facing our community.
This course will help students identify the wonk within and exorcise it. The ability to make a powerful argument clearly is critical to influencing national security debates, which should be the goal of every good practitioner. Students will turn what they’ve learned at Georgetown into simple ideas anyone can understand. The practice of writing will help students discover what they believe about the most critical questions facing our community.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6504 Becoming a Political Analyst 3 Credits
In this course, students will learn how to become political analysts skill-by-skill. Political analysts are specialists in an area of knowledge, such as a country (e.g., a Syria expert), a functional area (e.g., a terrorism expert), or some combination of the two whose job is to provide salient analysis on their area of expertise. Political analysts often work in government, the corporate world, non-profits, NGOs, or in think tanks to inform and advise decision-makers and policymakers.
In this course, every student will select a desired ‘expertise’ that they will begin to develop over the course of the semester. In order to ensure the professor can properly guide the students, each will choose a specialty from a finite, but long list of Middle East countries or relevant functional areas (e.g., military, nuclear, energy, illicit finance, terrorism, etc). For the rest of the semester, students will become political analysts by doing exactly what an analyst would do every day/week. Each student will keep a weekly tracker of related news and analysis on his/her selected specialty and write a news brief similar to a ‘daily brief’ in the government. The tracker will form the bulk of their reading for each week and will serve as the foundation for workshops on specific skill sets, such as interviewing a source, doing a media interview, or writing an analytic piece. This course will be heavily activity-based. This course is best for students who seek to enter a career in government, intelligence, military analysis, political analysis, think tanks, or journalism.
In this course, every student will select a desired ‘expertise’ that they will begin to develop over the course of the semester. In order to ensure the professor can properly guide the students, each will choose a specialty from a finite, but long list of Middle East countries or relevant functional areas (e.g., military, nuclear, energy, illicit finance, terrorism, etc). For the rest of the semester, students will become political analysts by doing exactly what an analyst would do every day/week. Each student will keep a weekly tracker of related news and analysis on his/her selected specialty and write a news brief similar to a ‘daily brief’ in the government. The tracker will form the bulk of their reading for each week and will serve as the foundation for workshops on specific skill sets, such as interviewing a source, doing a media interview, or writing an analytic piece. This course will be heavily activity-based. This course is best for students who seek to enter a career in government, intelligence, military analysis, political analysis, think tanks, or journalism.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6505 Comp Civ-Mil Relations 3 Credits
This course will introduce students to the comparative nature of civil-military relations. Students will analyze the fundamentals, historical developments, complex challenges, and various policy recommendations involving civil-military relations. The course is divided into three portions. The first portion will conceptualize civilian control over the military. Students will explore the proper relationship between political leadership and military organizations. The discourse will include exposure to critical principles, institutional norms, and informal expectations associated with civilian authorities over the military. The second portion of the course will discuss challenges involving the growing divide between civil-military relationships. The course will highlight significant challenges and their impacts. Those sub-topics include the politicization of the military, the causation of military coup d’état, the generations of war, low representation of service members in the military contributing to the familiarity gap, group thinking, the trust factor, the role of media & technology, decision-making over the global security environment (i.e., grand strategy, global war on terrorism and strategic competition), and the role of the veterans community. In addition, the course will cover global examples of civil-military relations including military dictatorship in Egypt, the 2016 Turkish coup d’état attempt, and political leadership instability in Myanmar. The final portion will conclude with practical applications. Students will be provided the opportunity to evaluate multiple policy options using practical applications and assess the pros and cons of each policy option by using various analytic tools.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6506 Game Theory 3 Credits
This course is an introduction to Game Theory in international affairs and security studies. International affairs are about strategies and strategic decision-making. State actors and leaders act in ways to maximize their outcomes and prevail in international crises. Actors aim to deter adversaries and simultaneously avoid war, and they act to influence the actions of other actors. Game Theory allows one to study these social situations by explaining how decisions are interrelated and shape outcomes. Game Theory provides the capability to formally address international crises, nuclear deterrence, the creation of international institutions, and much more.
In this class, we will introduce basic strategic games, apply them to historical case studies, and develop game theory frameworks to help explain current events in international affairs. The course is divided into four blocks, all of which build upon the other. In the first block, we focus on your understanding of basic Game Theory, representation, assumptions, and the various games used to understand certain social situations. In the second part, we start to examine static games, followed by the third part, in which we will examine dynamic games. The final part is dedicated to examining case studies of international affairs, which include crises, wars, and nuclear deterrence.
In this class, we will introduce basic strategic games, apply them to historical case studies, and develop game theory frameworks to help explain current events in international affairs. The course is divided into four blocks, all of which build upon the other. In the first block, we focus on your understanding of basic Game Theory, representation, assumptions, and the various games used to understand certain social situations. In the second part, we start to examine static games, followed by the third part, in which we will examine dynamic games. The final part is dedicated to examining case studies of international affairs, which include crises, wars, and nuclear deterrence.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6507 Intel Oversight Reform 3 Credits
This course examines the rare and sometimes contentious intersection of intelligence and politics—intelligence oversight and reform—with the goal of answering a simple question: What is the purpose of intelligence accountability and the reform it occasionally produces? It’s fair to say that intelligence oversight and reform aims to improve the intelligence mission. But how did our intelligence accountability structures develop, when have they lead to reform, and what are the prospects for them to prevent intelligence failure? Through course readings, discussion, and written assignments students will hone their critical thinking, writing, and communication skills by debating, analyzing, and writing short papers about the development of the intelligence community and the oversight structures that govern it.
Students will evaluate the theory and practice of intelligence oversight, the impact of oversight and reform on intelligence agencies, and debate tradeoffs between secrecy and national security. Students will also examine the shifts in executive, legislative, and judicial oversight and explore the role and challenges of the media and the private sector in intelligence accountability. Intelligence accountability in other democracies will also be reviewed to add perspective on the US case.
Much of the course focuses on oversight of the CIA, but NSA and other intelligence agencies will also be covered. Students will have options to pursue issues of interest within the course curriculum. Previous courses in political science, security studies, and intelligence are helpful but not prerequisites.
Students will evaluate the theory and practice of intelligence oversight, the impact of oversight and reform on intelligence agencies, and debate tradeoffs between secrecy and national security. Students will also examine the shifts in executive, legislative, and judicial oversight and explore the role and challenges of the media and the private sector in intelligence accountability. Intelligence accountability in other democracies will also be reviewed to add perspective on the US case.
Much of the course focuses on oversight of the CIA, but NSA and other intelligence agencies will also be covered. Students will have options to pursue issues of interest within the course curriculum. Previous courses in political science, security studies, and intelligence are helpful but not prerequisites.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6508 Writing for IntelAlt Analysis 3 Credits
This course explores the means by which the United States Intelligence Community aims at objectivity and speaking truth to power but can fall victim to politics, bias, and intelligence failures. The course will examine how the Intelligence Community interfaces with the National Security Council in the cycle whereby policy drives requirements and collection can drive policy. Students will explore how the collection, processing, and dissemination of raw intelligence can allow for subjective interpretations. Using case studies and practical exercises, students will work to identify what leads to groupthink and encourages risk aversion and consider practices that enable analytical creativity that nurtures innovation. The case studies include Team B and the Missile Gap; the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq; and the 2014 rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. Armed with a fundamental understanding of analytical processes, tools, and methodologies, and enlightened through the lessons derived from their case studies,
Students will take on contemporary issues. Playing roles from among the USIC stakeholders, students will participate in analytical exercises to examine America’s South Asia Strategy and ultimately Iran. This final exercise requires students to outline the issues and provide recommended courses of action concerning Iran which can be discussed in a simulated NSC Principals Committee meeting and ultimately briefed to the President. A special guest will play the role of the National Security Advisor at the NSC meeting. Another will serve as the President who they will ultimately need to brief and convince. Throughout the course, students will gain practical experience by providing a brief, weekly Note to Briefer highlighting a significant international development. Learning points include highlighting both the deliberate and unintentional factors innate to the fundamentals of intelligence collection, processing, and analysis which allows for subjective interpretations. Students will gain an understanding of the mechanisms available for holistic approaches and alternative analysis and likewise, the pressures which challenge objectivity and independence.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6509 Nat Sec Planning for the 21st 3 Credits
Washington’s problem in the nutshell is that it doesn’t think very well. The last quarter century has seen an explosion in the human capacity to create and manipulate new knowledge—yet many of the instruments used to support national security leadership are as creaky as ever. All this needs to change if America wants to outthink it enemies and it help it friends secure a safe, free, and prosperous future. This course provides both an introduction to the theoretical constructs and practical exercises in the three critical pillars of overseeing national security affairs—planning, strategy, and decision-making. Lessons provide a foundation for the skills, knowledge, and attributes to analyze, address, and manage national security affairs at the operational and strategic levels.
The first part of the course provides an introduction and practical exercises in the most cutting-edge methods of analysis. The second part of the course teaches the fundamentals of strategy, policy, and decision-making and offers a practicum in these activities.
The first part of the course provides an introduction and practical exercises in the most cutting-edge methods of analysis. The second part of the course teaches the fundamentals of strategy, policy, and decision-making and offers a practicum in these activities.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6510 TransNat'l Institutions in AFR 3 Credits
This course examines Africa’s role in global governance and international affairs through the lens of international organizations. The course examines a variety of international organizations that are either based in or active in Africa, and the relationship of African society and states to them. It provides a survey of contemporary economic, political, social, and security issues that are shaping Africa and the international organizations and the transnational institutions and organizations designed to address them. The course is divided into three sections. The first section of the course introduces students to the major theoretical debates in IR theory about the role of IOs in world politics. Topics examined in this unit include the creation, design, legitimacy, and efficacy of international organizations. The second section of the course explores the history and impact of centuries of foreign intervention – from European colonialism and the ‘Scramble for Africa,’ to the modern-day great power rivalry between the US and China – on the African continent, its peoples, society, government, and institutions. The final section of the course provides an overview of the major international organizations and transnational institutions active in Africa, today, such as the African Union (AU), the African Development Bank, the UN, the African and Malagasy Union, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and others.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6511 NSC: US Policy via Simulations 3 Credits
This course provides an interactive, hands-on introduction to the United States National Security Council (NSC). The course will provide students with a deeper understanding of the inner workings of the NSC and the policymaking process within the US Government (USG). The course will cover an overview of the history of the NSC, past key decisions in national security made by previous administrations, and the current NSC structure and process. Students will interact in simulations playing the role of senior policymakers, and develop a policy and/or national security decision on fictional, yet timely and relevant topics. Upon completing the course, students will be better informed of the US policymaking process, and be better prepared and equipped to potentially serve in a future government position within the US or in their home nations.
To ensure students have the necessary tools for the simulations, the course will also include an instructional portion on briefing skills. Students will also learn about the different White House documents used to formulate policy, including decision memos, NSC meeting packages, Executive Orders (EO) or Presidential Directives (PD), and Summary of Conclusions. The course will also host guest speakers who have previously and/or currently serve in the NSC in order for students to hear firsthand accounts of the policy and decision making process.
Assignments for the course will include students reading articles and books that complement the lessons, and writing White House papers in preparation for the simulated National Security meetings. Students will be graded on these papers, in addition to class participation and role-playing in the simulations.
To ensure students have the necessary tools for the simulations, the course will also include an instructional portion on briefing skills. Students will also learn about the different White House documents used to formulate policy, including decision memos, NSC meeting packages, Executive Orders (EO) or Presidential Directives (PD), and Summary of Conclusions. The course will also host guest speakers who have previously and/or currently serve in the NSC in order for students to hear firsthand accounts of the policy and decision making process.
Assignments for the course will include students reading articles and books that complement the lessons, and writing White House papers in preparation for the simulated National Security meetings. Students will be graded on these papers, in addition to class participation and role-playing in the simulations.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6512 Congress US Natl Sec Policy 3 Credits
As the Constitution’s Article I branch of government, Congress plays a critical role in the formulation, implementation, and oversight of U.S. national security policy. Nevertheless, this Congressional role is often insufficiently understood. This course, designed for individuals contemplating or pursuing careers in national security, will provide an in-depth understanding of Congress focused on an empirical assessment of its role related to national security policy. Students will evaluate Congress from theoretical, historical, and normative perspectives; however, the core of the course will be a study of the way things really work on Capitol Hill. Students will develop a comprehensive understanding of the Constitutional framework and what has been characterized as its “invitation to struggle for the privilege of directing American foreign policy.”
Indeed, the struggle within Congress and the struggle between Congress and the executive branch for control of national security policy will serve as a major topic in this course. To better understand the actions of Congress in this struggle, students will analyze Congressional member demographics, the ways members organize their offices, their foreign policy perspectives, and the motivations and interests that influence decisions. Equipped with this knowledge, students will then examine the national security committees, key legislative vehicles, and the tools and techniques employed by members and staff in the art of national security policymaking on Capitol Hill.
Classes will feature a combination of lectures, student presentations, guided discussions, debates, and case studies. For example, debates and case studies related to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), the international affairs budget, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), Saudi Arabia/Yemen, the Guantanamo detention facility, and the divestment of the A-10 aircraft will provide unique insights and illuminate the scope and nature of Congress’s role.
The most successful national security professionals possess strong analytical skills as well as the ability to distill complex information quickly and communicate that information persuasively and succinctly. To build such skills, students will write 1-2 page memos and deliver oral presentations arguing for a particular position or recommending a Senator take a particular course of action. Upon the completion of the course, students will have gained a valuable understanding of the role of Congress in national security policy. Moreover, they will have further developed the analytical, writing, and speaking skills required to excel in national security professions.
Indeed, the struggle within Congress and the struggle between Congress and the executive branch for control of national security policy will serve as a major topic in this course. To better understand the actions of Congress in this struggle, students will analyze Congressional member demographics, the ways members organize their offices, their foreign policy perspectives, and the motivations and interests that influence decisions. Equipped with this knowledge, students will then examine the national security committees, key legislative vehicles, and the tools and techniques employed by members and staff in the art of national security policymaking on Capitol Hill.
Classes will feature a combination of lectures, student presentations, guided discussions, debates, and case studies. For example, debates and case studies related to the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), the international affairs budget, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), Saudi Arabia/Yemen, the Guantanamo detention facility, and the divestment of the A-10 aircraft will provide unique insights and illuminate the scope and nature of Congress’s role.
The most successful national security professionals possess strong analytical skills as well as the ability to distill complex information quickly and communicate that information persuasively and succinctly. To build such skills, students will write 1-2 page memos and deliver oral presentations arguing for a particular position or recommending a Senator take a particular course of action. Upon the completion of the course, students will have gained a valuable understanding of the role of Congress in national security policy. Moreover, they will have further developed the analytical, writing, and speaking skills required to excel in national security professions.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6513 Russian Intel/Info Operations 3 Credits
This course examines the organization, missions, capabilities, and operations of Russia’s intelligence and information operations (IO) organizations. A primary objective is to enable students to assess the nature of the threat to U.S. interests posed by Russian intelligence and information operations. The course also includes discussion of the role of intelligence and IO in Russia’s government and society. In addition, the course covers U.S. efforts to counter Russian intelligence and IO activities. The course draws on readings from a variety of perspectives, including U.S. intelligence community products, other government publications, academic writings, and Russian documents.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6514 AI Uses and Abuses Online 3 Credits
How will Artificial Intelligence (AI), and especially generative AI models (like ChatGPT), change the landscape of disinformation campaigns? In this class, students will dive deep into the risks of AI-powered influence operations and other misuses of new AI technologies. We will assess whether the potential for misuse is dire or overstated. Students will also consider emerging challenges and mitigations from various perspectives—including those of social media companies, AI developers, government officials, and the general public. The class will focus on key policy decisions, ethical trade-offs, and societal implications. No prior technical background is required for this course.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6515 Net Assessment/Strategic Think 3 Credits
This course provides an introduction to diagnostic net assessment as conceived in the early 1970s by Andrew W. Marshall while a member of the National Security Council and subsequently practiced under him at the Department of Defense since 1973.
Diagnostic net assessment seeks to provide top decision makers with objective assessments of where the United States stands relative to prospective opponents in key areas of long-term military competition. It does so by comparing such things as the competitors’ objectives, strategies and tactics, equipment holdings and deployments, technological capabilities, military doctrines, operational concepts, training, and logistics. Especially important are trends and asymmetries in the competition as well as clarity the about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the competitors, their allies, or other actors who may influence the balance. The main output of Marshall’s assessments has been to identify emerging strategic problems and opportunities that could affect the U.S. position in the future. Net assessments are subject to considerable uncertainty and a given “balance” may need to consider broader factors such as demographics, economic strength and budgetary constraints, organizational behavior, competitor assessments, strategic culture, and disruptive technologies.
Since diagnostic net assessment is fundamentally a practical endeavor, several historical and recent cases will be examined, including: the general problems of measuring military power, the U.S.-Soviet strategic-nuclear and NATO-Warsaw Pact balances during the Cold War, emerging “revolutions in military affairs,” and U.S. strategic performance since 9/11.
Diagnostic net assessment seeks to provide top decision makers with objective assessments of where the United States stands relative to prospective opponents in key areas of long-term military competition. It does so by comparing such things as the competitors’ objectives, strategies and tactics, equipment holdings and deployments, technological capabilities, military doctrines, operational concepts, training, and logistics. Especially important are trends and asymmetries in the competition as well as clarity the about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the competitors, their allies, or other actors who may influence the balance. The main output of Marshall’s assessments has been to identify emerging strategic problems and opportunities that could affect the U.S. position in the future. Net assessments are subject to considerable uncertainty and a given “balance” may need to consider broader factors such as demographics, economic strength and budgetary constraints, organizational behavior, competitor assessments, strategic culture, and disruptive technologies.
Since diagnostic net assessment is fundamentally a practical endeavor, several historical and recent cases will be examined, including: the general problems of measuring military power, the U.S.-Soviet strategic-nuclear and NATO-Warsaw Pact balances during the Cold War, emerging “revolutions in military affairs,” and U.S. strategic performance since 9/11.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6516 Military Effectiveness 3 Credits
Military power is arguably the most significant factor in the study of international politics, one that is often used to explain conflict outcomes. Yet raw measures of military strength do not always explain how wars unfold. For instance, the United States easily defeated the Iraqi military in 1991, despite many predictions that the war would take a heavy toll, while Washington has suffered far greater costs at the hands of much weaker opponents on numerous occasions. The purpose of this course, therefore, is to examine why states (and non-state actors) succeed or fail in harnessing their resources, devising novel tactics, developing new weapons, motivating their troops, and, in the end, winning the wars they fight. Specifically, the course will address this question by surveying theories that seek to explain how factors such as geography, strategy, technology, domestic institutions, and culture can impact battlefield performance. In addition, it will place these arguments in historical context and assess their relevance for contemporary policy debates.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6517 Ops Research:Sec Studies 3 Credits
Welcome to Operations Research! In this course, we will learn about many of the key topics in the field of Operations Research (OR). OR was born out of the need to solve real-world, complex resource allocation problems in World War II. Spurred by advances in modern computing, OR has grown and been successfully applied in numerous commercial and government applications both in the United States and abroad. In this course, we will use some mathematics to solve OR problems. However, this is not a math class. We will focus on the application of these techniques to solve real problems.
Basic techniques and methods of Operations Research are presented. The course will cover the phases of problem identification, model building with analytical methods of decision making. Students will be introduced to the implementation of these algorithms and models.
Basic techniques and methods of Operations Research are presented. The course will cover the phases of problem identification, model building with analytical methods of decision making. Students will be introduced to the implementation of these algorithms and models.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6518 Space Strategy, Policy, Ops 3 Credits
This course examines the extent to which space power theory, concepts, and operations influence national security strategy and international security. It identifies key space policy issues facing the United States and places them in the larger context of a changing international strategic
environment. This course will briefly examine the historical and policy foundations for U.S. and international space programs and activities, including space policy evolution, international space law, and treaties. The course will also assess the degree to which traditional defense and strategic studies topics such as diplomacy, arms controls, and deterrence apply or do not apply to space activity.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6519 Domestic Intell Homeland Sec 3 Credits
Emerging Issues in Homeland Security and the Domestic Intelligence Enterprise
This course provides students an introduction to the operational, intelligence and public policy challenges facing Federal, state and local governments as they seek to protect our Nation from a broad range of homeland security related issues. Students will examine the creation and evolution of the United States Department of Homeland Security, it relationship with members of the Intelligence Community, other Federal, state local government organization and the private sector as well as the current and emerging threats facing the United States. This course provides students an operational perspective on a variety of issues facing homeland security and domestic intelligence entities to include: homegrown violent extremism and domestic terrorism; cyber-security; social media driven foreign influence campaigns; international terrorism; immigration enforcement; transnational drug trafficking, transportation security; and domestic intelligence gathering and information sharing activities. The class will include extensive discussion on the privacy and civil liberty implications of current homeland security efforts. Students will be expected to stay up-to-date on current events.
This course provides students an introduction to the operational, intelligence and public policy challenges facing Federal, state and local governments as they seek to protect our Nation from a broad range of homeland security related issues. Students will examine the creation and evolution of the United States Department of Homeland Security, it relationship with members of the Intelligence Community, other Federal, state local government organization and the private sector as well as the current and emerging threats facing the United States. This course provides students an operational perspective on a variety of issues facing homeland security and domestic intelligence entities to include: homegrown violent extremism and domestic terrorism; cyber-security; social media driven foreign influence campaigns; international terrorism; immigration enforcement; transnational drug trafficking, transportation security; and domestic intelligence gathering and information sharing activities. The class will include extensive discussion on the privacy and civil liberty implications of current homeland security efforts. Students will be expected to stay up-to-date on current events.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6520 Counterinsurgency 3 Credits
This course examines the dynamics of insurgency (a political-military challenge to the ruling order using an array of asymmetric means, including guerrilla warfare and subversion) and counterinsurgency (the government response). Continuing US involvement in Afghanistan and ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere demonstrate that insurgent conflict continues to challenge US and broader Western interests, but also offers opportunities to the US. This course is intended to acquaint students with the nature of insurgency—its causes, strategies, and dynamics—and the fundamentals and past and contemporary variants of counterinsurgency, and by doing so to establish a solid foundation upon which to further build expertise and analytical capabilities.
The course considers a wide range of questions in order to provide students with a deeper understanding of the dynamics of insurgency and the evolution of counterinsurgency doctrine and methods: What is insurgency and how does it differ from terrorism? Why do individuals join, remain in, and leave insurgencies? What strategies and approaches do insurgent leaders select and how have those approaches evolved over time? Are certain insurgent organizational arrangements better than others? Why does insurgency succeed and fail? What is the role of popular and external support in both insurgency and counterinsurgency? How has counterinsurgency evolved and are there counterinsurgency “best practices”? How do the challenges of “small footprint”/indirect counterinsurgency differ from those of large-scale foreign counterinsurgency interventions? What are the appropriate counterinsurgency responses for contemporary insurgencies?
The course considers a wide range of questions in order to provide students with a deeper understanding of the dynamics of insurgency and the evolution of counterinsurgency doctrine and methods: What is insurgency and how does it differ from terrorism? Why do individuals join, remain in, and leave insurgencies? What strategies and approaches do insurgent leaders select and how have those approaches evolved over time? Are certain insurgent organizational arrangements better than others? Why does insurgency succeed and fail? What is the role of popular and external support in both insurgency and counterinsurgency? How has counterinsurgency evolved and are there counterinsurgency “best practices”? How do the challenges of “small footprint”/indirect counterinsurgency differ from those of large-scale foreign counterinsurgency interventions? What are the appropriate counterinsurgency responses for contemporary insurgencies?
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6521 Ethnic Conflict Civil War 3 Credits
The purpose of this course is to provide students with a framework for understanding and analyzing ethnic conflicts. The first part of the course provides a general overview for understanding ethnic and nationalist conflict. The second part of the course analyzes the causes of ethnic conflict and civil war, including psychological, historical, political, ethnic, ideological, religious, and economic factors. The third part of the course examines domestic strategies for dealing with ethnic and political differences, including accommodation, domination, co-optation, assimilation, secession and genocide. The fourth and final part of the course examines international responses to ethnic and nationalist conflict, including the use of policy instruments such as economic measures, mediation, and military force. A wide selection of case studies are used to illustrate theoretical arguments. The course is run as a seminar.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6522 Comparative Pol: Middle East 3 Credits
Is there something ‘different’ about the politics of the Middle East? If so, what sets the region apart? How do its regimes and political movements differ from one another? This course takes an interdisciplinary approach to questions such as:
What is political legitimacy and how has it shaped the region’s politics? What is it like to be a citizen in a modern Middle East state? Why are there so few democracies in the Middle East? How do regimes that govern poorly survive for so long? How does the legacy of Islam affect Middle East politics? What do extremist groups want, and why would anyone support them? Does oil wealth encourage authoritarianism? Why is there no Palestinian state? What is the Sunni-Shia conflict really about?
The themes of political legitimacy, human security, and ‘stuckness’ between a traditional past and a modern present are central to this course. We will learn to see the region through the eyes of its regimes, terrorist groups, political movements, and ordinary citizens. Lectures, readings, discussions, and assignments will incorporate current affairs.
What is political legitimacy and how has it shaped the region’s politics? What is it like to be a citizen in a modern Middle East state? Why are there so few democracies in the Middle East? How do regimes that govern poorly survive for so long? How does the legacy of Islam affect Middle East politics? What do extremist groups want, and why would anyone support them? Does oil wealth encourage authoritarianism? Why is there no Palestinian state? What is the Sunni-Shia conflict really about?
The themes of political legitimacy, human security, and ‘stuckness’ between a traditional past and a modern present are central to this course. We will learn to see the region through the eyes of its regimes, terrorist groups, political movements, and ordinary citizens. Lectures, readings, discussions, and assignments will incorporate current affairs.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6523 Armed Group Mil Integration 3 Credits
In the 1960s, only 10% of peace agreements included military integration – the incorporation or amalgamation non-statutory armed groups into a statutory security framework. By the 2000s, that number had increased to over 50%. However, relatively little is understood about this dimension of power-sharing often utilized during war-to- peace transitions.
This course will explore why countries undergoing transitions from war to peace decide to distribute authority within the coercive apparatus of the state, and why such efforts ultimately succeed or fail. This course will also allow students to identify the wider lessons drawn from historical cases of military integration that could be applied to current or future war-to-peace transitions.
This course will explore why countries undergoing transitions from war to peace decide to distribute authority within the coercive apparatus of the state, and why such efforts ultimately succeed or fail. This course will also allow students to identify the wider lessons drawn from historical cases of military integration that could be applied to current or future war-to-peace transitions.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6524 China's Grand Strategy 3 Credits
This course will examine China’s grand strategy and emerging patterns of U.S.-China interaction. First, the course will introduce students to the study of China’s grand strategy after the Cold War. Students will gain familiarity with debates on what grand strategy is, how to study it, and whether China has one. They will learn about key foreign policy institutions in China and how to use social science methods to explain variation in China’s foreign policy behavior. Second, this course will focus on U.S.-China strategic competition, how to manage it, and possible areas of coordination and cooperation. Students will explore U.S.-China competitive interaction across military affairs, trade, finance, technology, standard setting, telecommunications, international institutions, and global governance, among other domains. They will also explore the potential for and limitations of crisis communications, risk reduction measures, and cooperation on transnational challenges from climate to AI governance. In addition to reviewing social science literature on these topics, students will also discuss and debate historical analogs for these patterns of U.S.-China interaction, such as the Anglo-German telecommunications rivalry, U.S.-Soviet cooperation on transnational challenges, and Cold War-era export control regimes.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6525 SE Asian Security 3 Credits
Southeast Asia includes the ten countries of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. It has a combined population of over 650 million. What is striking about the region is its diversity. It is home to a huge range of government types, from a theocratic sultanate (Brunei), to communist dictatorships (Vietnam and Laos) to autocracies (Thailand and Cambodia), to fragile democracies (Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Myanmar). Indonesia is the third largest democracy in the world, and the largest Muslim-majority democracy. Southeast Asia includes every major faith group: Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Therevada and Mahayana Buddhism. It has the full range of economic systems, and has huge disparities of wealth that include amongst the wealthiest countries in the world (Singapore) and some of the poorest (Laos and Cambodia). But the region is economically thriving and part of the global supply chain. Collectively, ASEAN is America's third largest trading partner.
We see the diversity in the region's security environment, as well. Several Southeast Asian states have longstanding territorial disputes with their neighbors and irredentist claims over colonial-drawn borders. The region includes a host of secessionist insurgencies, including ongoing ones in Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand. The longest running communist insurgency in the world. While Southeast Asia has not been at the core of Salafist terrorism since 9/11, both Al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates in the region remain a persistent threat. Mid-2017 saw IS militants siege the Philippine city of Marawi, while members of the Abu Sayyaf continue to engage in terrorism and kidnapping for ransom, including in Malaysia. Perhaps the most immediate threat to regional security is the territorial dispute over the South China Sea, where China has constructed six man made islands and militarized them. The US has carried out regular freedom of navigation operations to challenge China's excessive maritime claims, but those have been insufficient. China has effectively divided and neutralized ASEAN. And there remain a host of human security issues including political violence, the politicization of security forces, attacks on ethnic minorities, including wholesale ethnic cleansing, threats posed by transnational criminal syndicates. Arguably the greatest security threat to the region comes from climate change which is already causing changes immigration patterns and impacting food security.
Southeast Asian states are keen to avoid being forced to choose between the United States and China, as competition between the two intensifies. Mosts states do see the United States as a benign superpower that has created the conditions for their growth and prosperity. But the United States is unable to compete with China on the economic front. China is the largest trading partner of every country in Southeast Asia, and its Belt and Road Initiative and new economic institutions carry weight in a region that is hungry for infrastructure development. More importantly the United States, under the current administration, looks to be a very inconsistent and unreliable ally and partner, unwilling to provide collective goods. While this course will not focus on how great power competition between the United States and China will play out, it will be a leitmotif. The goal of this course is to give Southeast Asian states agency, and focus on their regional security concerns.
We see the diversity in the region's security environment, as well. Several Southeast Asian states have longstanding territorial disputes with their neighbors and irredentist claims over colonial-drawn borders. The region includes a host of secessionist insurgencies, including ongoing ones in Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand. The longest running communist insurgency in the world. While Southeast Asia has not been at the core of Salafist terrorism since 9/11, both Al Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates in the region remain a persistent threat. Mid-2017 saw IS militants siege the Philippine city of Marawi, while members of the Abu Sayyaf continue to engage in terrorism and kidnapping for ransom, including in Malaysia. Perhaps the most immediate threat to regional security is the territorial dispute over the South China Sea, where China has constructed six man made islands and militarized them. The US has carried out regular freedom of navigation operations to challenge China's excessive maritime claims, but those have been insufficient. China has effectively divided and neutralized ASEAN. And there remain a host of human security issues including political violence, the politicization of security forces, attacks on ethnic minorities, including wholesale ethnic cleansing, threats posed by transnational criminal syndicates. Arguably the greatest security threat to the region comes from climate change which is already causing changes immigration patterns and impacting food security.
Southeast Asian states are keen to avoid being forced to choose between the United States and China, as competition between the two intensifies. Mosts states do see the United States as a benign superpower that has created the conditions for their growth and prosperity. But the United States is unable to compete with China on the economic front. China is the largest trading partner of every country in Southeast Asia, and its Belt and Road Initiative and new economic institutions carry weight in a region that is hungry for infrastructure development. More importantly the United States, under the current administration, looks to be a very inconsistent and unreliable ally and partner, unwilling to provide collective goods. While this course will not focus on how great power competition between the United States and China will play out, it will be a leitmotif. The goal of this course is to give Southeast Asian states agency, and focus on their regional security concerns.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6527 Indian Grand Strategy 3 Credits
India is an aspiring major power with the world’s largest population, fifth largest economy and third largest military. The country is pivotal to the shifting geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific region and has emerged as a key (albeit reluctant) U.S. partner in its competition with China.
This course explores the origins, patterns and implications of India's foreign policy. It is divided into two main parts. The first part will focus on the factors that shape Indian foreign policy including domestic politics, institutions, leadership and strategic culture. The second part will examine salient challenges that India faces in its quest to become a "leading" power in global affairs, including military modernization, nuclear weapons, the Sino-Indian conflict, and the Indo-U.S. partnership.
This course explores the origins, patterns and implications of India's foreign policy. It is divided into two main parts. The first part will focus on the factors that shape Indian foreign policy including domestic politics, institutions, leadership and strategic culture. The second part will examine salient challenges that India faces in its quest to become a "leading" power in global affairs, including military modernization, nuclear weapons, the Sino-Indian conflict, and the Indo-U.S. partnership.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6529 Latin American Politics Secu 3 Credits
This course examines the links between political context of Latin America and key issues of security in the region, with a focus on the post-Cold War era. In politics, the course will explore how democratization, the development of state institutions, the political economy, and social issues have shaped the region. In the area of security, the course will examine how this political context interacts with security at regional, state, and sub-state levels, considering both hard security topics at both the state and non-state levels as well as topics in human and environmental security.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6531 Great Power Strategy: US/China 3 Credits
This course examines the strategies that great powers pursue to achieve foreign policy and national security objectives. In particular, it aims to help students understand the key drivers and dimensions of competition between the United States and China. The course is structured around a series of questions related to aspects of Sino-American competition, namely the role of power shifts, perceptions, signaling, coercion, technology, ideology, alliances, economic statecraft, and leadership. Students will review foundational literature in each area so that they can better understand the fundamental logic of the emerging strategic competition and its likely future path.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6532 Comparing Intelligence Servcs 3 Credits
This course analyzes intelligence policies and practices from a broad comparative perspective, examining intelligence organizations and activities in the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, Canada, Japan, Israel, and other countries. Key issues include: the formation of intelligence requirements, different styles of intelligence collection and analysis, the use of technology, the use of covert operations, and interactions between intelligence and policymaking communities. Special attention is given to the challenges of conducting intelligence in the information-rich environment of the 21st century and the challenges of multilateral cooperation in intelligence matters.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6533 Civil Wars the Middle East 3 Credits
This course seeks to bridge our understanding of civil wars with the phenomenon as it has and continues to transpire within the broader Middle East. As such, from week to week we will probe broad questions about civil wars from a theoretical and empirical perspective to establish a general basis of knowledge about civil wars. What do we know about civil or domestic wars? What are some of the limits to our knowledge? We will then bring this to bear on various civil conflicts in the Middle East, both historical and contemporary. The goal is to bridge (if possible) what we know or think we know about civil wars with episodes of conflict throughout the Middle East? Do our theories fit or help to explain the civil violence in the Middle East? Why or why not?
Civil war is now a far more prevalent form of violence than international wars. Among the important general questions we will examine through the course of the semester include the following: What is a civil war and what causes it? What are the global trends in episodes of civil violence? Why do some wars last longer than others? How and when do civil wars end? Why do civil wars recur once they have seemingly been resolved? How and why does violence manifest itself during civil wars? We will also probe the internationalization of civil wars via peacekeeping and third-party involvement. These questions will be examined from both a theoretical and quantitative perspective, as well as with case studies. Students will be encouraged to assess how the dominant theoretical claims in the literature fit with actual episodes of civil war, and particularly those in the Middle East. The readings for each week will combine both scholarly articles and policy briefs based on insights from practitioners and academicians. In general, the course will alternate by week between a theory or large issue in civil wars and a more detailed examination of that issue within a narrower Middle East context or Middle East country.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6534 Globalization Security 3 Credits
The 9/11 attacks which shook the entire world drew attention to a phenomenon we have been witnessing for a while: globalization. Globalization in economics, finance, trade, information technologies, and political affairs have not only made this world a smaller place where interactions between international actors have replaced domestic policies, but also caused growing social fragmentation, vulnerabilities, violence and conflicts. There is an incredible flow of capital and investment but also interdependence between countries that is becoming visible in all aspects of our lives. In threat-monitoring and security policy, globalization has revealed an unprecedented truth: terrorism, conflicts and threats have also become globalized. It is a multidimensional phenomenon. Economic, religious and political disparities along with poverty, demographic trends, climate and environmental changes have serious security implications. So how can these threats be addressed in an even more globalized world? How should the necessary measures to assure global, regional, national and local security be taken? This course analyses how globalization has changed the security concept and how the latter can be achieved most effectively. It provides a theoretical overview, underlines the changes in the state-centric security system, reveals the new dynamics and puts the focus on the challenges that interactions between these factors have brought to the forefront of transnational relations.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6535 Econ and Sec: Microdimensions 3 Credits
This course will examine the links between economics – broadly defined – and security at the micro level: What do we know about the relationship between individuals’ income and education levels on the one hand, and extremism or radicalization on the other? We will define extremism broadly, and will examine the various forms it takes. We will look at differing degrees of extremism, in attitudes as well as in propensity to violence; and look at these issues across multiple country contexts. We will also look beyond the link between education levels and extremism to studying the role of educational curricula and the content of education, including the teaching of critical thinking. The course will examine a wide set of rigorous studies, both quantitative as well as qualitative, on these issues. Finally, we will consider how policy can help counter extremism and radicalization given the evidence we have examined in the course.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6536 The UN, the US, Peacekeeping 3 Credits
This course will explore historical and recent developments in UN peacekeeping. We will begin by studying the United Nations and its component organizations which address international peace and security and UN reform efforts to improve peacekeeping outcomes. Next, we will examine the role of the United States in UN peacekeeping and compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of peacekeeping versus other types of interventions. We will examine a spectrum of past and present peacekeeping missions to identify components of success and failure. Finally we will discuss contemporary issues in UN peacekeeping. By the end of the course, students should be able to analyze whether or not a peacekeeping mission is an appropriate response to an international security crisis as well as recognize the constraints that confront decision-makers in designing, implementing and evaluating peacekeeping missions. Course Objectives At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to: -Understand how peacekeeping differs from other types of interventions -Understand the current issues in UN peacekeeping -Evaluate the relationship between the US and the UN regarding peacekeeping -Evaluate the effectiveness of a UN peacekeeping mission -Recommend when peacekeeping missions should or should not be deployed.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6538 Military Analysis 3 Credits
This class is designed to help students understand the dynamics of modern conventional military operations in all their dimensions. It is intended for students considering careers in the armed forces, the intelligence community, military contracting, academic security studies, as well as those who simply have a keen interest in analyzing and understanding conventional military operations.
The principal method of this course will be to examine key battles and campaigns of the Second World War and to identify critical decisions, capabilities, or other factors that produced the historical result—and might have resulted in a very different outcome had they proven otherwise. The class will employ both counterfactuals and alternative analyses to explore the range of potential outcomes of different cases. ,br>
The purpose of these exercises, and the goal of the class, will be to help the student consider current or future conventional military situations and assess how they should or could develop based on what would inevitably be only partial information, i.e., less information than what we now know about the World War II cases. For instance, predicting the ability of one country to invade its neighbor is inherently difficult; however, a thorough understanding of German success over France in 1940 and its ultimate failure against Russia in 1941 can help illustrate the critical variables in any such scenario, and therefore focus the intelligence analyst on key questions and information gaps, and the military planner on key objectives and capabilities.
For all of these reasons, students will be expected to carry a considerable workload both in terms of readings and class participation. Students will be expected to participate in detailed debates on topics ranging from the strategic to the tactical level, and so will be expected to have internalized the historical materials necessary to do so.
Although this course employs the campaigns and battles of World War II as its course material, it is NOT a class on World War II history. Consequently, no more than a rudimentary understanding of World War II history is necessary as a prerequisite. By the same token, this is also NOT a course on the basics of military forces—students should have an understanding of military forces and operations (what a division or an air wing consists of, what does “combined arms” refer to, what strategic vs. tactical air power refers to) although no more than the basics are required.
The principal method of this course will be to examine key battles and campaigns of the Second World War and to identify critical decisions, capabilities, or other factors that produced the historical result—and might have resulted in a very different outcome had they proven otherwise. The class will employ both counterfactuals and alternative analyses to explore the range of potential outcomes of different cases. ,br>
The purpose of these exercises, and the goal of the class, will be to help the student consider current or future conventional military situations and assess how they should or could develop based on what would inevitably be only partial information, i.e., less information than what we now know about the World War II cases. For instance, predicting the ability of one country to invade its neighbor is inherently difficult; however, a thorough understanding of German success over France in 1940 and its ultimate failure against Russia in 1941 can help illustrate the critical variables in any such scenario, and therefore focus the intelligence analyst on key questions and information gaps, and the military planner on key objectives and capabilities.
For all of these reasons, students will be expected to carry a considerable workload both in terms of readings and class participation. Students will be expected to participate in detailed debates on topics ranging from the strategic to the tactical level, and so will be expected to have internalized the historical materials necessary to do so.
Although this course employs the campaigns and battles of World War II as its course material, it is NOT a class on World War II history. Consequently, no more than a rudimentary understanding of World War II history is necessary as a prerequisite. By the same token, this is also NOT a course on the basics of military forces—students should have an understanding of military forces and operations (what a division or an air wing consists of, what does “combined arms” refer to, what strategic vs. tactical air power refers to) although no more than the basics are required.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Prerequisites: (SEST 501 or SEST 5010)
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6539 Economics of Saudi Power 3 Credits
Saudi Arabia’s roles in the economics of global markets, in the regional security environment, and in shaping the future of the Saudi people and the Islamic world are undergoing fundamental changes. What are these changes? What policy choices are available to the Saudis and their regional counterparts? How can US policy best adapt to the rapid changes now confronting the Saudis and the region?
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6540 China's Info, Intel CyberOps 3 Credits
This course will survey the PRC organizations that conduct intelligence, security, and influence operations. Students will examine the history of these organizations as well as their current missions as part of the PRC’s national security policy. Throughout the course, students will be assessing the nature of the threat posed by these operations. Finally, the course will address U.S. efforts to counter such operations.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6541 Diversity Inclusion in CR/Dev 3 Credits
Untapped power: Leveraging Diversity and Inclusion in Conflict Resolution and Development A substantial body of research underlines the need to attend to diversity and inclusion in diplomacy, development and conflict resolution. Numerous international resolutions, national laws and plans, and declarations of commitment are in place calling for attention to and equal treatment of ethnic and religious minorities, women, youth, members of the LGBT community, people with disabilities, as well as socio-economically marginalized groups. Yet, realization of the commitments sorely lags behind the rhetoric. This seminar will review how diversity and inclusion are important to peace and prosperity, and discuss progress advancing the agenda and barriers to advancement. The class will also provide analytical and practical tools for advancing diversity and inclusion in the practice of diplomacy, conflict resolution and international development.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6542 Sec Challenges of Illicit Econ 3 Credits
This course will explore the nexus that exists between illicit economies and security landscapes, examining how criminal networks impact and exploit local governance gaps, exacerbate conflict zones, shift regional geopolitics, and prolong instability. The course will examine different conflict zones, contested territories, and ungoverned spaces in which illicit economies affect local security, as well as the drivers and constraints that incentivize these illicit trades to emerge in the first place. The course will additionally examine the range of roles that state and non-state actors uphold in these trades and how they leverage illicit markets for credibility, political legitimacy, defense, and political stature. The course will assess a range of cases across geographic and thematic scopes, exploring the interplay between illicit networks, organized crime, state complicity or participation, illicit terrorist financing, and narco-paramilitarism in the Levant, Balkans, West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6543 Crisis Dec-Making Sim 3 Credits
This purpose of this course is to prepare students as future policy advisers and policymakers to make high quality decisions in the face of potential, future national security crises. The class will use national security case studies, combined with literature on different kinds of decision making, to develop ideas and experiences that will serve in the future as a decision making tool kit for the students. The goal is that students will be able to rely on this tool kit when they might be forced to make crucial policy decisions under great stress where there are high consequences for national security.
In addition to using the case study method and class discussion to teach crisis decision making, students in this course will design and build a crisis simulation exercise open to the entire student body of the Security Studies Program. In completing this exercise, students will learn about both the process of decision making in general, and designing such simulations in particular. It will call on students' creativity as well as self-discipline. The class will be able to add any and all ideas to the simulation, both in its design and in its content, but the class will also be running the game near the end of the semester, which will demand a good deal of focused work in the early weeks to stay on track. Learning objectives include a good sense of how to make a good decision, the limits of effective decision-making strategies, and the design and execution of strategic-level war games.
In addition to using the case study method and class discussion to teach crisis decision making, students in this course will design and build a crisis simulation exercise open to the entire student body of the Security Studies Program. In completing this exercise, students will learn about both the process of decision making in general, and designing such simulations in particular. It will call on students' creativity as well as self-discipline. The class will be able to add any and all ideas to the simulation, both in its design and in its content, but the class will also be running the game near the end of the semester, which will demand a good deal of focused work in the early weeks to stay on track. Learning objectives include a good sense of how to make a good decision, the limits of effective decision-making strategies, and the design and execution of strategic-level war games.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6544 Gender and Terrorism 3 Credits
Women have often been overlooked and understudied within violent extremist movements. From Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers to Chechnya's Black Widows to the Al Khansaa Brigade of ISIS, women have played critical roles in terrorist organizations across the globe for decades. As men often take on more prominent and violent roles within terrorist groups, women’s contributions to violent extremism can often be underplayed, underexplored, and misunderstood. Despite the constant repetition of narratives surrounding women’s inherent peacefulness, research has shown that women involved in violent extremism provide logistical support, lend reputation to a cause, facilitate recruitment, and increase group stability. Moreover, gendered approaches to recruitment, processes of radicalization, and the roles that women can play in preventing violent extremism (PVE) and countering violent extremism (CVE) processes are less understood. From theoretical foundations to policy implications, this course will address pressing terrorism threats to national and international security with an often overlooked gender lens.
This course will explore gender dynamics in radicalization, conflict (as victims and perpetrators), and disengagement. Gender is a social construct that defines relationships between and among the sexes, and gendered beliefs (overt and implicit) lay at the heart of many terrorist groups that seek to determine appropriate behavior for both men and women. This course will explore how groups use gender dynamics to recruit, mobilize, and utilize men and women for their own strategic advantages. By better understanding women's participation and gender dynamics in violent extremism, academics and practitioners are better able to leverage this knowledge into well-informed policy and actionable strategies to counter and combat it.
This course will explore gender dynamics in radicalization, conflict (as victims and perpetrators), and disengagement. Gender is a social construct that defines relationships between and among the sexes, and gendered beliefs (overt and implicit) lay at the heart of many terrorist groups that seek to determine appropriate behavior for both men and women. This course will explore how groups use gender dynamics to recruit, mobilize, and utilize men and women for their own strategic advantages. By better understanding women's participation and gender dynamics in violent extremism, academics and practitioners are better able to leverage this knowledge into well-informed policy and actionable strategies to counter and combat it.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6545 (Dis)Info Wars/Geopol Dig Age 3 Credits
This course will explore the challenges of a global, hyperconnected age of information. Humans are more connected digitally and have more overall access to information than at any time in history. Both trends are unlikely to be reversible and were supposed to be an overwhelming force for individual empowerment and open societies. So what could possibly go wrong? The course will begin with a definitional framework to understand often conflated, overlapping, and distinct challenges such as foreign influence and foreign interference operations, mis- and disinformation, and “inauthentic” behavior online. Further, students will explore technologies that make up the infrastructure and platforms of today’s information environment and the burgeoning field of tech policy attempting to establish global standards to govern the information environment matching the speed with which it changes. Finally, this course is about a global competition for information and how it shapes geopolitics today, tomorrow, and for a generation to come, with emphasis on influence operations and deep dives on state threat actors, strategies, tactics, and goals.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6546 Borders, Power and Security 3 Credits
This course attempts to make sense of borders, which is also the title of the first chapter of the textbook. We begin with a variety of key terms and concepts, including an examination of the origin of the concept of sovereignty and how states voluntary give up sovereignty. We’ll spend some time on the history of borders and what happens when an “outsider” draws national borders, as happened in colonial Africa. Moving from politics and geography into economics, we’ll talk about types of flows across borders and consider modern (post-9/11) concepts of “secure” borders. This will lead us to look at the borders of the United States, including border infrastructure, and how we do/should balance security and trade. Then by looking globally, different types of borders appear, such as China’s “Great Firewall” that restricts citizens’ access to information, and borders that exist based on identity documents (and what happens when people can’t obtain them)
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6547 Homegrwn Radicalztn Terr Rct 3 Credits
Fall 2017: This course critically examines theories and the practice of violent radicalization and recruitment, as well as the policies and approaches aimed at countering it. It focuses on “homegrown” radicalization and recruitment into Al Qaeda, ISIS and related movements and networks in Europe and North America, but considers other extremist movements, including the far-right.
The course consists of three parts. It begins by exploring the theoretical foundations of radicalization and recruitment, introducing students to the various radicalization models that have been developed while also offering insight into the academic criticisms the study of radicalization has faced over the last decade and a half. The second part takes at how radicalization has manifested in the West, with a focus on how ISIS has recruited and operated in America. It will include discussion on the use of the Internet by extremists, how the role of women in terrorism has evolved and the emergence of lone-actor terrorism. Finally, the course examines counter-radicalization in theory and practice, including a number of case studies and providing a summary overview of de-radicalization programs.
The course consists of three parts. It begins by exploring the theoretical foundations of radicalization and recruitment, introducing students to the various radicalization models that have been developed while also offering insight into the academic criticisms the study of radicalization has faced over the last decade and a half. The second part takes at how radicalization has manifested in the West, with a focus on how ISIS has recruited and operated in America. It will include discussion on the use of the Internet by extremists, how the role of women in terrorism has evolved and the emergence of lone-actor terrorism. Finally, the course examines counter-radicalization in theory and practice, including a number of case studies and providing a summary overview of de-radicalization programs.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6548 Weapons ProlifEmergSecChallen 3 Credits
The proliferation of unconventional and conventional weapons, and their related materials and agents, represents an ongoing threat to the national security of the United States (US). Multiple emerging factors (globalization, arms manufacturing innovation, ease of technology transfers, etc.) make contemporary arms control, nonproliferation and counterproliferation efforts both critical and extraordinarily vexing. Current challenges include (but not exclusively): the collapse of the Syrian regime and control of its chemical and biological weapons programs; Iran’s nuclear program; arms trafficking in Africa; countering biological threats; the growing threat from non-state actors (unconventional and conventional); and the Democratic Republic of North Korea’s (DPRK) nuclear programs.
Understanding proliferation’s implications for national security, and addressing proliferation challenges in this dangerous security environment, requires innovative approaches that utilize the full range of national and international policy instruments by all diplomatic, economic, legal and military means necessary.
With the above in mind, the key focus areas of this course will be on: (i) understanding and analyzing the strategic, historical and theoretical underpinnings of arms control, counter-proliferation and disarmament; (ii) examining conventional and unconventional weapons systems and programs; (iii) analyzing and reviewing current arms control regimes and counter-proliferation efforts; and (iv) case study analyses (to include a table-top exercise) focusing on the most pressing proliferation challenges.
The course will survey and review these focus areas, and place them in a context that will enable students to understand and appreciate relevant their implications for US and international security, as well as consider solution sets to address these evolving proliferation challenges.
Understanding proliferation’s implications for national security, and addressing proliferation challenges in this dangerous security environment, requires innovative approaches that utilize the full range of national and international policy instruments by all diplomatic, economic, legal and military means necessary.
With the above in mind, the key focus areas of this course will be on: (i) understanding and analyzing the strategic, historical and theoretical underpinnings of arms control, counter-proliferation and disarmament; (ii) examining conventional and unconventional weapons systems and programs; (iii) analyzing and reviewing current arms control regimes and counter-proliferation efforts; and (iv) case study analyses (to include a table-top exercise) focusing on the most pressing proliferation challenges.
The course will survey and review these focus areas, and place them in a context that will enable students to understand and appreciate relevant their implications for US and international security, as well as consider solution sets to address these evolving proliferation challenges.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6549 Sec Clim ChangeMigration 3 Credits
The purpose of this class is for students to examine a pressing and important global security crisis, propose conceptual management options, and derive potential future individual action participation paths for later exploration. The pressing global security crisis issue that the class will examine is developing
policy for managing future climate change mass migration into Europe. More specifically, this course will examine the security crisis implications of future climate change migrations. Challenges to institutions, resource scarcity, urbanization, and sources and characteristics of conflicts will be surveyed. Theoretical and practical considerations regarding the re-shaping of the international order under these stresses will be analyzed. The goal of the course will be to understand key indicators of impending climate change migration crises, and postulate potential mitigation policies. That goal will be accomplished by establishing a solid foundation in climate change trends developments, surveying notable refugee and migration studies, examining EU immigration and security policy choices of recent years, and applying a theoretical model of successful crisis management practices.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6550 Software-Defined Warfare 3 Credits
Commercial technology and recent conflicts have taught us more in the last 24 months about the future of warfare than the preceding decade. This course examines current technology paradigms within the US military, near peer and pacing threat adversaries as well as nations in recent conflicts as we fully embark on the "decisive decade." The emerging use of disruptive innovations and associated principles and architectures have shown promise but scale and speed have not been mastered. This course analyzes current competitive advantage and opportunities to increase future advantage through improved technology delivery. Shifts in both market economics and battlefield dynamics require a deeper understanding of the underlying software, the enterprises who deliver them, and how. Trends in commercial delivery and changes in funding are producing a new defense and software industrial base and understanding it before it is fully here is a key to maximizing public-private benefit. The rise of autonomy on attritable hardware along with how commercial software and clouds are provided and consumed will be evaluated. Similarly, the stakeholders and processes across the national security ecosystem will be analyzed - past, present and projected future. This analysis will be evaluated along the lines of national industrial bases, partnerships and contrasted competitively against the so-called "technological valley of death." The speed and precision of software delivery across the national security ecosystem is informing the future of war. Understanding design successes and failures to date will shine light on stakeholder shifts and strategic shaping required for the future of both digital superiority and war.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6551 Christian. Nat'lism Violence 3 Credits
Much has been said about Christian Nationalism and its connection to violence in the last several years. But what is actually meant by the term “Christian Nationalist”? Are we to infer that all Christians are nationalists? Or that all nationalists are Christian? If so, why? If not, what distinguishes them? And perhaps most importantly, what is the relationship between Christian Nationalism and violence? Does the former always beget the latter? If not, what variables trigger violence when it does occur? This course explores Christianity, Nationalism and Violence as distinct topics, but also probes the intersectionality between them.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6552 Disinformation/Info OpsStrat 3 Credits
This course focuses on disinformation as it impacts security, using historic and contemporary case studies to unpack the complex factors that cause people to hold and act on popularly-held beliefs, particularly when those beliefs are counter to scientific and historic truths, and how those beliefs are manipulated by state and non-state information operations. Case studies will be diverse, and include a variety of security contexts, both historic and contemporary. Factors for analysis include how disinformation manipulates beliefs held by people or folk (bottom up) or how it is used by elites in power (top down), its forms of circulation and their impact in establishing credibility within each specific cultural context, the flexible boundaries between reality, rumor, truth, conspiracy and fact, how emic and etic definitions of truth and authority impact social action, and how all these factors impact security. The course will also consider disinformation as a security strategy, information operations in context and how they impact governance and social action.
The first part of the course will consider disinformation that originates from the bottom up, or folk news. Working from items as diverse as the circulation of conspiracy theories about covert powers that control governments, to rumors about state activity designed to undermine various groups, to beliefs about cataclysmic end times and the impact these have in specific geo-political contexts, students in this course will engage in analytic and research approaches to popularly-held belief. Rather than debate or debunk these narratives, course participants will consider contemporary legends and popular myths as a communal fact-finding process and examine popular belief systems as sites of alternate epistemologies and resistance that may or may not undermine dominant systems of power and security.
The second part of the course will consider disinformation that originates from the top down, or fake news. This portion of the course will consider information/disinformation efforts that involve government, entertainment, and media elites. Working from a variety of historic and contemporary examples, participants will consider the various tools available to those in power to further disinformation, with a particular emphasis on how the evolving social media context enhances information operations. Students will consider the erosion of elite credibility and mainstream journalism, phantoms/bogeymen and their use in electoral processes, ideological warfare disguised as information, and how propaganda and disinformation operations support or undermine existing power and security systems.
The first part of the course will consider disinformation that originates from the bottom up, or folk news. Working from items as diverse as the circulation of conspiracy theories about covert powers that control governments, to rumors about state activity designed to undermine various groups, to beliefs about cataclysmic end times and the impact these have in specific geo-political contexts, students in this course will engage in analytic and research approaches to popularly-held belief. Rather than debate or debunk these narratives, course participants will consider contemporary legends and popular myths as a communal fact-finding process and examine popular belief systems as sites of alternate epistemologies and resistance that may or may not undermine dominant systems of power and security.
The second part of the course will consider disinformation that originates from the top down, or fake news. This portion of the course will consider information/disinformation efforts that involve government, entertainment, and media elites. Working from a variety of historic and contemporary examples, participants will consider the various tools available to those in power to further disinformation, with a particular emphasis on how the evolving social media context enhances information operations. Students will consider the erosion of elite credibility and mainstream journalism, phantoms/bogeymen and their use in electoral processes, ideological warfare disguised as information, and how propaganda and disinformation operations support or undermine existing power and security systems.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6553 Conflict NegotiationMediation 3 Credits
The course on Conflict Resolution and Mediation is based on the premise that conflict resolution in both professional and personal settings is essential for forging successful relationships between people, communities, organizations, and countries. Conflict is an inherent part of our social experience and present at all levels of our interactions, from interpersonal to intergroup and international. Conflict can be violent and destructive -- or spur creativity, leading to positive outcomes that benefit all stakeholders. The course seeks to cultivate theoretical understanding about the root causes of conflict, which are typically rooted in competing claims, and explore practical remedies between parties in dispute. It provides information on the dynamics of conflict and seeks to develop skills that can be used to transform conflict into an opportunity for personal growth, building common ground, opening lines of communication, and fostering mutual understanding through contact, communication and cooperation. The course includes three components: (i) theory/practice, (ii) case studies, and a (iii) diplomatic simulation. It profiles actual conflicts as prototypes for understanding and addressing disputes. Awareness and skills cultivated through the course are also considered in the context of actual world events where conflict has occurred. The course culminates with a diplomatic simulation where information is presented on a conflict with the potential to escalate into deadly violence. Students are asked to apply knowledge garnered in the course and develop a conflict resolution strategy that addresses the root causes of disagreement and provides the opportunity for a positive outcome. The learning objective seeks to develop the student’s skills as a scholar-practitioner.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6554 Military Innovation Security 3 Credits
What causal factor(s) determines best whether a military organization will successfully innovate with and ultimately adopt a given technology? And how does the answer to this question influence a nation’s security? This course focuses on these questions, and it has three purposes. First, the course seeks to help students develop a firm grasp of the military innovation literature, with a specific focus on what scholars suggest are the most likely causes of success (or failure) in bringing new technologies into military organizations. Second, it provides students an opportunity to assess the merits of the theories within this literature through the lens of some of the most noteworthy historical military innovation cases over the past century. Finally, it offers students the opportunity to apply lessons learned from their studies by developing and subsequently presenting a proposal for how they would go about integrating a new technology or technologies in the U.S. military (or other national security organization) to improve overall organizational performance. These proposals can be based on their current and/or potential future positions working on Capitol Hill, in the White House, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, on the Joint Staff, within one of the military services, etc
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6555 CrisesResp in Transatl Relati 3 Credits
This course will examine a series of both historical and current cases of the causes and policy responses to a series of key issues in the transatlantic relationship. The purpose is to put the current relationship into a larger context. The approach combines cases from the Cold War with those from the post Cold War period in order to identify both continuity and change in the key challenges facing the transatlantic relationship.
Using a combination of lectures, case studies and scenario exercises, the course analyzes such recurring issues as the nature or European security, the role of nuclear weapons and of NATO, the changing Russian challenge, the Franco-German relationship, divergence in economic policy, Turkey and Europe, Britain’s ambivalence on Europe and its Special Relationship with the United States, dealing with out of area conflicts, the China challenge and the meaning of Atlanticism and the idea of the West. It will also examine the role of leaders and strategic cultures in transatlantic relations.
The transatlantic relationship is at a crucial pivot point given the challenges posed by the Trump approach to alliances and to Europe in particular as well as the shift of American strategic concerns toward Asia. An examination of a variety of cases stretching over a long period of time will help the student to come to some analytic conclusions about the nature of the current set of crises and ways to deal with them. It will provide students with an understanding of the political and strategic cultures which underlie the transatlantic relationship, including an analysis of the impact of key leaders on that relationship. It will also provide students with an introduction to the use of future scenarios in political analysis.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6556 Global Health Security 3 Credits
This course analyzes the intersection of national security and biological threats, with particular emphasis on public health emergency preparedness and response. Topics covered include the spectrum of biological threats; global health security policy at the international, regional, national and local level; biodefense; and the role of the scientific community in preparedness and disaster response. Particular attention is paid to questions of infrastructure, with the emphasis on the federal government, and international legal frameworks. The course covers a variety of threat themes, including deliberate biological events, naturally occurring infectious diseases, natural disasters, and the associated preparedness and response policy issues.
This course will challenge students to read and interpret health security-related agreements, negotiate a position, and assess the policy context while trying to advance a health agenda.
This course will challenge students to read and interpret health security-related agreements, negotiate a position, and assess the policy context while trying to advance a health agenda.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6557 The Future of Arms Control 3 Credits
For more than 50 years, the United States and Soviet Union/Russia have participated in arms control negotiations to manage their nuclear competition, promote transparency and predictability in nuclear plans and programs, and mitigate the risk of nuclear war. At the same time, the international community adopted the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and established a regime of safeguards and procedures to mitigate the risk that additional nations would acquire nuclear weapons. The United States and Russia remain bound by the limits in the New START Treaty through 2026, but it is not clear whether, or when, they will resume negotiations on further measures to reduce nuclear risks or limit their numbers of nuclear weapons. The nonproliferation regime also faces challenges, both from nations with nuclear weapons programs outside its constraints and from nations who support a more timely and direct pathway to nuclear disarmament. Emerging technologies and advanced weapons systems could also complicate arms control by introducing new challenges to stability and new risks of nuclear escalation. This course will begin with a review of the analytic foundation of bilateral nuclear arms control, addressing the relationship between the concepts of deterrence and strategic stability and the pursuit of bilateral nuclear arms control agreements. It will also provide an overview of the history of U.S.-Soviet/Russian nuclear arms control treaties and multilateral nuclear nonproliferation endeavors. The second half of the course will address current issues in arms control and nonproliferation. These include prospects for U.S.-Russian strategic stability discussions and formal agreements; prospects for a U.S.-China strategic stability dialogue and, possibly, arms control cooperation; the potential benefits of transparency, confidence-building, risk reduction measures, and norms; the challenges to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty; the potential role of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; and the potential effects of emerging technologies and domains–such as space, cyber, lethal autonomous weapons.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6558 Pol Hist of Afghanistan 3 Credits
The Great Game: A Political History of Afghanistan. This course explores Afghanistan’s trajectory in the context of geopolitical dynamics akin to The Great Game; a tug-of-war between Russia and the British empire in the 19th Century. Spanning Afghanistan’s Golden Age to the 21st century, it examines the influence of regional and international factors on the country's socio-political development. Students will be able to analyze the evolution of U.S. policies by understanding pivotal historical moments mirrored in contemporary Afghan politics. The class will provide a comprehensive and objective look at the events that continue to transform Afghanistan today.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6559 Missile Tech/Missile Defense 3 Credits
Ballistic missile defense is not only one of the most polarizing security issues today, it is also an issue where technology is fundamental to shaping the threat and United States’ ability to respond. This course will examine both the technological issues surrounding missile defense and the policy implications that flow from them. It will provide a primer on the technology behind ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and the proposed missile defense systems designed to defeat them. The course is designed to provide an understanding of the issues for non-scientists and a grounding in the topic for those who already have a scientific background. The first part of the course will focus on the threat of ballistic missiles: how they work, how states have acquired the technologies needed to build and deploy them, and how the threat is likely to evolve. Part 2 will focus on the fundamentals of ballistic missile defenses: how they work, what technologies, components, and systems are required, how they can be tested, and what acquisition strategies are likely to result in success for one of the most technically challenging endeavors ever attempted. Part 3 will focus on the policy implications that flow from the previous technical analysis.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Course attribute:
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6560 Basics of Wargaming 3 Credits
This course provides a basic introduction to the field of wargaming, emphasizing its use in military strategy and defense policy. The course will examine the fundamental principles of wargaming and game design. Students will be exposed to a range of design philosophies, varying in purpose, style, and format. The course centers on student teams researching, designing, developing, and play-testing an original educational wargame on a topic related to military strategy. Course instruction will be a combination of lecture, gameplay, and discussion – drawing upon both professional and commercial wargames.
Assignments will guide the development and refinement of the students’ original wargames. The goal is to create an educational wargame that teaches and informs your fellow students on a topic of military strategy. Students will be graded for completeness of their wargames, their creativity, the rigor of their research, and the playability of their wargame. At the end of the semester, students will demonstrate and run their wargames for an audience of defense and military professionals. Circumstances permitting, the course will provide external wargaming opportunities – such as securing funding for student wargames, attending wargames, and demonstrating student wargames for military personnel.
Overall, the course considers a wide range of questions in order to provide students with a deeper understanding of wargaming and its uses. Among the questions it examines are: What makes a good or bad wargame? What design philosophies, techniques, and tools can be used to craft wargames? How can wargaming be leveraged as an educational tool? What are the strengths and weaknesses of wargaming as a methodology and discipline? How can wargaming improve decision-making?
Assignments will guide the development and refinement of the students’ original wargames. The goal is to create an educational wargame that teaches and informs your fellow students on a topic of military strategy. Students will be graded for completeness of their wargames, their creativity, the rigor of their research, and the playability of their wargame. At the end of the semester, students will demonstrate and run their wargames for an audience of defense and military professionals. Circumstances permitting, the course will provide external wargaming opportunities – such as securing funding for student wargames, attending wargames, and demonstrating student wargames for military personnel.
Overall, the course considers a wide range of questions in order to provide students with a deeper understanding of wargaming and its uses. Among the questions it examines are: What makes a good or bad wargame? What design philosophies, techniques, and tools can be used to craft wargames? How can wargaming be leveraged as an educational tool? What are the strengths and weaknesses of wargaming as a methodology and discipline? How can wargaming improve decision-making?
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6561 Modeling Complexity: Intl Sec 3 Credits
This course provides an introduction to modeling complexity and system dynamics in international security. We begin with an introduction to complex adaptive systems: interconnected networks of diverse actors whose independent actions as they respond to each other and their environment produce overarching effects that may undermine those actors’ goals and can be hard to predict. We see such systems at play in global trade, migration, intractable and “unexpected” military conflicts, the rise of social movements, and many more areas of research and practice. In this course, we will become mindful of how system features and complexity shape both international security and the effectiveness of policy responses to security challenges. We will explore how differences between people’s mental models of security challenges—and the accuracy of those models—result in policy disagreements and affect the success of policy implementation. We will apply formal modeling tools, including computer-aided causal loop diagramming and agent-based modeling, to illustrate key concepts in system dynamics and complexity. Participants will build a formal model of an international security challenge of their choice (with instructor approval), conducting initial verification and validation of their model and extracting provisional policy recommendations from the results. Students will practice making their modeling assumptions transparent and improving their model through class presentations and peer review throughout the semester. Students also will practice presenting model-based policy recommendations in “traditional” vehicles such as a memo or short formal briefing. The course includes instruction in using the NetLogo computer language; no previous experience in programming or modeling is required.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Course attribute:
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6562 Countering Info Disorder 3 Credits
In this course, students will consider the plethora of efforts designed to address information disorder (a broad category that includes disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation) as it impacts national security and the conduct of democratic societies. Students will develop a critical approach to these countering strategies and analyze their potential for undermining the spread of disinformation, stabilizing political systems, and enhancing national security.
The course will begin with an overview of emerging cognitive and behavioral science related to information credibility and sharing. Then the course will examine private sector efforts (including content moderation, deep fake detection, and fact checking), government efforts (including media literacy at the local level, regulatory, national security and diplomatic approaches), research and civil society efforts, before ending with a consideration of the role of the individual in countering information disorder.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6563 Central Asia Eurasian Geopol 3 Credits
Each of the five Central Asian nations are in the throes of historic domestic change.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have both embarked upon a path of significant political
economic reforms. Kyrgyzstan has experienced three different uprisings since 2005.
Tajikistan is at the cusp of a generational change in leadership, and Turkmenistan has
a new president who succeeded his father and seeks to end his country’s long
isolation.
These transformations are taking place at a time of tremendous geopolitical churn
across their broader Eurasian environs. To the north, the future of former liege Russia
is mired in uncertainty, especially in the light of the ongoing war in Ukraine. On its
eastern flank, China is aggressively trying to pull the region into its geoeconomic
orbit. From the westerly direction Turkey is trying to draw the region toward a pan-
Turkic union. And toward the south extremist Islamism emanating from a post-
American Taliban-ruled Afghanistan threatens the Muslim-majority Central Asian
nations.
This course is designed to provide graduate students as well as those at the senior
undergraduate level a deep and broad understanding of an extremely strategic region,
which even after three decades since its emergence from underneath the rubble of
the former Soviet Union remains disconnected from the west. Students will be
exposed to its rich history going back to the medieval period but will spend the bulk
of their time learning about the contemporary moment to get a sense of the future of
the region that the father of geopolitics, Halford Mackinder, described as the pivot
area of the world.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6564 U.S. Nuclear Strategy 3 Credits
This course examines the development of U.S. nuclear policy and strategy during the Cold War and its application today. Students study Cold War concepts of nuclear deterrence and strategy, arms control, nuclear proliferation, and ballistic missile defense as a foundation for assessing current United States strategic policy. Students will assess the role of nuclear weapons (and other capabilities) in deterring regional conflicts with Russia, China, and North Korea and will consider whether the current U.S. nuclear strategy and forces are adequate for the emerging tripolar nuclear system involving the United States, Russia, and China. Understanding the process by which nuclear and missile defense strategies and policies are developed and implemented is also a feature of this course. Through a tabletop exercise, students are exposed to decision-making during a crisis involving the use of nuclear weapons. An understanding of nuclear deterrence and its relationship to strategy provides students a foundation for assessing contemporary debates about the role of nuclear deterrence, arms control, and missile defense in U.S. national security.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6565 Environmental Security 3 Credits
Economic development, population growth, climate change and poor resource management have combined to alter the planet’s natural environment in dramatic and alarming ways. This course brings together contributions from a range of disciplines to present a critical and comprehensive overview of the research and debate linking environmental factors to regional and global security. It provides a framework for representing and understanding key areas of intellectual convergence and disagreement, clarifying achievements of the research as well as identifying its weaknesses and gaps. The course will explore the various ways environmental change and security have been linked, and will provide principal critiques of these linkages. It will also explore the linkage through analysis of key issue areas such as climate change, energy, water, food, population, and development. Finally, the course will conclude with a discussion of the value of this subfield of security studies, and with some ideas about the direction environmental security will take in the future. The course will examine environmental security issues based on specific regional perspectives including; The Middle East, Central Asia, China, Russia, Eastern Europe, The Southwest Pacific, The Southwest U.S., Central/South America, and Africa. These examples will be used to introduce students to new frameworks for understanding environmental security studies.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Students cannot enroll who have a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6566 AI, Biotech Nat Security 3 Credits
This course explores the intersection of artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and national security through technical and policy lenses. The course is designed to ensure that students develop the knowledge and critical thinking skills to evaluate emerging technologies, particularly those developed through convergence of scientific disciplines; consider policy options for both leveraging technological advances and guarding against national security risks; and analyze trusted technical, security, and policy sources as part of technology evaluations. Though these objectives are generalizable, the course will focus on a contemporary issue, specifically use of artificial intelligence models with biological data and knowledge to design biological molecules and systems, predict the design of biological pathways of interest, and generate new insights informing biological function and engineering. The course also will cover the transition from computational analyses to physical experimentation and development of biological molecules and systems as national security implications (both positive and negative) are considered. This course is designed for non-scientists and non-technologist, but will challenge those with technical backgrounds to look at the interface between AI, biotechnology, and national security in different ways.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6567 Space Technologies Security 3 Credits
This course examines the extent to which spacepower doctrine, concepts, and operations influence national security strategy and international security. It identifies key space policy issues facing the United States and places them in the larger context of technological advances and a changing international strategic environment. The course will briefly examine the historical and policy foundations for U.S. and international space programs and activities. Key documents to be assessed will include U.S. presidential policy directives, Executive Orders, national strategies and policies, and other high-level documents that provide guidance to U.S. space sectors and activities. U.S. space sectors are defined as national security (military and intelligence communities), civil, and commercial. Efforts to expand international space cooperation and to counter other nations’ diplomatic and military space strategies will also be examined. International space programs, including those of Russia, China, Japan, and India, as well as other emerging and established space-faring nations, will be assessed through classroom lectures and in the context of a future space wargame. Students will gain an understanding of: the fundamental characteristics of the space environment that define its national security and commercial utility and context; the interrelationships among U.S. spacepower, national security, and the international security environment; the role of space organizations and sectors in developing and implementing various space technologies, strategies, doctrines, and national policies; strategic choices facing other nations with respect to development and utilization of space capabilities, products, technologies, and services; and analyzing the contribution of space-based capabilities and technologies through a classroom exercise (space wargame) focusing on space and terrestrial foreign policy issues in an international security context. Emphasizing applied learning in preparation for students’ potential future careers, the class assignments are intended to expose students to different presentation and writing styles encountered in the national security community. Presidential directives, memoranda generation, and high-level but comprehensive presentations, as well as development and presentation of diplomatic positions are some of the knowledge and skills encountered in this course. Furthermore, similar to other operational environments such as air, land, and sea, students will also gain an understanding of the nature, terminology, and impact of the space environment and orbital mechanics as well as technology on national security policy and national interests.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6568 Human Behavior in War 3 Credits
War is fundamentally a clash of opposing human wills. This is true of conventional war, insurgency, nuclear war, and all other types of armed conflict. Understanding human behavior is central to understanding war. Many explanations of war focus on materiel: Who has the most tanks, the better planes, the most efficient logistics? Accepting the important role of materiel in war, this course explores human motivation, decisionmaking, and culture and their central roles in the nature and outcomes of armed conflict. Why do people choose to fight, to keep fighting, or to quit? Why do civilians pick up weapons to join insurgent movements? We begin the course by establishing a common understanding of human behavior, with readings and discussions focused on agentic choice and cultural influences on decisionmaking. The second part of the course focuses on historic examples from different types of conventional and irregular conflicts. Why did people choose to fight in World War I? In Vietnam? In Afghanistan and Iraq? If they wavered or quit, how did they reach that decision? Lastly, we will explore various ways of assessing human behavior in war through practical exercises and tabletop wargaming.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6569 Theory of Cyberwar 3 Credits
This course is designed so that you can begin to develop your own theoretical approach for discussing cyber warfare. We will explore the characteristics and attributes of cyberspace, identify activities you can do in cyberspace, and encourage critical thinking to help evaluate the extent of the dangers, challenges, and opportunities associated with using cyberspace to achieve political objectives. My goal is for you to gain a foundational understanding of cyber power so that you can critically assess the current political debate on how cyberspace should be used to achieve national political objectives. We start by developing a general description of cyberspace—where it is and what we do there. We will then examine war and warfare and try to identify some principles and concepts that can help us describe the use of cyber as form of state power.
The course is taught primarily from a U.S. perspective but is intended to establish fundamentals that apply to cyber warfare generally and will consider the influences of culture and other factors.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6570 African Sec Issues Policy 3 Credits
This course critically examines contemporary African security issues and policy development against the backdrop of increased globalization and transnational challenges from an African perspective. In this regard we will explore the strategic experiences of African States in their liberation struggle, the impact of colonial/neocolonial legacies as well as emerging armed conflicts on the development of the security and safety architecture of those States. In drawing on African perspectives, the course will also explore critical security themes that emphasize unique African experiences and interests on security. Students will learn about the rich diversity of African institutions, societies, and cultures to help enable a broad understanding of security issues in Africa, the processes and developments that have shaped security strategies and the domestic and international factors that influence security institution capacity and policy development. Finally, this course will emphasize security policy development as a process from the practitioner’s perspective. Students will actively engage in researching past African security policies and solutions, varying practices for policy development and the developing solutions for the intersectionality of Africa’s security issues.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6571 Security Iss in East Asia 3 Credits
This course focuses on the principal security issues and trends in East Asia. It surveys key countries in region, but it also analyzes the major cross-cutting, security-related challenges and opportunities facing the region, including security arrangements, nuclear and conventional weapon proliferation, missile defenses, energy and environmental security, and sociopolitical changes.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6572 Europe, Security Competition 3 Credits
This course provides students with a broad understanding of European security in an era of great power competition. Students will learn about various European threat perceptions, actors and decision-making as they unfold. European security is becoming a space for a fight in which the United States, Russia and China have major stakes. Are Europeans creating strategic autonomy or relying on NATO for their defense? What are the major issues of contention and contradicting visions within Europe on issues of security and defense? The course addresses these questions, delving into European policy. Students will leave the class possessing a comprehensive understanding of the most important contemporary aspects of European security. To this end, the course has two objectives. The first objective is to analyze the actors and mechanisms of European security by exploring the following features: European security’s principal powers and institutions, governing systems, and foreign and defense, immigration, and energy policies. The second objective is to examine the most important current European security issue areas/dossiers by critically analyzing divergences between key European states. Students will learn about these issues in the context of the EU’s role in international politics, with ongoing reference to the U.S. and other EU partners, as well as to conventional and unconventional security challenges stemming from Russia and China.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Juris Doctor level students.
SEST 6573 Security Iss in South Asia 3 Credits
South Asia includes the countries of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives. Some definitions of South Asia also include Afghanistan. I do as well for purposes of this course.
Security Issues in South Asia is a survey of the states, societies, and conflict dynamics in the region. Rather than surveying current events, however, the course will help students understand the roots of domestic and international conflict; and analyze the motivations of state and non-state actors across the region.
The course is organized in three parts. Part I focuses on state-society relations and state consolidation in pre-modern South Asia. In this section, we survey the diverse societies of the South Asia region; the efforts of prior states and empires—including the Mughals, the British, various Afghan kings, and 20th century states—to rule these societies; and the administrative and security challenges that modern South Asia has inherited from this past. Part II focuses on resistance to state power in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka. We explore the root causes of insurgencies in these countries, considering variables such as political and economic grievances, ideology, external sponsorship, rent-seeking, and military occupation. We also consider the role of Islamic extremist militants across the region, and their sponsors. Part III addresses contemporary regional-level security competition and challenges with serious consequences for U.S. national security; including nuclearization and India-China great power competition.
South Asia has long hosted some of the most serious challenges to U.S. national security interests. India and Pakistan have been locked in an intractable security competition since 1947 over the disputed disposition of Kashmir. There have been four Indo-Pakistani wars (1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999), a protracted proxy conflict since 1989, and numerous crises that have threatened to develop into full-scale conflicts. Pakistan has hosted Islamist militants that operate in India since 1947 and in Afghanistan since the 1970s. Since the overt nuclearization of the sub-continent in 1998, when India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons, the stakes of their competition have increased, with any war possibly resulting in advertent or inadvertent nuclear use. Attacks in India by Pakistan-based and backed militants remain one of the most likely precipitants of future Indo-Pakistan crises. Preventing such crises and concomitant nuclear escalation remains a prominent US regional priority.
U.S. security interests also involve smaller states in the region. The growth of Chinese influence in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh may alter South Asian balances of power and call for new policy approaches. Additionally, the Rohingya refugee crisis, the ongoing flow of Afghan refugees into Pakistan, and millions of internally displaced persons due to violent conflict and natural disasters are among the region’s challenging humanitarian issues with security implications. This course is designed to help students gain a better understanding of the states and societies of the region, and the root causes of violent conflict among them.
Security Issues in South Asia is a survey of the states, societies, and conflict dynamics in the region. Rather than surveying current events, however, the course will help students understand the roots of domestic and international conflict; and analyze the motivations of state and non-state actors across the region.
The course is organized in three parts. Part I focuses on state-society relations and state consolidation in pre-modern South Asia. In this section, we survey the diverse societies of the South Asia region; the efforts of prior states and empires—including the Mughals, the British, various Afghan kings, and 20th century states—to rule these societies; and the administrative and security challenges that modern South Asia has inherited from this past. Part II focuses on resistance to state power in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka. We explore the root causes of insurgencies in these countries, considering variables such as political and economic grievances, ideology, external sponsorship, rent-seeking, and military occupation. We also consider the role of Islamic extremist militants across the region, and their sponsors. Part III addresses contemporary regional-level security competition and challenges with serious consequences for U.S. national security; including nuclearization and India-China great power competition.
South Asia has long hosted some of the most serious challenges to U.S. national security interests. India and Pakistan have been locked in an intractable security competition since 1947 over the disputed disposition of Kashmir. There have been four Indo-Pakistani wars (1947, 1965, 1971, and 1999), a protracted proxy conflict since 1989, and numerous crises that have threatened to develop into full-scale conflicts. Pakistan has hosted Islamist militants that operate in India since 1947 and in Afghanistan since the 1970s. Since the overt nuclearization of the sub-continent in 1998, when India and Pakistan tested nuclear weapons, the stakes of their competition have increased, with any war possibly resulting in advertent or inadvertent nuclear use. Attacks in India by Pakistan-based and backed militants remain one of the most likely precipitants of future Indo-Pakistan crises. Preventing such crises and concomitant nuclear escalation remains a prominent US regional priority.
U.S. security interests also involve smaller states in the region. The growth of Chinese influence in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh may alter South Asian balances of power and call for new policy approaches. Additionally, the Rohingya refugee crisis, the ongoing flow of Afghan refugees into Pakistan, and millions of internally displaced persons due to violent conflict and natural disasters are among the region’s challenging humanitarian issues with security implications. This course is designed to help students gain a better understanding of the states and societies of the region, and the root causes of violent conflict among them.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6574 National Security Surveillance 3 Credits
This course will introduce students to the architecture of national security surveillance in the United States, along with the leading contemporary debates about its legitimate scope. From bulk internet monitoring to ‘lawful hacking,’ many of these national security authorities remain controversial, poorly understood, and of hotly debated public value. This class aims to give students the tools to take part in those conversations on surveillance law and policy.
The course will proceed in four thematic sequences. The first group of sessions will ground students in basic concepts that shape the debate on national security and civil liberties: the benefits and harms that can flow from surveillance, the constraints imposed by the Constitution, and the genealogy of modern intelligence powers. Part II will canvas the frameworks that govern surveillance today, introducing students to the most important sources of spying authority in American public law (both congressional and executive). In Part III, students will encounter the strategies that individuals and corporations use to limit the practical reach of those surveillance powers—encryption first and foremost among them. Finally, in Part IV, students will bring the analytical frameworks developed across the previous sequences to bear on two developing controversies in surveillance policy: government hacking and persistent surveillance in public.
Students should come away from the course with an informed sense of the practical scope of surveillance in the United States, a more rigorous framework for considering the wisdom of any particular intelligence program, and a grasp of the most important open questions in this setting. Note: While this course will touch on legal concepts, no prior legal background is required.
The course will proceed in four thematic sequences. The first group of sessions will ground students in basic concepts that shape the debate on national security and civil liberties: the benefits and harms that can flow from surveillance, the constraints imposed by the Constitution, and the genealogy of modern intelligence powers. Part II will canvas the frameworks that govern surveillance today, introducing students to the most important sources of spying authority in American public law (both congressional and executive). In Part III, students will encounter the strategies that individuals and corporations use to limit the practical reach of those surveillance powers—encryption first and foremost among them. Finally, in Part IV, students will bring the analytical frameworks developed across the previous sequences to bear on two developing controversies in surveillance policy: government hacking and persistent surveillance in public.
Students should come away from the course with an informed sense of the practical scope of surveillance in the United States, a more rigorous framework for considering the wisdom of any particular intelligence program, and a grasp of the most important open questions in this setting. Note: While this course will touch on legal concepts, no prior legal background is required.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment limited to students in the LW-JD-LWSS or MA-SEST programs.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6575 Cyber Pol for Nat Econ Sec 3 Credits
This course is designed to prepare students for a career in cyber policymaking for the purposes of national and economic security. Policy professionals in the cyber domain must effectively identify policy challenges, gaps, and potential data-driven solutions; navigate various policy making forums and norms to draft and build consensus around new policies; and communicate new policies in ways that can be practically implemented. In addition to existing cyber policies, they should possess a keen awareness of different influential parts of the cyber policy ecosystem, including but not limited to cyber strategies and plans, cyber laws and regulations, international agreements, related audit reports, and budgets. Finally, they must have awareness of the current global landscape of known cyber threats, vulnerabilities, and key stakeholders in cyber policy making and implementation. This course will cover all of these areas.
In the first part of the course, we will conduct an overview of the cyber policy ecosystem, policy making forums, and policy writing styles and templates that are useful for documenting and transacting on cyber policy challenges, gaps, and solutions. In the second part of the course, we will use this baseline while reviewing at least ten current high-priority cyber policy topics [see Classes 4-13 for this semester’s topics]. Each week while exploring these topics, we will also review best practices and lessons learned from known styles of policy writing, convening, and consensus building that professionals have used to advance policies in these areas. This study will arm students with tools to conduct their own policy making efforts beyond the classroom. Finally, students will capstone the semester with a critical appraisal of different policy making models, leading to an assessment of which models are best suited for various cyber policy projects.
Students of this course will develop a toolbox of techniques for identifying cyber policy challenges and gaps; developing data-driven solution-options; writing clear and concise policy language; and planning a roadmap to convene and build consensus around solution-options.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6576 Chinese Open Source Analysis 3 Credits
This course introduces knowledge and methodology needed for open source investigation of information on China or from Chinese sources. Prerequisites include familiarity with common techniques of open source analysis. While some knowledge of the Chinese language is helpful, the course will cover strategies that reduce the gap in language proficiency. The course begins with an overview of China's system of government and structure of security forces relevant to open source analysis. Next, the course discusses finer aspects of searching and collecting Chinese information. With this foundational knowledge in hand, the instructor will guide students through hands-on exercises that analyze examples from China's media, projection of soft power, and talent recruitment efforts. Students will apply knowledge and skills developed throughout the semester by completing weekly assignments and a final course project.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6577 GIS for Security Studies 3 Credits
This course provides an introduction to geospatial data science and its applications to public policy, political economy, and international relations. The course will enable students to work with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data structures and understand cartography, transformations, georeferencing, geocoding, and spatial analysis. It will provide students with hands-on experience in using open-source GIS software to visualize and analyze multiple types of data, including administrative records, historical maps, boundaries, weather, climate, roads, and satellite images/remote sensing. Applications will include data on elections, armed conflict, crime, public infrastructure, and economic activity, plus a series of specialized topics selected by students. Class meeting time will be split between lectures and lab exercises, where students will use GIS software to complete assignments.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6578 Biotechnology Diplomacy 3 Credits
We are at another inflection point in time where technology is a central focus of diplomacy,
policymaking, and global strategic competition. Biotechnology in particular promises to deliver novel products and services at lower costs for consumers, to create new jobs and markets, and to improve human, animal, plant, and environmental health and well-being. Biotechnology will solve global challenges in health, agriculture, climate, energy, and supply chains. At the same time, biotech presents unique challenges to national and economic security. As a dual use technology, it has both positive and harmful potential: e.g., viruses can be engineered to understand infectious diseases, yet the same technology tool and methods can generate viruses capable of the next pandemic. Therefore, there is both a desire to harness its positive potential while putting in place appropriate security measures to mitigate biotechnology-related risk. From biosecurity to export controls to investment screening, countries around the world are taking steps to balance “promote” and “protect.” Countries, companies, and academic institutions are also aligning with one another an affirmative vision for our “bio-future.” The United States and others are modernizing and
transforming diplomatic efforts to address these technology-related challenges. This class will explore the intersection of biotechnology and national security, the implications of this technology for our economies and societies, and the role of diplomacy as the United States and its allies and friends pursue a technological future shaped by shared values and vision.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6579 Warfare in the Middle East 3 Credits
This class will help students understand the role that warfare and military operations have played in the development of the modern Middle East and in the region’s international relations today. It will cover the military campaigns of many of the most important Middle Eastern conflicts with a particular emphasis on how the course and outcomes of those conflicts shaped future military actions and defined the power relationships of the region today. It will examine both conventional wars and insurgencies to highlight the differences in goals and results, and why insurgency has become more commonplace throughout the region. These classes will dwell on the lessons learned by each side as a result of each conflict, and how each attempted to adapt its armed forces and/or strategy to better fight the next war. In this way, each class will help the student develop an understanding of the evolution of warfare in the Middle East since 1945, both in terms of war fighting and the use of military operations as a tool of statecraft.
The course also employs the history of recent campaigns as a foundation for an examination of modern Middle Eastern states and their ability to generate military power, wage wars, and employ military operations to advance their political and security agendas. The course considers in considerable depth how the politics, economics, and culture of Arab society affect the military development, combat operations, and effectiveness of Arab armed forces. It examines the range of societal factors that both empower and impinge upon Israeli military power, as well as the development of the modern Iranian armed forces as a function of the Islamic Republic’s peculiar political, diplomatic, economic, and social circumstances.
The course also employs the history of recent campaigns as a foundation for an examination of modern Middle Eastern states and their ability to generate military power, wage wars, and employ military operations to advance their political and security agendas. The course considers in considerable depth how the politics, economics, and culture of Arab society affect the military development, combat operations, and effectiveness of Arab armed forces. It examines the range of societal factors that both empower and impinge upon Israeli military power, as well as the development of the modern Iranian armed forces as a function of the Islamic Republic’s peculiar political, diplomatic, economic, and social circumstances.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6580 Stability Challenges:S/SE Asia 3 Credits
This course examines the major stability challenges affecting the region of South/Southeast Asia in 2019: 40 years of continuous war in Afghanistan, 70 years of India-Pakistan enmity, Pakistan’s increasing stability crisis, regional terrorism, and Indian and Chinese hegemony in the Indian Ocean and South China Sea. Viewing the South/Southeast Asia region holistically, students analyze the causes and effects of these stability issues, discuss regional and global impact, possible resolutions to growing crises, and the Trump administration’s policies for the region. Within this framework, the class considers how corruption, poor governance, ethnic/sectarian violence, and internal conflict can destabilize a country and how unresolved territorial disputes and demands for resources can lead to military confrontation.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Juris Doctor level students.
SEST 6581 Challenges of Chem/Bio Weapons 3 Credits
This course will provide an understanding of chemical and biological warfare (CBW) issues from primarily a policy perspective, including U.S. and international efforts to prevent and respond to the CBW threat. The course will address three main objectives:
1. Understand basic technical aspects of chemical and biological weapons and technology.
2. Understand the application of CBW in a historical context, including international agreements. Discuss when and why these weapons have been used; how U.S. CBW policy has evolved; and, how key events helped shape current policies and practices in mitigating the threat of CBW employment and proliferation.
3. Understand the challenges of responding to CBW threats, including: the contemporary issues with state and non-state actor employment of CBW; the impact of dual-use technology associated with advances in life sciences and bioengineering; and, the complexities of identifying and detecting biological and chemical weapons deployment and delivery.
1. Understand basic technical aspects of chemical and biological weapons and technology.
2. Understand the application of CBW in a historical context, including international agreements. Discuss when and why these weapons have been used; how U.S. CBW policy has evolved; and, how key events helped shape current policies and practices in mitigating the threat of CBW employment and proliferation.
3. Understand the challenges of responding to CBW threats, including: the contemporary issues with state and non-state actor employment of CBW; the impact of dual-use technology associated with advances in life sciences and bioengineering; and, the complexities of identifying and detecting biological and chemical weapons deployment and delivery.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6582 Def/Sec Pol US/Allies Indo-Pac 3 Credits
Defense and Security Policies of U.S. Allies and Partners in the Indo-Pacific: As the United States faces a long-term competition with a near-peer competitor in the People’s Republic of China, allies and partners have moved to the center of the U.S. National Defense Strategy; at the same time, many U.S. allies and partners have issued their own Indo-Pacific strategic documents and/or updated their own national security strategies to deal with the reality of an increasingly capable and aggressive PRC. This course examines the national security strategies and military capabilities of the five formal U.S. treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific: Australia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, and the Kingdom of Thailand, and further explores the perspectives of select key U.S. allies and partners Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, France and the United Kingdom. The goal of the course is to provide a holistic picture of regional security as seen through the eyes of America’s key strategic advantage—its network of like-minded allies and partners.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6583 China and its Military 3 Credits
China and its Military is a course that covers the PRC’s thinking about defense issues, the status and history of military modernization, the development of “counter intervention” capabilities, and the Chinese military’s role at home and abroad. Throughout the course, students will assess the strategic implications of tactical and operational changes in the Chinese military.
China and its Military have three main goals. First, the course will provide students with an understanding of China’s security environment and its security policy responses. This includes an overview of PRC thinking on major concepts in security studies such as the nature of the international system, the role of power, deterrence, the use of force, coercion, and the utility of asymmetric strategies. Second, students will gain an understanding of the history and trajectory of ground, naval, air, space, and conventional and nuclear missile forces modernization as well as the strengths and weaknesses of China’s defense industry. Lastly, students will analyze the contemporary security challenges the Chinese military presents to the United States and the region; as well as how other actors, including the US, could respond to China’s more assertive security policies and capabilities such as in cyberspace.
China and its Military have three main goals. First, the course will provide students with an understanding of China’s security environment and its security policy responses. This includes an overview of PRC thinking on major concepts in security studies such as the nature of the international system, the role of power, deterrence, the use of force, coercion, and the utility of asymmetric strategies. Second, students will gain an understanding of the history and trajectory of ground, naval, air, space, and conventional and nuclear missile forces modernization as well as the strengths and weaknesses of China’s defense industry. Lastly, students will analyze the contemporary security challenges the Chinese military presents to the United States and the region; as well as how other actors, including the US, could respond to China’s more assertive security policies and capabilities such as in cyberspace.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6584 Global Cyber Threats 3 Credits
Who are the hackers we hear so much about? This course will answer that question not just with broad terms like “Russia” and “China” but with more focused and nuanced analysis. We will focus on known hacking groups, their methods, motivations, and their relationship to greater geopolitical developments. The course will focus primarily on state-affiliated threats, though it will touch other realms of the cyber threat ecosystem as well. Students completing this course will have a foundational knowledge of what nations are doing in cyberspace, an important step towards subject matter expertise. For example, we will examine how different Russian hacking groups have different aims and methods, even as they target the same United States organizations.
Prior technical knowledge is not a prerequisite, though many important concepts will be introduced during the course. We will examine many case studies of historic and contemporary adversary behavior. Students will gain a strategic perspective by examining reporting that will include tactical, operational, and strategic insights. Many of these examples are available in the open-source literature, but additional context will be provided in class discussion.
Prior technical knowledge is not a prerequisite, though many important concepts will be introduced during the course. We will examine many case studies of historic and contemporary adversary behavior. Students will gain a strategic perspective by examining reporting that will include tactical, operational, and strategic insights. Many of these examples are available in the open-source literature, but additional context will be provided in class discussion.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6585 Governance in North Africa 3 Credits
Situated at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya) is a region in the midst of change. Once thought of as the democratic hope for the Arab world, more than 10 years after the popular uprisings known as the Arab Spring, the socioeconomic and governance grievances that fueled the protests are still prevalent, and many have been made even worse in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that has thrown regional economies into chaos, made socioeconomic disparities worse, highlighted governance failures, and enabled further power grabs by authoritarian leaders.
This course examines the intersection of governance, security, and stability. Throughout the semester, we will examine both in-depth country case studies as well as broader cross-regional trends such as long-standing regional conflicts, migration, the role of marginalized communities (such as women and minorities), and the relationship between state and society. It offers a look at the causes and consequences of the Arab Spring and examines the way leaders and citizens have responded (or failed to respond) to growing political, economic and security challenges. The course also examines the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in exacerbating those threats.
This course examines the intersection of governance, security, and stability. Throughout the semester, we will examine both in-depth country case studies as well as broader cross-regional trends such as long-standing regional conflicts, migration, the role of marginalized communities (such as women and minorities), and the relationship between state and society. It offers a look at the causes and consequences of the Arab Spring and examines the way leaders and citizens have responded (or failed to respond) to growing political, economic and security challenges. The course also examines the role of the COVID-19 pandemic in exacerbating those threats.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6586 EUROPE: Radicaliz Terrorism 3 Credits
Are some individuals more likely than others to radicalize and participate in terrorism-related activities? Which factors explain the cognitive opening to extremist ideas experienced by some individuals? What are the determinants associated with the process of violent radicalization leading to terrorism? How motivations of one type or the other influence individual decisions to engage in terrorism? Is it possible to observe different patterns according to dissimilar modalities of terrorist involvement? What do we know about the outcome of programs implemented to prevent violent radicalization? What is being done with respect to foreign terrorist fighters relocated in conflict zones or returned?
This course, styled as seminar, aims at providing empirical and analytical responses to these seven questions, therefore promoting informed discussions on the topics in question. The focus will be placed on evidence coming from research on relevant cases in Western European nations, mainly though not exclusively Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. All this invites class members to adopt a comparative approach. The period covered coincides with that of the unprecedented wave of jihadist mobilization experienced since 2012 in these and other countries across the region, but attention will also be paid to other expressions of terrorism.
This course, styled as seminar, aims at providing empirical and analytical responses to these seven questions, therefore promoting informed discussions on the topics in question. The focus will be placed on evidence coming from research on relevant cases in Western European nations, mainly though not exclusively Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. All this invites class members to adopt a comparative approach. The period covered coincides with that of the unprecedented wave of jihadist mobilization experienced since 2012 in these and other countries across the region, but attention will also be paid to other expressions of terrorism.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6587 Tech Policy Across Borders 3 Credits
This course adopts an interdisciplinary perspective and introduces students to technology policy approaches in key countries and regions through active learning and experimental course design. How and why does the history of the Internet and cyber policy look differently from the vantage points of Beijing, Cairo, Moscow, New Delhi, and Tokyo? Where and how does the European approach to artificial intelligence differ from the United States’ approach? What are the digital development needs of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia and how are they cooperating and competing amid the shifting tides of geopolitics? All technology is global, but too often our policies are designed with only the local in mind. Effective technology policy will require leaders and analysts to appreciate the constraints and opportunities across different regional contexts and technology ecosystems. During the semester, we will explore five disciplinary perspectives: data analytics (insights), sociotechnical and socioeconomic approaches (context), system dynamics and complex adaptive systems (system), political economy, foreign policy, and network analysis (power), and semiotics and culture (meaning). Weekly readings will include perspectives from each of these disciplines. This approach will ground our comparative analysis of countries and regions around the world, from East and Southeast Asia to Latin America, Europe and Eurasia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and North America. Students will pick one technology and one region or country to follow over the course of the semester. You will then work with the instructor to design your own final project that will be published on the course website. Final projects can take the form of research or policy papers, impact assessments, podcasts, agent-based simulations, data visualizations and interactive dashboards, or other innovative approaches.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6588 Online Harassment and Abuse 3 Credits
This course provides students with an overview of the problem of online harassment and abuse in the context of international peace and security, focusing on the disproportionately gendered impacts and forms of technology-facilitated violence. It will introduce students to emerging policy considerations and debates in the national security sector to define this global threat across the fields of development, democracy, and countering violent extremism, and provide students with an opportunity to engage in policy analysis to apply principles of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda to the issue of gender-based online harassment and abuse. Case examples will offer students insights into the complex and varied dimensions of online harassment and abuse on particular populations, and examine online violence in the context of particular regional conflicts and crises, including the protests led by women activists in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s murder in Iran in 2022.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6589 Central Asia South Caucasus 3 Credits
The Central Asia–Caucasus area studies have produced notable research on religion, nationalism, contested borders and migration, gender, and political transformations. While the region is mostly landlocked, it is economically, politically, and socially globalized. By the end of this course, students should be able to use their knowledge of the history and politics of the region to confidently analyze the impacts of current events and recommend U.S. strategy in the region.
This course begins with a review of pre- and Soviet history of the region, examining how decisions made in the 1920-1930s by Lenin and Stalin still reverberate today. The region’s recent history provides context for classroom debates on how Soviet regime compares to other colonial powers in the 20th century, the significance of national identity in everyday life, the role religion plays in politics, the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, sources of social resilience, and other similarly complex topics.
On a geopolitical level, the course focuses on how the U.S. interests collide or align with near-peer competitors, Russia and China. Will Beijing’s Belt & Road Initiative overshadow historic Russian influence in the region? Does the United States have a role to play? If so, what should it be? Finally, the course analyzes broader issues within area studies: What does it mean to study a geographic area in today’s world? Is it effective to focus on a physical territory or on one group of people that are influenced by outside actors?
The course varies between focusing on thematic issues and specific countries. Students are expected to think critically and academically about the region and to propose viable policy solutions to regional political, economic, and social problems. There are two writing assignments for the course: a response paper to a fictitious scenario on a political crisis due midterm (1,500 words) and a final, research paper (3,500 words). Research papers should build an argument, review literature on the chosen topic, and analyze primary and secondary data. Topics for the final paper should be confirmed with the instructor by class 9. Word count for both assignments exclude footnotes. In addition, students will pick a class session to discuss latest 2-3 media reports of current events.
This course begins with a review of pre- and Soviet history of the region, examining how decisions made in the 1920-1930s by Lenin and Stalin still reverberate today. The region’s recent history provides context for classroom debates on how Soviet regime compares to other colonial powers in the 20th century, the significance of national identity in everyday life, the role religion plays in politics, the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, sources of social resilience, and other similarly complex topics.
On a geopolitical level, the course focuses on how the U.S. interests collide or align with near-peer competitors, Russia and China. Will Beijing’s Belt & Road Initiative overshadow historic Russian influence in the region? Does the United States have a role to play? If so, what should it be? Finally, the course analyzes broader issues within area studies: What does it mean to study a geographic area in today’s world? Is it effective to focus on a physical territory or on one group of people that are influenced by outside actors?
The course varies between focusing on thematic issues and specific countries. Students are expected to think critically and academically about the region and to propose viable policy solutions to regional political, economic, and social problems. There are two writing assignments for the course: a response paper to a fictitious scenario on a political crisis due midterm (1,500 words) and a final, research paper (3,500 words). Research papers should build an argument, review literature on the chosen topic, and analyze primary and secondary data. Topics for the final paper should be confirmed with the instructor by class 9. Word count for both assignments exclude footnotes. In addition, students will pick a class session to discuss latest 2-3 media reports of current events.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Juris Doctor level students.
SEST 6590 Econ of Substate Violence 3 Credits
Violence represents an option. Someone chooses violence when optimal. They choose it when the next best non-violent alternative is inferior, or not preferred. When those who choose violence run governments, and they choose violence against another country, we call this war. But violence is not limited to between-state armed conflicts. And people in charge of much less than a state choose violence: criminals, rebels, and terrorists.
As policymakers and analysts, we often study the actions of states and heads of states. What can we learn from the study of sub-state violence? It is certainly relevant, especially in the post-9/11 world. What do we know about civil wars, criminal activity, and terrorism? What can each teach us about the other? What can we learn from a rigorous analytical approach to these questions?
This course will provide its participants with an opportunity for such a rigorous analysis. We will apply economic analysis to the questions of various types of sub-state violence. We will look for insights and analysis that can be applied to real-world problems.
I expect this course to innovate. It is a “survey” course in its breadth but will be run in a “seminar” style. We will spend a lot of time reviewing academic literature in order to identify worthwhile economic analysis. We will then look to case studies to identify effective and efficient policies. Although we will spend a lot of time on economic theory, no economic background is required for this course.
Students will take an active part in the learning process. Each student must be prepared each week to lead class discussions on assigned readings. I encourage working in groups.
As policymakers and analysts, we often study the actions of states and heads of states. What can we learn from the study of sub-state violence? It is certainly relevant, especially in the post-9/11 world. What do we know about civil wars, criminal activity, and terrorism? What can each teach us about the other? What can we learn from a rigorous analytical approach to these questions?
This course will provide its participants with an opportunity for such a rigorous analysis. We will apply economic analysis to the questions of various types of sub-state violence. We will look for insights and analysis that can be applied to real-world problems.
I expect this course to innovate. It is a “survey” course in its breadth but will be run in a “seminar” style. We will spend a lot of time reviewing academic literature in order to identify worthwhile economic analysis. We will then look to case studies to identify effective and efficient policies. Although we will spend a lot of time on economic theory, no economic background is required for this course.
Students will take an active part in the learning process. Each student must be prepared each week to lead class discussions on assigned readings. I encourage working in groups.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6591 Politcl Econ: Contemp Conflct 3 Credits
This course focuses on the ramifications of the interplay between politics and economics in the contemporary security environment. It begins with an introduction to the basic concepts of political economy and relates how the concepts are useful for understanding the challenges that both state and non-state actors face. Next, students will examine the tools of economic statecraft—their strengths and weaknesses—with an emphasis on their interplay with the security environment. The basics of economic development and how conflict impacts state success and failure is explored. Finally, students will apply the core concepts from the beginning of the course to the political economy of various illicit actors, including terrorists, insurgents, criminals, warlords, and pirates.
Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to: ● Understand the effects of political economy and apply its core concepts to the contemporary security environment; ● Understand and apply the economic element of power to national security problems; ● Analyze the role of political and economic development in conflict and post-conflict environments; ● Assess the political and economic constraints and advantages of state actors, various illicit actors, and the populations in which they interact.
Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to: ● Understand the effects of political economy and apply its core concepts to the contemporary security environment; ● Understand and apply the economic element of power to national security problems; ● Analyze the role of political and economic development in conflict and post-conflict environments; ● Assess the political and economic constraints and advantages of state actors, various illicit actors, and the populations in which they interact.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6592 International Arms Trade 3 Credits
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6593 Post 9/11Terror/Intel Analysis 3 Credits
After the devastating terrorist attacks on September 11th, the United States and its allies went to war against al-Qa’ida. The world watched as the most powerful military on the planet initiated operations to destroy al-Qa’ida and the terrorist organization’s Afghan hosts, the Taliban. Few at the time envisioned that—20 years later—the United States and its allies would not only still be fighting al-Qa’ida and off-shoots like ISIS, but would be doing so in dozens of countries and nearly every continent worldwide. Beyond the public’s view of this war, the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) was drastically ramping up its efforts to develop actionable intelligence after the 9/11 attacks that would enable the U.S.-led Coalition to achieve their goals, namely preventing any additional terrorist attacks against the United States. “Never again” became more than just a motto for the IC. Analysts from across the IC have continued to work tirelessly around the clock to identify leads to key terrorist leaders and operatives, uncover plots, and discern broader trends to prevent the United States from strategic surprise. This course will shed light on the shadowy world of the IC since September 11th and answer questions such as, what does a terrorism intelligence analyst really do? How do analysts inform and enable decisions by policymakers and warfighters, including policies to prevent terrorist against the United States and operations to kill or capture some of the most elusive terrorists around the world? In this course, students will learn to analyze key terrorism issues during the last 20 years from the lens of an intelligence analyst—rather than as a policymaker, soldier, or scholar. This means students will think about and discuss issues consistent with IC standards and norms—including by being objective, non-partisan, and policy-outcome agnostic. As a result, although at times discussions might touch on whether a particular counterterrorism policy has been effective, that will not be the focus on the class. By the end of this course, students will gain a solid understanding of the tools and the “tradecraft” required to develop insightful and compelling terrorism intelligence analysis.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6594 Energy and Security 3 Credits
This seminar introduces the national security implications of energy systems. We will consider several questions of contemporary policy relevance. How have governments pursued energy security? What are the geopolitical and climate risks associated with energy development? Why are energy and national security connected? And how have changes in the energy sector altered security risks? By the end of the seminar we will have learned about the specific energy challenges and the national and international strategies developed to meet those challenges.
Topics will include oil, natural gas, renewable energy, nuclear power, wholesale electricity, the resource curse, cyber security, and international energy markets. We will cover the relationships between technology and energy, environment and energy, international relations and energy, domestic politics and fossil fuels, and oil and national security. Sessions will focus on questions relating material from different parts of the seminar to provide continuity from one week to the next.
Topics will include oil, natural gas, renewable energy, nuclear power, wholesale electricity, the resource curse, cyber security, and international energy markets. We will cover the relationships between technology and energy, environment and energy, international relations and energy, domestic politics and fossil fuels, and oil and national security. Sessions will focus on questions relating material from different parts of the seminar to provide continuity from one week to the next.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6595 Climate Change US Security 3 Credits
As the United States enters a period of more rapid and unpredictable climate change, how will this impact different areas of America's economy and national security and what policies and strategies will be needed to tackle those challenges? We will consider several questions of contemporary policy relevance. How will climate change challenge US policymakers across different regional flashpoints in the world? What does climate change mean for US energy interests domestically and overseas? How might climate change shape US domestic politics and its foreign policy postures? And what will economic competition look like as climate change becomes more central in national policymaking? We will address these questions through readings, in-person discussions, videos/podcasts, writing assignments, and classroom exercises.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6596 Budgeting for US Nat Defense 3 Credits
“No budget, no policy”. Government policies can only be carried out if the programs designed to implement them are funded. This course will examine how strategic objectives and policies derived from the U.S. National Security Strategy translate into individual programs and associated budgets specifically across the Department of Defense; and how planned-for budgets become real dollars to implement such programs through enacted law. Since budgeting for federal programs is a shared responsibility between the executive and legislative branches of Government, this course will examine both the executive and legislative budget processes, their respective timelines, and stakeholders: From formulation of the President’s annual budget request to the enactment of the budget for the Department of Defense by way of the congressional appropriations process.
The purpose of this course is not to advocate for or against any particular policy, program or budget item, but rather to help students gain a practical understanding of the decision-making processes, timelines and stakeholders that contribute to the enactment of the annual national defense budget. This will prepare students to plan, advocate for, and implement policies and programs in the future.
This course is oriented towards those interested in the practice of federal budgeting. We will not cover every program within the Department of Defense budget, but this class will leave students with the tools to conduct their own analysis going forward.
Course Learning Objectives.
At the conclusion of the course, students will be able to:
● Understand the U.S. National Security Strategies from 2018-2022, their strategic objectives, and the correlation of these objectives to specific policies, programs, and budgets of the Department of Defense.
● Understand how changes to the U.S. National Security Strategy lead to policy and budget changes.
● Apply federal budget concepts, categories, terminology, timelines and processes to the Department of Defense budget.
● Analyze the executive branch budget formulation process; as well as identify associated stakeholders.
● Evaluate executive branch department and agency programs and budgets.
● Understand and analyze the congressional budget and appropriations processes leading to budget enactment, including the associated legislative procedures; as well as identify associated stakeholders
● Analyze and evaluate the impacts of congressional decision-making on Department of Defense budgets and programs.
● Explain and justify a program budget to congressional stakeholders.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
Enrollment limited to students in the School of Foreign Service department.
SEST 6597 LGBTQ Iss in National Security 3 Credits
This course seeks to give students an understanding of the past, present, and future of LGBTQIA+ Americans and national security. The course will explore the following issues in detail: 1. History of LGBTQIA+ Americans and national security 2. An overview of national security policymaking and oversight towards civil servants, foreign service officers, members of the intelligence community, and servicemembers by the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, with a focus on LGBTQIA+ individuals. 3. Contemporary issues facing the LGBTQIA+ community within national security. 4. Differing demands of citizens and the national security state regarding equality and readiness. Familiarity with LGBTQIA+ History and Queer Theory is preferred but not required.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6598 Mil Camp Analys Dec Making War 3 Credits
Over the last fifty years, the US military has promoted increased emphasis on the importance military operations and operational art in the pursuit of national security policy and demanding mastery in the military profession. This course focuses on providing a deeper understanding of military operations through an in-depth analysis of two campaigns from the American Civil War as case-studies: Second Manassas and Antietam. Although these campaigns were nearly 150 years ago, and the tactics and technology have evolved greatly, the examination of these operations are still valuable tools for gaining insight to the foundational elements of campaign planning and operational art. This course will utilize modern military professional scholarship as well as doctrine to explore how the key elements of operational art were applied during 1862, centering primarily on the warfighting functions identified in current joint doctrine (JP 3-0 Operations). Students will examine these campaigns, their planning, execution and impact in both classroom seminar as well as on the battlefields themselves with a staff ride to each location.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6599 Irregular War via Film 3 Credits
In its inception, the “war film” and its creators have played prominent roles in, inter alia, setting political agendas, advocating policies, constructing images of the enemy other, defining civilization, manufacturing consent for or opposition to war, recreating and reproducing race and gender stereotypes. Most Americans, and likely citizens of other countries, will learn of wars not through formal studies of a conflict but through the cinematographic depiction of them. Unfortunately, despite the pervasive influence of film and other forms of popular culture, mainstream political science has generally considered these cultural artifacts unworthy of serious inquiry. This course departs from this intellectual position and contends that film can be an important medium through which we can understand international politics but, equally important, think critically about how films facilitate such understandings.
This course begins with an overview of the essential practices and significant “languages” that film makers and writers use to create meaning through film. Learning the “grammar” of films will enable students to become more cognizant of how war and related concepts are portrayed in the popular culture they regularly consume and the understandings of those war such films facilitate.
In this course, students will construct original arguments about how specific films create, reinforce or destabilize predominant views of war generally and specific wars in American society. To do so, we will closely study the ideas which are embedded in films as well as the techniques which film directors and writers use to convey a message or argument.
After providing a foundation on how one reads a film, each of the subsequent twelve classes will examine a kind of conflict through the lens of at least two films that represent very different points of view. While the films are the most important “assignment,” I provide several readings intended to inform the student about the conflict depicted in the film. Topics covered in this course will include British and European colonial wars in Africa and Asia; the Vietnam War from the optics of French, American and Vietnamese citizens; the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan; The First American Gulf War of 1991; the War on Terrorism; Peacekeeping and Peace-enforcing missions; the use of drones; intelligence failure; nuclear deterrence as well as a reflection upon race and gender in constructing heroism.
At the end of this course, students will no longer be interested in watching films passively. They will find themselves talking back at the screen and with each other about the shenanigans or feats of genius in film whether it is the music that accompanies a scene, the choice of a landscape, or the kind of shot depicted.
Because this course relies upon films that depict a variety of brutalities, it may not be for everyone.
This course begins with an overview of the essential practices and significant “languages” that film makers and writers use to create meaning through film. Learning the “grammar” of films will enable students to become more cognizant of how war and related concepts are portrayed in the popular culture they regularly consume and the understandings of those war such films facilitate.
In this course, students will construct original arguments about how specific films create, reinforce or destabilize predominant views of war generally and specific wars in American society. To do so, we will closely study the ideas which are embedded in films as well as the techniques which film directors and writers use to convey a message or argument.
After providing a foundation on how one reads a film, each of the subsequent twelve classes will examine a kind of conflict through the lens of at least two films that represent very different points of view. While the films are the most important “assignment,” I provide several readings intended to inform the student about the conflict depicted in the film. Topics covered in this course will include British and European colonial wars in Africa and Asia; the Vietnam War from the optics of French, American and Vietnamese citizens; the anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan; The First American Gulf War of 1991; the War on Terrorism; Peacekeeping and Peace-enforcing missions; the use of drones; intelligence failure; nuclear deterrence as well as a reflection upon race and gender in constructing heroism.
At the end of this course, students will no longer be interested in watching films passively. They will find themselves talking back at the screen and with each other about the shenanigans or feats of genius in film whether it is the music that accompanies a scene, the choice of a landscape, or the kind of shot depicted.
Because this course relies upon films that depict a variety of brutalities, it may not be for everyone.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6600 Hate Groups and Social Media 3 Credits
The Internet is full of dangerous content that poses an array of security risks. Neo-Nazis, Islamic State supporters, and the “Incel” movement are only a few of the movements or organizations that peddle hate and have had members involved in terrorism and political violence. In addition, states often play a dangerous role. The government of Myanmar, for example, has pushed propaganda that contributed to genocidal levels of violence.
In the United States and several other democratic countries, even hateful groups have a right to free speech, but do they have a right to be on every Internet platform? How do Internet companies determine whom to ban and whom to permit to use their services? Are their alternatives approaches to banning content or users that technology companies should consider? What are the business, human rights, and legal implications of these choices? Which actors have a responsibility to act and why, if at all, should private businesses consider policing their platforms? These are some of the questions this course will address.
Students will work to explore different technical, legal, and policy solutions to the problems of the radical presence on the Internet and abusive government behavior. The class encourages students to apply their ideas to practical “inbox” problems facing Internet company executives, learn to present their ideas effectively, and incorporate professional feedback.
In the United States and several other democratic countries, even hateful groups have a right to free speech, but do they have a right to be on every Internet platform? How do Internet companies determine whom to ban and whom to permit to use their services? Are their alternatives approaches to banning content or users that technology companies should consider? What are the business, human rights, and legal implications of these choices? Which actors have a responsibility to act and why, if at all, should private businesses consider policing their platforms? These are some of the questions this course will address.
Students will work to explore different technical, legal, and policy solutions to the problems of the radical presence on the Internet and abusive government behavior. The class encourages students to apply their ideas to practical “inbox” problems facing Internet company executives, learn to present their ideas effectively, and incorporate professional feedback.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6601 Social Media Impact on Nat Sec 3 Credits
This course examines how the proliferation of social media and other Internet-based communication platforms have transformed the behaviors and methods used by those involved in criminal activity, terrorism and domestic violent extremism, and the efforts of foreign intelligence agencies to target the United States. Specifically, students will explore how social media and other online communications platforms are used by: transnational criminal organizations engaged in drug trafficking and other illicit activity; foreign terrorist groups and domestic extremist organizations to recruit and coordinate violent activity; disaffected individuals as they gravitate toward ideologically motivated targeted acts of violence; and foreign intelligence services as the seek to collect intelligence from the United States and engage in disinformation campaigns and influence operations intended to sow discord, inspire acts of violence, influence elections or otherwise harm the United States. Students will also explore what steps law enforcement, homeland security, and national security entities can take to incorporate online activity by those involved in illicit or threat-related behavior into efforts intended to prevent crime and protect the Nation from security threats. This will include an examination of how advanced computing technologies and other operational techniques can aid law enforcement and security professionals as well as how best to address issues/concerns relating to privacy and civil liberties protections. The course seeks to improve students’ writing skills and to cultivate the ability to engage in critical thinking, analysis, and independent learning. To that end, reading, discussing, and writing about the assigned material will be the central activities of the course. The goal is for students to leave the class possessing not only a better understanding of specific concepts and events, but also an increased ability to express that knowledge in prose and speech.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6602 Violent Non-St Actrs:Wrld Pol 3 Credits
Violent Non-State Actors (VNSAs) have only recently become the subject of sustained scholarly interest because they are increasingly playing an important role in international affairs. This course teaches that insurgent groups, terrorist organizations, cartels, warlords, and modern-day private armies and mercenaries are different facets of a common strategic challenge: dealing with VNSAs in the 21st century. Neither VNSAs nor their tactics are new, of course—VNSAs are among the oldest challenges facing nation-states. But for the first time we are now seeing VNSAs capable of operating on a global scale due to rapid advances in technology. As a result, today’s VNSAs increasingly do not fit old models for understanding them. The course aims to provide students with a theoretical and practical understanding of how VNSAs function in today’s world, and proposes a framework of typologies and spectrums for examining and distinguishing VNSAs. The course will focus on specific VNSAs and conduct Case Studies of key thematic topics and regions affected by VNSAs. The course will also explore critical analytical and policy issues facing countries attempting to fashion a response to the emergence and challenges of VNSAs.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6603 Int'l LawSecurity 3 Credits
This course surveys two topics of great importance in contemporary International Relations—International Organizations and International Law—with specific emphasis on human rights norms and international humanitarian law, or the laws of war. This course examines the unique role international organizations such as the United Nations, the EU, NATO, and other regional organizations and non-governmental organizations play in international affairs, and how international law and international institutions have improved the human condition in both peacetime and during armed conflicts. This course will shed light on the function of law in international affairs, and how international law influences and constrains the behavior of nations. More importantly, this course will examine efforts to hold high-ranking government officials and non-state actors accountable for violating international humanitarian law. In so doing it will look at the role of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and the various hybrid tribunals in administering international justice. This course further explores issues of global law-making, states’ compliance with international law, the relationship between human rights and international humanitarian law, and the nexus between law and war. Finally, this course takes a critical look at the changing nature of armed conflicts brought on by globalization and new technologies. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the fields of International Organizations and International Law, more specifically, human rights and international humanitarian law. The course is also intended to highlight the role international organizations play in international relations, as independent actors and as agents of states. This course will examine in great detail the application of international humanitarian law during international and non-international armed conflicts and its ability to constrain the behavior of those engaged in combat and to protect the civilian population. The course begins by examining the nature of the international system and the specific role international organizations and international law play. This will be followed by an analysis of the nature of war, past and present. The course then examines the relationship between human rights norms and international humanitarian law and focuses specifically on the various conventions and treaties comprising the two bodies of law. The human rights conventions include: the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Genocide Convention, the Torture Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The International Humanitarian Law conventions include: The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the Geneva Conventions of 1925 and 1949, the 1977 Additional Protocols I & II to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and more recent conventions, such as the Chemical Weapon Convention, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Ottawa Landmine Convention, and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCCW) and Protocols. Part two of the course focuses on the different types of international crimes, such as Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes, Genocide, Torture, other gross violations of human rights, and how these crimes are prosecuted by international tribunals. Students will gain valuable insight into the workings of the United Nations Security Council, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the hybrid tribunals for Sierra Leone, Kosovo, East Timor, Cambodia and Iraq. The conclusion of the course will draw upon new developments in international humanitarian law, such as ongoing war crimes trials before the ICC, ICTY & ICTR, new international humanitarian law conventions, and efforts to expand protection of international humanitarian law to unlawful combatants and persons not directly engaged in armed conflicts.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6604 Media and National Security 3 Credits
This course introduces students to what is perhaps the single most influential private institution in the American political system, often referred to as the “fourth estate” of American government and the role it plays in both covering and shaping national security. This course examines the major concepts, theoretical frameworks, and substantive issues surrounding the study of the media as a conduit between the people and the government during war and on matters of national security. The aim of this course is to arm students with a wide range of tools to understand, evaluate, and contextualize these interrelationships and their effects on national security. The course will examine how the news media covers war, the military, the intelligence community, and national security decision-making, and in turn, how such media coverage affects these institutions and public opinion. Other course themes include the evolving role of social media, disinformation, portrayals of war and the military in entertainment and pop culture, propaganda and censorship during wartime, and whistle-blowing, leaks, and disclosures of sensitive national security-related information.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law, Law, Law, Law, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6605 Terrorism: M East N Africa 3 Credits
Terrorism has long been a means of political expression in the Middle East and has flourished throughout the region from antiquity to the present. This seminar surveys the arc and evolution of terrorism from the Sicarii and the Assassins through the violence and rebellions in Egypt and Palestine of the 1920s through the end of World War II. The anti-colonial campaigns in both those places as well as in Algeria, Iraq, and Yemen--the persistence of both Palestinian and Jewish extremist violence, the emergence of Hezbollah in Lebanon, the salience of state-sponsored terrorism across the region, the insurgencies in Iraq, the rise of Al Qaeda and ISIS, and the ongoing upheaval in Syria, Libya, the Sinai, and Yemen.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6606 National Security Law 3 Credits
This course will introduce students to legal frameworks relevant to U.S. national security. The first part of the course will examine Constitutional legal structures, and the core authorities relevant to the use of different elements of national power (i.e. the use of force, intelligence activities, economic sanctions, etc.). The second, larger part of the course will look closely at several case studies (i.e. Bosnia/Serbia, 9/11 and Iraq/Afghanistan, counter-terrorism, homeland security and border enforcement, cybersecurity and cyber operations), and how law has affected (or is affecting) the actions of the U.S., its allies, and other actors.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6607 Counterintelligence Today 3 Credits
Despite their importance, nation-state intelligence (and intelligence-like) threats and counterintelligence responses are often shrouded in mystery. This course is designed to clarify these topics. To do this, the course will first generally explore the historical and current purposes and practices of intelligence and counterintelligence. It will then examine select aspects of current nation-state intelligence threats, in particular espionage, economic espionage, proliferation, malign influence, and predatory business practices. Each of these aspects will be explored relative to nation-states’ objectives, the various organizations/people involved in the intelligence activities, and the nefarious activities engaged in. The course will also consider United States private and public sector responses to current nation-state intelligence threats.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6608 DPRK Nuclear/Missile Programs 3 Credits
This course examines critical policy issues concerning North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and has three purposes. The first is to provide students with an in-depth knowledge of the origins, evolution, and current status of the DPRK’s nuclear and missile programs. The goal is to enable students to make accurate and reliable assessments of the DPRK WMD capabilities and intentions, the main drivers and constraints, key issues and challenges shaping the development of North Korean nuclear and missile programs. An additional goal is to enable students to better understand what role the WMDs play in Pyongyang’s overall national security strategy, military strategy, and foreign policy and to determine what policy instruments North Korean decision-makers use to advance Pyongyang’s WMD programs in the context of international isolation and sanctions. The second purpose is for students to develop critical thinking and analytical tradecraft skills so that they can produce high quality analytical products for various types of consumers, using open source data and structured analytical techniques. The third purpose is to introduce main DPRK and North Korea-related open sources available online in the public domain for policy relevant research and analysis
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6609 Strat Engmnt Ethical AI 3 Credits
This course will introduce students to strategic engagement and planning focused on the ethical use of artificial intelligence and associated technology in both society and in support of national security. The rise of AI across the globe continues to have enormous implications for privacy, civil rights and liberties, human rights, and personal safety. Without leveraging a proper ethical framework for its development and use, these powerful tools designed to benefit our way of life could instead be used to harm it. However, do decision-makers see an urgency in addressing the issue? Who should be responsible for the design, development, and implementation of such a framework? And how do key contributors, subject matter experts, and the everyday citizen navigate the complexities of such a dynamic issue? Discussions will center on how citizens and community leaders, academia, government officials, and industry leaders can work together to bridge the gap of trust regarding the development and use of AI and what overarching principles, model rules, or framework should guide its continued use.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6610 Civil Military Relations 3 Credits
The study of civil-military relations focuses on a simple puzzle: how can we have a military that is strong enough to do what civilian leaders want it to do but subordinate enough to only do what civilians authorize them to do? A military that is strong enough to defend the state from its external enemies is also strong enough to seize power so as to rule for itself. But if the military is kept small and weak so it does not pose a threat to society, will it be strong enough to carry out national security policy? This course wrestles with that fundamental question and examines the theories, policies, historical case studies, and contemporary challenges that shape civilian control of the armed forces and civil-military relations in the United States.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6611 Covert Action Counter Intel 3 Credits
Covert action (CA) and counterintelligence (CI) have long been significant instruments of statecraft. However, democracies have often been wary of using them. At times, CA and CI individually or together have made a notable difference, providing competitive advantage to policymakers and saving lives and treasure. When used effectively, these instruments have yielded significant strategic advantage. They also generate controversy particularly owing to issues of their compatibility with democratic values. This seminar will focus on explaining the elements of CA and CI, examining circumstances and conditions that enable both to become more effective tools of strategy and policy, and addressing issues concerning their uses in and by democratic societies, notably the United States.
While these statecraft instruments will be examined largely in the U.S. context, the course will also draw on examples of the uses of CA and CI by other countries as well, with the idea that theorists and practitioners can learn from foreign experiences. Key course themes in the examination of CA and CI are four; they address strategy, liberal democracy, the role of analysis, and identifying “best practices” through a lessons-learned approach.
While these statecraft instruments will be examined largely in the U.S. context, the course will also draw on examples of the uses of CA and CI by other countries as well, with the idea that theorists and practitioners can learn from foreign experiences. Key course themes in the examination of CA and CI are four; they address strategy, liberal democracy, the role of analysis, and identifying “best practices” through a lessons-learned approach.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment limited to students in the LW-JD-LWSS or MA-SEST programs.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6612 Chinese Economic Espionage 3 Credits
Chinese Economic Espionage and Strategic Competition: This class explores three key areas of study: the evolution of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), its ambitions, and the CCP’s approach to traditional and economic espionage. Students may enter this course with little to no familiarity of China’s policy process, history, or intelligence services, but will leave the course with familiarity of all three. As in China’s history and current policy process, this class includes a focus on espionage throughout each stage of China’s development. Students learn how spying is core to the Party’s operations, whether to maintain internal political control, expand its territory into Tibet and Xinjiang, grow its economy, or keep tabs on foreign governments.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6613 European Intel Strat Coop 3 Credits
Europe provides a critical strategic platform for the protection of American national security interests and the pursuit of U.S. global political strategy. Students will explore the importance and intricacies of developing strategic intelligence liaison relationships in support of these endeavors, and the inherent dangers fraught therein. We will explore the broader framework of intelligence alliances, including how Five Eyes has become an essential template for other nascent and complex intelligence relationships both with NATO Allies but also with emergent Eastern European intelligence organizations with whom the U.S. now enjoys unparalleled access. As the information and cyber landscape has morphed and exploded, we will also explore these aspects within the evolving intelligence discipline
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6614 Intelligence and Psychology 3 Credits
Intelligence and Psychology – Why Spies Spy
As intelligence officers run existing sources and develop new ones, incorporating standards of tradecraft, operational security, and asset validation, they must remain closely attuned to the motivations, vulnerabilities, and often rocky mindsets of the individuals they target. They are responsible for the managing concealment, deception, and stress that all spies experience as they attempt to lead double lives. For some, the task is exciting and fulfilling; but for most, it is an exhausting rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows that often ends in difficult and even tragic ways. In this course, students will familiarize themselves with the asset recruitment cycle, operational testing, the psychological profiles of most spies, and the techniques that all intelligence officers rely on to keep spies motivated, productive, and alive. The course will focus on one of the toughest challenges to US foreign policy – Iran. Given the current spike in US-Iran tensions, nationwide protests that threaten the Iranian regime, and ever-present speculation about Israeli airstrikes or covert action inside Iran, students will have the chance to peer into the minds of the hardline officials that run Iran’s security establishment, learning about the traditional drivers of the Iranian psyche that make the job of handling and recruiting Iranian spies so complex.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Students cannot enroll who have a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6615 Transatlantic SecurityDefense 3 Credits
This course examines the evolution of transatlantic security relations from the establishment of NATO in 1949 and the development of European integration to the present day. Readings and lectures seek to provide students with a deeper understanding of the diplomatic, political, and military relationships and institutions that constitute the transatlantic security community, as well as the shifting role of the United States in ensuring peace and stability in Europe. The course examines how NATO, the European Union, and other institutions adapted to deal with dramatic changes in the security environment from the Cold War to the collapse of Communism, to the crisis in the Balkans, to global challenges such as terrorism, climate change, and pandemics, to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Building on the historical background, class discussions explore how mutually-beneficial transatlantic security relations can be sustained in the face of emerging issues such as: European concerns about the shifting U.S. focus on China and the Indo-Pacific region, American discontent with certain European policies and defense efforts, fragmentation in the European Union, growing nationalism and the erosion of democratic values in some countries, the return to a confrontational relationship with Russia, and differences on countering the challenges posed by China. Active course discussions and writing assignments—including two policy memos briefed in class and a research paper—are designed to help students sharpen their analytical and presentational skills.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6616 Natl Sec Climate Change 3 Credits
This course examines the possible intersections between climate change and US national security, from infrastructure and disaster relief costs at home to the risks of instability, conflict, and refugee movements around the world. We will investigate the arguments for and against linking national security with climate change (and environmental issues more generally). We will explore how changing environmental conditions may become threat multipliers, and examine the US military’s perspectives on climate risks. Drawing on diverse academic and practitioner perspectives, we will investigate the ways in which climate change could be opening new frontiers of strategic competition and driving new patterns of migration, whether from conflict, scarcity, or extreme weather. Students will think critically about possible responses that governments, the national security community, private sector, and other actors could engage in to deal with a challenge that some national security practitioners have called an “existential threat.”
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6617 Race, Religion, and Terrorism 3 Credits
This course will explore the intricacies of race, religion and terrorism from both a Western and indigenous/minority community perspectives throughout the world. Drawing from an interdisciplinary perspective, students will be exposed to historical and contemporary literature and perspectives of terrorism as a result of colonialism, imperialism and ethnic conflicts within societies. Furthermore, the course will explore intra-communal violence and tensions that create and cause fissures in communities that have given rise to populism and nationalism at both the state and non-state level. Finally, students will be exposed to real-time practical efforts in which communities both domestically and internationally confront these issues, often time forging competition, violence and identity politics tensions/rivalries.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6618 Examining Econ Devt in Africa 3 Credits
Since the turn of this century, African countries have recorded impressive economic performance, as GDP averaged over 5 percent for both oil and non-oil economies. Although African countries have been consistently counted among the fastest growing economies in the world each year, poverty, unemployment, and inequalities persist across the continent. Why has Africa’s laudable GDP growth, and the abundance of natural resources, failed to trigger economic growth that is tangible, substantial, and sustainable? Millions of Africans struggle to survive below the poverty line, basic social services (particularly health care and education) are denied to many, and governance failures precipitate endemic insecurity. This course will explore five questions: What explains the phenomenon of jobless economic growth in Africa? How could Africa’s natural resource endowment support and sustain pro-poor economic growth? What explains the political economy of economic development in Africa? What factors impact economic development in Africa? Why are some countries within Africa more successful than others? The sessions will analyze the drivers of economic growth in Africa through research, case studies and a simple regression analysis, examine theoretical foundations of economic development, consider options for effective natural resource governance, and outline innovative post-COVID development pathways.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6619 Human Intelligence Ops 3 Credits
This course will give students an understanding of the roles and complexities of human intelligence operations. It will address both clandestine and overt collection mechanisms, considering the different objectives, risks and goals of each. Students will consider the various motivations for persons recruited as human sources (agents) and learn to assess the risks and gains which intelligence managers must weigh. Case studies will help students understand the special aspects of espionage operations.
Included in the course will be an examination of ethical considerations and restraints, particularly in the age of terrorism when national security and protection of civil liberties are both important and sometimes competing objectives.
Studying the development and tasking of requirements for human operations will be an important part of the course, including the role that the Departments of State and Defense have in the collection of information. The course will survey intelligence tradecraft and emphasize the importance of counterintelligence in the protection of intelligence programs, personnel and organizations
The course will address certain foreign intelligence and security services’ objectives and mechanisms, particularly as they relate to protection of American interests.
Included in the course will be an examination of ethical considerations and restraints, particularly in the age of terrorism when national security and protection of civil liberties are both important and sometimes competing objectives.
Studying the development and tasking of requirements for human operations will be an important part of the course, including the role that the Departments of State and Defense have in the collection of information. The course will survey intelligence tradecraft and emphasize the importance of counterintelligence in the protection of intelligence programs, personnel and organizations
The course will address certain foreign intelligence and security services’ objectives and mechanisms, particularly as they relate to protection of American interests.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6620 NatSec ResilienceCrisis Mgmt 3 Credits
Come on a practitioner-led tour of the world of resilience and crisis to explore what it’s like as an official to take responsibility for the management of major risks and national emergencies. What approaches do we take to identifying and preparing for risks? And what actually happens when a crisis emerges? As a former Deputy National Security Adviser and intelligence professional, Beth will give a unique insight to everything from assessing risk, working with politicians, the use of intelligence, harnessing technology and effective thinking and behaviors in high pressure environments.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6621 Strategy Design Red Teaming 3 Credits
This course will provide an introduction to Red Teaming and how it is used to help leaders solve some of the nation's most pressing challenges. The course will discuss the theoretical foundations and approaches that comprise Red Teaming, as well as the range of problems they have been used to solve. Students will discover why Red Teaming is a valuable strategic decision-support tool and learn the strengths and limitations of red teaming techniques. Finally, students will have the opportunity to test their skill in using Red Team approaches to explore emerging strategic challenges in national security.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6622 Science and Grand Strategy 3 Credits
This course examines the role of science and technology (S&T) in developing and sustaining US military and economic competitiveness. The main learning objective of the course is to give students an understanding of the historical debates around federal and private roles, thecommunities that contribute to the S&T ecosystem, and subsequently how strategies may or may not be successful at the national and international level. We will also discuss contemporary changes in international dynamics around S&T and the strategies/models that other nations havedeveloped for similar military and economic reasons. No prior technical skills or knowledge about science and technology are necessary for the course.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6623 Great Power Compet in Lat Am 3 Credits
In 2018 then-Secretary of Defense James Mattis that the US sees “Latin America as our neighbor. Some people say we don’t pay much attention to it. That is certainly not the case in the military.” Six months prior, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had remarked at an event that “Latin America does not need new imperial powers that seek only to benefit their own people,” a reference to the growing influence of Russia and China in the region.
These comments highlight how the growing influence of extra-hemispheric actors, particularly China and Russia, have renewed US interest in Latin America and inspired a wide range of calls for renewed engagement with the countries in the region. Whereas counternarcotics was the main focus of US national security policy towards the western hemisphere in the previous two decades, the changing environment has shifted this focus towards competition for influence.
This course will examine the influence of extra-hemispheric actors in the western hemisphere, with a focus on great power competition. The course begins by exploring the security and defense environment in the region before moving on to an examination of a number of extra-hemispheric actors vying for power and influence in Latin America. A final section analyzes the influence of these actors across two sectors.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6624 Thinking Critcly:Intel Policy 3 Credits
One of the hallmarks of intelligence is that it provides and supports clean, clear thinking. Thinking Critically About Intelligence and Policy will enhance critical thinking, argumentation, and presentation skills, providing tools for School of Foreign Service (SFS) students to evaluate complex challenges and make stronger, more compelling cases for issues they are passionate about. Highly appropriate for future analysts, this course will be useful for any students who aspire to use intelligence or information in decision-making. The goal is to enable students to be thought leaders and—just as importantly—to see when they are being misled.
Key elements of a critical approach are asking the right questions, gathering the best data, using proper methods, and ensuring the provided answer is the best answer to the question—all making sense in context. Guiding principles are that more information is not necessarily better, not all information is created equal, and the easiest information to get is rarely the best to use. Also, tools and techniques are important, but the human element— including expertise—is essential.
In this spirit, this course will provide students a series of applied analytic tools and techniques of increasing complexity, starting with classical logic and leading to discussion of analysis using large data sets. Tools will include classic analytic methods for top-down deduction, bottom-up induction, and qualitative techniques for determining causality. We will identify limitations of Aristotelian logic, introduce basic principles of probabilistic reasoning, and demonstrate the power of model updating through Bayes’ theorem. Identifying logical fallacies, methodological errors, and holes in data will be emphasized over in-depth application of specific quantitative tools. The class emphasizes rigorous logic, but it is not a math class; no quantitative skill is necessary, and there are no prerequisites.
Students will use these tools and techniques in the context of studying intelligence collection, analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action, with a focus on how decision-makers use these intelligence tools. The course will include some discussion of the place of intelligence in a democratic society, including the issues of intelligence oversight and public debate over intelligence issues. Throughout the course, students will uncover and examine explicit and implicit assumptions about intelligence and policy and will develop ever more rigorous arguments about those assumptions and their implications.
Course discussions will draw from case studies on the use of intelligence by the United States and other actors from WWII through the current debates about secrecy and covert influence. The course will include a critical examination of intelligence in the run-up to the September 2001 terrorist attacks and Operation Iraqi Freedom, matters which afford excellent case studies on every facet of intelligence in a policy context. The course will address relevant current events as appropriate.
By the end of the semester, students will have an enhanced ability to examine intelligence and information and to weigh the merits of arguments on the basis of logic, data, methodology, and argumentation. Students also will have developed an informed appreciation of the capabilities and limitations of national intelligence. Whether writing an intelligence brief or discerning “fake” from “real” news, concepts covered in the course will be useful professionally to students who will produce or use intelligence in their careers in both the public and private sectors.
Class formats will include lectures and seminar discussions and may draw on guest speakers. Course requirements include reading responses, an intelligence report, an oral briefing, and a final paper. Both writing assignments will include graded peer editing elements. Students will also be graded on class participation.
This is a demanding course; many students have found it a challenging experience, though also a highly rewarding one. No professional experience is required, though the instructors expect that Intelligence Concentrators will draw on their past course and/or professional work to enrich the class’ experience and their own course products. The instructors will provide clear context for non-concentrators or new concentrators who need resources on key vocabulary or basic concepts; in some cases, the instructors may recommend short additional background reading as needed.
Key elements of a critical approach are asking the right questions, gathering the best data, using proper methods, and ensuring the provided answer is the best answer to the question—all making sense in context. Guiding principles are that more information is not necessarily better, not all information is created equal, and the easiest information to get is rarely the best to use. Also, tools and techniques are important, but the human element— including expertise—is essential.
In this spirit, this course will provide students a series of applied analytic tools and techniques of increasing complexity, starting with classical logic and leading to discussion of analysis using large data sets. Tools will include classic analytic methods for top-down deduction, bottom-up induction, and qualitative techniques for determining causality. We will identify limitations of Aristotelian logic, introduce basic principles of probabilistic reasoning, and demonstrate the power of model updating through Bayes’ theorem. Identifying logical fallacies, methodological errors, and holes in data will be emphasized over in-depth application of specific quantitative tools. The class emphasizes rigorous logic, but it is not a math class; no quantitative skill is necessary, and there are no prerequisites.
Students will use these tools and techniques in the context of studying intelligence collection, analysis, counterintelligence, and covert action, with a focus on how decision-makers use these intelligence tools. The course will include some discussion of the place of intelligence in a democratic society, including the issues of intelligence oversight and public debate over intelligence issues. Throughout the course, students will uncover and examine explicit and implicit assumptions about intelligence and policy and will develop ever more rigorous arguments about those assumptions and their implications.
Course discussions will draw from case studies on the use of intelligence by the United States and other actors from WWII through the current debates about secrecy and covert influence. The course will include a critical examination of intelligence in the run-up to the September 2001 terrorist attacks and Operation Iraqi Freedom, matters which afford excellent case studies on every facet of intelligence in a policy context. The course will address relevant current events as appropriate.
By the end of the semester, students will have an enhanced ability to examine intelligence and information and to weigh the merits of arguments on the basis of logic, data, methodology, and argumentation. Students also will have developed an informed appreciation of the capabilities and limitations of national intelligence. Whether writing an intelligence brief or discerning “fake” from “real” news, concepts covered in the course will be useful professionally to students who will produce or use intelligence in their careers in both the public and private sectors.
Class formats will include lectures and seminar discussions and may draw on guest speakers. Course requirements include reading responses, an intelligence report, an oral briefing, and a final paper. Both writing assignments will include graded peer editing elements. Students will also be graded on class participation.
This is a demanding course; many students have found it a challenging experience, though also a highly rewarding one. No professional experience is required, though the instructors expect that Intelligence Concentrators will draw on their past course and/or professional work to enrich the class’ experience and their own course products. The instructors will provide clear context for non-concentrators or new concentrators who need resources on key vocabulary or basic concepts; in some cases, the instructors may recommend short additional background reading as needed.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6625 Allies, Partners, US Nat Sec 3 Credits
Throughout the national security space, the phrase “allies and partners” is applied often. From strategy documents to high-level engagements, U.S. decision makers note the invaluable role other nations play in enhancing U.S. position and strength and how U.S. national security policies must act to continue and enhance this trend. The hard work begins when converting this high-level guidance into actual approaches for a given ally or partner. Understanding the forces at work upon like-minded nations and to what extent their security goals and actions align with those of the United States are critical to shaping realistic policies.
This course will help students explore how to shape informed, measured policy recommendations for U.S. leadership when engaging with these nations. Using the lenses of security concerns, economic pressures, and domestic political dynamics, students will have a better understanding of the pressures and demands policy makers of particular allies and partners face.
The conduct of the course will be weighted heavily towards discussion and with a measure of student-led conversation for each ally and partner as part of their participation grade. Students will also be assigned a mid-term policy memo exploring either the U.S. position or that of an ally or partner in deepening the relationship between the two parties. A final paper looking at how to merge various ally and partner activities into a future U.S. allied and partner policy will also be assigned.
This course will help students explore how to shape informed, measured policy recommendations for U.S. leadership when engaging with these nations. Using the lenses of security concerns, economic pressures, and domestic political dynamics, students will have a better understanding of the pressures and demands policy makers of particular allies and partners face.
The conduct of the course will be weighted heavily towards discussion and with a measure of student-led conversation for each ally and partner as part of their participation grade. Students will also be assigned a mid-term policy memo exploring either the U.S. position or that of an ally or partner in deepening the relationship between the two parties. A final paper looking at how to merge various ally and partner activities into a future U.S. allied and partner policy will also be assigned.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Juris Doctor level students.
SEST 6626 Oil and International Security 3 Credits
This course explores the interaction between oil and natural gas – today’s primary sources of energy – and international affairs. Scholars and policymakers have all too often viewed the politics of oil solely through the myopic lens of Western energy security. Yet energy production and export impacts foreign affairs in ways big and small, shaping foreign policy choices by importing states in Western Europe or East Asia, and shaping the politics of exporters like Russia, Saudi Arabia, or Venezuela. In this course, students will explore the broad scope of energy and politics, including: 1) the domestic politics of oil and gas production in petrostates; 2) the history and geopolitics of traditional energy security concerns; and 3) the international role played by petrostates. By the end of the course, students will have built an understanding of how energy production and global energy markets function, how these markets shape the politics of importing and exporting states, and how they interact with international security. Students will learn about these issues in the broader context of ongoing and radical shifts in energy production, including new technologies, market innovations, the growth of American production, and the shift towards decarbonization.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Juris Doctor level students.
SEST 6627 Adv Tech/Compet Nat Security 3 Credits
In this course, we will examine the role of advanced technologies in national security. We will first look at the drivers of technology development in the US military beginning with the World Wars and then dive deep into capability areas that have been, and continue to be, investment areas across the national security ecosystem. Capability areas will include microelectronics, 5G, quantum science, hypersonics, biotechnology, space and others. We will discuss what these capabilities are and what may be the national security implications to policy, defense planning, force structure, and resource management. In the final section of this course, we will focus on how technologies fit within a strategic technology competition framework. Within this framework, we will look at the role of the private sector and universities in technology development and market dynamics. We conclude the course with an examination of how other countries such as China and Russia develop advanced technologies. We will consider how these actors impact policy and national security decisions in the near and long term.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6628 Trafficking: Humans/Drugs/Arms 3 Credits
The globalized economy inevitably leads to the expansion of the illicit economy. Contrary to the common assumption that trafficking in humans, drugs, and weapons takes place only in weak states with corrupt law-enforcement personnel, in reality both weak and strong economies are linked to global criminal activities. This course explores the phenomenon of combatting illicit drugs that are harvested in weaker economies but consumed in wealthier societies, while arms are manufactured in industrialized nations and smuggled to conflict zones. Humans, in the meantime, are sold for labor and sexual exploitation across all societies, independent of economic wealth.
A large part of the course will be dedicated to understanding how and why various forms of trafficking overlap. Taking case studies from ISIS in the Maghreb to Cartel Jalisco in Mexico and MS-13 in greater Washington, DC, this course will challenge students to compare and contrast characteristics of criminal and terrorist activities, the growing intersection between drugs and human trafficking, and the inevitable role of states, both weak and strong, in facilitating illicit activity.
To understand how violence and illicit activity are related, the course will also dig deeper with discussions of the human condition as embedded in complex social relationships and institutions. For instance, to understand the phenomenon of human trafficking on a micro level – why humans exploit other humans – the course will draw from literature on colonialism and social stratification. To understand the phenomenon of criminal behavior, the course will examine which pathways push radicalization into violent behavior. Finally, the course will explore why some forms of terror, like the disappearance or disfigurement of a human body, are particularly widespread in illicit economies. Incorporating these sociological dimensions will allow for more informed academic inquiry into security and trafficking and deliberate policy recommendations.
The course has a strong policy dimension, and students will be required to formulate policy recommendations to alleviate societies from illicit activities, both in the United States and in other parts of the world. During the first half of the course, students will learn about various forms of trafficking and transnational illicit activity. In the second half, students will examine transnational trends – from smuggling humans, drugs, and arms on the U.S.-Mexican border, to terrorism financing by ISIS, and the global offshore financial markets offering to launder money. By the end of the semester, students will focus on their own policy proposals for curbing trafficking and security based on an in-depth case study.
A large part of the course will be dedicated to understanding how and why various forms of trafficking overlap. Taking case studies from ISIS in the Maghreb to Cartel Jalisco in Mexico and MS-13 in greater Washington, DC, this course will challenge students to compare and contrast characteristics of criminal and terrorist activities, the growing intersection between drugs and human trafficking, and the inevitable role of states, both weak and strong, in facilitating illicit activity.
To understand how violence and illicit activity are related, the course will also dig deeper with discussions of the human condition as embedded in complex social relationships and institutions. For instance, to understand the phenomenon of human trafficking on a micro level – why humans exploit other humans – the course will draw from literature on colonialism and social stratification. To understand the phenomenon of criminal behavior, the course will examine which pathways push radicalization into violent behavior. Finally, the course will explore why some forms of terror, like the disappearance or disfigurement of a human body, are particularly widespread in illicit economies. Incorporating these sociological dimensions will allow for more informed academic inquiry into security and trafficking and deliberate policy recommendations.
The course has a strong policy dimension, and students will be required to formulate policy recommendations to alleviate societies from illicit activities, both in the United States and in other parts of the world. During the first half of the course, students will learn about various forms of trafficking and transnational illicit activity. In the second half, students will examine transnational trends – from smuggling humans, drugs, and arms on the U.S.-Mexican border, to terrorism financing by ISIS, and the global offshore financial markets offering to launder money. By the end of the semester, students will focus on their own policy proposals for curbing trafficking and security based on an in-depth case study.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6629 Force Planning 3 Credits
Force planning is the art and science of determining what military capabilities, forces, and posture are most appropriate for a nation. It is an inherently multi-disciplinary activity, encompassing, inter alia, international relations, intelligence assessment, military operations, budgeting, operations research, and an understanding of technology and the performance characteristics of complex systems. Integrating information and analyses from all of these disciplines is, inescapably, a complex task. The challenge of force planning is magnified by very substantial levels of uncertainty about many of the factors involved. For example, a decision to develop and procure a certain type of platform (for example, a new fighter aircraft or a ship) will affect the capabilities of one's force for thirty or more years into the future. Yet our ability to foresee the nature of the international system, the capabilities and intentions of potential adversaries, or even our own security strategy and priorities that far into the future is quite limited. The beginning of wisdom with regard to force planning, then, is to approach the subject with a certain amount of modesty and a measure of respect for its complexity. The aim of this course is threefold: . To show students what force planning encompasses, how it has been done in the United States, and how it should be done . To help students who wish to engage professionally in one or more aspects of force planning to do so effectively . To allow all students become more sophisticated observers and critics of defense strategy and planning efforts, products, and decisions. Students who participate in this course should expect to learn about the following: . What force planning is and is not, and what its relationship is to other aspects of defense and national security policy making . A coherent conceptual framework that integrates all of the major factors that must be considered in determining the nation's defense program . Primary intellectual and analytical techniques used in applying that framework . Key issues facing defense policy makers today and how those issues likely will shape U.S. military forces and U.S. national security in the future.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6630 Countering Cybercrime 3 Credits
Cybercrime – criminal activity dependent on or enabled by computers – poses an ever-evolving threat to our national security, economic interests, public safety, and societal trust. In this course, we will explore how we distinguish cybercrime from other criminal and non-criminal activities that use computers, the current cybercrime threat landscape, and how the U.S. government, international institutions, and non-governmental actors have adopted different strategies and policies to disrupt, dismantle, and deter cybercrime, whether committed by lone wolfs, organized criminal groups, or nation-state actors.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6631 Outer Space/Strat Capabilities 3 Credits
This course will explore how outer space and associated strategic technologies are transforming the international security environment. The course will examine the role that outer space played during the Cold War and discuss how current technological trends are shaping today’s space security environment. Additionally, this course will explore contemporary topics like the rise of commercial space companies; anti-satellite and counterspace weapons; the growth of orbital debris; cybersecurity challenges; the creation of the U.S. Space Force; the emergence of China as a space power; and the potential for arms control and norms of behavior to help manage competition in the space domain. Finally, this course will examine the implications of outer space and space-related strategic technologies on the future of warfare and international security, and how the United States and its allies might effectively respond to these challenges.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6632 Space Policy and Power 3 Credits
This course examines the evolution and challenges of U.S. space policies and strategies, space programs, and space activities within the context of technological, environmental, economic, and international relations theories. Integral to this process is the development of critical thinking on the utility of the space domain to further overall US policy and space power projection. By the end of this course, students should be able to utilize a variety of frameworks to effectively assess competing theoretical, doctrinal and strategic perspectives.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6633 Pandemic Crisis Management 3 Credits
International frameworks, government structures, and populations have struggled with the challenges of modern pandemics. SARS, MERS, Ebola, Avian flu, and now COVID 19 have repeatedly demonstrated the importance of effective crisis management methods, enabled by robust processes at multiple levels. The painful flaws exposed in the COVID 19 experience will likely cause the examination of many societal and political norms, and trigger widespread demand for improvements. This course examines the recent record of substantive pandemic crisis management readiness, the policy choices implemented during this event, the prospects for reform, and the major essential policy initiatives that could establish better pandemic preparedness.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6634 China the Internat'l Order 3 Credits
The sudden and wholly unexpected rise of China has dramatically changed the world’s economic, political and military landscape. While this change is, in many ways, a restoration of the historic role that China played for thousands of years, China is now encountering a world unlike any that it has ever seen. They have never encountered an established power as strong as the United States, while at the same time, its neighbors such as India, Japan, Korea, etc. are emerging as powers in their own right. Moreover, China’s prosperity is now heavily dependent on resources from countries from around the planet. This has forced China to play a much bigger and more engaged role with the rest of the world. The result is the most formidable power and potential adversary the United States has ever faced in the history of our nation. The same can be said for China.
This elective focuses in on China and its relations with the United States and the major powers of Asia. It recognizes that China will be the most critical economic, security, and foreign policy challenge for the U.S. and its Asian neighbors, who are increasingly depending on us as we step through the 21st Century. At the same time, America’s post-WWII role as the world’s “reluctant sheriff” is going through a profound re-examination both at home and abroad.
New challenges and roles are quickly evolving. This course aims to examine, discuss, and shed light on China’s new position and place in the early 21st Century.
This elective focuses in on China and its relations with the United States and the major powers of Asia. It recognizes that China will be the most critical economic, security, and foreign policy challenge for the U.S. and its Asian neighbors, who are increasingly depending on us as we step through the 21st Century. At the same time, America’s post-WWII role as the world’s “reluctant sheriff” is going through a profound re-examination both at home and abroad.
New challenges and roles are quickly evolving. This course aims to examine, discuss, and shed light on China’s new position and place in the early 21st Century.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6635 Hands-on Cyber Forensics 3 Credits
In this class, students will gain an introduction to digital forensic investigations through analysis of online and offline systems. Digital Forensics encompasses the recovery, investigation, examination, and (most of all) analysis of material found on digital devices. This discipline varies from eDiscovery, in the sense that not only are we looking to provide the information in order to further investigations, but to understand the information to tell the story of what happened on the device and the actions of the user. It is not simply the acquisition of forensic artifacts, but the knowledge to explain artifacts. A large amount of this course will be a hands-on practical implementation of the methodologies as well as the detection and analysis of forensic artifacts to demonstrate this user attribution and to outline the facts of investigations.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6636 Grand Strategy 3 Credits
This class is meant to help students think critically about the grand strategies of nations in peace and war. Grand strategies are meant to weave the military, political, diplomatic, economic, and other threads of national power into a coherent plan to achieve a country’s goals by a well-defined means-ends chain.
Inevitably, reality diverges from that theoretical concept. Many countries fail to achieve such integration. Often that results in their defeat in war or other forms of strategic failure. Other countries succeed despite similar failings. Likewise, while the successful pursuit of a grand strategy has often produced victory, history is littered with policy gambits that failed despite being driven by well-oiled grand strategies.
Still, since policymakers should not embark on major undertakings in expectation that they will just get lucky, a well-reasoned, well-executed grand strategy is vital when nations seek to accomplish important foreign policy goals. Indeed, the best judge of the soundness of any foreign policy endeavor should be whether it is backed by a reasonable, feasible grand strategy—or if it is part of such an overarching conception.
For these reasons, the course will focus on the conception, integration, and implementation of the strands of a grand strategy. The key to any grand strategy is how well its many dimensions work in unison in pursuit of a common theory of victory, and ultimately toward the national goal. Of course, ensuring that the many components of a government implement the various aspects of a grand strategy for which each is responsible is enormously difficult. It is hard enough for many leaders and governments to articulate a rational, coherent grand strategy; it is harder still for them to see that all of the agencies, bureaucracies, parties, and people of their government actually execute it.
The course is meant to help students recognize both strengths and flaws in grand strategies. In turn, this will allow students to assess and analyze a grand strategy and so provide the tools to formulate their own conceptions of what a workable grand strategy might look like for any nation attempting to achieve any kind of foreign policy goal.
Inevitably, reality diverges from that theoretical concept. Many countries fail to achieve such integration. Often that results in their defeat in war or other forms of strategic failure. Other countries succeed despite similar failings. Likewise, while the successful pursuit of a grand strategy has often produced victory, history is littered with policy gambits that failed despite being driven by well-oiled grand strategies.
Still, since policymakers should not embark on major undertakings in expectation that they will just get lucky, a well-reasoned, well-executed grand strategy is vital when nations seek to accomplish important foreign policy goals. Indeed, the best judge of the soundness of any foreign policy endeavor should be whether it is backed by a reasonable, feasible grand strategy—or if it is part of such an overarching conception.
For these reasons, the course will focus on the conception, integration, and implementation of the strands of a grand strategy. The key to any grand strategy is how well its many dimensions work in unison in pursuit of a common theory of victory, and ultimately toward the national goal. Of course, ensuring that the many components of a government implement the various aspects of a grand strategy for which each is responsible is enormously difficult. It is hard enough for many leaders and governments to articulate a rational, coherent grand strategy; it is harder still for them to see that all of the agencies, bureaucracies, parties, and people of their government actually execute it.
The course is meant to help students recognize both strengths and flaws in grand strategies. In turn, this will allow students to assess and analyze a grand strategy and so provide the tools to formulate their own conceptions of what a workable grand strategy might look like for any nation attempting to achieve any kind of foreign policy goal.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6637 Nat Security Human Rights 3 Credits
The promotion of human rights and the protection of national security are often considered to be mutually exclusive goals, existing in tension if not competition as separate objectives of U.S. policy. Questions about when, why, and to what degree, if at all, human rights promotion should feature in U.S. national security policy continue to challenge policymakers, including as a result of an increasing number of actors with the information and means necessary to mobilize constituencies within and across borders. Policymakers therefore require familiarity with the terminology, history, and a well-informed understanding of comparative approaches to human rights and national security policy.
This course will provide the student with a basic, but thorough, survey of the theories, international legal regimes, domestic and international political forces, key mechanisms, and global debates related to the international human rights movement in the context of U.S. national security policy.
The course will blend theory, history, case study, and practical exercise through three sections designed to meet the needs of students with varying interests and backgrounds, but intended to enable the eventual practical application of lessons learned by students who specialize in a national security-related field.
The first section of the course will explore the origins and competing theories of human rights. Students will analyze the tensions between and within different theories of rights, including between universalism and cultural relativism, and between socialist, liberal, and realist concepts of rights. Students will then consider how human rights fit within different theories of international relations, with a particular emphasis on the relevance of human rights to security cooperation and conflict. The section will conclude with a survey of the international legal frameworks that govern and define human rights, international humanitarian law (law of armed conflict), and international criminal accountability.
The second section will focus on the sources of influence and means of implementation of human rights policy. First, the class will examine how congress, civil society, and the advocacy community influence human rights policy, followed by consideration of ways that the human rights agenda can be incorporated into – or constrained by – a variety of mechanisms, to include security assistance programs and multilateral organizations, particularly the United Nations.
The third section will focus on a selection of key contemporary issues in human rights and national security, and the course will culminate in a practical exercise designed to provoke debate and consideration of competing viewpoints on rights in practice. Students will discuss, analyze, and debate how the protection of human rights impacts short-term and long-term national security interests in the context of various contemporary challenges, such as U.S. counterterrorism policy, partnered operations, and the nexus of U.S. international development policy, human rights, and national security.
This course will provide the student with a basic, but thorough, survey of the theories, international legal regimes, domestic and international political forces, key mechanisms, and global debates related to the international human rights movement in the context of U.S. national security policy.
The course will blend theory, history, case study, and practical exercise through three sections designed to meet the needs of students with varying interests and backgrounds, but intended to enable the eventual practical application of lessons learned by students who specialize in a national security-related field.
The first section of the course will explore the origins and competing theories of human rights. Students will analyze the tensions between and within different theories of rights, including between universalism and cultural relativism, and between socialist, liberal, and realist concepts of rights. Students will then consider how human rights fit within different theories of international relations, with a particular emphasis on the relevance of human rights to security cooperation and conflict. The section will conclude with a survey of the international legal frameworks that govern and define human rights, international humanitarian law (law of armed conflict), and international criminal accountability.
The second section will focus on the sources of influence and means of implementation of human rights policy. First, the class will examine how congress, civil society, and the advocacy community influence human rights policy, followed by consideration of ways that the human rights agenda can be incorporated into – or constrained by – a variety of mechanisms, to include security assistance programs and multilateral organizations, particularly the United Nations.
The third section will focus on a selection of key contemporary issues in human rights and national security, and the course will culminate in a practical exercise designed to provoke debate and consideration of competing viewpoints on rights in practice. Students will discuss, analyze, and debate how the protection of human rights impacts short-term and long-term national security interests in the context of various contemporary challenges, such as U.S. counterterrorism policy, partnered operations, and the nexus of U.S. international development policy, human rights, and national security.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6638 Forgotten Women in Mass Crime 3 Credits
Why is violence against women and girls are so frequently forgotten or "silenced" in mass crimes and genocide? Why are acts of violence against women and girls so frequently obliterated from the Holocaust narrative? From the Roma genocide narrative? From Guatemala's mass violence history? From ISIS' terrorist narrative before the courts of law? From news emerging from Ukraine? Do ground investigations have the capacity to reveal the crimes against women, or are they choosing not to? This course will investigate these questions, especially taking into account the field investigations of Fr. Patrick Desbois and his team. Students will learn how to conduct forensic investigations of violence against women in the scope of genocide and mass crimes.The course is co-taught by Fr. Desbois, a forensic anthropologist and author of The Holocaust by Bullets and The Terrorist Factory and Dr. Andrej Umansky, a historian and lawyer will teach during this class. It will include mid-term and final exams. Class participation and preparation are essential. Course also listed as MSFS 6610 and JCIV 4500.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6639 (En)Gendered Security 3 Credits
This course is designed to illuminate the multiple and complex intersections of gender with security. It advances and assesses three arguments. First, gender is conceptually and theoretically necessary to thinking about security itself and central questions of security, to include war, conflict, and peace. Second, gender is indispensable in explaining the complex cause-and-effect relationships over a range of security issues. And, third, gender is important from the policy standpoint for devising sustainable and effective approaches for making the world a more secure place for everyone, regardless of their social identity. By engaging the UN Women Gender and Security Toolkit as an organizing concept, the course proceeds through a series of topics dedicated to security sector governance, military, defense and gender, security sector reforms and gender, justice, and gender, law enforcement and gender, border management and gender, and intersectionality of gender with other social markers, such as race and social class. By highlighting the complexities of integrating the findings of gender studies into policy, the course will be of interest to both practitioners and students of security studies, gender studies, and IR in general.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6640 Decision-making During Stress 3 Credits
The course examines the neurobiology of stress, trauma, and resilience, so that students can understand how their body and mind are wired to perceive information and make decisions while challenged or threatened. We will examine habit patterns, both perceptual and behavioral, and explore how these habits can be changed to allow for more accurate situational awareness, less biased decision-making, more capacity to interrupt impulsive or reactive decisions, more intentionality, and more capacity to access choice and creative problem-solving. After exploring these topics at the individual and interpersonal levels, we will apply these topics to human organizations and systems. We will explore how organizations and systems are “enacted” through organizational habits; how groups manage stress, anxiety, uncertainty and insecurity; and how groups learn, adapt, and change (or not). This part of the course will draw out policy implications in the realm of national and international security. Students will participate in a group project to explore these dynamics in a case study related to the current global polycrisis—both to understand how and why their case study challenge developed and to explore innovative ways to address it. This course alternates between periods of intellectual learning and discussion, periods of experiential engagement with mind-body practices, and reflective discussion about those practices. Thus, this course has a large component of direct experiential practice. Students will be asked to complete 30 minutes of mind fitness exercises every day. Students are also required to attend a half-day intensive practicum on a Saturday.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6641 Cyber Strategy: US Policy 3 Credits
This course explores the impact of cyberspace and the digital ecosystem on traditional U.S. national security and economic policy frameworks. Students will examine how rapidly evolving technologies are upending decades-old assumptions in American policy and explore specific case studies where those assumptions are being most urgently challenged. By the end of the course, students will have a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by the broader "techification" of American policy and be able to apply this knowledge to your own work.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6642 Treason, Terrorism, Betrayal 3 Credits
Crossing the Line: Treason, Terrorism and Betrayal
An interdisciplinary course that explores the motivations and circumstances that lead certain individuals to become threats to U. S. national security. The course will draw on contributions from a range of disciplines including cognitive psychology, sociology, linguistics, anthropology and narratology to examine the decision-making processes that generate life trajectories that allow individuals to commit treason, engage in terrorism or betray a trust. The course will introduce students to various methodologies and frameworks that have been used to gain insight into the psychology and behavior of individuals who were deemed threats to U.S. national security. These approaches will be critically examined and assessed to determine their explanatory value using the case study method.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6643 Business of National Security 3 Credits
War profiteers? Bungling bureaucracy? Ever since George Washington wrote IOUs to sutlers and merchants in the American Revolutionary War, the private sector has supported American national security. How exactly do business and government work together to achieve national security goals? This multidisciplinary seminar examines that question and studies how the private sector organizes itself to respond to requirements and win business with the U.S. Government and its allies. This class is all about how the sausage is made – it takes a renaissance approach to understanding the national security ecosystem. Studying business, legal, and public policy cases through history, economics, law, and innovation lenses, this seminar equips students with the analytical, conceptual, and experiential tools necessary to contribute fully in either the private sector or government. Using both domestic and international cases, this course examines both successful and failed endeavors. From the use of private security contractors and intelligence analysts, to procuring next-generation weapons platforms, logistics systems, and cyber capabilities, students will gain a deeper understanding of the role the national security industrial base plays in the requirements, budgeting, and acquisition processes to keep America safe.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6644 The Economics of War 3 Credits
This course explores the interrelationship of economics and war in many different ways. It addresses the use of economic tools, including aid, sanctions, “trade wars,” and financial controls, as part of a comprehensive campaign plan to accomplish strategic and operational objectives. Discussion will include the various institutions and actors that the US and, to a lesser extent, other governments have used to promote economics as a complement to military operations. It also addresses the effects of war on the macroeconomic conditions in belligerent nations, both in a particular country (e.g. Iraq, Syria, or Afghanistan), and on US government spending and the US economy. It will address the economic nature of warfare to include contractors, private military security companies, and the challenges of corruption. The course will cover some historical examples of economics and war, but much of the course concentrates on economic actions that have been used in contemporary operations in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan and contemplates those that may be potentially used in the future.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6645 Power Politics:Greater MidEast 3 Credits
The Middle East and Persian Gulf remain areas of acute strategic concern for the United States. The region has been shaped by U.S.-Soviet rivalry, a series of Arab-Israeli wars, successive conflicts in the Persian Gulf, the rise of transnational ideologies, and most recently, global terrorism. (The Middle East for purposes of the course is defined primarily as the Arab world plus Israel and Iran.) Today, the United States remains heavily committed to the Middle East while the international economy continues to rely on the region’s oil. An acute understanding of the regional dynamics and their historical roots therefore is vital for all students of international affairs.
The course should provide students with an understanding of the nature and causes of the leading security-related problems in the Middle East, the major contemporary issues involving important states in the region, and the security challenges that the Middle East poses for outside powers, especially the United States.
Students are not expected to have strong backgrounds in either the history of the Middle East or military strategy operations. However, students with personal knowledge of the region, or having military experience, are encouraged to share their knowledge with the class.
The course should provide students with an understanding of the nature and causes of the leading security-related problems in the Middle East, the major contemporary issues involving important states in the region, and the security challenges that the Middle East poses for outside powers, especially the United States.
Students are not expected to have strong backgrounds in either the history of the Middle East or military strategy operations. However, students with personal knowledge of the region, or having military experience, are encouraged to share their knowledge with the class.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6646 US Defense Policy in Mideast 3 Credits
This is a course that studies the formulation and implementation of U.S. defense policy in the Middle East. Its objective is to familiarize students with the process, goals, and issues of U.S. defense policy in the region. The students will learn who the main players in U.S. defense policy in the Middle East are, how the U.S. defense enterprise functions or malfunctions, and what new challenges and opportunities for U.S. defense policy have emerged in the region over the past few decades.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6647 Coups, Uprisings, Rebellions 3 Credits
This course will introduce students to the analysis of political instability, drawing from a wide range of literature in political science, international relations, history, economics, intelligence studies, sociology, and public policy. Students will learn different methods for assessing political instability risk, apply these techniques to real world cases, and present their findings in various channels. This course will focus on building a solid theoretical and empirical foundation for political instability analysis and applying these skills to current, real-world problems. Students will cover the foundational academic pieces in political instability, but will also be exposed to simulations, literature, film, long-form journalism, and publicly available policy/intelligence studies.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6648 Conflict Termination 3 Credits
Conflict termination can change the global balance of power, determine the fate of nations, and have military, political, societal, and humanitarian effects that last for generations. The course applies theoretical and practical perspectives on when, how, and why conflicts end, and how actors can manage the process of conflict termination. This includes the question of whether we can identify “best practices” of conflict termination. The course looks in depth at American conflict termination, but also analyzes the motivations and conflict termination behavior of America’s allies and enemies. It covers historical case studies, beginning with WWII; contemporary case studies, including Afghanistan, Syria, and Ukraine; and looks at possible future scenarios, such as war between the US and China, North Korea, Russia, or Iran. The course is relevant to students with an interest in US national security, regional security in many parts of the world, interstate and intrastate war, warfare and military operations, insurgency and counterinsurgency, stability operations, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and/or conflict management and resolution.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6649 Hands-On Unconventional Tech 3 Credits
Can a terrorist build a biological weapon? How is additive manufacturing likely to impact the logistics chain? What does a chemical threat mean for military operations? Answering these and other related questions requires an investigation of the underlying technologies in addition to their security implications, but for non-scientists, there are few opportunities to experiment with unconventional technologies that do not require years of training. This course will provide an opportunity for hands-on experience geared towards analysts, strategists, and policymakers with no technical training. The course begins by investigating how we think about technology, what makes technologies ‘unconventional,’ the ramifications of categorizing these technologies separately, and how to approach the analysis of technologies in their operational context. The core of the course is comprised of unconventional technology modules, focusing on nuclear & radiological weapons, chemical weapons, biotechnology & biological weapons, and additive manufacturing. In addition to the traditional ‘unconventional weapons’ technologies, the course includes additive manufacturing because it has the potential to impact national security outside of traditional defense investment, procurement, and capability pipelines. Each module combines 1-2 lectures on the characteristics, history, and security implications of the technology or application area with a ‘hands-on’ class period spent experimenting with relevant science and technology (pending availability of resources). In 2014, we successfully conducted three lab experiences out of the four areas, with a goal of all four in 2015. The course finishes with an examination of how we can assess the future development and impact of unconventional technologies. This course has been purposefully designed so that no prior scientific or technical training is required to succeed, but participants will be expected to engage wholeheartedly with the concepts presented in the course.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6650 Hands-On Open Source Intel 3 Credits
From nuclear deterrence to climate change, open-source intelligence is reshaping the conduct of foreign policy and security studies. This hands-on course introduces students to publicly available data sources, online tools, analytic methods, and landmark case studies across the major intelligence disciplines
(including imagery, financial, and signals intelligence) — which are used in a wide range of careers in and outside government. Among other skills, students will learn how to search for patterns in blocks of text, measure objects with an image editor, locate scenes with Google Earth, map relationships with Maltego, identify shell companies with OpenCorporates, query the deepweb and darkweb, scrape websites with Python, and discover networked devices using freely available web services. We will also discuss best practices for research design and project management; online privacy and security; and ethical conduct in pursuit of the truth.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6651 CT Strategy and Policy 3 Credits
Introduction/Description. Counterterrorism strategy and policy in the United States has ebbed and flowed over the last several decades as a result of changes in the terrorist threat landscape, the development of new counterterrorism tools, resources, and capabilities, and the introduction of counterterrorism authorities and legislation. Still, there are gaps and seams in the existing US counterterrorism architecture, and new threats emerge, old ones recede, and other national security priorities rise in prominence.
This class is designed to provide a foundational overview of US counterterrorism strategy and policy stretching back forty five years beginning with the Reagan administration. As a result, it does not focus exclusively on a particular terrorist threat nor one particular policy or counterterrorism approach. Rather, it provides a more holistic perspective that looks across the combination of threats and US policy choices over this time frame so students can appreciate the tough choices made at particular moments, and the short- and long-term implications that resulted.
Course Learning Objectives. The course has four key objectives and students will: a) assess the features of the US counterterrorism enterprise, key definitions and authorities, and legal foundations; b) examine the complex terrorist threat phenomenon to the United States and compare and contrast different terrorist adversaries; c) evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different counterterrorism approaches over the last forty five years; and, d) develop practical analytic, writing, and oral presentation skills relevant to national security career fields.
Course Grading: This class encompasses several graded components to include two policy memos of various style and format; four summaries of course themes and materials, a class presentation that involves teamwork and collaboration with other students; and, in-class participation and engagement.
This class is designed to provide a foundational overview of US counterterrorism strategy and policy stretching back forty five years beginning with the Reagan administration. As a result, it does not focus exclusively on a particular terrorist threat nor one particular policy or counterterrorism approach. Rather, it provides a more holistic perspective that looks across the combination of threats and US policy choices over this time frame so students can appreciate the tough choices made at particular moments, and the short- and long-term implications that resulted.
Course Learning Objectives. The course has four key objectives and students will: a) assess the features of the US counterterrorism enterprise, key definitions and authorities, and legal foundations; b) examine the complex terrorist threat phenomenon to the United States and compare and contrast different terrorist adversaries; c) evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different counterterrorism approaches over the last forty five years; and, d) develop practical analytic, writing, and oral presentation skills relevant to national security career fields.
Course Grading: This class encompasses several graded components to include two policy memos of various style and format; four summaries of course themes and materials, a class presentation that involves teamwork and collaboration with other students; and, in-class participation and engagement.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6652 Contemp Iran Hist Ideol Strat 3 Credits
For nearly 50 years, U.S. policy toward Iran has been one of the most complex challenges facing successive U.S. administrations. Despite often dominating headlines in the United States especially in light of the recent war, Iran’s security thinking and decision-making apparatus remain relatively opaque. Its policies, which are as complex as they are controversial, are often boiled down to sound bites. This course provides students with a comprehensive overview of Tehran’s national security thinking, apparatus, and policies. In the first strand of the course, students familiarize themselves with the key events and ideas that have shaped Iranian security thinking and its political and military culture. In the second strand of the course, students will learn more about the regime’s key national security organizations and armed forces, as well as the different military and security programs at the core of the country’s grand strategy, to include its nuclear and missile program and regional policies. The third and final strand of the course will map out Iran’s relationship with key regional and international players to provide students with an in-depth understanding of its policies in strategic areas.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6653 Hands-On Cyber Investigations 3 Credits
Hands-On Cyber Investigations
This course will provide students with an introduction to various theoretical frameworks used to model the study of network intrusions including the Cyber Kill Chain and the Diamond Model. The bulk of this course, however, will apply these models to real world examples. Students should expect to spend an equal amount of time hunting through large datasets as they do reading published works. We will apply our understanding of these analytic models and present our own analysis of cyber threat data.
During the semester we will gain a deeper understanding of various datasets used in network intrusion and threat intelligence analysis including but not limited to:
- passive DNS - WHOIS - SSL Certificates - Malware - Internet scan data (e.g. Censys/Shodan)
This course will rely on practical in-class labs. We will build our own tools to collect and analyze threat intelligence data in order to understand how data is collected, how bias can be injected into the collection process and how to account for this bias in our analysis. We will also review data from previously disclosed incidents and present our critiques of existing analysis of these incidents.
This course will provide students with an introduction to various theoretical frameworks used to model the study of network intrusions including the Cyber Kill Chain and the Diamond Model. The bulk of this course, however, will apply these models to real world examples. Students should expect to spend an equal amount of time hunting through large datasets as they do reading published works. We will apply our understanding of these analytic models and present our own analysis of cyber threat data.
During the semester we will gain a deeper understanding of various datasets used in network intrusion and threat intelligence analysis including but not limited to:
- passive DNS - WHOIS - SSL Certificates - Malware - Internet scan data (e.g. Censys/Shodan)
This course will rely on practical in-class labs. We will build our own tools to collect and analyze threat intelligence data in order to understand how data is collected, how bias can be injected into the collection process and how to account for this bias in our analysis. We will also review data from previously disclosed incidents and present our critiques of existing analysis of these incidents.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6654 Distruptive Analystics 3 Credits
Good analysts of the past used intuition to understand the world. The great analysts of the future will leverage technology, theories, and analytic methodologies to interrogate information and refine their models until they have compelling solutions. This class explores the realm of human, technology-driven, and theoretically inspired methodologies to enhance the student’s natural ability to detect trends, patterns, and anomalies. The case studies will span many disciplines to emphasize the data-agnostic patterns of excellent analysis.
Sloppy thinking is all around us. It permeates our daily lives, professional and personal. For those with less lofty ambitions in life, sloppy thinking is a mere inconvenience. For those who – through luck or intentionality – find themselves in positions of great responsibility, sloppy thinking can have disastrous consequences. This course will help us all be less sloppy. And, in so doing, it will help us change the world for the better. Unfortunately, inertia will constantly pull us and our organizations back towards sloppy outcomes. The word ‘Disruptive’ shows up first in our course title not because it’s de rigueur, but because we should all know going in that this will be a fight: a fight against our own brains, and often an even greater fight against our own organizations. We will equip you to win that fight.
The course is roughly divided into three sections: background and context setting on your brain and analysis; deeper dives into specific methodologies, and consideration of how to evaluate and partner with experts in adjacent disciplines. The course readings and in-class materials will consist of a mix of methodological disciplines and real-world case studies or raw data with a focus on application of the theory – we focus on “know how”, not “know what”. Discussions will cover a variety of substantive topics, however, the raison d'être is not to produce substantive expertise but rather higher quality of thought that can be leveraged against any of the world’s toughest problems.
Sloppy thinking is all around us. It permeates our daily lives, professional and personal. For those with less lofty ambitions in life, sloppy thinking is a mere inconvenience. For those who – through luck or intentionality – find themselves in positions of great responsibility, sloppy thinking can have disastrous consequences. This course will help us all be less sloppy. And, in so doing, it will help us change the world for the better. Unfortunately, inertia will constantly pull us and our organizations back towards sloppy outcomes. The word ‘Disruptive’ shows up first in our course title not because it’s de rigueur, but because we should all know going in that this will be a fight: a fight against our own brains, and often an even greater fight against our own organizations. We will equip you to win that fight.
The course is roughly divided into three sections: background and context setting on your brain and analysis; deeper dives into specific methodologies, and consideration of how to evaluate and partner with experts in adjacent disciplines. The course readings and in-class materials will consist of a mix of methodological disciplines and real-world case studies or raw data with a focus on application of the theory – we focus on “know how”, not “know what”. Discussions will cover a variety of substantive topics, however, the raison d'être is not to produce substantive expertise but rather higher quality of thought that can be leveraged against any of the world’s toughest problems.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6655 Strategy:Technology Dominance 3 Credits
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Russian East European Stud, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6656 Hands-On Open-Source Investig 3 Credits
This course broadly explores the theory and practice of open-source intelligence (OSINT) in three parts. It begins by examining the role and value of open-source information in the production of intelligence, its potential for abuse, and its liability to operational security. Part two surveys the many applications of open source intelligence in international security through case studies and guest speakers who will provide insights from their experience practicing OSINT in military and national security intelligence, information operations, monitoring human rights abuses, business intelligence, and cybercrime investigations. During the final weeks, students will hone their OSINT tradecraft through hands-on training during the Open Source Intelligence Skills Lab.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6657 Economic Intel in Policymaking 3 Credits
This course provides graduate students an overview of how economic intelligence, both quantitative and qualitative economic information, is used in US foreign and national security policymaking. The class will explore the many facets of economic intelligence and how its application in the policymaking process differs from the use of competitive business and market intelligence by commercial entities and nongovernmental institutions. The course will equip students with structured approaches to critically interpreting economic trends and their implications for policymakers, integrating economic insights into strategic assessments, and communicating findings in a concise and actionable way to decision makers. Presentations and readings will introduce students to various sources of economic information--US agencies, commercial entities, multilateral organizations, and foreign governments--and explore how to best evaluate sources' usefulness, gaps, and biases in addressing specific policy questions. Finally, the course will look at how the use of economic intelligence in policymaking is evolving both in the type of data and information available to policymakers and in the need to address new and evolving risks such as climate change. Students will be expected to participate in class discussions, deliver two policy papers, a briefing, and a final paper.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6658 Economy and Nat Sec: 21st Cent 3 Credits
This course explores the nexus of global economy and national security through a variety of lenses. The main idea of the course is to offer students a focused look at the nexus of economy and national security with an eye toward preparing them for professional participation in the field. Students will explore key national perspectives on how economy and national security interact in the minds of policy makers and planners in the US, PRC, and Russia. Students will also review key features of the global and domestic economies and how they interact with these national notions of security and economy. Key tools and institutions will be reviewed along with focused discussion of key sectors of the economy. Students will apply select key ideas from the field of behavioral economics to expand their understanding of how national security decision makers actually make decisions. The course ends with a discussion of the future of capitalism and what that might mean for national security.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6659 Violence Pol Power in Africa 3 Credits
More than five years ago, in January 2020, France and the G5 Sahel (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger) declared in a meeting in Pau, France that Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS) was the most significant security threat in West Africa. Several years before the Pau meeting, the Islamic State (IS) was still new to Africa. However, in a short time it eclipsed the threat from al-Qaeda, whose history on the continent dates to Usama bin Laden’s 1991 arrival in Sudan. Nevertheless, al-Qaeda still has its own affiliates in Africa, including in Somalia, where al-Shabaab controls territory; Mali, where its fighters clash with and often overpower ISGS; and Nigeria, where its fighters have cooperated and conflicted with IS’s largest province globally—Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).
Fast forward five years, and the G5 Sahel is now a relic of a bygone era. No longer is France the region’s “security guarantor”. Rather Russia, especially through its Africa-focused private military contractor affiliate, Africa Corps, is the predominant external military power in the Sahel, if not Africa more broadly. Africa Corps is exerting influence throughout the continent mostly in Francophone countries like the Sahelian states, Central African Republic, and Chad, but also in East African countries ranging from Sudan to Mozambique. While French influence has diminished at the expense of Russia’s, there are also a number of “middle powers” now becoming more active economically, politically, and, indeed, militarily on the continent, such as Türkiye, the UAE, and Iran, not to mention the “dragon in the room”—China. The US role on the continent as well as the question of whether the priority should be economic empowerment, democratization, human rights, or counterterrorism, both remain the subject of debate.
Besides the constellation of militant groups and former, emerging, and great powers in Africa, there are also dozens of other civic movements that seek their own economic or political empowerment, the defense of their lands and livelihoods, or the end to discrimination and exploitative practices by government forces. Many are challenged by the unmet expectations of the “Arab Spring” more than a decade and a half since those movements spread throughout northern Africa. In addition, the pro-Russian juntas in the Sahel and repressive crackdowns on civic movements by ostensible democracies, including in countries ranging from Nigeria and South Africa, are also key factors affecting politics and power in Africa.
Given the complexities on the continent, this course will examine contemporary African political and armed movements. It will also explore democratic, military, and authoritarian governments and whether there is anything distinctly “African” about them. Further, the course will assess advantages and limitations of militaristic, economic, and diplomatic approaches to engage with African governments and support or counter protest, militant, and other movements. Lessons from class will be applied in immersive exercise simulations.
Fast forward five years, and the G5 Sahel is now a relic of a bygone era. No longer is France the region’s “security guarantor”. Rather Russia, especially through its Africa-focused private military contractor affiliate, Africa Corps, is the predominant external military power in the Sahel, if not Africa more broadly. Africa Corps is exerting influence throughout the continent mostly in Francophone countries like the Sahelian states, Central African Republic, and Chad, but also in East African countries ranging from Sudan to Mozambique. While French influence has diminished at the expense of Russia’s, there are also a number of “middle powers” now becoming more active economically, politically, and, indeed, militarily on the continent, such as Türkiye, the UAE, and Iran, not to mention the “dragon in the room”—China. The US role on the continent as well as the question of whether the priority should be economic empowerment, democratization, human rights, or counterterrorism, both remain the subject of debate.
Besides the constellation of militant groups and former, emerging, and great powers in Africa, there are also dozens of other civic movements that seek their own economic or political empowerment, the defense of their lands and livelihoods, or the end to discrimination and exploitative practices by government forces. Many are challenged by the unmet expectations of the “Arab Spring” more than a decade and a half since those movements spread throughout northern Africa. In addition, the pro-Russian juntas in the Sahel and repressive crackdowns on civic movements by ostensible democracies, including in countries ranging from Nigeria and South Africa, are also key factors affecting politics and power in Africa.
Given the complexities on the continent, this course will examine contemporary African political and armed movements. It will also explore democratic, military, and authoritarian governments and whether there is anything distinctly “African” about them. Further, the course will assess advantages and limitations of militaristic, economic, and diplomatic approaches to engage with African governments and support or counter protest, militant, and other movements. Lessons from class will be applied in immersive exercise simulations.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6660 Responses to Violent Extremism 3 Credits
Why do some people join violent extremist groups and what can be done to deter them? The course seeks to help students critically reflect on the conceptual and methodological challenges in studying the human causes of violent extremism. The course also takes a problem-solving approach to thinking about solutions. Much of the recent debate among policymakers focuses on how states should respond to violent extremism and terrorism by either using harsh policies of punishment and thus deterring future acts, or concentrating on root causes and reducing incentives to use violence. Ignored in these discussions are the characteristics that distinguish groups and individuals from one another, including motivation and capabilities, which in turn directly influence the effectiveness of the state’s actions. The course argues that in order to devise appropriate strategies, it is imperative to understand the motivations of groups and individuals (grievances) as well as the methods of recruitment, incitement, support, etc. that entrepreneurs of conflict (greed) use in order to turn these grievances into violence. As such, the course will provide students with different lenses through which to analyze the manifestations of violent extremism and to use them to think about appropriate, possible response mechanisms. The course will also include a practical workshop where students will analyze the counter-radicalization strategies of various countries and design their own counter and alternative campaigns. They will also participate in a TableTop Exercise on a case study in order to develop policies for prevention and countering violent extremism.
The course will employ concrete examples, case studies, and interactive exercises in order to contextualize the approaches and tools and highlight linkages between theory and practice. It will rely on lectures, and discussions based on readings as well as on case studies and profiles that students will prepare in groups.
The course will employ concrete examples, case studies, and interactive exercises in order to contextualize the approaches and tools and highlight linkages between theory and practice. It will rely on lectures, and discussions based on readings as well as on case studies and profiles that students will prepare in groups.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6661 A New Great Power Competition 3 Credits
Among policymakers and pundits, great power competition has quickly become the dominant theme when discussing relations between the United States, China, and Russia. But what does this really mean? This course will pair historically- and theoretically-informed readings with policy-oriented work to look more closely at the concept. Specifically, the course will tackle three main issues. First, it will examine commonly-used historical analogies – including Anglo-German antagonism at the turn of the 20th century and the Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union – to assess their relevance for contemporary great power rivalry. Second, it will explore traditional drivers of great power behavior – including power, geography, prestige, and ideology – to understand whether the factors that shaped great power choices in the past are shaping them in the present. Finally, it will review the various strategies that great powers have employed – such as military containment and cost-imposition, alliance-making and alliance-breaking, economic pressure, and political warfare – to understand how they are being applied today.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6662 Power/Violence in Central Asia 3 Credits
The history of Central Asia—often defined as the five post-Soviet states of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—is rooted in a legacy of military conquest and competition for power. This course will focus on the relationship between power and violence perpetrated by state and non-state actors in Central Asia since the Russian Empire’s conquest of the region during the 19th century. During each class, we will examine specific episodes or events through a cross-disciplinary lens and analyze the contemporary relevance. In addition to studying the power dynamics of violence and conflict, we will also evaluate the manner in which these events have been documented, both by foreigners and Central Asians, through official documents, scholarly works, journalistic accounts, memoirs, documentary films and photographs, policy briefs, and fictional novels. We will challenge the stereotypes that have been projected on the region as well as the local lore that has endured.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment limited to students in the LW-JD-LWSS or MA-SEST programs.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6663 Strat. Assessment: North Korea 3 Credits
North Korea poses one of the top challenges to security and stability in the world today, yet as a secretive “hard target” closed to most outsiders and shrouded in falsehoods, it is well understood by only a select few. This course will prepare students to conduct strategic analysis on the complex and difficult national security challenges posed by North Korea. The course will provide a foundation in the key elements of the strategic context and modern history of North Korea, including why North Korea truly matters for the U.S. and the world. Students will learn about the key developments and trends in Kim Jong Un’s rapidly-changing North Korea, in areas including its leadership decision-making, military capabilities, domestic dynamics, and international relationships. Students will also learn and practice techniques and frameworks that will help them identify and sort through rumor, myth, biases, and propaganda to make cogent, fact-based judgments and forecasts about North Korea--even with only unclassified sources. At the conclusion of the course and its practical exercises, students will be better prepared to provide knowledgeable, credible and impactful strategic assessments and recommendations on North Korea issues.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6664 Race and Security 3 Credits
This seminar will foreground race as an influence on an array of phenomena in the study of international security, including the construction of international order, the causes and conduct of war, the nature of imperialism, and the politics of military service. We will also consider how race has affected and continues to affect the ways that we study security. To accomplish these goals, we will examine both theoretical arguments and a wide variety of empirical evidence.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6665 Hands-On Python: Cyber Sec 3 Credits
Information security topics have become household conversation starters, with the 2016 election having brought the subject to public attention. Corporate data security breaches have impacted consumers in novel ways and several leaks or other revelations have called into question the value of domestic government surveillance programs.
Behind each big breach announcement or attack attribution is an analyst or team(s) of analysts often working through complex data sets to get to a clear understanding of the situation. This course will equip participants with the Python programming skills required to take on security investigations like these and help them to prepare for technical interviews (which are often a requirement in the field). Each week the lesson material will pair a foundational concept in cyber security to a foundational programming skill.
We recommend this course for those interested in investigative work as well as those who wish to work in policy or strategic roles who will often read and respond to investigative products.
This course is designed for beginners new to Python and new to coding in general. It's designed to support and enable cross-disciplinary work, treating technical and non-technical skills as import and closely related. This is a great opportunity to get in-person instruction designed to build technical skills for unconventional coders.
Behind each big breach announcement or attack attribution is an analyst or team(s) of analysts often working through complex data sets to get to a clear understanding of the situation. This course will equip participants with the Python programming skills required to take on security investigations like these and help them to prepare for technical interviews (which are often a requirement in the field). Each week the lesson material will pair a foundational concept in cyber security to a foundational programming skill.
We recommend this course for those interested in investigative work as well as those who wish to work in policy or strategic roles who will often read and respond to investigative products.
This course is designed for beginners new to Python and new to coding in general. It's designed to support and enable cross-disciplinary work, treating technical and non-technical skills as import and closely related. This is a great opportunity to get in-person instruction designed to build technical skills for unconventional coders.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6666 Risk, Markets Natl Security 3 Credits
This course explores significant geo-political and international economic events of the early 21st century, and the evolution of commercial enterprise and the financial markets amidst this dynamic security environment. Central to this exploration will be an analysis of 1) the implications to sovereigns and commercial entities related to ongoing and persistent economic vulnerabilities and specific international security threats, 2) the effectiveness of various policy prescriptions to address these risks including the use of economic and financial tools to address national security threats, and 3) how global businesses, capital markets participants and governments must collaboratively manage a more comprehensive “risk paradigm,” including by stimulating social enterprise—leveraging the tools and constructs of commercial enterprise and financial markets to address social goals. Through specific examples in a series of topic areas, this course will investigate the nature and development of capital markets across emerging and developed economies, with a particular focus on areas embroiled in conflict in a post 9/11, 2001 environment, into the vulnerabilities to international security stemming from the financial and credit crisis, and finally how a concerted development and “impact” orientation by commercial enterprise and financial market participants directly address our collective national security. These issues will be discussed in the context of state-based vs private sector interests and influences, the development and use of economic and financial statecraft, and the diverse nature of emerging and developed markets’ financial technologies. In addition, the course will study how the relationship between commercial and financial entities with sovereign and institutional policy makers continue to evolve to address this new “risk paradigm” to protect global financial/economic integrity, enhance commercial resiliency, address our most pressing development challenges, and sustain geo-political spheres of influence.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6667 Strct Techniques:Intel Anlys 3 Credits
This course examines a wide range of structured analytic techniques used in intelligence analysis and has four purposes. The first is to provide students with a better understanding of structured analysis as a methodological approach to intelligence analysis, distinct from expert judgment, quantitative methods using expert-generated data, and quantitative methods using empirical data. The second purpose is for students to learn and practice structured analytic techniques through various case studies designed to reinforce their understanding of the key points learned in class. The third purpose is for students to develop critical thinking and writing skills so that they can produce high quality analytical products for various types of consumers, using open source data and structured analytical techniques. The fourth purpose is for students to get familiar with the main types and formats of the intelligence analysis products used in the U.S. intelligence community.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6668 Nat Sec Crisis Decision Making 3 Credits
This course will introduce you to the theory and current practice of managing crises in the National Security arena. After a brief orientation on the primary structures, actors, and theories influencing National Security now, the course will examine in detail how a National leadership team operates
and strives to respond to and manage a significant crisis event. A theoretical construct will then be proposed and tested during the rest of the course. Using case studies of recent representative crises, students will assess how the primary National Security actors responded, whether the theoretical
construct is applicable, and what, if any, lessons were learned. Along the way, students will also survey the record of predicting crises, and conclude with an adapted theoretical framework that can be used when observing or potentially participating in managing a crisis.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6669 Hands-On Cybersecurity 3 Credits
This foundational idea for this class is that, in order to understand the policy implications of a technology, it is necessary to get a hands-on appreciation for how that technology works. In this class, students will gain an appreciation for the basics of cyber security to help them understand and apply their knowledge to policy questions of the day. Class instruction topics include: packet-sniffing, encryption, social engineering, exploits & implants, incident response, computer forensics, attribution, and personal security. For each of these topics, we will examine relevant academic literature, look at case studies, do in-class demos, and give students a chance to get hands-on experience with the technology. We will also discuss the policy implications of each technical topic.
No background in computer science is necessary for this class, though you should be willing to push yourself out of your technical comfort zone and be persistent in learning new skills. By the end of the class, with the right amount of effort, you will be able to have a good understanding of some of the key technical ideas that animate much of the cybersecurity discussion.
Students will be graded on six homework assignments, each giving them a chance to put a newly-learned technical skill into practice. There will also be a mid-term exam to ensure understanding of key concepts and a final paper that connects the in-class topics to broader policy matters.
No background in computer science is necessary for this class, though you should be willing to push yourself out of your technical comfort zone and be persistent in learning new skills. By the end of the class, with the right amount of effort, you will be able to have a good understanding of some of the key technical ideas that animate much of the cybersecurity discussion.
Students will be graded on six homework assignments, each giving them a chance to put a newly-learned technical skill into practice. There will also be a mid-term exam to ensure understanding of key concepts and a final paper that connects the in-class topics to broader policy matters.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6670 Econ Secrty:Korean Peninsula 3 Credits
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6671 Nat Sec Crit Issue Task Force 3 Credits
This third iteration of the SSP National Security Critical Issue Task Force (NSCITF) will be a joint effort with the Department of State’s Global Engagement Center and the School of Foreign Service’s Security Studies Program. The purpose of the NSCITF is to bring together the talents of a group of graduate students to develop an actionable report that has real world value and to deliver that report to senior DoS leaders. If you are interested in the work of the 2015 Task Force on Lone Wolf Terrorism, the findings were published by the Georgetown Security Studies Review. The 2016 Task Force report on Countering Violent Extremism is currently in the process of being finalized for publication by GSSR. From the perspective of the student participant in the Task Force the value is to have an intensive opportunity to work within a Task Force structure, to analyze a current critical national security issue for the DoS, and to produce a report that can have real effect. This year the Task Force will focus on ISIL and the Digital Caliphate. Specifically we will address the question: How can the Department of State - Global Engagement Center prepare for a possible emergence of a “Digital Caliphate?" From the technology perspective - which platforms and communication channels are going to be crucial? Are there technical counter-messaging solutions? What makes a messenger and the message credible? Who are the credible online counter-violent extremism voices and how do we engage them to win the fight against violent extremism?
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6672 Natnl Cyber Sec Strat Policy 3 Credits
Over the last few years, states have regularly employed their cyber capabilities against each other. These uses have covered a spectrum from espionage to the destruction of physical infrastructure. Unlike espionage, economics, or arms, however, there is little agreement about how cyber conflict does or should work. Politicians rush to fund new cyber tools but seldom understand how they will function once operational. Militaries and
intelligence agencies employ emerging capabilities against their opponents but do not appear to have a clear idea about where this competition will lead. US Directors of National Intelligence and Secretaries of Defense have repeatedly warned that cyber war is one of the greatest threats to US and global security but consistently fail to provide answers about how to defend against the scenarios they describe. Everyone is worried but
no one seems to understand how cyber conflict works within the larger context of international relations and national strategy. Nevertheless, like the proverbial magician’s apprentice, they continue to experiment with the new capabilities. This course examines the nature of cyber conflict. It looks at the specific ways states are attempting to use cyber capabilities as tools of policy and the strategies underlying those approaches. It seeks to explain how these emerging stratagems are beginning to work with existing tools of espionage and warfare to reshape international security. After taking this class you should have a working understanding of the dynamics of cyber conflict as instruments of foreign policy. Beyond what you learn about substantive issues, this seminar will also help you to develop methodological skills for evaluating difficult-to-access information through source triangulation, competitive hypotheses building, and related techniques.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6673 Conflict Stabilization 3 Credits
Over the last two decades, the United States and its partners have spent billions of dollars on stabilization – an effort that seems to span the gamut of improving governance, countering violent extremism, and promoting democracy. This course will focus on several recent and historical cases in the US’ effort to address conflict and its drivers around the world. Through these case studies, you will gain a deep understanding of the range of conflict dynamics the United States has faced over recent years, and what the United States Government and other donors have done to stabilize these conflict-affected countries. Importantly, you will also learn how to frame the critical questions that fundamentally must be asked as potential stabilization efforts are planned and designed in DC. At the end of this class, you will not only amass operational knowledge of a number of conflicts, but also build and exercise the muscle memory of quickly distilling large documents into tight one-page memos and talking points. The course will be taught by a career stabilization practitioner who has not only had field experience in India, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, but also someone who served as a Director on the National Security Council Staff.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6674 Weapons of War 3 Credits
Modern warfare utilizes advanced weapons systems. This course will examine various weapon systems ranging from electronic warfare, artillery, cruise missiles, aircraft, aircraft-launched weapons, ships, submarines, unmanned systems, and strategic and tactical nuclear weapons. In the examination, we will look at capabilities, concepts of operation, and issues surrounding their procurement and use. The course will also involve students working through a crisis scenario utilizing various weapon systems. No pre-existing technical knowledge is assumed nor is any required.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6675 The Art of War Grand Strategy 3 Credits
The art of war and grand strategy is often invoked yet rarely understood, resulting in catastrophe. Too often policy makers, members of congress, academics, think tankers, journalists, pundits and even flag officers discuss strategy but remain ignorant of the topic. Consequently, strategy is frequently confused with tactics, bureaucracy, academic theory and other things — all to ruinous effect — as evidenced in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. This course will teach you how to think strategically and equip you with the core concepts and lexicon of strategy. The course builds on what senior U.S. military officers learn at war colleges, taught by a professor at such an institution. However, we will probe ideas more deeply than what is usually taught at war colleges and civilian institutions. You will also learn universal strategies for the strong, the weak and most things in between. We will examine the ideas of Sun Tzu, Kautilya, Jomini, Clausewitz, Mao, T.E. Lawrence, Galula and other scholar-practitioners. Case studies include the American Revolution, 2006 Lebanon War and warlords in Africa. The course will conclude by contemplating the future of war.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6676 Ethics of War 3 Credits
“Unleashing the dogs of war” necessarily means using and risking lives as well as changing lives, sometimes forever —the lives of the innocent, of citizens who join the armed forces, and sometimes the life of the political community itself and the international environment within which political communities live. The human toll of war is sometimes staggering. The American Civil War, for example, had a 2% rate of death. In today’s world that would mean about six million casualties—and that’s not counting the impact of the war on its military and civilian survivors or the United States as a nation. By some estimates, the World War I Battle of the Somme resulted in about 1,000,000 killed and wounded. Between September 1939 and August 1945, an average of about 27,000 people died each day. Some survivors, according to historian Max Hastings “found that the manner in which they had conducted themselves during the struggle defined their standing in their societies for the rest of their lives, for good or ill.” World War II introduced nuclear weapons, included the Holocaust, and set the stage for a Cold War that lasted over half a century. And these are just “the big wars.”
The post 9/11 wars—in Afghanistan, in Iraq, against Al Qaeda, and now against the Islamic State—have resurrected perennial moral questions: “When is resort to war justified?”—concerns of jus ad bellum; “How can war be conducted justly?”—matters of jus in bello; and “What is a just end to war?” as well as “What do we as a political community owe those who have fought on our behalf?”—issues of jus post bellum.
We will take up these questions, others related to them, and the theory of responsibility that underlies them all. We will use Michael Walzer’s influential book, Just and Unjust Wars, as the base text, but will use others to investigate the theoretical and practical adequacy of Walzer’s framework. The intent is to come out of the course with an understanding of the language and logic of Just War Theory—and how to apply its principles. Discourse, dialogue, and debate lie at the heart of applying just war theory’s principles, so these describe the methodology for each of our classroom sessions. Most of the lessons will contain a formal debate; students will be assigned a resolution and a “pro” or “con” position. Students will argue their positions before the class, and the class will question each debater.
Other lessons will be seminars and begin with small group discussions on assigned questions; the small group will be followed by student summaries and a general class discussion. In sum, your participation and energy will be keys to the success of this course. Whether debate or seminar, you will be asked to participate in serious discussions—about topics relevant to the choices that senior political and military leaders are making right now. For example, at various times, the public dialogue in the United States concerning conducting its post 9/11 wars have focused on the justification for the U.S. intervention in Iraq, the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, rendition and secret prisons, interrogation techniques and torture, the use of armed drones as well as their use against American citizens, the complexities of fighting “irregular” wars against non-nation states, the difficulties in distinguishing combatants from noncombatants, crimes committed by U.S. combatants, rules of engagement applied in combat, the collateral damage caused by area-effects weapons, and what “proportionality” means in the kinds of wars the nation is fighting.
These matters all concern the principles governing various aspects of Just War Theory. An understanding of the framework of this theory, its foundations and principles, and its application, is important not only for those who have to make decisions and fight wars but also for those who send fellow citizens to fight on their behalf.
The concepts, methods, and tools of war are changing, even as we fight and wage war. Cyber war and the robotization of fighting are but two examples of this change. War is, once again, being recognized as “more than a true chameleon” as first described by Carl von Clausewitz in On War. Is Just War Theory up to its task? We’ll see.
The post 9/11 wars—in Afghanistan, in Iraq, against Al Qaeda, and now against the Islamic State—have resurrected perennial moral questions: “When is resort to war justified?”—concerns of jus ad bellum; “How can war be conducted justly?”—matters of jus in bello; and “What is a just end to war?” as well as “What do we as a political community owe those who have fought on our behalf?”—issues of jus post bellum.
We will take up these questions, others related to them, and the theory of responsibility that underlies them all. We will use Michael Walzer’s influential book, Just and Unjust Wars, as the base text, but will use others to investigate the theoretical and practical adequacy of Walzer’s framework. The intent is to come out of the course with an understanding of the language and logic of Just War Theory—and how to apply its principles. Discourse, dialogue, and debate lie at the heart of applying just war theory’s principles, so these describe the methodology for each of our classroom sessions. Most of the lessons will contain a formal debate; students will be assigned a resolution and a “pro” or “con” position. Students will argue their positions before the class, and the class will question each debater.
Other lessons will be seminars and begin with small group discussions on assigned questions; the small group will be followed by student summaries and a general class discussion. In sum, your participation and energy will be keys to the success of this course. Whether debate or seminar, you will be asked to participate in serious discussions—about topics relevant to the choices that senior political and military leaders are making right now. For example, at various times, the public dialogue in the United States concerning conducting its post 9/11 wars have focused on the justification for the U.S. intervention in Iraq, the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, rendition and secret prisons, interrogation techniques and torture, the use of armed drones as well as their use against American citizens, the complexities of fighting “irregular” wars against non-nation states, the difficulties in distinguishing combatants from noncombatants, crimes committed by U.S. combatants, rules of engagement applied in combat, the collateral damage caused by area-effects weapons, and what “proportionality” means in the kinds of wars the nation is fighting.
These matters all concern the principles governing various aspects of Just War Theory. An understanding of the framework of this theory, its foundations and principles, and its application, is important not only for those who have to make decisions and fight wars but also for those who send fellow citizens to fight on their behalf.
The concepts, methods, and tools of war are changing, even as we fight and wage war. Cyber war and the robotization of fighting are but two examples of this change. War is, once again, being recognized as “more than a true chameleon” as first described by Carl von Clausewitz in On War. Is Just War Theory up to its task? We’ll see.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6677 Russian National Security 3 Credits
This course examines Russia’s foreign policymaking and has four purposes. The first is to provide students with a better understanding of the principal drivers and constraints shaping Russian foreign policy. The second purpose is for students to learn about Russia’s important relations and key issues with major powers and regions. The third purpose is for students to get familiar with the main instruments and mechanisms in the toolbox of Russian decision-makers and learn how they use them to defend Russian national interests and advance Moscow’s policy priorities in key functional areas. The fourth purpose is for students to develop critical thinking and writing skills so that they can produce high quality analytical products for various types of consumers, using open source information.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6678 Geopolitics of Tech Energy 3 Credits
We are seeing one of the most dynamic periods of change in the energy sector in history. New technologies are making more energy sources available, at lower prices, than ever before. Following an overview of the foundations of modern energy markets and international industrial-scale energy development, the course will consider the most important technological changes occurring in the international energy landscape and their impact on national and regional security issues. Emerging technologies will also be considered and evaluated. Course readings will look at technological advances in both conventional energy sources (i.e., hydraulic fracturing) and in renewable energy sources (i.e., utility scale solar and wind plants). The focus will be on how these technological changes may impact the future international energy landscape and the impact on national and regional security decisions. Case studies and group discussions will be used to highlight key issues.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6679 American Way of Spying 3 Credits
Events over the past few years, to include such well publicized incidents as the Russian Illegals' case, high-profile cyber attacks on U.S. classified databases and unauthorized leaks of classified information by Trusted Insiders, have re-focused attention on the role of Counterintelligence (CI) in protecting against espionage and other activities directed against the U.S.
This course will give students a better understanding of this least well-known, but absolutely crucial, mission of the U.S Intelligence Community (IC). It will address the theoretical and operational underpinnings, tactical and strategic, of the CI discipline and its place within the broader panoply of American intelligence activities. The course will examine the history and evolution of CI in the U.S.; the functions and responsibilities of U.S. Government CI organizations, to include particularly the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the impact of CI issues on national security policy. Historical and contemporary CI operations, with a particular emphasis on counterespionage cases, will be used to illuminate the challenges inherent in the conduct of defensive and offensive CI operations. The course will consider CI threats currently facing the U.S., as well as look to the future at emerging CI challenges emanating from state and non-state actors.
Also included in the course will be an examination of the laws and oversight governing U.S. CI programs and activities, to include consideration of the tensions inherent in balancing national security interests and the protection of civil liberties. Students will conclude the course with a good grasp of the role of CI in defending and furthering U.S. national interests, thereby better preparing them for careers in the intelligence and national security arenas.
This course will give students a better understanding of this least well-known, but absolutely crucial, mission of the U.S Intelligence Community (IC). It will address the theoretical and operational underpinnings, tactical and strategic, of the CI discipline and its place within the broader panoply of American intelligence activities. The course will examine the history and evolution of CI in the U.S.; the functions and responsibilities of U.S. Government CI organizations, to include particularly the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the impact of CI issues on national security policy. Historical and contemporary CI operations, with a particular emphasis on counterespionage cases, will be used to illuminate the challenges inherent in the conduct of defensive and offensive CI operations. The course will consider CI threats currently facing the U.S., as well as look to the future at emerging CI challenges emanating from state and non-state actors.
Also included in the course will be an examination of the laws and oversight governing U.S. CI programs and activities, to include consideration of the tensions inherent in balancing national security interests and the protection of civil liberties. Students will conclude the course with a good grasp of the role of CI in defending and furthering U.S. national interests, thereby better preparing them for careers in the intelligence and national security arenas.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6680 Naval Strategy 3 Credits
The aim of this course is to teach students to think strategically about the role of naval forces in achieving national objectives by – among other things – examining the historical and recent theories and experiences concerning the strategic uses of naval forces; and by offering an understanding of naval operations and their often unique contributions to achieving national purposes, and of the strategic relationships among naval, ground and air forces.
It is often observed that, when there is a crisis involving the United States, one of the first questions asked by the President at the time is, “Where are the aircraft carriers?” This is indeed an early question in a time of crisis, when immediate action may be necessary; but the answer to this question depends in considerable part on the answer to a prior, long-term question: What kind of naval forces should we build and maintain in our national interest and how should we deploy and employ them? This course considers both the long-term and more immediate roles of naval forces in U.S. strategy.
We begin by looking at early uses of naval forces for strategic purposes, going back 2,500 years to the Peloponnesian War between Athens, a naval power, and Sparta, a land power, and to the history written by Thucydides and others on that war. You might ask, “Why?” Is it really worth our time to look at an era when ships were powered by oars to find lessons for today? How could events then be relevant to our circumstances? I promise you, there are strategic lessons for us there.
We next examine the naval strategy and forces of Great Britain, the world’s leading sea power, in the period of the American Revolution and Britain’s wars with France and Napoleon; and at the work of two important historians and theorists writing about maritime and naval strategy after this time: Alfred Thayer Mahan, an American naval officer and second president of the U.S. Naval War College, and his contemporary Sir Julian Corbett, a naval history professor and strategist at the Royal Naval College, England. These two have valuable perspectives to share. We then look at the 20th Century, a century indelibly marked by two enormously destructive wars, World War I and II. We consider the strategic significance of navies and the different approaches to their use in these wars by the belligerents; and the innovation in naval thinking and practice that occurred in the years between those wars.
By the end of WWII, the torch of worldwide naval dominance passed from the United Kingdom to the United States. Yet the future value of naval forces was subject to vigorous debate at the beginning of the new Cold War world. We examine the role of naval forces in national, NATO, and Soviet strategies during this 40+ year Cold War period; the rise of the nuclear Navy; the relationships among naval, ground, and air forces and strategies; and the movement toward joint organization and operations of the armed forces.
Finally, we consider naval forces and maritime strategy in the post-Cold War, post-9/11 world, a world less ultimately dangerous than in the Cold War years but in many ways a more complex and more confusing world. A world in which, so far, the use of military and naval forces has played a central part in U.S. national strategy. Will this continue to be true? Whether or not, what ought to be the role of naval forces in future strategy? If we look ahead to, say, 2030, what do we see and what do we recommend?
It is often observed that, when there is a crisis involving the United States, one of the first questions asked by the President at the time is, “Where are the aircraft carriers?” This is indeed an early question in a time of crisis, when immediate action may be necessary; but the answer to this question depends in considerable part on the answer to a prior, long-term question: What kind of naval forces should we build and maintain in our national interest and how should we deploy and employ them? This course considers both the long-term and more immediate roles of naval forces in U.S. strategy.
We begin by looking at early uses of naval forces for strategic purposes, going back 2,500 years to the Peloponnesian War between Athens, a naval power, and Sparta, a land power, and to the history written by Thucydides and others on that war. You might ask, “Why?” Is it really worth our time to look at an era when ships were powered by oars to find lessons for today? How could events then be relevant to our circumstances? I promise you, there are strategic lessons for us there.
We next examine the naval strategy and forces of Great Britain, the world’s leading sea power, in the period of the American Revolution and Britain’s wars with France and Napoleon; and at the work of two important historians and theorists writing about maritime and naval strategy after this time: Alfred Thayer Mahan, an American naval officer and second president of the U.S. Naval War College, and his contemporary Sir Julian Corbett, a naval history professor and strategist at the Royal Naval College, England. These two have valuable perspectives to share. We then look at the 20th Century, a century indelibly marked by two enormously destructive wars, World War I and II. We consider the strategic significance of navies and the different approaches to their use in these wars by the belligerents; and the innovation in naval thinking and practice that occurred in the years between those wars.
By the end of WWII, the torch of worldwide naval dominance passed from the United Kingdom to the United States. Yet the future value of naval forces was subject to vigorous debate at the beginning of the new Cold War world. We examine the role of naval forces in national, NATO, and Soviet strategies during this 40+ year Cold War period; the rise of the nuclear Navy; the relationships among naval, ground, and air forces and strategies; and the movement toward joint organization and operations of the armed forces.
Finally, we consider naval forces and maritime strategy in the post-Cold War, post-9/11 world, a world less ultimately dangerous than in the Cold War years but in many ways a more complex and more confusing world. A world in which, so far, the use of military and naval forces has played a central part in U.S. national strategy. Will this continue to be true? Whether or not, what ought to be the role of naval forces in future strategy? If we look ahead to, say, 2030, what do we see and what do we recommend?
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6681 Legal Issues:Intel Officers 3 Credits
This seminar examines the unique legal issues that confront U.S. policymakers who use intelligence products, and the intelligence officers within the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) that produce intelligence. The seminar will provide students with an overview of the IC and its sources of legal authority and an awareness of the fundamental legal issues related to various intelligence activities, ranging from collection of signals intelligence (Fourth Amendment privacy issues), use of cover identities for intelligence officers (diplomatic/international law) to covert action (constitutional separation of powers issues and law of armed conflict questions).
The first sessions of the class will cover an overview of the IC, its functions, and interactions with policymakers, as well as the legal framework that governs U.S. intelligence activities. Later in the semester, we will examine specific intelligence activities and the legal issues involved. Students will be responsible for debating the larger policy questions about how legal rules affect the execution of intelligence activities.
The overarching goal of the class will be to (1) familiarize students with the legal issues involved with various intelligence activities, and, more importantly, (2) prepare students to participate in the ongoing policy debate about whether existing legal rules are well-tailored to protect both U.S. national security and civil liberties, constitutional rights, and the rule of law.
The first sessions of the class will cover an overview of the IC, its functions, and interactions with policymakers, as well as the legal framework that governs U.S. intelligence activities. Later in the semester, we will examine specific intelligence activities and the legal issues involved. Students will be responsible for debating the larger policy questions about how legal rules affect the execution of intelligence activities.
The overarching goal of the class will be to (1) familiarize students with the legal issues involved with various intelligence activities, and, more importantly, (2) prepare students to participate in the ongoing policy debate about whether existing legal rules are well-tailored to protect both U.S. national security and civil liberties, constitutional rights, and the rule of law.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6682 Russia Security Eurasia/Beyond 3 Credits
This course explores Russian security from domestic, regional, and international perspectives, including an examination of Russia’s security interests in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Ukraine. For the first decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russians and Americans viewed the country through a prism of relative decline. However, Russia’s undeclared war against Ukraine and its meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has shown Russia is to reinsert itself into global affairs and seek to dismantle a world order that has been dominated since 1991 by the United States and its allies. In the eyes of both the West and its immediate neighbors, Russia’s security policy has shifted from a defensive position of holding off encroachments by the West (or China) to a more assertive direction, as indicated by the war with Georgia in August 2008, the annexation of Crimea and war in Ukraine since 2014, Russia’s intervention in Syria and Russian attempts to sway public opinion and political processes in Europe, North American, and elsewhere.
Is Russia’s quest for “great power status” an end in itself, or a reflection of growing domestic pressures that strain Russian economic and political security? How firm a hold does the Kremlin have on the reins of power, particularly as the Russian economy stumbles under the dual weight of low oil prices and sanctions? How much do Russian internal domestic concerns impact its security strategy and posture in Eurasia, and with the West? How is Russia reacting to emerging threats, such as cyber, organized crime, and terrorism/extremism (both at home and abroad)?
Is Russia’s quest for “great power status” an end in itself, or a reflection of growing domestic pressures that strain Russian economic and political security? How firm a hold does the Kremlin have on the reins of power, particularly as the Russian economy stumbles under the dual weight of low oil prices and sanctions? How much do Russian internal domestic concerns impact its security strategy and posture in Eurasia, and with the West? How is Russia reacting to emerging threats, such as cyber, organized crime, and terrorism/extremism (both at home and abroad)?
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6683 Quantum Info Sci and Nat Sec 3 Credits
In this course, we will examine the impact quantum information sciences has and will have on national security. We will first dive into quantum technologies to include quantum computers, sensors and quantum secure communications to establish a baseline knowledge of quantum technology. We will then look at why it is important to understand quantum as it relates to national security through an in-depth exploration of international quantum capabilities, global quantum investment, as well as the technology focus areas for the U.S. Government. We will also investigate other aspects of the national security apparatus to include legislative efforts, policy, and consortiums focused on quantum technology. We will consider what you will need to know to evaluate quantum technologies and lead and influence in this technology area.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6684 Russian Influence in Europe 3 Credits
This course explores both historical and current Russian influence activities in Europe and how they impact U.S. interests. Given the significant impact of recent Russian influence campaigns throughout the West—especially the 2016 reverberations within the United States—this course is particularly timely for graduate students hoping to understand 1) past and present Russian goals within Western democracies; 2) the political, economic, security, and social implications of these Russian activities; and 3) how present challenges in confronting Russian malign influence compare with those during the Cold War.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6685 US Policy in MENA Since 2003 3 Credits
This course will introduce students to key decisions and dilemmas that have faced American foreign policymakers in the Middle East since the 9/11 attacks and American invasion of Iraq. The course will focus on the central challenges that have confronted American policymakers in the Middle East over the past 15 years: (1) the invasion of Iraq and ensuing instability in Iraq and Syria; (2) the challenge posed by Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and its attempts to increase its regional influence; (3) responding to both the opportunities and dangers brought about by the Arab Spring; and (4) persistent challenges in the Arab-Israeli arena.
The class will be broken up into 3 parts. The first section will entail 2 introductory classes on U.S. interests in the Middle East and the American foreign policy decision-making process. The second section will examine case studies of the past ten years, each focusing on a different moment in time where American policymakers were faced with a difficult decision or dilemmas. The third section will look at contemporary policy dilemmas and challenges. Drawing on books, journal articles, think tank reports, and unclassified government documents, from the time of the decision, the readings will make the case for contrasting policy options associated with each case study. Students will then debate the various alternatives in class. Assignments and discussions will focus on practical analysis and writing that is used by policymakers to guide the decision-making process in the executive branch.
The class will be broken up into 3 parts. The first section will entail 2 introductory classes on U.S. interests in the Middle East and the American foreign policy decision-making process. The second section will examine case studies of the past ten years, each focusing on a different moment in time where American policymakers were faced with a difficult decision or dilemmas. The third section will look at contemporary policy dilemmas and challenges. Drawing on books, journal articles, think tank reports, and unclassified government documents, from the time of the decision, the readings will make the case for contrasting policy options associated with each case study. Students will then debate the various alternatives in class. Assignments and discussions will focus on practical analysis and writing that is used by policymakers to guide the decision-making process in the executive branch.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6686 Maritime Sec/Great Power Comp 3 Credits
The world’s oceans cover over 70% of the planet’s surface area. Global shipping carries at least 80% of the world’s traded goods. Offshore oil and gas account for more than one-third of world energy production. With the maritime domain so important and influential to the world’s history, politics and economy, this course endeavors to examine this essential saltwater perspective. This course will focus on understanding the ocean as source, avenue, and arena: a source of food and energy; an avenue for the flow of goods, people and ideas; and an arena for struggle, competition, warfare. This course will use an interdisciplinary approach—integrating historical, diplomatic, economic, environmental, geographic, and strategic perspectives—to explore the challenges presented by contemporary maritime issues around the world.
The seminar will be divided into two parts. Part I will explore the general maritime dynamics and security threats associated with globalization and great power competition. It will study a spectrum of specific threats from maritime piracy and terrorism to climate change and maritime disputes such as the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. Additionally, it will examine the importance of legal doctrines and dilemmas affiliated with maritime law enforcement and other irregular challenges. Part II will focus on the world’s most important maritime domains and how respective regions or countries are working to address and combat the security threats and dynamics addressed in Part I. This portion of the course examines the actors and security dynamics explored across North and South America, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe and the Mediterranean, and Pacific Asia.
The seminar will be divided into two parts. Part I will explore the general maritime dynamics and security threats associated with globalization and great power competition. It will study a spectrum of specific threats from maritime piracy and terrorism to climate change and maritime disputes such as the South China Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. Additionally, it will examine the importance of legal doctrines and dilemmas affiliated with maritime law enforcement and other irregular challenges. Part II will focus on the world’s most important maritime domains and how respective regions or countries are working to address and combat the security threats and dynamics addressed in Part I. This portion of the course examines the actors and security dynamics explored across North and South America, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe and the Mediterranean, and Pacific Asia.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6687 Black Sea Security 3 Credits
This course focuses on security issues in the Black Sea region, which has historically been a
politically fragmented and strategically volatile area. Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine as well as conflicts in Georgia, Moldova, and between Armenia and Azerbaijan (to name a few) highlight the potential for instability and strategic contagion, but the potential for Euro-Atlantic integration and rival vectors such as the Eurasian Economic Union and Belt and Road Initiative suggest opportunities for regional cooperation and engagement. In this course, students will explore the chief security dilemmas in the region and analyze them in the context of broader policy considerations.
The course will cover a range of security topics and scenarios, and students will be expected to conduct policy-oriented research and analysis. Some of the questions that will be addressed in the course include: How does Russia’s war against Ukraine affect wider European security and international peace? Is Moldova’s constitutional neutrality an impediment or a source of security? Is Turkish engagement with Russia a cooperative endeavor or part of its larger strategic ambitions? Can Ukraine and Georgia be postmodern liberal states abroad but zero-sum realists in their neighborhood? How far should the United States and Europe be willing to police and enforce the Helsinki principles?
Students will learn from experienced practitioners, including guest speakers, and both analyze and propose policy alternatives around regional security issues. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of the security issues in the Black Sea region and the complexities involved in policymaking in this area.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6688 Irreg Warfare and Strat Compet 3 Credits
More than 2500 years ago, Sun Tzu wrote, “To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill;” irregular warfare is indeed as old as war itself. Today U.S. adversaries use irregular warfare because traditional forms of warfare are too costly. After exploring foundational concepts such as competition and irregular warfare, the course examines the variety of irregular warfare tools and instruments of competitive statecraft including propaganda and information operations, cyber, covert action, and economic coercion and explores ways to measure “success.” Finally, students will look at historical irregular warfare campaigns to analyze under what circumstances were they successful and what tools were most impactful at undermining one’s adversaries and gaining strategic advantage
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Students cannot enroll who have a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6689 WMDCatastroph Terrorism 3 Credits
Fears that terrorists might acquire and use weapons of mass destruction—chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons—first emerged in the early 1970s, focused originally on the possible terrorist acquisition of a nuclear device. By the start of the 21st century, policy-makers became equally fearful of chemical and biological terrorism. The course also will review the evolution of U.S. concerns about WMD terrorism and the evolution of policies to address those worries, especially since 2001.
This course will provide a basic understanding of the technical aspects of CBRN terrorism, contrasting terrorist capabilities to employ chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological weapons with their employment by organized military forces. It also will review responses to CBRN terrorism, including the emergence of an international legal framework for addressing the threat.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in E, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6690 Migration Sec in the Arctic 3 Credits
From demographics to diseases, economies to ecosystems, ships to species, the Arctic is on the move.
Urbanization, globalization, and the impacts of climate change are activating the simultaneous migrations of species, settlements, and security threats across the Arctic in new and unpredictable ways. Arctic port cities are witnessing increased maritime traffic and inflow of migrant labor; rural villages are facing displacement from slow and sudden-onset disasters; sea ice melt and ocean warming are shifting marine species ranges; and terrestrial ecosystems in transition are upending Arctic food webs and introducing southern disease vectors. Each of these intersecting mobilities challenge the quality of life, sustainable development, environmental health, and the regional security of the circumpolar north. In this course, students will learn about distinct drivers of Arctic migrations, and will analyze their implications for economic, military, cultural, environmental, political, food, health, and energy securities. Through case studies, hands-on activities, and guest lectures from leading policymakers and scientists, students, this course will offer an exploration of the many dimensions of security impacted by Arctic migrations. The semester will culminate in a tabletop exercise where students will make real time decisions on how to effectively manage the cascading consequences of Arctic climate change - not only in the north but across the globe. Because what happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic; it affects us all.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6691 True Crime Amer Foreign Pol 3 Credits
This course examines historical instances of domestic and international crime that influenced American foreign policy structures, law, behavior, and citizenship. Examples given significant attention range from the international opium trade to the domestic incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. With historical analysis, students will be able to identify how issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality—through the lens of crime—affected, and continue to affect national decision-making processes by federal departments, intelligence services, the public, and the media.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment limited to students in the LW-JD-LWSS program.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6692 Conflict,SecurityDevelopment 3 Credits
Addressing state fragility and violent conflict is one of the central challenges of the modern era. Violent conflicts have risen in number, duration, and intensity since 1990, spurring the spread of violent extremism and one of the largest displacement crises in human history, causing untold human suffering. This seminar will explore new topics in the study and practice of addressing security challenges through development, stabilization and conflict prevention. The course will focus on approaches and policy tools that are applicable to a range of policy challenges that lie at the intersection of security and development, from countering violent extremism, to supporting political settlements and tackling corruption and illicit economies. At the end of the course, students should be acquainted with this evolving sub-field at the intersection of global development and security studies, should have an understanding of specific policy challenges in this area, and should be able to critically assess both relevant theories and practices. The course is designed for anyone with an interest in new approaches to conflict and development and state fragility, including professionals in the fields of development, diplomacy, journalism and conflict resolution who wish to deepen their knowledge of this important area.
The first part of the course will examine policy frameworks and strategies for addressing fragility, as well as a series of special topics that international policymakers are currently grappling with. The second part of the course will explore thorny policy dilemmas as well as emerging global challenges, such as the role of information and communications technologies in the developing world. Each of these topics will be explored through the analysis of country case studies.
The first part of the course will examine policy frameworks and strategies for addressing fragility, as well as a series of special topics that international policymakers are currently grappling with. The second part of the course will explore thorny policy dilemmas as well as emerging global challenges, such as the role of information and communications technologies in the developing world. Each of these topics will be explored through the analysis of country case studies.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6693 Domestic Terrorism 3 Credits
People from many different backgrounds, espousing widely divergent viewpoints, and pursuing a variety of tactics have committed terrorist acts in the United States. This course examines the American experience of terrorism in the 20th and 21st centuries (with some broader historical context). It covers the US government’s responses to terrorist actors and focuses on current threat issues. The course explores the many different forces influencing terrorists in the homeland over time as well as the ideologies and movements that informed their activity. It also highlights broader social and cultural reactions to terrorism in the United States.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6694 Cyber Conflict/Policy Dilemmas 3 Credits
The Evolution of Cyber Conflict and Competition: Key Cases and Issues Informing Cyberwar Debates: This seminar examines key cases and issues informing our understanding of the cyber domain as an arena of conflict and competition from the perspective of U.S. national security policy and planning and ongoing debates about cyberwar. The course begins with a critical review of U.S. definitions of cyberspace, the cyber domain, and approaches to national security strategy and doctrine, including a dissection of the “Cyber Pearl Harbor” analogy. The bulk of the course is devoted to understanding key case studies dominating thinking about the future of “cyberwar," including: STUXNET, China’s cyber order of battle, China-US disagreement over intellectual property theft, Russian cyber operations in Estonia, Georgia, and the Ukraine, and Iranian cyber attacks. Additional time is devoted to understanding how cyber attacks are addressed in international law and the law of armed conflict. Classes consist of lecture, class discussion, and student presentations. Grading is based on class participation, student presentations, a take-home mid-term, and a research paper. The objective of the course is to understand and apply lessons from the key concepts, cases, and inflection points that shape current policy, doctrine, and strategy related to cyberwar and conflict in the cyber domain.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6695 Sec:Emerg Glb Catastroph Risks 3 Credits
This course examines the significant current and looming Global Catastrophic Risks. Drawing upon the most recent scholarship in this rapidly developing field, the class will become familiar with the analytical methodologies, risk projections, and current monitoring capabilities of massive global – scale threats. Students will have an opportunity to assess and propose both policies and practical proposals to address these risks. Thematic topics in the course will include global political structures (national and multinational), climate change developments, world health pandemic response capability, and the consequences of advancing technology.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6696 Seapower in the Indo-Pacific 3 Credits
Maritime relations and rivalries have emerged as a major geopolitical feature of the Indo-Pacific. The study of seapower is essential to understanding the origins, the pathways, and the consequences of these maritime interactions. This course will assess the role of seapower in shaping the Indo-Pacific security environment. In this class, students will first learn about the classical and contemporary theories of seapower and seapower’s influence upon Asia’s modern history. The course will study how aspiring maritime powers, such as China and India, have introduced new uncertainties and opportunities to regional and global security. The class will then examine how established seafaring nations, including the United States and Japan, have responded to changing strategic circumstances as rising powers turn to the seas. Students will take away from this course a keen appreciation for seapower’s impact on Indo-Pacific security and seapower’s many policy implications for great powers and regional actors alike.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6697 Weapon of War: Sexual Violence 3 Credits
This course examines the causes and consequences of conflict-related sexual violence as well as the legal frameworks and policies governments and international organizations pursue to prevent, mitigate, and respond to conflict-related sexual violence. Throughout the course, we will engage with gender, race, and class as fundamental organizing principles that shape the creation of legal and normative human rights frameworks as well as their practical application.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6698 Gender War 3 Credits
This course provides an introduction to understanding the gendered dimensions of armed conflict and its aftermath. The course will introduce students to gender theory and it can be used a framing theory to understand war and conflict, as well as a tactic used by armed actors in conflict. The course will provide a grounding in selected thematic issues relevant to the study of security and military action such as gendered frames for understanding militarism and combatency, gender-based violence related to conflict, humanitarian response, and gendered approaches to understanding the aftermath of conflict, such as transitional justice measures and peacekeeping operations. The course is designed to combine theoretical and practice-based approaches to issues of gender and conflict, drawing from interdisciplinary theoretical and policy resources, as well as case studies from differing situations of armed conflict globally.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6699 Gender Security Toolbox 3 Credits
Since the UN Beijing Conference on Women in 1995, governments around the world have adopted gender mainstreaming as a core strategy to achieve gender equality and equity in their societies. Gender mainstreaming tools and processes are now used across foreign policy and international development institutions (including USAID, the World Bank, and the United Nations), and are often required as a condition of funding. In this class, students will learn to use key gender mainstreaming tools such as gender analyses, gender audits, and gender indicators, and learn to apply a gender-sensitive “lens” to policy, project design, and monitoring and evaluation systems. The course combines practical skill-building with readings on feminist international relations and security theory and the experiences and learning of feminist activists around the world as well as conversations with gender practitioners and policymakers. The skills students gain will allow them to capably serve as gender focal points. The course will be valuable for students on the path to full-time gender careers domestically or abroad, as well as students wanting to integrate gender equality principles and efforts into other roles in diplomacy, development, and defense work.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6700 Hunter(M)/Gatherer(F) Nat Sec 3 Credits
This course will examine the reasoning behind the evolution of today’s national and international security from its “Man the Hunter” origins by surveying the biological, psychological, anthropological, and cultural explanations for how we define security, dominance, and power. National security policy, strategy, and implementation rely heavily on “Man the Hunter” theories of security and lack the premise of the equally impactful history of “Woman the Gatherer.” A set of defaults with as widespread impact as political science and security studies that have excluded the experience, history, and knowledge of more than half of the global population should not be accepted as truth. This course also will provide an opportunity for students to consider and create national-level strategy based on a spectrum of “hunter-gatherer” understanding of security.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6701 Hacking for Defense 3 Credits
In a crisis, national security initiatives move at the speed of a startup yet in peacetime they default to decades-long acquisition and procurement cycles. Startups operate with continual speed and urgency 24/7. Over the last few years, they’ve learned how to be not only fast, but extremely efficient with resources and time using lean startup methodologies.
In this class student teams will take actual national security problems and learn how to apply “Lean Startup” principles, ("business model canvas," "customer development," and "agile engineering”) to discover and validate customer needs and to continually build iterative prototypes to test whether they understood the problem and solution. Teams take a hands-on approach requiring close engagement with actual military, Department of Defense, and other government agency end-users, using their real-world challenges.
In this class student teams will take actual national security problems and learn how to apply “Lean Startup” principles, ("business model canvas," "customer development," and "agile engineering”) to discover and validate customer needs and to continually build iterative prototypes to test whether they understood the problem and solution. Teams take a hands-on approach requiring close engagement with actual military, Department of Defense, and other government agency end-users, using their real-world challenges.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6702 Jihadi-Salafi Violent Extremsm 3 Credits
Although most Americans believe that the “War on Terror” began on September 11, 2001, al-Qa’ida, ISIS, and their allies have a radically different perspective. For these groups, which adhere to an ideology known as jihadi-salafism, the war began centuries ago and will conclude only with the end of the world. Al-Qa’ida, ISIS, and their affiliates also disagree with most Western observers on the scope, objectives, and aim of the conflict, arguing that this is an existential war designed to destroy Islam and the Muslim community.
This course will examine the ongoing war with al-Qa’ida and ISIS from the perspective of the jihadi-salafis, and al-Qa’ida/ISIS in particular, as well as from the perspective of the United States. Beginning with the ideological foundations of jihadi-salafism, this course will dissect and analyze multiple views about the origins of the war, its course, and its consequences. The class will also look at the strategies and tactics used by both sides on many fronts and end by asking if this is a war that can be won by either side.
This course will examine the ongoing war with al-Qa’ida and ISIS from the perspective of the jihadi-salafis, and al-Qa’ida/ISIS in particular, as well as from the perspective of the United States. Beginning with the ideological foundations of jihadi-salafism, this course will dissect and analyze multiple views about the origins of the war, its course, and its consequences. The class will also look at the strategies and tactics used by both sides on many fronts and end by asking if this is a war that can be won by either side.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6703 The Dark Arts 3 Credits
It’s time we stop pretending the free world is defenseless against autocratic bullies like Russia, China, and Iran. Let’s fight back. They are not as invincible as people fear. Democracies are exposed but resilient, like a tough tree. Autocracies are strong but brittle, like glass. We can target this using the “dark arts”: subversion, covert actions, strategic deception, unconventional warfare, and other dirty tricks. Churchill called it "ungentlemanly warfare,” and it’s how the Cold War was fought. The dark arts undermine the enemy from within yet avoid nuclear escalation, and win by creating the conditions for an adversary's capitulation. The U.S. does some dark arts today, but not enough to make a difference. This course will explain what the dark arts are, and how to wield them against autocracies. The seminar will also discuss important questions about ethical, legal, and strategic implications of the dark arts, especially for democracies. Students will be expected to formulate their own dark arts strategy by the end of the course.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6704 Weaponized Migration 3 Credits
Weaponized Migration, and Other Ways Forced Displacement Affects Security” is about the ways in which states and nonstate actors use migrants, migration flows, and narratives about migration as instruments of policy, strategic competition, or war.
The first part of the course examines important trends in migration and security. We begin with a session on belonging, analyzing citizenship and identity politics in the United States and other countries. In this session, we ask why migration and narratives about migration can so effectively be politicized and exploited for political leverage. Next, we analyze the relationship between migration and security, evaluating how human, national, and international security goals overlap and diverge in migration politics. And we explore the drivers of forced migration--including war, persecution, climate change, and economy—as well as the current national and international efforts to govern and manage these flows.
The second part of the course asks how state and nonstate actors “weaponize” migration or use migrants for political or economic gain. We also examine the consequences and effectiveness of their efforts. We cover topics such as using migration and the threat of migration for diplomatic leverage, strategically engineering migration flows, the role of migration in information warfare, the dynamics of diaspora influence in civil wars and strategic competition, radicalization and recruitment efforts that exploit refugee populations, and people smuggling.
The third part of the course asks how national communities can build resilience against efforts to exploit migration flows and migrants. We consider various policy proposals, and assess the prospects for new and better policy responses to forced migration and to competitors’ efforts to weaponize migration. We assess resilience-building proposals among both host and migrant populations.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6705 Data Analysis and Visualiz. 3 Credits
This course will cover quantitative methods in data analysis and visualization for use in crafting policy briefs in emerging technology. A data-driven approach is outlined to better quantify and explore national security issues in fields such as AI, biotechnology, quantum technology, and advanced materials research. In particular, we will focus on how data can be used to enrich policy understandings and how to identify possible pitfalls and misleading representations.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6706 Soft Power and Natl Security 3 Credits
This course will examine the role of global non-state actors – activists, journalists, terrorists, non-governmental organizations, etc -- in international relations and how states try to influence them to meet their national security objectives. Traditionally, the U.S. government has used foreign public engagement and information activities to build global networks to advance U.S. foreign policy goals. Today, it finds itself working to influence foreign citizens within a complex and unprecedented intersection of technological expediency, weaponized information, and simultaneous ideological and ground wars. Students will examine a diverse range of scholarship on the intersection of international politics, communication, technology, and culture. The course will bring together international relations theory with communications theory, looking specifically at social constructivism, nationalism and identity, international news production, disinformation, protest and social movements, and public diplomacy. Each class will connect theory with current events relating to national security issues. Depending on the topic and class time, a guest speaker working on the frontlines of the issues covered in class will be able to also share their experiences, illustrating for students the relevancy of various literatures and theories. Finally, through papers and active class participation, the course will challenge students to think deeply about the role global publics play in international relations, and strategically about how to effectively use communication tools to support U.S. national security objectives.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6707 Science of Natl Security 3 Credits
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6708 Mass Atrocities and Intl law 3 Credits
Genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing are terms that are often used in daily discourse but often misunderstood and sometimes mischaracterized. Through this course, students will examine the legal definitions, similarities, and differences of these mass atrocity crimes, explore case studies, learn about different justice mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable, and discuss the opportunities and challenges to preventing mass atrocities.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6709 Cybersec:Priv/PublicPersp 3 Credits
Cyber has long been a domain of international espionage, with ramifications for strategic, conventional, unconventional, and information warfare. Yet unlike other domains, it is an intimate part of our daily lives and one in which the domain itself—the global Internet particularly—is not owned or controlled by governments or truly neutral. To understand, anticipate, and act upon the national security ramifications of cybersecurity requires working with private sector experts and other stakeholders. This class will provide a framework for understanding national security issues affecting cyberspace and impart practical experience for interpreting the actions of the private sector that can affect national security decision-making and conversely provide insight and opportunity for those students who may wish to go more directly into the private sector and perform that work themselves using their SSP skillset.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6710 OSINT, Commercial Data Sec. 3 Credits
DC is full of talk about AI and cyber—but what about the data? The reality is, open-source intelligence (OSINT) and commercial data are exploding, and they’re revolutionizing the strategy, policy, and tactics of national security today. As journalists out Russian spies with OSINT and security agencies buy commercial data on millions of devices to hunt cyber threats, the US government, its allies and partners, and civil society are increasingly grappling with the implications of this data for privacy and civil liberties,
the AI revolution, and national security in the 21st century. This course, from one of the world’s leading experts on commercial data, will explore the use of OSINT and commercial data to protect, and threaten, national security—and where US strategy and policy must go next.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6711 Sec Cooperation: Pol Process 3 Credits
This course will introduce students to the primary policies, institutions and processes that govern United States Government enterprise activities. Given its growing importance, both in terms of frequency of use, and the tool of first resort for U.S. policymakers, security practitioners must develop a thorough understanding of the tool's potential as well as its limitations. The course will expose students to major inflection points that have forced the evolution of security cooperation approaches. At the national level, students will be expected to synthesize awareness of the roles of the executive and legislative branches of the government, which include the articulation of strategy, the authorization process and the appropriations process. We will then investigate the Department of Defense's architecture to pursue this strategy, including multiple nested campaign plans, as the context within which security cooperation is executed in pursuit of national interests. Students will be expected to demonstrate their understanding of the security cooperation enterprise through multiple evaluated products, culminating in the presentation of a Section 333 proposal for an assigned country.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6712 Nuclear Weapons Technology 0.25 Credits
Nuclear Weapons Technology is a course in technological literacy, and should complement courses on nuclear force planning and strategy, arms control, and non-proliferation. This course delves deeply into the details of nuclear weapons design and production but does not expect students to have the physics or math background necessary to design a weapon. The primary learning goals are to understand how nuclear weapons work, calculate nuclear weapons effects, know the essentials of nuclear weapons manufacturing, review the history of the U.S. nuclear weapons complex, and develop insights into the technical side of non-proliferation and verification. After taking this course, students will be able to hold their own in conversations with experts on nuclear weapons, and make useful, informed contributions to policies that involve the weapons.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Pass/Fail Default
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6713 Russian Military Power 3 Credits
The Russian military has recently re-emerged on the global stage as an influential and formidable force that has challenged the existing world order and enabled a more muscular Russian foreign policy. This course explores a broad and inclusive study of the modern Russian military, drawing insights from military history, theory, doctrine, and politics. The course is advanced, but has no prerequisites and assumes no prior knowledge of Russian studies. The organization of the course is principally thematic, and will engage a discursive approach to draw out the political, economic, social, and technological developments of the current Russian military, with forays into the earlier Soviet era. First, we will consider Russia’s military past and how history shaped Russia’s military doctrine and thinking. Second, we will review patterns in Russian strategic thinking and recent efforts to update and reform Russian military doctrine for the 21st century. Third, we will evaluate Russia’s recent military transformation to contemplate the global dynamics of great power competition and its implications for Russia’s foreign policy. Finally, we will discuss recent battlefield operations and revelations about the strengths and weaknesses of Russia’s new military and what this means for Russia’s future status in the world.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6714 Intel/Law Enforce: Cybr Domain 3 Credits
Students of this course will develop a toolbox of analytical techniques for studying past, present, and future cyber adversaries much like cyber analysts or FBI agents who target cyber adversaries would employ. Students will gain an understanding of nuanced differences between current adversaries in the cyber domain, ranging from financially motivated cyber criminals to politically, personally, or economically driven nation-state actors--and a range of adversaries in between. They will learn the value of tactical, technical knowledge of cyber actors, and they will discover how cyber intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement require an equal grasp of the strategic motivations of those actors. The focus will be on the tradecraft and processes affected by the world of cyber operations as well as the intelligence cycle in this new environment.
We will delve into the basics of attribution and methods by which cybersecurity professionals attribute hacking activities to specific actors or groups. We will discuss methods by which governments, law enforcement, and private security companies assess adversaries' reasons for hacking as well as various response and deterrence tools that intelligence and law enforcement professionals have at their disposal, and cost-benefit analysis weighed by intelligence/law enforcement professionals when making decisions on actions to be taken.
This baseline knowledge will be applied to real-world adversaries--cyber criminals, terrorists, hacktivists, and nation-state actors via case studies. We will study the financial motivations of cyber criminals, the unique money laundering methods they use, and the ways in which intelligence and law enforcement professionals track them.
No prior knowledge or experience in cybersecurity or technology is expected in this course.
We will delve into the basics of attribution and methods by which cybersecurity professionals attribute hacking activities to specific actors or groups. We will discuss methods by which governments, law enforcement, and private security companies assess adversaries' reasons for hacking as well as various response and deterrence tools that intelligence and law enforcement professionals have at their disposal, and cost-benefit analysis weighed by intelligence/law enforcement professionals when making decisions on actions to be taken.
This baseline knowledge will be applied to real-world adversaries--cyber criminals, terrorists, hacktivists, and nation-state actors via case studies. We will study the financial motivations of cyber criminals, the unique money laundering methods they use, and the ways in which intelligence and law enforcement professionals track them.
No prior knowledge or experience in cybersecurity or technology is expected in this course.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6715 Turkey/Russia/Iran: Hot Wars 3 Credits
Russia and Iran since at least 2015 have leveraged the Syrian Civil War and unresolved issues stemming from the US-led war in Iraq by repositioning and basing forces along NATO’s southeastern flank. From Syria and Iraq, they used ISIS as a convenient cover story for mounting air, land, and sea operations against US and US-led coalition forces. All sides have carefully avoided defining these kinetic engagements a hot war. The same has rung true of Russia’s invasion of Eastern Ukraine in 2014 and annexation of Crimea in 2015. US and coalition personnel on the front lines from the Black Sea to the Levant, therefore, have confronted Russian and Iranian ordinance without commensurate rules of engagement, authorities, or weapons. Tehran and Moscow have made abundantly clear that they are digging in; they show no signs of withdrawing to their respective borders. Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, meanwhile, have watched instability grow along their sovereign borders and shorelines as they have welcomed, housed, educated, and cared for millions of refugees who fled war-torn Syria and Iraq. The prolonged humanitarian refugee crises remain unresolved.
Turkey's unique geography, military readiness, and counterterrorism experience are three strong reasons the US needs Ankara to play a coordinated and productive role in safeguarding and defending NATO’s southeastern flank from Russia, Iran, and terrorist groups. In a region, however, where “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a common strategy, Ankara is exercising a strategic pause – as its Ottoman ancestors did – as a tool to weigh its options. The “Turkish Pause” does not mean inactivity. From 2015 to 2021, Ankara flagrantly flirted with Moscow and Tehran as a means to assess her opportunities; she gauged reactions from Washington and European capitals; and the Turkish government took time to recalculate and announce decisions. As the Young Turks learned in the lead-up to and during WWI and WWII, Turkey has power when its geography is in play. While Turkey joined NATO nearly 70 years ago, US and Brussels need to recognize that they are in an existential head-to-head competition with Russia and Iran. If Washington does not play to win – Moscow and Tehran will extract even more unearned advantages.
How did we get here? What defines modern hot wars and terrorism? What constitutes an alliance? How do we regain dominance in a region that 19th century diplomats called “The Eastern Question?” What policies, strategies, and courses of action will reset the shot clock? Five key issues complicate short- and long-term answers to US policy options and engagement strategies with Turkey. Students will explore strategies that aim to address each of them.
• First, Turkey has acquired Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles that pose direct threats to NATO F-35 and other aircraft as well as other NATO assets and personnel in the region. While this is not the first time Turkey has flirted with Russia - and not the first time the US has closed the door to arms sales - it is the first time NATO has had to confront Russian air, land, and sea forces that are now based in Syria under long-term agreements.
• Second, the US decision in the 2010s to train, arm, and advise Syrian-based Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) so that they could help drive ISIS from its “self-proclaimed” caliphate in Raqqa and challenge Bashar al-Assad drew immediate and sustained reactions from Turkey because at least some YPG members were affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). This issue remains largely unresolved, and it is an unrelenting source of high and enduring tension in the region.
• Third, while formal US policy supports a unity Iraq, the US has walked a tight rope with Ankara each time the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (and its predecessors) has attempted to gain more autonomy or independence from Baghdad (1970, 1991, 2005 and 2017). Sustained US diplomatic, military, and intelligence relations with the IRG have exacerbated mistrust in Ankara. Adding to these turbulent waters are historic and ongoing ties between the PUK and KDP with the PKK and with Iran.
• Fourth, the prolonged wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, along with instability in Lebanon, have created opportunities for Iran and Hizballah to exert military and sectarian “soft power” influence well beyond its borders. Turkey, home to the last Sunni Caliphate, has complained about growing Shia activism. The broader NATO alliance has struggled to adapt to Iran’s expanding power in the Middle East – and its nuclear weapons ambitions that are accelerating.
• Fifth, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has jailed at least 100,000 government employees, journalists, scholars, and protesters who have questioned his policies, corruption, and ruling style. He remains convinced - without credible evidence - that the USG worked behind the scenes with Pennsylvania-based Fethullah Gülen to inspire or support the July 2016 failed coup attempt. The US has not been successful in countering Turkey’s propaganda and harmful narrative on this point in part because of credible analytic judgments that, according to US Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, point clearly to Gülen.
This class uses two teaching methods. Before the mid-term, students will learn about key historic events and apply them to current issues that unfold during the semester. After the mid-term paper, students will apply what they have learned while playing assigned roles as the DNI/DCIA or the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Treasury. Students will learn in each role how to write short, cogent, persuasive one-page memos to the President each week. They will gain practice and confidence delivering their written points in short oral briefings as our classroom becomes a simulated White House Situation Room.
Turkey's unique geography, military readiness, and counterterrorism experience are three strong reasons the US needs Ankara to play a coordinated and productive role in safeguarding and defending NATO’s southeastern flank from Russia, Iran, and terrorist groups. In a region, however, where “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” is a common strategy, Ankara is exercising a strategic pause – as its Ottoman ancestors did – as a tool to weigh its options. The “Turkish Pause” does not mean inactivity. From 2015 to 2021, Ankara flagrantly flirted with Moscow and Tehran as a means to assess her opportunities; she gauged reactions from Washington and European capitals; and the Turkish government took time to recalculate and announce decisions. As the Young Turks learned in the lead-up to and during WWI and WWII, Turkey has power when its geography is in play. While Turkey joined NATO nearly 70 years ago, US and Brussels need to recognize that they are in an existential head-to-head competition with Russia and Iran. If Washington does not play to win – Moscow and Tehran will extract even more unearned advantages.
How did we get here? What defines modern hot wars and terrorism? What constitutes an alliance? How do we regain dominance in a region that 19th century diplomats called “The Eastern Question?” What policies, strategies, and courses of action will reset the shot clock? Five key issues complicate short- and long-term answers to US policy options and engagement strategies with Turkey. Students will explore strategies that aim to address each of them.
• First, Turkey has acquired Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missiles that pose direct threats to NATO F-35 and other aircraft as well as other NATO assets and personnel in the region. While this is not the first time Turkey has flirted with Russia - and not the first time the US has closed the door to arms sales - it is the first time NATO has had to confront Russian air, land, and sea forces that are now based in Syria under long-term agreements.
• Second, the US decision in the 2010s to train, arm, and advise Syrian-based Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) so that they could help drive ISIS from its “self-proclaimed” caliphate in Raqqa and challenge Bashar al-Assad drew immediate and sustained reactions from Turkey because at least some YPG members were affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). This issue remains largely unresolved, and it is an unrelenting source of high and enduring tension in the region.
• Third, while formal US policy supports a unity Iraq, the US has walked a tight rope with Ankara each time the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government (and its predecessors) has attempted to gain more autonomy or independence from Baghdad (1970, 1991, 2005 and 2017). Sustained US diplomatic, military, and intelligence relations with the IRG have exacerbated mistrust in Ankara. Adding to these turbulent waters are historic and ongoing ties between the PUK and KDP with the PKK and with Iran.
• Fourth, the prolonged wars in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, along with instability in Lebanon, have created opportunities for Iran and Hizballah to exert military and sectarian “soft power” influence well beyond its borders. Turkey, home to the last Sunni Caliphate, has complained about growing Shia activism. The broader NATO alliance has struggled to adapt to Iran’s expanding power in the Middle East – and its nuclear weapons ambitions that are accelerating.
• Fifth, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has jailed at least 100,000 government employees, journalists, scholars, and protesters who have questioned his policies, corruption, and ruling style. He remains convinced - without credible evidence - that the USG worked behind the scenes with Pennsylvania-based Fethullah Gülen to inspire or support the July 2016 failed coup attempt. The US has not been successful in countering Turkey’s propaganda and harmful narrative on this point in part because of credible analytic judgments that, according to US Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, point clearly to Gülen.
This class uses two teaching methods. Before the mid-term, students will learn about key historic events and apply them to current issues that unfold during the semester. After the mid-term paper, students will apply what they have learned while playing assigned roles as the DNI/DCIA or the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Treasury. Students will learn in each role how to write short, cogent, persuasive one-page memos to the President each week. They will gain practice and confidence delivering their written points in short oral briefings as our classroom becomes a simulated White House Situation Room.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6716 Foreign Intel Communities 3 Credits
This course examines foreign intelligence communities and the policy issues they face and has four purposes. The first is to provide students with a better understanding of the foreign,
domestic, military, signals, and imagery intelligence agencies of the U.S. allies, partners, and adversaries, as well as the patterns of conflict and inter-agency collaboration between them. The second purpose is for students to learn the brief histories of foreign intelligence services, their
current organizational structures, leadership dynamics, main missions and activities, as well as tactics, techniques, and procedures. The third purpose is for students to get familiar with the major threats and opportunities facing foreign intelligence communities and learn how they address them to defend their national interests and advance their policy priorities in key functional areas. The fourth purpose is for students to develop critical thinking and writing skills so that they can produce high quality analytical products for various types of consumers, using open source information.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6717 Ethics/Intel Support Natl Sec 3 Credits
This course will introduce students to the common ethical dilemmas associated with the business of Intelligence. To contribute to the decision-making of whether the US Government should lie, steal, deny, cheat, coerce, or kill on behalf of national security goals, Intelligence officers must understand the context for the ethical challenges they face and be confident in their understanding of the laws governing Intelligence work.
Students will be exposed to four common frameworks for evaluating ethical dilemmas and review the ethical guidelines enshrined in the US Constitution that ground the business of Intelligence. They will evaluate, individually and collectively, dozens of real-life scenarios that required Intelligence officers to make hard choices in ambiguous situations. Finally, students will create fictional scenarios and present their final decision-making in class. The course seeks to enhance students' confidence and competence in contributing to ethically challenging decisions on a range of national security issues.
Students will be exposed to four common frameworks for evaluating ethical dilemmas and review the ethical guidelines enshrined in the US Constitution that ground the business of Intelligence. They will evaluate, individually and collectively, dozens of real-life scenarios that required Intelligence officers to make hard choices in ambiguous situations. Finally, students will create fictional scenarios and present their final decision-making in class. The course seeks to enhance students' confidence and competence in contributing to ethically challenging decisions on a range of national security issues.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6718 Intelligence War 3 Credits
This course examines the role of intelligence during wartime—the actors involved and capabilities employed—across both conventional and unconventional armed conflict. Through the use of case studies, this course examines the role intelligence plays both prior to the outbreak of conflict and during conflict and how it varies across different forms of warfare. Cases will highlight intelligence failures and successes from World War II to present, with particular emphasis on the role of intelligence analysis during war. This course provides students with practical experience intended to simulate the role of a defense intelligence analyst. Students will gain experience creating mock defense intelligence analytic products on contemporary security challenges in the form of short papers and briefings intended to approximate the types of products intelligence analysts create for senior decision-makers on a routine basis.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6719 MNCs in Intl Security 3 Credits
The world is becoming a matrix with a multitude of influential actors. We are currently witnessing an accelerating shift in traditional power centers, and nation-states are no longer the only significant players. In fact, their power is seeping away as new centers of influence expand and flex their muscles in an increasingly complex global environment. In a world that was once separated and contained by national boundaries and loyalties, a new cast of actors is aggressively determining outcomes based on motivations, capabilities, and actions that may have little in common with the goals of governments. While nation-states and their leaders continue to retain immense authority, Multinational Corporations (MNCs) now routinely circumvent governments to accomplish their goals. This shift in power centers has the potential to cause friction and could work against stated geopolitical objectives. Understanding this new environment is critical to achieving success within the frameworks of national security, international relations, politics, and economics.
This course is designed to examine the historical role private companies have played in United States foreign policy, the current questions surrounding the integration of Multinational Corporations in international relations and national security, and a look toward the future. It is essential that the next generation of policymakers understand the impact of MNCs and the balance that is needed as the integration continues. Decision-makers must have the insight and the ability to determine the strengths and the weaknesses of outside involvement, as well as the benefits and the pitfalls.
This course is designed to examine the historical role private companies have played in United States foreign policy, the current questions surrounding the integration of Multinational Corporations in international relations and national security, and a look toward the future. It is essential that the next generation of policymakers understand the impact of MNCs and the balance that is needed as the integration continues. Decision-makers must have the insight and the ability to determine the strengths and the weaknesses of outside involvement, as well as the benefits and the pitfalls.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6720 Finance of Transnatl Threats 3 Credits
This course explores how transnational threats -- from terrorism to WMD proliferation and insurgencies -- are funded and resourced, how governments and other international actors seeks to combat the financing of transnational threats, what the goals of such efforts are or should be, and whether these efforts are effective, worthwhile, and how to improve them. It investigates how sub-national terrorist groups, illicit facilitation networks, national proliferation programs, or other illicit actors finance their activities and transfer funds, and analyzes key choke points through which illicit funds may flow. The course examines the tools available to states, international organizations, and the private sector to both follow the money and stem the flow of illicit funds. The course also covers policy debates such as the comparative utility of financial tools in national security, the relative benefits of following or freezing funds, and more. The course includes case studies and group work to provide students hands-on exposure to the course themes.
This course is taught through a combination of lecture, discussion and participatory exercises, including a simulation. Each class meeting will raise and address key concepts and analyze the implications these present at the tactical, strategic and policy levels. Many meetings will flesh out these ideas through in-class exercises and/or in-class discussions with current practitioners (policymakers, experts, etc.).
This course is taught through a combination of lecture, discussion and participatory exercises, including a simulation. Each class meeting will raise and address key concepts and analyze the implications these present at the tactical, strategic and policy levels. Many meetings will flesh out these ideas through in-class exercises and/or in-class discussions with current practitioners (policymakers, experts, etc.).
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6721 Nat'l Security through Fiction 3 Credits
When old paradigms seem to be failing us in war and peace, creative management of national security challenges are more important than ever. Stretching ourselves requires new approaches – not reading the same, old texts, or using the same, old methodologies and theories. It is primarily for this reason – the need for imaginative, strategic leaders – that this class uses fiction as the launching point for discussion.
Using fiction as a springboard will hone several key student skills. First, although creativity may (or may not) be able to be taught, brain science suggests that our brains can change with practice to see challenges in new ways (e.g., neuroplasticity). Second, fiction almost insures that the focus remains on the learning objectives and key questions rather than on the method used (the case study, for instance) to explore those areas. Instead of fighting a scenario, suspending disbelief creates a healthy adragodgical environment. Third, the ability to quickly identify symbols is important at the tactical through the strategic level. Fourth, students who read fiction also tend to be able to better empathize, an important lesson that Secretary Robert MacNamera learned as he notes in the movie, “Fog of War.” Being introduced to strange cultures or experiences, a fifth benefit, will serve the future strategist well in providing heretofor unseen challenges and potential solutions. Sixth, good fiction includes ambiguity, contradictions, complexity, and ambivalence – just as the real world includes these factors, especially in something as complex as national security and joint warfare. Yes, strategy is about decision-making, but this leads to a seventh point: as Diane Maye, a former Air Force officer and an associate member of the Military Writers Guild, notes, strategy is also “the art of outmanuevering other humans.” The better we understand human complexity, arguably the better our strategies. By reading fiction, we put human agency back into decision-making. Finally, students will emerge from this course changed readers – better able to deconstruct (and reconstruct) text, think critically about what is read, and know when, and when not to, apply these frameworks.
Do not be fooled that this class will be easy because we are reading fiction. As How to Read Literature Like a Professor states, we will engage in reading like a “full-contact sport; we crash up against the wave of words with all of our intellectual, imaginative, and emotional resources” (82). In doing so, we will debate “big” (e.g., what separates human warfare from other types of violence, if anything? what of the killing off another species to make way for the human race?) and “smaller” (e.g., does civilian control equate to more or less violence? how could US democratic processes be destroyed or circumvented by the military? would US national security priorities change if we were a theocracy?) questions. Perhaps most importantly, students will hone their ability to ask the right questions – a prerequisite to finding least bad options, which is increasingly their job as they move up the chain of command and into higher leadership positions.
Using fiction as a springboard will hone several key student skills. First, although creativity may (or may not) be able to be taught, brain science suggests that our brains can change with practice to see challenges in new ways (e.g., neuroplasticity). Second, fiction almost insures that the focus remains on the learning objectives and key questions rather than on the method used (the case study, for instance) to explore those areas. Instead of fighting a scenario, suspending disbelief creates a healthy adragodgical environment. Third, the ability to quickly identify symbols is important at the tactical through the strategic level. Fourth, students who read fiction also tend to be able to better empathize, an important lesson that Secretary Robert MacNamera learned as he notes in the movie, “Fog of War.” Being introduced to strange cultures or experiences, a fifth benefit, will serve the future strategist well in providing heretofor unseen challenges and potential solutions. Sixth, good fiction includes ambiguity, contradictions, complexity, and ambivalence – just as the real world includes these factors, especially in something as complex as national security and joint warfare. Yes, strategy is about decision-making, but this leads to a seventh point: as Diane Maye, a former Air Force officer and an associate member of the Military Writers Guild, notes, strategy is also “the art of outmanuevering other humans.” The better we understand human complexity, arguably the better our strategies. By reading fiction, we put human agency back into decision-making. Finally, students will emerge from this course changed readers – better able to deconstruct (and reconstruct) text, think critically about what is read, and know when, and when not to, apply these frameworks.
Do not be fooled that this class will be easy because we are reading fiction. As How to Read Literature Like a Professor states, we will engage in reading like a “full-contact sport; we crash up against the wave of words with all of our intellectual, imaginative, and emotional resources” (82). In doing so, we will debate “big” (e.g., what separates human warfare from other types of violence, if anything? what of the killing off another species to make way for the human race?) and “smaller” (e.g., does civilian control equate to more or less violence? how could US democratic processes be destroyed or circumvented by the military? would US national security priorities change if we were a theocracy?) questions. Perhaps most importantly, students will hone their ability to ask the right questions – a prerequisite to finding least bad options, which is increasingly their job as they move up the chain of command and into higher leadership positions.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6722 Arctic Security 3 Credits
During the last decade, the Arctic has been transformed from a scientific backwater to a key strategic area for the United States. This course will elucidate the domestic and international security issues in the Arctic, starting with the Cold War, as part of the global recognition of extensive Arctic resources and challenges due to rapid climate change. In the context of this abruptly evolving strategic environment, the course will cover emerging opportunities in energy, shipping, and mineral extraction as well as challenges such as maintaining effective domain awareness, border security, human displacement, food security, drug trafficking, and national sovereignty claims between allies and competitors of the United States. The course material will be covered from a variety of perspectives including high-level diplomats, government officials, indigenous leaders, law enforcement officers, military leaders, and managers of multi-national corporations. Students will work to solve emergent problems through coursework and a capstone project that will require innovative, multi-disciplinary thinking. The course will have a strong emphasis on international diplomacy and negotiating strategies as most of the future activities in the Arctic will take place in countries like Canada and Russia that share the Arctic Coastline with the United States as well as with non-Artic nations like China that are looking to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Arabic and Islamic Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, European Studies(MED), European Studies(MED), European Studies(MED), European Studies(MED), Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian Area Studies, Russian Area Studies, Russian Area Studies, Russian Area Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6723 Transnational Crime 3 Credits
Transnational organized crime has grown more complex, posing a wide variety of evolving societal challenges. The criminal organizations involved in such activity have transformed in ways that broaden their reach and make it harder to combat them. They have adopted more networked structural models, truly globalized their operations, and grown very tech savvy. They prefer cellular or networked structural models for their flexibility, avoiding the hierarchies that previously governed more traditional organized crime groups. They have burrowed into legitimate commerce, corrupted governments, built all sorts of illicit markets, and become a part of life for many millions of people around the world. The course explores the many different societal forces shaping transnational criminal organizations over time.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Russian, Russian, Russian, Russian, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6724 Sec in Nordic-Baltic Region 3 Credits
The Nordic-Baltic region has been a location for East-West confrontation and cooperation for centuries. This course provides students with a broad understanding of security and defense in the Nordic-Baltic region. Students will learn about the differences in national threat perceptions, defense planning models, actors, and regional issues that influence national defense decision-making through exploring major themes in Nordic-Baltic security. They will also learn about the commonalities in the defense approaches existing in the region, and regional defense cooperation. How do these countries perceive their own security? What do they expect from their relations with the United States, their European neighbors, Russia, and China? What are the key characteristics of their defense force models and how and why do they differ? This course will address the above questions and help students explore how national and regional threat perceptions, policies and force models come into play in the security relations between the United States, and its allies and partners in Eastern Europe. By reviewing their security, economic, and domestic political dynamics, students will develop an understanding of the pressures the decision-makers of these countries face. Students will also learn about the most pressing security challenges in the region today.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6725 Tactical Innovation in Warfare 3 Credits
This course explores the attributes of tactical innovation in war and crisis. This intellectual
landscape emerges from conflict and crisis management studies. Since many crises are rooted in conflict and security challenges, war history serves as a laboratory for expanding understanding. War places a premium on organizational effectiveness, creativity under stress, and adaptation to changing circumstances. All three of those are also the linchpins of “management” in crisis response. Accordingly, this course will focus intently on the dynamics that make innovative adaptation, under pressure, successful.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6726 Nuclear Weapons in World Polit 3 Credits
This course has three objectives. First, the course provides an introduction to the major theories related to the causes and consequences of nuclear weapons in international politics. We examine scholarly debates related to the following questions: Why do nuclear weapons spread? Why do countries try to stop nuclear proliferation? Do nuclear weapons deter conflict? How much is enough for deterrence? What are the broader ramifications of nuclear weapons on international politics? Second, the class provides a history of nuclear weapons in international politics. This history will be interwoven through the topical lectures to detail the development of nuclear issues over time. Not only is this history intrinsically important, but it also provides a basis for policy analysis. Finally, this class evaluates the most important contemporary policy debates, including those related to: nuclear posture and modernization, the nonproliferation regime, arms control, global zero, nuclear deterrence, and nuclear-armed powers, including Russia, China, and North Korea, and potential proliferant states, such as Iran.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6727 Econ Industrial Espionage 3 Credits
Intelligence activities are traditionally thought to comprise the activities of a nation state’s intelligence organizations attempting to steal secrets, usually those pertaining to national security, from the organizations of another nation state. However, intelligence has seldom, if ever, been purely a state on state activity. Most nation states have employed their national intelligence systems to steal economic information from other countries to benefit their economies; many continue to do so. Private enterprises have long employed methodologies associated with “traditional” intelligence to obtain trade secrets from domestic and foreign competitors. The establishment of a legal and ethical framework to govern this activity –- the discipline of “competitive intelligence’, is a relatively recent phenomenon. This course will examine in depth the interaction of intelligence and private sector on these three levels. Part one of the course will cover Economic Espionage: the deliberate targeting of private sector entities by foreign intelligence services. Soviet/Russian and Chinese conduct of Economic Espionage will be discussed in detail. A separate class will examine the prevalence of Economic Espionage among democratic nations, usually considered allies of the United States in both theory and practice. The U.S. attitude towards Economic Espionage, and the U.S reaction to the threat, will be the subject of another class. The course will then move on to Industrial Espionage, companies spying on other companies, and its’ more socially acceptable counterpart, Competitive Intelligence. The course will conclude with an in-depth look at the development of the private intelligence sector, and rare instance of private sector espionage against a government entity: the notorious “Fat Leonard” conspiracy to penetrate and suborn the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6728 Russian Strategy in the MidEas 3 Credits
This course examines Russia’s relations with major powers in the Middle East and has three purposes. The first purpose is for students to learn about the principal actors, main interests and drivers, and key issues shaping Russian foreign and national security policy in the Middle East. The second purpose is to provide students with a better understanding of the main instruments and mechanisms in the toolbox of Russian decision-makers and learn how they use them to defend Russian national interests and advance the Kremlin’s policy priorities in the Middle East. The third purpose is for students to develop critical thinking and writing skills so that they can produce high quality analytical products for various types of consumers, using open source information.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6729 Intro Stats: Policy Practioner 3 Credits
This course provides a basic introduction to probability and statistics. Policy analysts and practitioners need not be statisticians, but they must be able to interpret data, calculate descriptive statistics, and understand the results of statistical models. Our classes will cover the mathematical building blocks but also focus heavily on research design, when to apply statistical techniques, how to translate regression outputs, and the assumptions and limitations of quantitative analysis. This will include assessing the generalizability and validity of arguments presented in articles that rely on statistical analysis.
In the first few weeks of the course, we will use tools, including Excel and Stata, to explore data – measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, and data distributions. Then, we will discuss probability – a fundamental tool for statistical sampling and hypothesis testing. When we cover sampling and hypothesis testing, we will focus on practical applications: when practitioners should use these tools and how to establish a sampling frame, set up fair tests, and determine sample size, for example. Of course, students will also learn the mathematical and computing techniques necessary to design and pull basic samples, produce estimates based on their results, and conduct hypothesis tests. During the final three weeks, students will learn when linear regression is appropriate, the assumptions researchers make when they use linear regression, how to interpret regression outputs and statistical tables, how to diagnose problems within linear regressions, the importance of replicability in research, the debate over p-values, and the basics of experimental design. This section will not require students to calculate regression by hand; instead, more than any other aspect of the course, it will focus on theory. The goal is for students to leave the class with the ability to critically read and understand articles that use quantitative methods.
In the first few weeks of the course, we will use tools, including Excel and Stata, to explore data – measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, and data distributions. Then, we will discuss probability – a fundamental tool for statistical sampling and hypothesis testing. When we cover sampling and hypothesis testing, we will focus on practical applications: when practitioners should use these tools and how to establish a sampling frame, set up fair tests, and determine sample size, for example. Of course, students will also learn the mathematical and computing techniques necessary to design and pull basic samples, produce estimates based on their results, and conduct hypothesis tests. During the final three weeks, students will learn when linear regression is appropriate, the assumptions researchers make when they use linear regression, how to interpret regression outputs and statistical tables, how to diagnose problems within linear regressions, the importance of replicability in research, the debate over p-values, and the basics of experimental design. This section will not require students to calculate regression by hand; instead, more than any other aspect of the course, it will focus on theory. The goal is for students to leave the class with the ability to critically read and understand articles that use quantitative methods.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Arab Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6730 Emerging Tech Nat Sec 3 Credits
What is Artificial Intelligence and how is it changing our understanding of national security? What’s the difference between unmanned and autonomous weapon systems? How can we effectively wage cyberwars? How will quantum computing change the speed and encryption of information? What’s the purpose and future of the US Space Force? How does Artificial Intelligence impact disinformation and data analytics? What are the perils and the promise of these technologies, and how will these emerging technologies on their own or collectively change the conduct of wars? How do ethics figure into these emerging technologies? These questions are at the heart of today’s global politics, economics, and conflicts.
Welcome to Perils and Promise of Emerging Technologies and National Security. This course provides a non-technical conceptual, ethical and policy foundation to study the exclusive and collective impact on national security of Artificial Intelligence, Cyber defensive and offensive operations, Space security issues, Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems, Quantum Technology, Biotechnology and associated technologies.
We will discuss books, articles and documentaries, and engage diverse guest speakers. We'll start with exploring the basics of emerging technologies (AI, Cyber, Space, Quantum, etc.). Second, we will dig deeper into the dynamics of each technology and its impact on national security and ethics. Third, we will study technological fusion and national security and finally, we will end the class by using our understanding of these technologies by reading and discussing the novel 2034: A Novel of the Next World War.
Welcome to Perils and Promise of Emerging Technologies and National Security. This course provides a non-technical conceptual, ethical and policy foundation to study the exclusive and collective impact on national security of Artificial Intelligence, Cyber defensive and offensive operations, Space security issues, Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems, Quantum Technology, Biotechnology and associated technologies.
We will discuss books, articles and documentaries, and engage diverse guest speakers. We'll start with exploring the basics of emerging technologies (AI, Cyber, Space, Quantum, etc.). Second, we will dig deeper into the dynamics of each technology and its impact on national security and ethics. Third, we will study technological fusion and national security and finally, we will end the class by using our understanding of these technologies by reading and discussing the novel 2034: A Novel of the Next World War.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate or Juris Doctor level students.
SEST 6731 Int Econ National Security 3 Credits
The study of interntional economics has always been been a lively and important part of economics. Many of the most important insights into modern into the subject first emerged in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They evolved in sharp debates over the impact of trade and monetary policy. Yet the importance of international economics has never been more important than it is today.Through the international trade of goods and services and the international flow of currencies, the economies of the world’s countries have never been more tied to each other. At the same time, the world’s economy has never been more turbulent than it is today. Keeping up with the shifting international emvironement has become a central concern of national economic policy makers and statesmen around the world as they contemplate the needs of national security. The formal study of economics can correctly be said to have begun with the writings of Adam Smith as an outgrowth of the Scotish Enlightment of the 1700s. With the publication of his major work “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” in 1776 it was immediately recognized as a major work and has influenced public policy ever since. But its clear and direct connection with national security, coming as it did in the early years of the Industrial Revolution has been unmistakable. It was quoted and debated by innumerable writers and thinkers as disparate as Alexander Hamilton and Karl Marx. Since then, the basic concepts have been proven time and again – though ironically the debate continues to roll on. Over the last three centuries it has become abundently clear, that the ebbs and flows of ecomomic activity have a direct and across the board impact on national security budgets everywhere. The Pentagon frequently speaks about the concept of DIME, the four elements of national security – diplomacy, intelligence, military and economics. While they are all important and interrelated, it is clear that the funding of the first three are directly related to the health of a nation’s economy. In our own lifetimes we have seen this reality dramtically played out. The collapse of the Soviet Union economy ended the Cold War and rendered the former states of that union as second and third tier powers. At the sametime, the sudden and wholly unexpected rise of China has dramatically changed the world’s economic, political and military landscape. In many ways, China’s rise is a restoration of the historic role that it has played for thousands of years. But it also underscores the importance of economics in the balance of military and political power. At the height of its economic standing in 1800, China was the largest economy in the world. Over the next two hundred years China’s economy collapsed to below that of Sudan and with it, became only a bit player in Asian and global affairs. As such, it was easily overrun by the colonial powers of Europe and Japan. China’s economic resurgance since the 1980s has once again catapulted China into the dominant political and military power in Asia, easily eclipsing Japan, which for one hundred and fifty years held that distinction. By the same token, it was the stagnation of Japan’s economy that allowed China to race past it. A related issue is also important to note. Both Japan and China were at one time inward looking countries that eschewed foreign contact and trade. While Japan burst out of its insularity and embrased modernity, new ideas and trade relations, China withdrew all the more and allowed its economy to weaken further. Japan prospered and grew in power, while China became an easy mark for the colonial ambitions of both the Western powers and Japan itself. It was only with China’s newfound openness under Deng Xiaoping that China reversed its two-hundred-year decline. The lesson could not be more clear: countries that are open to the world prosper and grow in importance while those that close themselves off to the rest of the world are doomed to regression.
The importance of these lessons is underscored by the resurgence of Asia relative to the West which has enjoyed a two-hundred-year domination of the international order. As Europe’s economies shrink in relative importance, the center of power in the world is clearly shifting to the east.
The aim of this course is to give our students an introduction to the field of international economics as it relates to national power and security which are clearly tightly correlated. It is intended for non-economists. With this in mind, it is our hope to allow our students the become informed consumers of economic thinking to dispel many of the falatious arguments that are often presented in international fora.
It is important to note that while economics has become extremely mathematical in the past fifty years, THIS COURSE DOES NOT require a background in mathematics. The book also makes extensive use of graphs. While students are encouraged to delve into them, we will not require a full mastery of those tools.
One point warrants an early mention. As with all disciplines, international economics carries with it its own distinct vocabulary. It is imperative that students develop an easy familiarity with that vocabulary. To assist everyone with that endeavor, each class will end with a list of the most important vocabulary words covered in the lesson.
The importance of these lessons is underscored by the resurgence of Asia relative to the West which has enjoyed a two-hundred-year domination of the international order. As Europe’s economies shrink in relative importance, the center of power in the world is clearly shifting to the east.
The aim of this course is to give our students an introduction to the field of international economics as it relates to national power and security which are clearly tightly correlated. It is intended for non-economists. With this in mind, it is our hope to allow our students the become informed consumers of economic thinking to dispel many of the falatious arguments that are often presented in international fora.
It is important to note that while economics has become extremely mathematical in the past fifty years, THIS COURSE DOES NOT require a background in mathematics. The book also makes extensive use of graphs. While students are encouraged to delve into them, we will not require a full mastery of those tools.
One point warrants an early mention. As with all disciplines, international economics carries with it its own distinct vocabulary. It is imperative that students develop an easy familiarity with that vocabulary. To assist everyone with that endeavor, each class will end with a list of the most important vocabulary words covered in the lesson.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6732 Foreign Policy for Big Tech 3 Credits
Foreign Policy for Big Tech is important for students looking to advance their careers in government and corporate public policy or risk management. Students of this class will first learn how to think critically about foreign policy from a commercial viewpoint then demonstrate their ability to formulate and articulate foreign policy from the viewpoint of a big tech firm. The first six weeks of the semester will focus on the side of big tech, understanding how the companies operate, their interests and stakeholders, and how foreign policy is formulated. The next 3 weeks will focus on the side of governments, and how they attempt to shape technology industries, and where needed, control their export. The last portion of the curriculum focuses on practical applications, with cases and the culminating presentation by the students.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6733 Story of Russian Power 3 Credits
This course combines military and diplomatic history with the study of film, music and literature to tell the story of Russian power (past and present). It offers a composite picture of Russian national security as it has evolved over the centuries, incorporating culture, geography and political economy and looking at these topics both from within and from without. It traces the internal logic of Russian strategy, the factors that have led Russian policy makers to conceive of national security as they do. It also examines the effect of their logic on the outside world and the many ways in which the outside world has shaped formulations of Russian national security. Starting with medieval Russia, this course winds its way through imperial Russian history, arriving at the caesura of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution. It then explores the geopolitics of the Soviet Union, from World War II to the arrival of the nuclear age and the Cold War. It details the emergence of Putin’s Russia, analyzing Putin’s foreign and national-security policies across multiple axes: U.S.-Russia, Russia-Europe, Russia-China, Russia-Middle East and Russia-Ukraine. This course’s various parts come together in an assessment of the causes of Russia’s serial wars against Ukraine, the first in 2014-2015 and the second in 2022. This course concludes by scrutinizing the problem of Russian power from the vantage point of contemporary U.S. foreign policy.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6735 Global AI Governance 3 Credits
In this course, students will explore the still-unfolding landscape of AI governance with a global context, identifying key topics, vital institutions, and significant policies shaping this conversation. You will become familiar with key issues that dominate political agendas around the world, important players and coalitions addressing AI, and the interplay that can yield success or result in impasse. As AI changes, so do these dynamics. Through case studies, readings, and interactive discussions, students will gain a deeper understanding and foundational knowledge to engage with the emerging challenges and opportunities for governance of AI in an age of globalization.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6736 Econ of Competitrs/Adversaries 3 Credits
In December 2017, the Administration published a National Security Strategy that outlined a different approach for the United States. The document outlined a security view that identified China and Russia as challengers to US power in a world of growing political, economic, and military competition. The document characterized Iran and North Korea as active adversaries, seeking to challenge US and allied interests within their region. This course examines each of these actors from an economic viewpoint, proceeding from the premise that a national economic base provides the resources from which these nations provide for domestic living standards while at the same time resourcing their national security objectives.
The course provides an overview of each nation in context to its regional and world economy and in comparison to the US. The course will examine contemporary and projected trends for each nation and relate these to security and strategy. This is designed as an economics course for security professionals who are NOT economists. The instructor will familiarize students with basic macroeconomic concepts and provide a framework for inquiry which the seminar will apply to each of the actors. The seminar will then draw conclusions for strategy and decision-makers. Assignments will consist of short presentations, a short decision paper for each nation, and a medium-length (8 – 12 page) paper on a national topic chosen by the student.
The course provides an overview of each nation in context to its regional and world economy and in comparison to the US. The course will examine contemporary and projected trends for each nation and relate these to security and strategy. This is designed as an economics course for security professionals who are NOT economists. The instructor will familiarize students with basic macroeconomic concepts and provide a framework for inquiry which the seminar will apply to each of the actors. The seminar will then draw conclusions for strategy and decision-makers. Assignments will consist of short presentations, a short decision paper for each nation, and a medium-length (8 – 12 page) paper on a national topic chosen by the student.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6737 Who Will Rule the 21st Century 3 Credits
In the late 1980s, as U.S. GDP growth slowed, budget deficits remained stubbornly high, and other economies outperformed that of the United States, it was frequent to hear people argue that “the Cold War is over—and Japan and Germany won.” At least those latter powers were U.S. allies. Since that time, moreover, they have encountered their own challenges—Germany in reintegrating its own eastern half and then helping establish the viability of the EU and Euro systems, Japan in dealing with prolonged economic difficulties and demographic decline.
Today, we are witnessing a period of even greater American economic travails, greater national debt relative to the size of the economy, and the concern that less friendly powers—especially China and Russia—may be poised to benefit from the relative decline of the United States in specific and the West in general. The Sanders and Trump phenomena of 2016 are perhaps the most dramatic manifestations of these concerns—and the election of Donald Trump as president could be the most consequential manifestation of such anxieties since the beginning of the Cold War, or at least the end of the Vietnam War. But beyond immediate electoral changes, what do these shifting economic realities, as well as broader changes in global demographics and developments in technology, bode for the future of American power and ultimately the security of this country and its allies?
This course, informed by both historical and technical perspectives, will wrestle with such broad questions about the architecture of the international power system. It will consider the relative decline of the United States and many of its major western allies that many consider to be already underway, and only likely to accelerate. It will examine the promise of the rising powers, together with the structural constraints and other impediments that they will have to face themselves as they seek greater stature, clout, and prosperity in the 21st century. It will also consider plausible war scenarios and other threats to civilization and the planet.
Grading will be based in roughly equal parts on a class presentation, participation in discussions, a midterm writing assignment, and a final exam.
The ultimate purpose of the course is to help students assess the emerging power structures of the 21st century and determine how they think the United States as well as other countries can best adapt to, or if possible alter, the tectonic shifts that are already evident and only likely to intensify.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6738 Russia and its Military 3 Credits
The Russian military has fought four wars in the last two decades and been largely successful in advancing the Kremlin's strategic aims. Russia and Its Military is a course that will allow students to assess the transformation of the Russian military from its immediate post-Soviet nadir to the globally active force that it is today. Russia and Its Military has four main goals. First, the course will examine Russian threat perceptions, military strategy, and doctrine. Second, students will gain in-depth understanding of the Russian military’s force structure, modernization, and capabilities. Third, students will analyze real-world combat operations in Ukraine and Syria. Lastly, this seminar will explore the contemporary security challenges that a more effective and active Russian military presents to the United States.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Arab Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Asian Studies, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Eurasian, Russian, E Euro Stud, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, Foreign Service, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, German and European Studies, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Global Human Development, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Latin American Studies, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Foreign Service, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6739 Introduction to CyberHUMINT 3 Credits
This course is designed to introduce students to CyberHUMINT, the discipline of blending of traditional human intelligence (HUMINT) collection operations and cyber operations. HUMINT is generally well understood. Likewise, cyber operations have become a mainstream discipline as evidenced in the US by the establishment of CYBERCOM. Yet the blending of the two disciplines remains less well understood. The course will cover both the collection opportunities presented by CyberHUMINT as well as the defensive/counter-intelligence threats introduced by adversary use of CyberHUMINT. Of note, the course will examine CyberHUMINT from both the nation state as well as commercial perspective.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6740 Competitive Comm Strategies 3 Credits
This course will examine competitive communication strategies as they pertain to national security and foreign policy, with a special focus on connecting theory with practice. The U.S. government traditionally uses foreign public engagement and information activities to build global networks and influence foreign public opinion in support of U.S. foreign policy goals. This course incorporates multi-disciplinary scholarship to inform student understanding of the practical use of competitive communication strategies to achieve goals.
Geared toward practitioners, this course focuses on understanding the contemporary media ecology, a complex information environment characterized by rapidly evolving information communication technologies, conflicting identity issues, and communication trends exploited by state and non-state actors alike; understanding the range of information/public diplomacy tools available and the logic underpinning their use; and effectively employing such tools to communicate strategically in an era of strategic competition.
In addition to covering U.S. government practices, the course will examine how other state and non-state actors use various tools to understand cultures, attitudes and behavior; build and manage relationships; and influence opinions and actions to advance their interests and values.
Course Learning Objectives: By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• understand the role of competitive communication strategies in advancing objectives; • analyze the contemporary media ecology and its influence on public opinion of specific audiences; • apply information/public diplomacy tools to advance policies/issues; • consider ways to measure impact on public opinion; • improve individual executive communication abilities.
Geared toward practitioners, this course focuses on understanding the contemporary media ecology, a complex information environment characterized by rapidly evolving information communication technologies, conflicting identity issues, and communication trends exploited by state and non-state actors alike; understanding the range of information/public diplomacy tools available and the logic underpinning their use; and effectively employing such tools to communicate strategically in an era of strategic competition.
In addition to covering U.S. government practices, the course will examine how other state and non-state actors use various tools to understand cultures, attitudes and behavior; build and manage relationships; and influence opinions and actions to advance their interests and values.
Course Learning Objectives: By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• understand the role of competitive communication strategies in advancing objectives; • analyze the contemporary media ecology and its influence on public opinion of specific audiences; • apply information/public diplomacy tools to advance policies/issues; • consider ways to measure impact on public opinion; • improve individual executive communication abilities.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6741 Online Terrorism and Extremism 3 Credits
With the enormous growth in the size and use of the Internet, utopian visions of the promise of the online media were challenged by the proliferation of pornographic and violent content on the web and by the use of the Internet and online platforms by extremist organizations of various kinds. Terrorist groups started using online platforms to distribute their propaganda, to communicate with their supporters, to foster public awareness of and sympathy for their causes, and even to execute operations. After appearing with their own websites, terrorists and extremists added social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Telegram, 8Chan, TikTok and more to spread their messages, recruit members and gather intelligence. Recently the Dark Net, Cloud storage services and even the emerging Metaverse were added to their online arsenal. This course examines, from communications research perspective, the relationships between modern terrorists and the new media, how terrorists use the online platforms, how democracies can respond to the challenge, and what are the prices of various measures.
Level: Graduate, Undergraduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6742 Geopolitics of Energy 3 Credits
It has long been said that energy and geopolitics are synonymous – and not without reason. Every country’s economic engine is lineally dependent on energy sources and modern militaries could not possibly function without the ample availability of fuel. At the same time, very few countries have the means to secure their energy needs through locally available supplies; instead, enduring dependencies upon other countries have developed. Given energy’s strategic significance, supply systems for fuels and electricity are now seamlessly interwoven with foreign policy and global politics.
Our global need for fossil fuels has also had a profound impact on climate change which is quickly changing the habitability of vast areas of the planet. Droughts, desertification, intolerable temperatures, flooding, etc. are now common events around the world. Millions of people are already migrating and hundreds of million more will be seeking to relocate to survive, all of which will cause intense geopolitical conflicts.
This new course enables students to enhance their understanding and sharpen their analytical skills with respect to the complex relations between energy supply, energy markets, supply chains and international politics. We will explore the complexities of world energy and international energy relations, examining a wide spectrum of fossil fuels, alongside nuclear and renewable energies. We will also examine how the geopolitics of energy is not merely a matter for the great powers and how actors in the world’s smaller nations are just as active in their quest for power and security.
Our global need for fossil fuels has also had a profound impact on climate change which is quickly changing the habitability of vast areas of the planet. Droughts, desertification, intolerable temperatures, flooding, etc. are now common events around the world. Millions of people are already migrating and hundreds of million more will be seeking to relocate to survive, all of which will cause intense geopolitical conflicts.
This new course enables students to enhance their understanding and sharpen their analytical skills with respect to the complex relations between energy supply, energy markets, supply chains and international politics. We will explore the complexities of world energy and international energy relations, examining a wide spectrum of fossil fuels, alongside nuclear and renewable energies. We will also examine how the geopolitics of energy is not merely a matter for the great powers and how actors in the world’s smaller nations are just as active in their quest for power and security.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6743 Sanctions in US Foreign Policy 3 Credits
As economic sanctions have become an ever more complex and ubiquitous tool of U.S. foreign policy, America's national security apparatus increasingly has oriented itself around their application. Sanctions bureaus have proliferated across the Executive Branch, and today most major law firms, corporations, and business consultancies maintain robust sanctions compliance departments. How did we get here? In 1808, Thomas Jefferson noted that when confronted with foreign threats, "three alternatives alone are to be chosen from. 1. embargo. 2. war. 3. submission & tribute." More than 200 years later, these remain our choices. And when America is unwilling to go to war or submit to foreign impositions, Jefferson’s “embargo”--what we today call economic sanctions--invariably emerges as the policy of choice. This course will explore how the sanctions tool has evolved, becoming increasingly sophisticated and frequently America's policy of first resort. It will look at how sanctions have been applied in recent cases, to include Iran, Cuba, South Africa, Russia, and China. It also will explore innovations in sanctions, in particular financial sanctions, which derive their power from the U.S. dollar's role as the world's reserve currency, and secondary sanctions, which seek to compel persons and entities beyond the jurisdiction of the United States to conform their conduct to U.S. policy.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6744 AirPwr OpsTheory: Bombs,Drone 3 Credits
America’s air weapon is dangerously alluring, because to America’s political leaders it is a quick and low-cost solution to any international crisis. When they want to “do something” without committing large numbers of boots on the ground, policymakers tend to reach for American airpower as the default option. They are also accustomed to three decades of American air dominance, with the Air Force quickly seizing control of enemy skies. US strategic competitors have studied this record of success, however, developing a range of anti-access/area-denial capabilities to contest control of the air. Now for the first time in decades, the United States is not assured of uncontested air supremacy. New threats are also emerging, with more small states and even non-state actors employing missiles and drones to deadly effect. At the same time, new and emerging technologies—robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, and additive manufacturing—are dramatically changing the future of air warfare. Accordingly, this course addresses three key questions: 1) how effective is airpower as a military instrument for achieving US strategic and political objectives? 2) Will the US be able to continue to control the skies in future wars? 3) What is the future of air warfare? Specifically, the course will review airpower theory and emerging American, Russian, and Chinese airpower concepts, as well as examine several contemporary case studies of airpower employment to better understand contemporary policy debates.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6745 Russian Propaganda Influence 3 Credits
Students will build in-depth understanding of the historic and modern Russian (and Soviet) propaganda and influence themes, principles, and dissemination techniques. We will familiarize ourselves with modern and historic discussions of propaganda and its effectiveness and explore various propaganda artifacts – including movies, cartoons, media stories, and social media posts – and their delivery mechanisms. The first half of the course will focus on major themes and narratives of Russian propaganda, with an in-depth look at the implications of various ideological strains, such as anti-Americanism, homophobia, and efforts to define Russia’s role in the modern world. The second half of the course will focus on how modern Russian propaganda targets audiences, tailors messaging, communicates ideas, integrates into existing messaging streams, and adapts to changing media environments and information consumption patterns.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment limited to students in the LW-JD-LWSS or MA-SEST programs.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6746 Cog Psych for Security Studies 3 Credits
In this course, students learn how psychology, and specifically cognitive psychology, is foundational to understanding human behavior in the security domain. This course surveys the many ways in which mental states like beliefs and desires, and cognitive processes like bias and decision-making, lead to conflict, often despite our best efforts. Students will gain an understanding of cognitive psychology as a research domain and its place among other specialties in psychological research and practice, as well as its career applications. Students will also gain familiarity with the intersections of cognitive psychology research and theory, on the one hand, and both applied research (e.g., interventions) and current topics in security studies, on the other.
Intersections of psychology and security studies covered in the course include, but are not limited to, psychological processes, bias, and augmented cognition in intelligence analysis; cognitive neuroscience and deception detection; assessment and selection; decision science, sensemaking, and decision support tools; grand strategy and soft power; how conflict shapes our thought; information and influence operations; psychology and privacy; psychology of terrorism, extremism, and civil war; psychology and great power competition; and violence and human nature.
Intersections of psychology and security studies covered in the course include, but are not limited to, psychological processes, bias, and augmented cognition in intelligence analysis; cognitive neuroscience and deception detection; assessment and selection; decision science, sensemaking, and decision support tools; grand strategy and soft power; how conflict shapes our thought; information and influence operations; psychology and privacy; psychology of terrorism, extremism, and civil war; psychology and great power competition; and violence and human nature.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6747 The Chinese Nat Sec System 3 Credits
The Chinese Communist Party conceives of security as not only protecting national land borders, maritime sovereignty rights, and bringing Taiwan back into the fold, but also protecting the internal stability of the People's Republic, ensuring the continued growth of the Chinese economy protecting the legitimacy, resiliency of the Party, and ensuring dangerous ideas, and propaganda do not erode CCP effectiveness at governance. To ensure this security the CCP has erected a system of governance, instituted a national security commission, developed over time a reformed military force structure and processes, put in place new law enforcement and prosecution procedures, strengthened its intelligence collection and surveillance system, and has put in place a robust system of military contingency planning, crisis decision making, and policy implementation. This class will explore this system in detail, using case studies, and reading the latest China analytic scholarship on these structures, processes and challenges.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6748 China, BRI,Strategic Comp 3 Credits
The course will examine the BRI in the larger framework of China’s foreign policy and strategic concepts and objectives, including the “Community of Common Destiny” and President Xi’s “New Asian Security Concept,” which casts BRI as a policy “means” to a larger strategic “end.” The course will begin by setting BRI in the context of China’s domestic development and the key drivers that have shaped its economic evolution. It will go on to evaluate how China’s global BRI activities have affected the interests of states participating in BRI projects as well as the interests of the U.S., its allies, and its strategic partners, especially in the Indo-Pacific region. It will also consider BRI’s expansion beyond the Indo-Pacific into the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the Arctic again assessing its impact on U.S. strategic interests in those regions The course will lay out the evolution of competing visions of regional and international order, in particular the concept of a Free and Open-Indo Pacific (FOIP). Inspired in Japan initially, then-President Trump, in remarks to the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam in November 2017, set out his vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP). In the context of Sino-American competition, the course will compare the economic and security elements of FOIP and the BRI in terms of support for regional economic development, stability, and security. Finally, the course will ask students to define an appropriate U.S. policy response to the BRI.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6749 Israel/Palest:Contemp Conflict 3 Credits
This course explores the dynamics of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The course is structured in three parts, which will challenge students to understand the history of the conflict, to analyze contemporary complexities, and to apply their knowledge in creative and policy-relevant ways. The course begins with a historical overview of the creation of the Israeli state and its impact on and interaction with Palestinians and neighboring states. It then examines the political and ideological dynamics in both Israel in Palestine in an effort to illuminate the long-standing impediments to peace and prospects for change. The course concludes by analyzing the parameters of peace talks through the exploration of historical and contemporary proposals for one and two state solutions. Students will take part in a multi-week simulation in which they will identify innovative and plausible processes and frameworks for resolution.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment limited to students in the LW-JD-LWSS or MA-SEST programs.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6750 Persian Gulf Security 3 Credits
This course draws on the concept of the regional security complex to explore the challenge of security in the Persian/Arabian Gulf. IR scholar Barry Buzan defined this type of complex as “a group of states whose primary security concerns link together sufficiently closely that their national securities cannot realistically be considered apart from one another.” As such, this course will look not at any one particular Gulf state, but at how the eight Gulf states have interacted over time to advance their individual interests. In the late twentieth century, the region was characterized by the triangular relationship between Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. In more recent years, with Iraq in disarray, the Saudi-Iran rivalry has dominated the region, although smaller Gulf powers, such as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, have increasingly asserted themselves in the regional system. Moreover, the Gulf has almost always seen substantial external intervention. Prior to 1971, Britain was the external hegemon; in more recent decades, that role has been played by the United States. Various Gulf states have also established important relationships with other external powers in recent years, particularly China and Israel. Meanwhile, the states of the Gulf region face new threats, stemming from climate change and the emergence of new technologies like drones. This course will first look at regional security in the Gulf over the last 50 years, before examining the most salient issues that dominate the topic today.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6751 Cyber Threat Intel and Nat Sec 3 Credits
Cyber Threat Intelligence and National Security” is designed to teach non-technical students the nuances and national security implications of cyber threat intelligence (CTI) through experiential learning: using debates, AI demos, mock press conferences, and
weekly curated discussions on contemporary events to apply frameworks, methodologies, and analytic mindsets to an array of practical problems in order to strategically evaluate the CTI landscape. This course will expose you to the daily work of cybersecurity
professionals and ask you to inhabit their roles in various contexts, from advising a CISO of a private corporation about the wisdom of “hacking back” to examining the difficulties of attribution with intelligence analysts. Students will develop the robust set of skills and
knowledge necessary to understand and anticipate the complex web of cyber threats affecting national security. This course will also explore the ethical dilemmas and legal constraints related to cyber espionage, data breaches, and a comparative look at other
countries’ cybersecurity strategies. By the end of the class, students will be prepared to lead in policy scenarios where business, cybersecurity, and national security intersect.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6752 Nat Sec Space Policy Tech 3 Credits
Want to learn about the newest warfighting domain and a central arena of great power competition? This course will examine how spacepower contributes to U.S. national and international security, the key space policy issues facing the United States, and the factors that influence national security space decision-making. We will begin with an overview of the space environment and how the use of space has evolved. We will review and contrast U.S. national security space policies – past and present – in the context of technology advancements and a changing international security landscape. We will examine decision-making entities, budgets, and processes in U.S. national security space, including the role of Congress, and conduct a deep-dive on the establishment of the U.S. Space Force. Our course then expands to international space issues, foreign space programs, and the role of intelligence. It continues with a review of space warfare trends and their implications across policy, operations, and technology. Finally, our course culminates with a multi-session “space wargame” that puts students in a simulated Principals-level meeting at the National Security Council as an international security crisis unfolds involving space assets.
No technical or space background is required for this course, but a strong interest in the nexus between space technology and policy is preferred. This is a practitioners’ course, and is designed to prepare students for interaction with, or development of, national security policy through the lens of space issues. Through assignments and in-class discussions, students will be exposed to a range of policymaking vehicles and “tools of the trade” frequently used in the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and Congress – from information memos, congressional hearings, federal budget analysis, to meeting preparation and briefings.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6753 U.S. Alli and Def Diplo E Asia 3 Credits
The security environment in East Asia is under tremendous pressure driven by the growth and modernization of the People’s Republic of China’s military power along with its coercive application throughout the Indo-Pacific region. At the same time, the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea (DPRK) has developed an increasingly capable nuclear program, including short-, medium-, and long-range missiles capable of targeting U.S. and allied interests throughout the entire region along with the U.S. homeland. While waging a war with Ukraine, Russia is
intensifying its nuclear saber-rattling and strengthening its military ties with the DPRK. At the center of the U.S. response to these threats in East Asia has been the use of defense diplomacy to manage and modernize its patchwork of alliance relationships. This course examines the history
and current challenges facing U.S. alliances in East Asia from the perspective of practitioners, blending an exploration of alliance theories with their practical application in Washington,Tokyo, and Seoul. The goal is provide an understanding of the current environment through the
lens of U.S. alliance managers along with an appreciation of the opportunities and constraints associated with managing U.S. security alliances.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6754 Taiwan and U.S. Policy 3 Credits
The United States Department of Defense characterizes China as “the pacing challenge” and a cross-Strait conflict between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (Taiwan) as the “pacing scenario.” Indeed, few countries face a more severe national security threat than Taiwan, a high-tech liberal democracy that the PRC aspires to absorb by subversion and intimidation if possible, and by force if necessary, using all the tools at its disposal. A former treaty ally of the United States and former permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, Taiwan today is formally recognized by just twelve other countries. Its semiconductor industry and geostrategic position along the First Island Chain make it critical for global supply chains and regional sea lines of communication yet owing to a decades-long campaign by Chinese nationalists to erase its very identity, many people fail to understand its unique identity, society, and national security importance. The island’s complex and rapidly evolving political landscape adds a further layer of complication, with different parties disagreeing vehemently over how best to meet the threat posed by China, either by minimizing the threat or by highlighting it. And given Taiwan’s proximity to the PRC and Beijing’s willingness to threaten and coerce those who support Taiwan, even the island’s democratic neighbors and the United States must tread carefully, balancing their support against other equities even as they strive to avoid crossing redlines that might prompt the very conflict that they seek to deter by bolstering Taipei. This course will tackle Taiwan’s history and politics, the PRC threat, Taiwan’s national security strategy and policy choices, and the options and implications for national security policies for the United States and Taiwan’s neighbors. It will culminate with a detailed examination of how a war in the Strait might unfold and what its consequences would be for all parties. Students will come away with a deeper understanding of the potential causes of a Taiwan Strait conflict and the ability to understand and contextualize developments that occur after the conclusion of the course.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6755 OSINT, Commercial Data USNP 3 Credits
The world of data has exploded—opening up new opportunities in open-source intelligence (OSINT) and commercial data use, creating new privacy and security threats, and challenging long-held assumptions about US national security policy. This course will dive into the worlds of OSINT and commercial data, examining new technologies and information sources and how they impact and intersect with US military, intelligence, and national security policy and strategy. It will expose students to industries ranging from data brokers to mobile ad networks to commercial satellite providers. It will cover case studies across counterterrorism, cyber defense, war crimes analysis, and nuclear weapons tracking. And it will explore how foreign adversaries such as China and Russia are leveraging OSINT, including in an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven era—and challenge students to think critically, deeply, and originally about this frontier of technology, data, and national security policy.
Students will be evaluated through written assignments, briefings, and in-class exercises. No prior technical knowledge is required to take this course. For those who have taken or are interested in taking the hands-on OSINT class (SEST 6650), this course, rather than a hands-on-the-keyboard focus, will focus more on strategy, policy, and operational case studies.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6756 Software-Defined Warfare 3 Credits
Commercial technology and recent conflicts have taught us more in the last 24 months about the future of warfare than the preceding decade. This course examines current technology paradigms within the US military, near peer and pacing threat adversaries as well as nations in recent conflicts as we fully embark on the "decisive decade." The emerging use of disruptive innovations and associated principles and architectures have shown promise but scale and speed have not been mastered. This course analyzes current competitive advantage and opportunities to increase future advantage through improved technology delivery.
Shifts in both market economics and battlefield dynamics require a deeper understanding of the underlying software, the enterprises who deliver them, and how. Trends in commercial delivery and changes in funding are producing a new defense and software industrial base and understanding it before it is fully here is a key to maximizing public-private benefit.
The rise of autonomy on attritable hardware along with how commercial software and clouds are provided and consumed will be evaluated. Similarly, the stakeholders and processes across the national security ecosystem will be analyzed - past, present and projected future. This analysis will be evaluated along the lines of national industrial bases, partnerships and contrasted competitively against the so-called "technological valley of death."
Shifts in both market economics and battlefield dynamics require a deeper understanding of the underlying software, the enterprises who deliver them, and how. Trends in commercial delivery and changes in funding are producing a new defense and software industrial base and understanding it before it is fully here is a key to maximizing public-private benefit.
The rise of autonomy on attritable hardware along with how commercial software and clouds are provided and consumed will be evaluated. Similarly, the stakeholders and processes across the national security ecosystem will be analyzed - past, present and projected future. This analysis will be evaluated along the lines of national industrial bases, partnerships and contrasted competitively against the so-called "technological valley of death."
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6757 US Nat Policy and Intel Nexus 3 Credits
The goal is to help students dive deeply into the enduring and emerging challenges facing the Intelligence Community, particularly the pitfalls and mindsets in intelligence analysis and the fraught intelligence-policy relationship. These broad themes on the front end would tee up a more in-depth look in about a dozen case studies of successes and failures.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6759 Israeli National Sec Strategy 3 Credits
Since its inception, Israel has confronted nearly unremitting hostility: repeated wars, perpetual hostilities at lower levels, the failed peace processes with the Palestinians and Syria, and even the “cold” peace with Egypt and Jordan. Israel has responded by building up disproportionate national security (NS) capabilities. The course analyses Israel's NS decision making environment, the structures and processes of its NS establishment, basic tenets of Israeli NS strategy and primary issues, such as: US-Israeli relations, Iranian challenge, Hezbollah and Hamas, the peace process, relations with regional countries and the international community. Students draft policy papers to Israeli decision makers on major issues.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6760 Homeland Def. Changing World 3 Credits
The 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS) declared the homeland no longer a sanctuary, and the 2022 NDS noted that the "scope and scale of threats to the homeland have fundamentally changed." Today, the Trump Administration has pledged to create an "iron dome for America" and tasked U.S. Northern Command to clarify the military’s role protecting the territorial integrity of the United States. And yet, in the minds of most Americans, conflict in the homeland remains inconceivable, and homeland defense is often placed behind global priorities. What accounts for this divergence? What are adversary theories of victory with respect to the homeland and how should we prepare? How does a contemporary understanding of threats to the homeland shift our understanding of strategy for the larger Western Hemisphere region?
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6761 Industrial Tools Nat Sec Pol 3 Credits
This course examines the extent to which industrial policies and acquisition law influence national security strategy and international security. The 2020 pandemic, 2021 invasion of Ukraine, heightened geopolitical tension with China, and global climate concerns all raised awareness of supply chain resilience and the ability of the market to allocate limited resources effectively and effectively. Emerging technologies such as AI and quantum raise the risk of U.S. commercial products and advanced weapons systems not being able to overcome shortfalls in software development and manufacturing capabilities, introducing a new front for an arms race. This course will delve into how governments use targeted interventions known as industrial policy to make domestic producers more competitive or promote growth in selected industries to avoid market failures and bolster national security. It will begin with a historical review of policy foundations for U.S. and international investment programs and activities, including acquisition policy evolution, relevant laws and Congressional action related to major wars and relevant economic gain. The second half of the course will address current issues in trade policy and industry interventions as they relate to U.S.-China vis-a-vis U.S.-Russia relations. These issues include national infrastructure investments, tariffs, import-export controls, foreign investment reviews, mergers and acquisitions, stockpiling policy, domestic production, workforce development, and industrial taxation and credits.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6762 Critical Minerals Nat Sec 3 Credits
The United States is currently grappling with a heavy dependence on China for critical minerals, which poses both economic and strategic risks. Ensuring the security of mineral supply chains essential for advanced technologies in key industries is both an economic necessity and a matter of national security. However, these supply chains remain highly vulnerable. Policymakers are now confronted with the critical challenge of strengthening access to materials such as lithium and graphite for cutting-edge battery technologies, as well as tungsten and rare earth elements vital for the future of military advancements. Critical Minerals and National Security will cross-examine the building and management of robust supply chains for natural resources that are essential to national, economic, and energy security. This course will introduce you to the economic, geopolitical, technological, environmental, and social considerations of securing critical minerals, helping you understand how these relate to a range of industries and policy challenges. Through dynamic sessions and interactive seminars, you will investigate the various risks facing U.S. critical minerals security and how policy and market interventions can mitigate them.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6763 Russian Security State 3 Credits
Russian Security State: This course seeks to explain the design and implementation of national security and defense policy in the Russian Federation and its predecessor states (Soviet Union, Russian Empire). The lectures and readings are organized into three modules, focusing on how Russia has approached the competing challenges of (1) economic development, (2) internal security, and (3)relations with other actors in the international system. Our attention will be on the interaction between these policy domains over different periods of Russian history — Tsarist, Soviet, and contemporary — with an emphasis on how the legacy of the past has shaped and constrained Russian national security strategy and decision-making. Topics we will cover/include: territorial and imperial expansion, serfdom, collectivization, industrialization, mass repression, counter-insurgency, military doctrine and organization, nuclear weapons, energy and natural resources, cyber warfare, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Course readings will draw on literature from various disciplines, including political science, economics, history, and public policy. Class meetings will place a heavy emphasis on student participation and activity-based learning through surveys, games, simulations and debates.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6764 Runet to Cyberwar 3 Credits
From Runet to Cyberwar: Whether through election meddling and disinformation or ransomware and critical infrastructure attacks, Russian strategy and capabilities in cyberspace have come to be considered a prominent threat to Western cybersecurity. Yet there is much about Russia’s unique approach to cyberspace and how it has developed that remains poorly understood though critically important to making sense of the regime’s growing authoritarianism at home and belligerence abroad. This course examines Russia’s relationship with the global Internet and its role in the evolution of domestic politics and foreign policy. In tracing the evolution of the Russian Internet, RuNet, and its important role in fostering new forms of political discourse, journalism, and protest mobilization, we will examine how these developments have been met with increasing efforts at control and manipulation of the information space. Likewise, the course will examine Russia’s understandings of threats and conflict in and through cyberspace and their impact on current international affairs and the future of the global Internet.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6765 US Russia Foreign Policies 3 Credits
The U.S. and Russia did not have an easy relationship during the 20th century. During the Cold War, the conflict between two ideological systems — Communism, which the Soviet Union sought to expand, and democracy, which the United States has used to counter Communism — has led to a number of direct and indirect clashes between these two superpowers, including wars in Vietnam and Korea, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin Blockade, and the creation of the Berlin Wall. The collapse of the Communist system, along with the perception of the “End of History,” spread a feeling of optimism about U.S.-Russian relations. Originally, optimism strengthened due to initially amicable relations between the Russian and U.S. presidents. However, subsequent relations took a wrong turn and went through a downward spiral, worsening after each crisis (including the NATO bombings of Yugoslavia, the Color Revolutions in the post-Soviet space, Russia’s wars with Georgia, Ukraine, and Syria in 2008, 2014, and 2015, respectively, Russia’s interference in the U.S. elections in 2016 and Russia’s ongoing 2022 war in Ukraine). As of today, U.S.-Russian relations are at the lowest point since the end of the Cold War. Many observers wonder to what extent such an outcome was inevitable and who is to blame for it. This course will address this and related questions in depth by analyzing the foreign policy between the U.S. and Russia. We will cover U.S.-Russian foreign policy, Russian geopolitics, the influence of Marxist-Leninist theory, the Cold War, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia’s foreign policy under Putin, and the recent U.S. responses to Russia’s assertive behavior on the international stage. We will also reflect on the future of the U.S.-Russian relations. Some of these topics intersect with issues related to international relations (IR), national security, political theory, political economy, geopolitics, and, of course, history.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6766 Violence(In)Security:LatAmer 3 Credits
Violence and (in)security in Latin America The seminar will explore the manifestations of collective violence in Latin American countries and the role that violence has played in the configuration of the Latin American state. We will examine various manifestations of social, political and criminal violence and their impact on states and societies. We will examine Latin American case studies that contribute to understanding pervasive sources of violence, the structuring of protection rackets, illegal economic bonanzas and criminal governance, amongst others. We will also explore case studies shining light on grey zones of the state-crime relation. As violence and insecurity are identified as one of the pressing issues in most national political settings in Latin America, security and criminal policy responses have been abundant. They vary in focus and scope, and, most of them, have been ineffective. We will survey some of these responses over time and analyze current manifestations, including selective enforcement, hard line approaches to security and negotiations. Course reading draws on relevant literatures in social sciences, law and investigative journalism. Complementarily, films (fiction and documentary) will be used to offer a human dimension of the problems being analyzed. The course is organized as a research seminar for graduate students. Participants will have to define a research topic based on areas addressed in class or closely related to the issues debated. All research papers should address practical or theoretical dimensions of violence and security, in a particular national setting, through a comparative exercise, through thematic exploration, or in the context of international law and institutions.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6767 Energy Security: Western Hemis 3 Credits
We start by examining energy flows at the national, sub-regional and hemispheric levels in the world context. The detailed analysis of sources and uses of energy at the different territorial levels will make possible the comparison among countries and the different regional levels leading up to hemispheric energy flow to be compared with the largest world countries and regions. During the second half of the course, based on the first descriptive section, we will move into more macro analyses, considering institutional and political economy of energy, analyses on the price of crude oil and future of energy, and a review of fiscal policies affecting the secto
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6768 IR NewRegionalism:LatAmCarib 3 Credits
International Organizations LA
The past two decades have witnessed the evolution of different movements and organizations that are challenging traditional conceptions of relations among nations in the Western Hemisphere as we have known them since 1945. What has brought about the emergence of these movements and organizations? Are we witnessing paradigmatic changes that will redefine hemispheric relations in years to come? What is the importance, if any, of these changes for the future of the Hemisphere?
This seminar examines the changing nature of inter-hemispheric relations in the 21st century. It will combine a variety of theoretical approaches and policy issues to illustrate and analyze the history and nature of these changes. It is designed for upper level undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing further research and/or careers in inter-hemispheric affairs.
Although the seminar does not presume a prior knowledge of International Relations Theory, it does presume knowledge of Latin American political economy and history and a reading knowledge of Spanish.
The past two decades have witnessed the evolution of different movements and organizations that are challenging traditional conceptions of relations among nations in the Western Hemisphere as we have known them since 1945. What has brought about the emergence of these movements and organizations? Are we witnessing paradigmatic changes that will redefine hemispheric relations in years to come? What is the importance, if any, of these changes for the future of the Hemisphere?
This seminar examines the changing nature of inter-hemispheric relations in the 21st century. It will combine a variety of theoretical approaches and policy issues to illustrate and analyze the history and nature of these changes. It is designed for upper level undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing further research and/or careers in inter-hemispheric affairs.
Although the seminar does not presume a prior knowledge of International Relations Theory, it does presume knowledge of Latin American political economy and history and a reading knowledge of Spanish.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6769 China's Evolving Role in Afr 3 Credits
Africa-China Engagements Since the 1990s, China-Africa diplomatic and economic relations have accelerated rapidly; however, it is important to note relations between them are not new. Going back to pre-colonial times, China and Africa have experienced ebbs and flows of people, goods, and ideas, at certain times more intensely than at others. Present-day Chinese engagement in Africa is highly politicized. Critics describe this engagement as a “new scramble for Africa”, with China's activities on the African continent labeled “neo-colonial”. Many such depictions, while perhaps based on some elements of truth, often lack empirical grounding and an understanding of the complex realities of increasingly multifaceted relations. They do, however, reflect African and Western concerns about Chinese activities and China’s global rise, often seen through the lens of earlier colonial histories of exploitation of the African continent. The purpose of this course is threefold. We will learn how various interests and historical framings impact the ways in which “China-in-Africa” narratives are constructed. We will explore both historical and contemporary linkages between Africa and China from both “upstairs” (macro-economic and -political) and “downstairs” (peopled, grounded) perspectives. And we will explore these engagements by sector and by individual African country. In so doing, we will attempt to tease out trends as well as impacts on African countries and concerns about development, human rights, labor issues, environmental impacts, and uneven power dynamics. The course aims to provide students the opportunity to critically discuss and analyze controversial and contested China-Africa (or Africa-China) socio-economic relations and their implications. It also aims to allow students the opportunity to examine select inter-related topics that shed light on “Chinese” influences and impacts on the economies, polities, and societies of individual African countries; “African” priorities, perspectives, and responses; and “Western” views (Note: all of these are in parentheses as we will discover that within each, there are myriad actors, each with their own sets of priorities.) This course aims to explore the interrelationships between African nations, their traditional Western partners, newer national actors, and China, in comparative perspective. We conclude with a discussion of African agency and shifting global dynamics.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6770 US Policy in Africa 3 Credits
This course examines U.S. foreign policy towards Africa through a multi-sector historical lens. The primary aims are to deepen students' understanding of U.S. policy priorities on the continent; examine the tension between U.S. interests and values in its engagement with Africa; and explore the African contexts into which U.S. policy is employed. The course begins by identifying current and historical U.S. interests in Africa and will also highlight the agency, interests and strategies of African nations in their engagement with the United States.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6771 Nuclear Age in the Middle East 3 Credits
The advent of nuclear weapons in 1945 marked the beginning of the nuclear age. Characterized as “the absolute weapon”, the quest for a nuclear bomb has been the core of the study of international security in general and the theory of International relations in particular. Scholars have produced a large and contradictory literature on the motivations for nuclear proliferation and the impact of nuclear weapons on states’ behavior, namely in terms of war and escalations dynamics. Guided by a Realist paradigm, and the line of argumentation of the “rational deterrence theory”, this course will apply the “security model” to analyzing and critically investigating crucial questions related to the nuclear age in the Middle East. At the core of these issues is to identify the very meaning of a “nuclear decision” in terms of “exploring”, “pursuing”, and “producing” a nuclear weapons program. Moreover, it addresses the cases of “nuclear latency” and “strategic hedging”. The decision to proliferate suggests a thorough reading of states’ evaluation of the very utility of nuclear weapons, namely in terms of “deterrence”, “coercion” and “compellence”. Such a trichotomy is inextricably linked to another debate about the strategic value of nuclear weapons, namely in terms of three schools of thought: nuclear revolution; risk manipulation, escalation, and limited war; and nuclear irrelevance. In addition, the debate over the impact of nuclear weapons on “general stability”, and “crisis stability” will be analyzed.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6772 Logistics for Policymakers 3 Credits
This course provides an overview of how logistics serves as a key tool for expressing national power. We will
begin with an overview of ideas and concepts applicable to all areas of logistics. We will then use this
foundation to explore three fields where logistics plays a defining role: defense, international trade, and
disaster relief. In each area, we will develop concepts using a mix of directed lectures, exercises, case study
analysis, and discussion. By the end of the course, students will have a robust understanding of how logistics
serves as both a constraint to, and an enabler of, traditional national power.
This is not a course for professional logisticians seeking advanced technical discussions. On the contrary, this is
a course about logistics for non-logisticians – a course about logistics for leaders and policymakers. This course
provides a critical foundation in logistics for students seeking to work in defense and homeland security
agencies, military organizations, legislative committees, and humanitarian response groups. Successful
students will learn how to manage, support, and direct the logistics components of these organizations to
achieve success and avoid failure.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6773 Democrats, Dict Devt Africa 3 Credits
This course dives into the ongoing tug-of-war between autocrats in Africa and the activists,
opposition leaders, foreign actors, and institutional checks and balances that seek to constrain or
displace them. Drawing on a mix of theory and cases, we will explore how democracy in Africa
has evolved since the independence period, how autocrats are adapting new tools and
technologies to survive in power, and how these trends are shaping—and are shaped
by—conflict, development, and geopolitical competition. Students will immerse themselves in a country case of their choice to complement the key concepts and insights they learn for making sense of the evolving governance landscape on the continent.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6774 Navigating Seams:Tech,Ops,Pol 3 Credits
Throughout history, major advances in society have seen key shifts in three areas: technology, operations, and policy. Complex developments often require simultaneously maneuvering within all three of these spaces using various tools of their trades. When significant advances are made in one of the three areas, the other two may struggle to maintain a similar pace of adaptation. In times of extreme advance, these dissimilar paces may become more apparent and result in overt friction at their seams, especially when one or more is out of pace with the others. This course examines the seams created between the three key areas of technology, operations, and policy as applied to specific cases. An analysis of real-world topics creates avenues for students to more concretely define, analyze, and evaluate the seams that apply between these areas.Through a series of lectures, case studies, simulations, and group discussions, students will engage in hands-on analysis of real-world topics, creating avenues for them to more concretely define, analyze, and evaluate the seams that apply between these areas. By the end of the course, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of how to navigate and address the complexities and frictions that arise at the intersections and seams of technology, operations, and policy, equipping them with the skills to effectively contribute to future tensions they may encounter
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6775 Bus/Inv Fragile High-Rsk Mkts 3 Credits
This course prepares students to understand and navigate the complex realities of investing or doing business (operations, supply chains, etc) in fragile and conflict-affected markets, where opportunity and volatility coexist. Students will examine how global and local economic systems function in high-risk environments, how national, sub-national, and non-state actors shape economic incentives, and how to identify both risk and potential for long-term impact in places where formal institutions are weak or contested. Through a systems lens and real-world case studies, such as Facebook's role in Myanmar's genocide to LaFarge’s terrorism financing catastrophe in Syria, students will learn to analyze frontier and fragile markets as interconnected systems where decisions made by investors, corporations, and development finance institutions can either exacerbate instability or help create more inclusive, resilient economies and political systems. The course integrates cutting-edge tools from business strategy, political economy, and conflict analysis, preparing students for careers in global strategy, security sector engagement, international finance, development finance, risk consulting, and private sector roles in challenging operational environments.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6776 Security Economy in MENA 3 Credits
This course provides a comprehensive analysis of the intersection between political economy and security dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Students will analyze key themes including civil war, minority grievances, sectarian conflicts, extremism and radicalism, minority governance, Resource-Driven Conflicts, and Interstate/Intrastate Wars from a political economy perspective. We examine how economic, political, and social factors together interact to shape security framework and outcomes across the region, including oil rich countries, resource-poor societies, and conflict-affected societies. Students will first master core economic concepts essential for understanding security dynamics—including resource allocation, institutional economics, development models, and economic grievance formation—before applying these frameworks to specific regional conflicts .
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6777 Ramificatins of Rus War on Ukr 3 Credits
This course will explore the ramifications of Russia's war on Ukraine for future U.S. national security policy. With a focus on strategic choices and policy debates from the perspectives of Kyiv and Western capitals, the course will incorporate discussion of current events unfolding on the battlefield and through diplomacy. After building a foundational understanding of history leading up to Russia’s 2014 and 2022 invasions, the course will illuminate: 1) the evolution of warfare on the battlefield in Ukraine, focusing on whether/how decisions affected operational and strategic outcomes; 2) regional security implications of the war (e.g., deterring future Russian aggression and the war’s effect on existing European and transatlantic security relationships and institutions); and 3) implications of Russia's war on Ukraine for future U.S. national security policies in student-selected case studies on Europe, Russia, or globally.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6778 Geopol Risk Fundamentals 3 Credits
This course will provide an introduction to the field of geopolitical risk analysis and examine the intersections of international security and commercial activities, a subject of increasing relevance in an era of rapid and large-scale geopolitical churn. The course will leverage lessons from intelligence analysis tradecraft and apply them to real-world challenges faced by multinational companies. The course will not only provide essential background for students interested in careers in commercial geopolitical risk and business intelligence but will also yield valuable insights for current and future national security practitioners in government, the intelligence community, and the military to better understand dependencies between national security and commercial operations.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6779 U.S. Dip Strategy in 21st Cen 3 Credits
In U.S. Diplomatic Strategy in the 21st Century, we examine the idea that the United States is “the indispensable nation,” as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and others have suggested. We test this theory as we study the strategic and tactical considerations that help shape a
credible foreign policy and effective international diplomatic engagement during an era of increasing polarization. We explore the role that international law plays in the formulation and execution of foreign policy, as well as the relationship between diplomacy and the use of force. We study how important issues such as human rights, climate change and technology are factored in, and the role that economic statecraft and international development can play. We delve into these issues with awareness of the differences that can arise between Congress and the Executive Branch over the conduct of foreign policy. Towards the end of the semester, we have the opportunity to conduct two simulations: one involving
negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, and the other involving aggressive moves by China against Taiwan. Throughout the semester, we also consider whether global politics should be viewed as a competition among autocracies and democracies, or through another lens.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6780 Religion in Terrorism 3 Credits
This course will allow students to critically examine the complex dynamic of religion in
terrorism, with a particular focus on Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Students will have
the opportunity to explore how religious beliefs and identity have been invoked to both
justify acts of political violence and shape counter-terrorism strategies. The class will
read through primary documents and case studies to investigate theological narratives,
historical grievances and ideological constructs that undergird religiously motivated
terrorism, as well as strategies to counter it. The class will study a variety of cases
including Christian militias and leaderless resistance movements in the United States,
Islamist Jihadist movements across the Middle East, and the role of violent movements
in Israel. Ultimately, the course will challenge students to answer the questions Why,
how, and in what ways do religion and terrorism intersect, and what should be done to
address it?
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6781 Tech Alliances the Quad 3 Credits
The purpose of this course is for students to gain a richer understanding of two critical variables in international politics—technology and alliances—that can shape the global balance of power and deterrence. The course will have a special focus on the Quad, which sits at the intersection of the two concepts. These concepts are often studied independently but this course aims to examine the intersection of the two.
Because both concepts have become central to how the United States thinks about its great
power competition, particularly with China, they have been invoked by the last
two US Presidential administration’s as key sources of American strength, power, and
comparative advantage.
However, neither of these concepts are cost-free. Alliances involve policy tradeoffs between
augmented capability and sovereignty. Technology innovation development involves significant fiscal tradeoffs, and tech collaboration incurs significant risk of diffusion into the wrong hands. Moreover, these tools of alliances and technology could be equally and effectively wielded by competitors like China.
The course then seeks to examine the intersection of technology and alliances as a concept,
and in practice, particularly in the case of the Quad grouping.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6782 Women in Combat: A History 3 Credits
Despite ongoing controversy about women in combat positions in the U.S. armed forces, history shows that women have taken up arms since the birth of the country. This course will follow women's combatant roles in armed conflict through American and international history, using case studies from state militaries, violent political organizations, and revolutionary movements. What can women's participation in war tell us about how wars are fought? How have state and non-state groups tried to regulate women's roles? What happens to women combatants when wars end? And what does the response to women in combat say about culture, politics, and the possibilities for peace?
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6783 US Intel: Blunders, PolitRefm 3 Credits
In this seminar, we will examine the blunders, politics, and institutional reform efforts that have shaped the conduct of U.S. intelligence activity. This course will trace the evolution and arc of U.S. intelligence authorities, activities, and oversight across four overarching themes: (1) intelligence-related blunders and scandals that have been exposed by and shaped Congress’ oversight and investigative authorities and functions; (2) the use and misuse of intelligence analysis, activities, and authorities to inform and influence foreign policy; (3) counterintelligence authorities and activity to counter foreign influence that can also be wielded against perceived opponents domestically; and (4) the benefits and risks of abuse of surveillance tools and emerging technology. During the semester, students will immerse themselves in historical and contemporary case studies and debates – from intelligence scandals that birthed modern congressional oversight of the U.S. Intelligence Community to more recent allegations of intelligence overreach, politicization, and abuse – to interrogate the role of politics, law, ethics, and transparency in the conduct of U.S. intelligence. The seminar will also carry forward those debates to examine how emerging technology is primed to shape U.S. intelligence activity moving forward and weigh the benefits and risks of new, proliferating commercial technologies, including spyware and artificial intelligence. Throughout the seminar, students will engage in interactive projects designed to draw key lessons from past and recent case studies and will be tasked with developing new policy and institutional reform proposals to adapt to a changing political and technological landscape and guard against future abuses. In doing so, students will steep themselves in primary policy and legal documents that guide the U.S. Intelligence Community, including key statutes, Executive Orders, National Security Memoranda, and Intelligence Community Directives, to assess their effectiveness, identify gaps and grey areas that have or could be exploited, and inform new policies and reforms.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6784 Security Cooperation 3 Credits
This course examines the causes and consequences of security cooperation and assistance, focusing on the dynamics that arise when states attempt to build security together. We will explore when and why states form alliances or fight in coalitions, and why great powers provide smaller states with arms, aid, and training outside of formal alliances. We will then turn to the effects of these efforts: under what conditions do security cooperation and assistance achieve their intended goals—such as combat effectiveness, arms control, political stability, and stronger partnerships—and when do they produce unintended consequences including political violence, instability, or human rights abuses? Topics include alliances, proxy warfare, arms transfers and arms control, military aid, and peacekeeping. Throughout, we will approach these issues from multiple theoretical and empirical perspectives, paying particular attention to the trade-offs and dilemmas inherent in cooperation in the security domain.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6785 Iran: Power, Politics Prison 3 Credits
The Islamic Republic of Iran has posed one of the most persistent challenges in contemporary international security. Yet, despite nearly half a century of dealing with the regime, including two decades of on and off engagement on the nuclear issue alone, few truly understand what drives it.
If Tehran is the strategically patient actor many analysts described in the weeks before the 12-Day War, how do we explain its humiliating defeat by Israel and the United States? And if it is as brittle and doomed as others claim, how has it managed to outmaneuver adversaries at home, survive one of the strictest sanctions regimes in history, and develop a sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile program? If it only responds to pressure, why did it not fold under Trump’s “Maximum Pressure” campaign — or even after its recent catastrophic military losses? And if it responds to carrots, why did it fail to seize openings under the Biden administration?
This course offers a multifaceted view of Iran. In addition to examining the country through the traditional policy lens — focusing on its contemporary history, power structure, national security thinking, geostrategic interests, and defense doctrine — students will engage with two additional perspectives. First, the country risk analysis lens, used by corporations and multilateral agencies to assess the political and economic risks of operating in a territory. Second, and most uniquely, the course draws on rare insights gained by the instructor during eight years inside Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, where proximity to former senior officials, prominent businessmen, activists, human rights lawyers, journalists, intellectuals, and sanctions-busters provided an unparalleled vantage point on how the Islamic Republic actually functions.
If Tehran is the strategically patient actor many analysts described in the weeks before the 12-Day War, how do we explain its humiliating defeat by Israel and the United States? And if it is as brittle and doomed as others claim, how has it managed to outmaneuver adversaries at home, survive one of the strictest sanctions regimes in history, and develop a sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile program? If it only responds to pressure, why did it not fold under Trump’s “Maximum Pressure” campaign — or even after its recent catastrophic military losses? And if it responds to carrots, why did it fail to seize openings under the Biden administration?
This course offers a multifaceted view of Iran. In addition to examining the country through the traditional policy lens — focusing on its contemporary history, power structure, national security thinking, geostrategic interests, and defense doctrine — students will engage with two additional perspectives. First, the country risk analysis lens, used by corporations and multilateral agencies to assess the political and economic risks of operating in a territory. Second, and most uniquely, the course draws on rare insights gained by the instructor during eight years inside Iran’s notorious Evin Prison, where proximity to former senior officials, prominent businessmen, activists, human rights lawyers, journalists, intellectuals, and sanctions-busters provided an unparalleled vantage point on how the Islamic Republic actually functions.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6786 Sanctions and Intl Security 3 Credits
Targeted sanctions are central to U.S. and multilateral responses to global threats, functioning as instruments of coercive diplomacy, deterrence, and accountability. This course examines the strategic logic, legal foundations, and implementation of targeted sanctions, including asset freezes, travel bans, arms embargoes, sectoral sanctions, and maritime interdiction measures. Through a series of real-world case studies—from the UN Security Council’s work on North Korea and Yemen, to U.S. and EU sanctions on Russia and Iran—students will explore how sanctions are developed, negotiated, and enforced across multilateral and national frameworks. Students will gain hands-on experience drafting professional-level policy products modeled on State Department information memos, including designation justifications and compliance advisories. This course equips students with both the theoretical grounding and practical tools needed to evaluate and shape sanctions policy in the service of national and international security.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6787 War Studies: Battle Analysis 3 Credits
To understand war, study wars. Focusing on the military battle as a unit of analysis, we will examine and practice two of the three approaches to the study of war recommended by the eminent historian Sir Michael Howard. In his 1981 article, “The Use and Abuse of Military History,” Howard argued that professionals must study in width, depth, and context. Building from your standing knowledge of context from other classes, you will focus here on width and depth. You will explore the concepts of war studies and battle analysis, and you will experiment with both large-set (tens or hundreds of cases) and single-case battle studies. You will learn how to work with battle data covering extended periods of time and different geographic areas. And you will learn how to read and develop a single-case battle study, leveraging the 1953-1954 battle at Dien Bien Phu as an example. Throughout the course we also will explore the challenges of military forecasting and the use of war studies to inform policy.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6788 Insurg Gangs in the Americas 3 Credits
This course interrogates theoretical and policy debates around the formation of insurgencies and armed gangs and efficacy of strategies chosen to combat them in the Americas. It utilizes key regional cases from across the region, including both recent history and the contemporary security environment, to closely study current theory and practice, concluding with an assessment of how future regional ternds might cause insurgences and armed gangs and government responses to evolve.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6789 Econ Sec, Statecft, Wepn Int 3 Credits
Economic Security, Statecraft, and the Weaponization of Interdependence explores how global economic interconnections serve as sources of prosperity, power, and strategic vulnerability in today’s contested world. Students will ground their understanding in the fundamentals of economics, from supply and demand, comparative advantage, and trade theory to classical liberal and mercantilist frameworks. The course examines how these economic principles inform national strategies for industrial policy, technological development, and the management of critical supply chains. Students will investigate how states use tools such as sanctions, export controls, sovereign wealth funds, and development finance to achieve strategic objectives, and how economic linkages can be weaponized in ways that blur the line between war and peace. Weekly readings will integrate economic theory, political economy, and policy analysis to provide a rigorous analytical foundation. By the end of the course, students will be able to assess trade-offs in economic statecraft, evaluate risks to national competitiveness, and compare strategies across allies, competitors, and neutral states. The course equips students with the conceptual and practical tools to understand the intersection of economics, security, and statecraft.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6790 Democratic Breakdown 3 Credits
Democracy around the world is in decline. Nearly three in four people live under autocracy, the highest ratio since 1978. There are more autocracies than democracies in the world for the first time in 25 years as former democracies transition to autocracy. The list of autocratizing countries includes some with great geopolitical heft, including Russia, Turkey, and India; many observers place the United States on that list. The erosion of a single democracy, in addition to domestic effects, alters the security of its neighbors, reshapes alliances, and invites conflict where checks on personal authority recede. This course will investigate how and why democracies break down and the implications for international security, focusing on the most prevalent form of breakdown: subversion by democratically-elected leaders. We will engage in theoretic readings, policy documents, and case studies. By the end of the course, students will be able to employ methods for evaluating democracy and its constituent components; recognize the governance trajectory of a target country based on drivers and signposts of democratic breakdown; understand theories for re-establishing democracy; and grasp the geopolitical and security implications of a given nation's democratic decline.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6791 Economics of Cyber Risk 3 Credits
This course examines cybersecurity challenges through an economic lens, exploring how market failures in the private sector create national security vulnerabilities and how market-based solutions can enhance security outcomes. Students will analyze why traditional markets "under-supply" cybersecurity, creating systemic risks that adversaries can exploit, and whether market mechanisms can address security gaps that regulation alone cannot fill. Drawing on insights from cyber insurance, trade policy, and regulatory economics, the course explores how information asymmetries distort cyber risk assessment, why critical infrastructure protection suffers from collective action problems, and how the concentration of cyber risk in key economic sectors creates strategic vulnerabilities. Topics include the economics of vulnerability disclosure and its implications for national defense, cyber insurance as a tool for resilience, international trade agreements as vehicles for cybersecurity norms, supply chain security through market incentives, and the optimal balance between market mechanisms and government intervention in protecting national security interests.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6792 Evolving Polar Security 3 Credits
The Arctic and Antarctica have rapidly evolved from multi-national scientific havens to
key strategic areas for the United States, as well as its allies and competitors. This
course will elucidate the domestic and international security issues in the Arctic and
Antarctica that began during 19th century polar exploration, evolved throughout the Cold
War, and continue to both persist and dynamically transform within this decade. In the
context of this abruptly evolving strategic environment, this course will cover emerging
opportunities in energy, agricultural, fishing, shipping, emerging technologies, scientific
exploration, and mineral extraction as well as challenges such as maintaining effective
domain awareness, border security, human displacement, food security, drug trafficking,
and national sovereignty claims between allies and competitors of the United States.
The course material will be covered from a variety of perspectives including high-level
foreign policy experts, diplomats, government officials, indigenous leaders, law
enforcement officers, military leaders, and managers of multi-national corporations.
Students will work to identify, understand, and ultimately solve emergent problems
multidisciplinary through coursework and assignments.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6793 Data-Centric Intel Analysis 3 Credits
A day in the life of intelligence analysis varies widely across disciplines, organizations, and missions. However, the work of intelligence analysts everywhere is increasingly resembling that of data scientists. The change has been driven by technical advances in sensors and data infrastructure, as well as the changes in analytic problems. While this ‘big data’ environment brings greater potential for analysts to discover answers to their questions, it brings even greater challenges, too. Effective use of ‘big data’ requires constantly learning about new sensor collection, new analytic software, new visualizations techniques, keeping up with data management, and data capture.
This course will begin with the history and implications of the evolution of intelligence analysis as data science. We will then cover a variety of data science concepts and skills and their application within intelligence analysis. This course will not make students data scientists, but will provide a deep appreciation for those skills as well as the foundations and a road map for pursuing them in the field in intelligence. In addition to learning concepts, history, and methods of data-centric intelligence analysis, students will in engage in the practical application of analyzing large, diverse sensor data to solve a realistic analytic challenge.
This course will begin with the history and implications of the evolution of intelligence analysis as data science. We will then cover a variety of data science concepts and skills and their application within intelligence analysis. This course will not make students data scientists, but will provide a deep appreciation for those skills as well as the foundations and a road map for pursuing them in the field in intelligence. In addition to learning concepts, history, and methods of data-centric intelligence analysis, students will in engage in the practical application of analyzing large, diverse sensor data to solve a realistic analytic challenge.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6794 Investigating Mass Violence 3 Credits
Field Investigation of Mass Violence and War Crimes: Methods, Practices and Case Studies This course provides an in-depth introduction to field investigation methods used in the study of mass violence, war crimes, and genocide. It is substantially grounded in more than twenty-five years of investigative work conducted by Yahad In Unum, particularly its research on the mass shootings of Jews and Roma in Eastern Europe between 1941 and 1944, carried out by Einsatzgruppen and local collaborators.The course trains students in the practical conduct of investigations in contexts shaped by extreme violence, while fostering critical reflection on the ethical, cultural, and legal challenges inherent to such research. Core case studies also include investigations into crimes committed during the Guatemalan internal armed conflict (1960–1996), crimes perpetrated by Daesh (ISIS) in Iraq, and ongoing investigations into violence against civilian populations in Ukraine within a highly contested wartime environment. A central component of the course focuses on interview techniques with witnesses, survivors, perpetrators, and individuals situated in so-called “grey zones.” Particular attention is given to investigations of sexual violence, the management of trauma and silence, and the practice of returning to crime scenes. Students are also introduced to the progressive construction of sources, the assessment of testimonial reliability, ballistic analysis, spatial reconstruction of crimes, and the use of cartographic tools.The course concludes with a critical examination of the differences, overlaps, and tensions between academic research, journalistic investigation, and judicial inquiry.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 6795 Undstng Terror CT thrgh Film 3 Credits
This graduate seminar examines the historical evolution of terrorism and counterterrorism through the lens of cinema. Drawing on terrorism studies, security studies, political violence, and film analysis, the course explores the motivations, strategies, and ideologies of terrorist actors, as well as the political, ethical, and operational challenges faced by states responding to terrorism. Through film screenings, seminar discussions, and engagement with scholarly literature, students analyze historical and contemporary manifestations of political violence while assessing how cinematic representations shape public understandings of terrorism, legitimacy, and security.
Tracing political violence from the late nineteenth century to the present, the seminar explores competing narratives of terrorism, resistance, insurgency, and state response. Particular attention is given to questions of legitimacy, morality, identity, and security, as well as the ways film influences public perceptions, political discourse, and policy debates surrounding terrorism and counterterrorism.
By the end of the course, students will be able to critically assess terrorism as both a political phenomenon and a cultural construct, evaluating the role of visual media in shaping contemporary understandings of conflict, security, and political violence.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
SEST 6999 Gender Security Toolbox 3 Credits
Since the UN Beijing Conference on Women in 1995, governments around the world have adopted gender mainstreaming as a core strategy to achieve gender equality and equity in their societies. Gender mainstreaming tools and processes are now used across foreign policy and international development institutions (including USAID, the World Bank, and the United Nations), and are often required as a condition of funding. In this class, students will learn to use key gender mainstreaming tools such as gender analyses, gender audits, and gender indicators, and learn to apply a gender-sensitive “lens” to policy, project design, and monitoring and evaluation systems. The course combines practical skill-building with readings on feminist international relations and security theory and the experiences and learning of feminist activists around the world as well as conversations with gender practitioners and policymakers. The skills students gain will allow them to capably serve as gender focal points. The course will be valuable for students on the path to full-time gender careers domestically or abroad, as well as students wanting to integrate gender equality principles and efforts into other roles in diplomacy, development, and defense work
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 7100 Research Seminar 3 Credits
The Security Studies Program (SSP) Research Seminar is intended to guide students through the conceptualization, planning, and execution of a major original project on a policy-relevant topic. This course is not intended to train students to become social science scholars. However, the same basic principles underlie all solid research and analysis on which policy is based. Whether it is a scholarly book, a policy brief, or an oral presentation of analysis, strong research provides insightful and balanced perspectives on important policy problems.
The goals of the Research Seminar are:
1. To provide students with additional training in research design, research methods, and effective writing; 2. To guide students through the process of conducting original research and analysis, leading to the production of substantial, professional-quality papers. This course also helps students recognize common research mistakes and biases, while learning more about what constitutes strong research; and 3. To help students develop their abilities to constructively critique and contribute to the work of others.
The goals of the Research Seminar are:
1. To provide students with additional training in research design, research methods, and effective writing; 2. To guide students through the process of conducting original research and analysis, leading to the production of substantial, professional-quality papers. This course also helps students recognize common research mistakes and biases, while learning more about what constitutes strong research; and 3. To help students develop their abilities to constructively critique and contribute to the work of others.
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 7101 Writing for Publication 3 Credits
Have you ever been curious about how to publish in Security Studies, but been too nervous to try on your own? Have a big idea that you want to write about, but can't figure out how to get your ideas onto paper? This is the right course for you. This course is a student driven workshop supporting independent research and the creation of a publishable paper in a Security Studies related field. The paper will be of journal article length and quality, and will provide policy-relevant empirical or theoretical advances in the understanding of security studies. Students may work individually or in teams of two. The class meetings are focused on interactive peer review. You'll have the chance to see other students' works in progress and seek their advice as you develop your own. Because the course is student driven, it is quite labor intensive. Students are advised not to take this course before completing at least one semester at SSP.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 7102 Writing for Publication IW 3 Credits
This course is a student driven workshop that will support independent research and creation of a publishable paper whose focus is irregular warfare. The paper will beof journal article length and quality and will provide policy-relevant empirical or theoretical advances in understanding of irregular warfare broadly conceived. A non-exhaustive list of themes include: cyber operations; information and influence operations; resistance movements and occupation; proxy warfare; economic and political warfare; strategic competition below the threshold of war; IW in the cultural and religious landscape; and women, peace, and security. Students may work individually or in teams of two.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 7103 Art of the Op-Ed 3 Credits
This course will guide participants through the fine art of expressing an opinion as concisely and clearly as possible. We will conduct detailed analyses of outstanding models of opinion journalism. Students will write articles that will then be workshopped by the other participants. The course aims to give students the tools to write opinion journalism on the highest level – useful not only for print, but also for all forms of online expression.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 7200 SSP Writing Tutorial
This is a mandatory writing tutorial for all first-semester SSP students. Through asynchronous content and 1v1 tutorials, students will sharpen their writing skills to meet the rigorous demands of both the SSP program and the security field as practitioners and scholars post graduation.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (Pass/Fail)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
SEST 7747 Forecasting and Foresight 3 Credits
Uncertainty increasingly dominates individual, organizational, and national decision-making. Rarely has the future seemed less clear, yet national-security practitioners must nevertheless make high-stakes, difficult-to-reverse choices—that is, they must formulate strategy for the future amid the onslaught of the present. This course teaches students how to manage uncertainty by introducing both forecasting (probabilistic prediction of the future) and foresight (structured imagination of multiple plausible futures), thereby covering both quantitative and qualitative approaches to anticipating the future. This course is part lecture/discussion and part practicum. It will chronicle the evolving understanding of future-thinking over the past century; it will examine the philosophical and psychological bases of forecasting and foresight; and it will draw on case studies to ground those discussions in real-world contexts. The course will also provide students with tools for thinking about the future in order to better navigate the present. They will learn how to improve their ability to forecast geopolitical developments and how to practice widely used foresight techniques, such as scenario planning, that leverage imagination to create a dynamic mental map of the rapidly changing geopolitical environment.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 7799 Practical AI Workshop 0.25 Credits
This workshop will provide students with a hands-on introduction to the concepts and code behind modern machine learning systems. It will be divided into three modules: In the first module, we will cover some foundational concepts in data science and a basic introduction to coding in Python. In the second module, we will discuss several major machine learning algorithms and their applications. In the third module, we will move onto neural network-based machine learning and cover a few of the major architectures behind today's cutting-edge AI systems. By the end of the workshop, students will be able to better understand the capabilities and limitations of today's newest AI systems, train simple models themselves in Python, and articulate some of the ethical issues raised by modern machine learning. No coding experience is necessary and no math beyond high school algebra is required.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 7900 Navigat Acad Prof Life in US
Welcome to SEST 7900. This is a required, but not for credit, course for all international students enrolled in the Security Studies Program (SSP), taken during your first semester. The course is designed by SSP faculty to provide international students with the academic, cultural and professional foundations necessary to thrive in a U.S. graduate program and to make the most of their time in Washington, D.C.
The course introduces key elements of U.S. academic culture (including classroom expectations, research practices, and communication norms) while also equipping you with practical tools for career development and professional networking. Sessions will explore academic strategies, campus resources, and career planning. It concludes with a capstone assignment in which you will develop a three-semester roadmap tailored to your academic and professional goals.
The course introduces key elements of U.S. academic culture (including classroom expectations, research practices, and communication norms) while also equipping you with practical tools for career development and professional networking. Sessions will explore academic strategies, campus resources, and career planning. It concludes with a capstone assignment in which you will develop a three-semester roadmap tailored to your academic and professional goals.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Pass/Fail Default
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 7925 SSP Internship Tutorial 0.25-1 Credits
The SSP Internship Tutorial course, SEST 7925, is a 0.25 credit course that requires students to engage in a practical experience or internship role, typically with a non-Georgetown organization. Students enrolled in this course must complete their practical training experience and the Internship Tutorial assignment requirement. The internship must be a minimum of 12 weeks in duration for 15 hours per week during the Fall and Spring semesters. During the Summer term, the internship must be a minimum of 10 weeks in duration for at least 15 hours per week. The assignment requirement for this tutorial entails a ten-page paper due on the last day of classes for the semester/term. F-1 international students who enroll in this course for a role they perform while physically present in the U.S. must request Curricular Practical Training (CPT) authorization via the Office of Global Services (OGS).
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Pass/Fail Default
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 7949 Tutorial: Security Studies 1-3 Credits
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 8635 Hands-on Cyber Forensics 3 Credits
This course will provide students with an introduction to network intrusions investigations through network and host forensic methodologies. The bulk of this course, however, will be a hands-on practical implementation of the methodologies. Students will apply our understanding of these methodologies to conduct multiple investigations that portray real-world events. During the semester we will gain a deeper understanding of attack techniques, forensic tools, and process, including but not limited to: The cyclical incident handling process Different malicious program types Detecting malicious applications and network activity Common attack techniques that compromise hosts Detecting and analyzing host and network vulnerabilities Continuous process improvement by discovering the root causes of incidents This course will rely on practical in-class labs. We will use open-source tools to collect and analyze forensic artifact data in order to understand how malicious activity occurred, the malicious activities end result, and how to mitigate these events from occurring in the future. We will also review data from previously disclosed incidents and present our critiques of existing analysis of these incidents. Students will be graded on the following: - participation in classroom and homework exercises - one in-class presentation - a final write up of the forensic investigation
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 8639 Cyber Security Initiative 0.25 Credits
CSI brings interactive and practical cyber skills to SSP students interested in passing the Security+ exam. It provides a CompTIA Security+ certification exam preparation program that meets once per week. At the culmination of the program, SSP will pay the $392 exam fee for students to take the industry-recognized cybersecurity certification exam. This certification is recognized as an important entry-level certification for those entering the cybersecurity profession.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Pass/Fail Default
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 8645 Data Science Basics in R 1 Credit
This course will build literacy and basic proficiency in statistical programming, with a focus on the skills needed to conduct data analyses in professional healthcare and public health workplaces. We will cover the basics of data management, data cleaning, data visualization, and basic statistical calculations in R, and version control in github. Students will leave with a small portfolio of relevant data visualizations and analyses completed using a real‐world public health dataset.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Pass/Fail Default
SEST 8654 Disruptive Analytics 3 Credits
Good analysts of the past used intuition to understand the world. The great analysts of the future will leverage technology, theories, and analytic methodologies to interrogate information and refine their models until they have compelling solutions. This class explores the realm of both human and machine-driven, technologically or theoretically inspired methodologies to enhance the student's natural ability to detect trends, patterns, and anomalies. The case studies will span many disciplines to emphasize the data-agnostic patterns of excellent analysis. Students will be routinely exposed to technical content and will be expected to suspend feelings of confusion in order to press forward to learn and generate maximal analytic advantage.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Equivalent to SEST 6654
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 8665 Hands-on Python: Cyber Sec 3 Credits
Information security topics have become household conversation starters, with the 2016 election having brought the subject to public attention. Corporate data security breaches have impacted consumers in novel ways and several leaks or other revelations have called into question the value of domestic government surveillance programs. Behind each big breach announcement or attack attribution is an analyst or team(s) of analysts often working through complex data sets to get to a clear understanding of the situation. This course will equip participants with the Python programming skills required to take on security investigations like these and help them to prepare for technical interviews (which are often a requirement in the field). Each week the lesson material will pair a foundational concept in cyber security to a foundational programming skill. We recommend this course for those interested in investigative work as well as those who wish to work in policy or strategic roles who will often read and respond to investigative products. This course is designed for beginners new to Python and new to coding in general. It's designed to support and enable cross-disciplinary work, treating technical and non-technical skills as import and closely related. This is a great opportunity to get in-person instruction designed to build technical skills for unconventional coders.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 8670 Python for Machine Learning 0.25-3 Credits
This course will provide students with a hands-on introduction to the concepts and code behind machine learning systems. It will be divided into three modules. In the first module, we will cover some foundational concepts in data science and a basic introduction to coding in Python. In the second module, we will discuss several major machine learning algorithms and their applications. We will cover supervised and unsupervised learning, along with the steps to building a model, including data selection, pre-processing, training, evaluation, and deployment. In the third module, we will move onto neural network-based machine learning. We will branch into specific use cases, such as large language models and computer vision. Throughout the course, we will also introduce tools and techniques that are crucial to using machine learning in an enterprise setting, including GitHub, KFP, TFX, and cloud concepts. The objective of the course will be for students to develop a project portfolio demonstrating their proficiency in Python, through a combination of group and individual work. They will finish the course with an understanding of capabilities of AI systems, choosing models for specific use cases, ethics and bias in AI. They will have an understanding of what the entire development process of an AI system looks like from a Jupyter notebook to a deployed system, and the work it takes to get there.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Pass/Fail Default
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 8701 Entrepre Prob Solv for Nat Sec 3 Credits
In a crisis, national security initiatives move at the speed of a startup yet in peacetime they default to decades-long acquisition and procurement cycles. Startups operate with continual speed and urgency 24/7. Over the last few years they’ve learned how to be not only fast, but extremely efficient with resources and time using lean startup methodologies. In this class student teams will take actual national security problems and learn how to apply “Lean Startup” principles, ("business model canvas," "customer development," and "agile engineering”) to discover and validate customer needs and to continually build iterative prototypes to test whether they understood the problem and solution. Teams take a hands-on approach requiring close engagement with actual military, Department of Defense and other government agency end-users, using their real-world challenges.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Equivalent to SEST 6701
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 9000 Comprehensive Exam: In-person
This course is a graduation requirement for SSP students and is open only to those eligible to take the comprehensive exam. This course, including the comprehensive exam information session, workshops, and exam itself will be held on select Fridays throughout the semester. For specific dates this semester, students should refer to the SSP Student Calendar or Student Resources page in Canvas or contact their academic advisor. For the exam, students will have three hours to complete one essay question, typed, with a limit of 1,500 words. Students may choose to answer any one question from a series of several concentration-focused questions. There will be at least two questions for each SSP concentration offered, but students do not have to choose a question pertaining to their own concentration. Parenthetical citations (author, year) will suffice in this format. Students will take this exam in person and are not permitted to use books, notes, or any other materials.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Pass/Fail Default
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a program in Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 9001 Comprehensive Exam: Virtual
This course is the final requirement for SSP students, and is open only to those eligible to take the comprehensive exam. In this section the exam is open-book and open-note, and students have four hours to complete three essay questions, with no minimum or maximum word count. Students are expected to provide full citations. This exam takes place on Zoom.
Level: Graduate
Grading: Pass/Fail Default
Course registration restrictions:
Students cannot enroll who have a program in Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 9991 Continuous Registration
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 9992 Continuous Registration
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 9993 Continuous Registration
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 9994 Continuous Registration
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: Main Campus (UGrad, Grad)
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to students with a major in Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Law/Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies, Security Studies or Security Studies.
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.
SEST 9999 Thesis Research
Level: Graduate, Juris Doctor
Grading: No Grade
Course registration restrictions:
Enrollment is limited to Graduate level students.