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The College of International Security AffairsNational Defense University

Course CatalogAcademic Year 2015-2016

NDU 6000 Strategic Leadership Foundations This five week course is designed to provide all NDU students with a common, university-wide educational experience as a gateway to the year spent at the individual colleges. This course begins by using the historical lens of the past decade of war (DOW) to reflect upon key strategic and operational lessons. You will be exposed to and explore lessons throughout the year that will contribute to your development and professional military education. You should consider, over this respite from routine organizational or military duties, each day at NDU to be an opportunity for self-development, particularly your ability to think critically. In this course, we will survey several key themes identified in the J-7’s Joint and Coalition Operational Analysis (JCOA) Decade of War Study including: Understanding the Environment, Adaptation, Interagency Coordination and Coalition Operations. (4 credits)

CISA 6001 Triangle Institute for Security StudiesThe Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS) provides an unrivalled opportunity for Ft. Bragg Joint Special Operations Master of Arts (JSOMA) students to enrich their learning by participating in a range of events held at UNC-Chapel Hill, NC State University and Duke University. TISS promotes interdisciplinary cooperation among faculty, graduate students, and the public. The consortium draws on a formidable network of resources to advance research and education in the field of national and international security. TISS provides an excellent opportunity for students to enrich their experience at Ft. Bragg, not only in terms of advancing the learning objectives of the MA program, but by encouraging rigorous academic debate through exposure to a range of research and opinion and allowing students to connect and interact with a diverse network of academic experts and practitioners. (1 credit)

CISA 6003 Capital Area Knowledge Exchange (CAKE) is a required course in the South and Central Asia Program. This course endeavors to enable students to identify the main dimensions of the contemporary security environment through the functioning of U.S. Government components and other local research centers and think tanks. This course provides students with an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the strategic challenges of the modern-day security issues from a national, international, and private sector standpoint. It grants students the chance to learn about the inter-dynamics of how U.S. agencies and departments, international diplomatic organizations, and private think tanks face today’s global security challenges and other regional dynamics associated with the South and Central Asia region. (1 credit)

CISA Course Catalog AY 15-16 1

CISA 6020 Ethnic and Religious Conflicts in South AsiaThis course will examine some of the most persistent and intractable ethnic and religious conflicts in Asia with particular focus on Southeast Asia and China. With 9/11 terrorism has come to dominate security concerns of many Asian states. Ironically however, Asia’s tryst with many forms of terrorism predates 9/11. Many of the conflicts in Asia are old fashioned nationalist or ethno-nationalist movements, though in some cases these are layered over communal conflicts. Conflicts also have very strong local roots in Asia though in some cases now, these transcend national boundaries under the influence of Al Qaeda and the global jihadist movement. (2 credits)

CISA 6023 After Terrorism: Disengagement, Demobilization and Decriminalization What comes after terrorism? Who wins? How do you ensure victory is final? How do you de-radicalize former militants and extremists? How do you reintegrate society and promote reconciliation? This course will target these and many other questions concerned with issues that arise once victory over terrorists is announced. The course is structured around two parts. The first part is concerned with broader issues of disengagement, decommissioning, demobilization, de-radicalization, decriminalization, and reintegration and reconciliation. We will examine the politics of removing terrorists from designation lists and will analyze the processes of transformations from terrorists to regular citizens. The second part of the course is dedicated to case studies that will illustrate the above mentioned principles in more depth. Here we will explore a number of new terrorist organizations and reexamine the classic ones such as the IRA, ETA, LTTE or the PKK in order to understand how to achieve success in efforts to reintegrate the society after one of its factions becomes decriminalized. During this course students will gain insights into best practices of dealing with former terrorists and will have an opportunity to work on policy-relevant projects that will be useful for their future careers. (2 credits)

CISA 6032 Terrorism, Counterterrorism and Security: The B SidesIn this course, critical does not imply a definitive policy or political bias. Rather, it is a way of approaching inquiry that demands a certain type of self-reflective rigor, creativity, and analytical questioning. Terrorism is simultaneously a highly consequential signifier and a contested concept. What theoretical lenses can we employ to investigate terrorism as a method of violence, domestically and internationally, historically and today? What are key debates around the threat of terrorism and how insecurities related to terrorism may best be countered? How do different approaches to studying terrorism and formulating counterterrorism depend upon different philosophical assumptions, theoretical positioning, and temporal limitations? Through engaging with a range of literature, theories, cases, and assignments, we will challenge the intellectual boundaries traditionally associated with security and terrorism studies while attending to security practice and policymaking. (2 credits)

CISA 6039 Strategic Thinking and Leadership Strategic Thinking and Leadership functions as a seminar designed to equip students with the tools, perspectives, and framework for effective strategic leadership and for developing high-impact strategies and plans within a joint, interagency, inter-governmental and multinational (JIM) environment. The course highlights concepts of strategic leadership, beginning with Leadership and Thinking, and then Personal Dimensions of Leadership, Generalship and Strategic Leadership, Critical and Creative Thinking, Systems Thinking, Ethical Thinking in Culture and Strategic Intuition and Resilience. (2 credits)

CISA 6101 South Asia Language I Required language elective for AFPAK Hands enrolled in the South and Central Asia concentration. To provide instruction tailored to each student’s proficiency level, when possible, students will be placed in one-on-one sections. (2 credits)

CISA 6102 South Asia Language II Continuation of required language elective for AFPAK Hands enrolled in the South and Central Asia concentration. (2 credits)


CISA 6733 The Art and Science of Statecraft The goal of this course is to offer an introduction to statecraft, diplomacy, and policymaking in the realm of national security. It approaches these topics from multiple perspectives, including theory and practice. Statecraft refers to how states define their interests and deploy national power to manage their affairs. It is both an “art” and a “science”—it combines careful judgment and creative solutions with well-established theories and principles of interaction and engagement—and this course aims to give students the tools to be effective analysts and practitioners of statecraft in today’s complex national security environment. (3 credits)

CISA 6741 Thesis AdvisingCISA 6741 is a three-credit, semester long course which guides the development of the thesis to be submitted as a partial requirement for the CISA’s degree “Master in Strategic Security Studies.” The student and the advisor design and carry out a research and writing plan that includes the structure and logic of the thesis, a schedule of deadlines, and a schedule of meetings. This collaborative work must observe the academic standards for an independent study and should be informed by the general instructions included in CISA’s Thesis Guidance, the Thesis Rubric, and NDU’s own integrity policy. (3 credits)

CISA 6742 Thesis Preparation and Defense This course includes an oral public presentation and defense of the thesis as a partial requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Strategic Security Studies from the College of International Security Affairs. The student and thesis advisor will design an outline for the presentation which includes the research problem and its importance, the starting hypothesis or claim, the justification of the findings, and conclusions and recommendations. The students will be informed by the Dean of Academics of the date/time of the meeting, the audience, format and length of the oral presentation. Besides the initial presentation, the student needs to be prepared to respond to questions or comments raised by the audience, which will also factor into the overall thesis defense grade. (1 credit)

CISA 6743 Thesis DefenseThis course includes an oral public presentation and defense of the thesis as a partial requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in Strategic Security Studies from the College of International Security Affairs. The student and thesis advisor will design an outline for the presentation which includes the research problem and its importance, the starting hypothesis or claim, the justification of the findings, and conclusions and recommendations. The students will be informed by the Dean of Academics of the date/time of the meeting, the audience, format and length of the oral presentation. Besides the initial presentation, the student needs to be prepared to respond to questions or comments raised by the audience, which will also factor into the overall thesis defense grade. (2 credits)

CISA 6744 Policy Analysis and Critical Thinking Policy Analysis & Critical Thinking is a required core course in the Master of Arts in Strategic Security Studies (MASSS) program. PACT enables students to apply appropriate analytical tools to real-world problems within real-world temporal constraints. Also, PACT introduces the student to the techniques researchers use to answer questions in the fields of international relations, security studies, and policy analysis. Research techniques will include how to read published research; collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data; communicate research results; distinguish between empirical, ideological, theoretical, and ethical questions; formulate research questions; and, construct an academic argument. Students are expected to apply to all of these research techniques to all courses at CISA. (2 credits)

CISA 6750 Comparative Political AnalysisThis course introduces students to fundamental concepts and processes necessary to understand comparisons of political systems. Regime type, transition, and consolidation are often treated as assumptions in other courses, along with key terms such as democracy, nationalism, development, governance, and corruption. For example, democratization is portrayed as a solution to social grievances,


but often without serious study of the preconditions necessary for stable democracy. Corruption is often seen as a key problem in the developing world, but without considering the reasons why it exists and the benefits that appear to justify it. Regional knowledge is crucial to understanding the world, yet that knowledge only becomes useful when organized by concepts, analytical frameworks, and theories that define what should be examined and how. This course provides the intellectual structure necessary to make sense of politics in its complexity and diversity around the world. Through a primary focus on active learning, it also teaches and uses practical analysis of the kinds of decision-making and policy implementation that students encounter in their careers. (3 credits)

CISA 6901 Strategic ThoughtStrategic Thought is designed to teach students to think strategically. It is a course for practitioners, which asks studies to think in a disciplined, critical, and creative manner about the geopolitical environment, a range of potential strategies, and their potential intended and unintended outcomes. It focuses on key points in the evolution of strategic thinking in both theoretical and practical terms. The course adopts a unique interdisciplinary approach to strategy. It integrates the disciplines of history, political science, and international relations into a coherent approach that provides students with a conceptual frame of reference to analyze complex strategic problems. The course is organized in five parts: part I focuses on core elements of strategy and grand strategy. Part II examines military strategy. Part III applies these core concepts to four case studies. Part IV is a culminating group exercise aimed at integrating the main ideas of the course for student learning and evaluation. During the third part of the course, each case study will be introduced in a lecture for the entire student body. Students will then return to their sections for a seminar led by their faculty instructor, which will unpack the core concepts of the reading and lecture. (3 credits)

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

CISA 6906 American Foreign RelationsThis seminar explores the United States’ many interactions with the world from the beginning of expansion to the First World War, through the Cold War, to the Global War on Terror and the current debates on the role of the U.S. in the world. Using primary documents, textbook readings and articles highlighting central themes in American foreign relations, we will explore the key challenges the U.S. has faced in its foreign relations and the central ideas that have informed foreign policy. The course will explore whether the U.S. is somehow “exceptional” in the international system and examine how this country reached a preponderance of power. The class will also consider competing rationales for American engagement around the globe, and how the United States has planned for war and peace. Concluding sessions will consider debates on current US strategy based on retrenchment, restraint and rebalancing. (3 credits)


CISA 6908 International Political EconomyThis course provides a foundation of the complex interplay between politics and economics, with an eye toward their role in an irregular warfare and post-conflict environments in South and Central Asia. Furthermore, the larger political economic context of state-market-capital interplay, especially with regard to which state versus market systems now and in the future may lead to the greatest wealth distribution and therefore political stability schemes, will be explored as well. The political scientist David Easton defines politics as, the "authoritative allocation of values in a society.” In short, it describes who gets what in society. Economics, often considered the “dismal science,” is defined by the Oxford American English Dictionary as the branch of knowledge concerned with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth. This course will focus on aspects of economics that refer to how people and institutions respond to incentives given scarcity—especially scarcity of money, other resources, and time. This course focuses on the intersection between political and economic considerations, and argues one cannot separate the two. Hence, only by examining the relationship of both together can a fuller picture of an irregular warfare or post-conflict environment be fully understood. (3 credits)

CISA 6915 Governance, Strategy and Violencia: Latin America and the Caribbean Networks What happens when individuals, groups, communities, and states face a clash between the desire for stable rule of law, and the consequences of anarchic, fragmented, and adaptive social arrangements? What conditions contribute to the surge of violent groups on the streets and in politics to confront adversaries? How have increased globalization and advances in technology complicated the environment by strengthening illicit actors with more capable networked capability? In this course, students will examine features of different political environments and groups in social and institutional dimensions within which political violence is a central feature in the interaction. Participants will research the environmental conditions and the organizing principles of entities such as Transnational Criminal Organizations, Drug Trafficking Organizations, terrorist groups, militias, and gangs, and of their interactions between rivals and with the state, in particular in those cases when the use of violent force or coercion surge as core options in systemic political struggles. (2 credits)

CISA 6916 Rule of Law: Policing and National SecurityAn internal conflict often arises from a State’s incapacity to protect rights of its citizens and failure to provide justice. Corruption and abuse of power by law enforcement officials fuel and exacerbate conflicts and make it even harder to achieve reconciliation after the conflict. Once a state or any part of it slides into lawlessness and chaos, violence becomes a norm. This course focuses on 'Rule of Law' framework as a recipe for preventing and managing internal conflicts. In terms of tools that empower a state to effectively tackle insurgency, terrorism and criminal networks, the dynamics and potential of a law enforcement model are studied. The course also looks at intelligence sharing arrangements and cooperation between law enforcement organizations for dealing with organized crime, which is a growing global menace. Lastly, various case studies, ranging from South Asia and Middle East to Latin America, are incorporated in the course to understand different approaches to tackle law enforcement and justice related problems. (2 credits)

CISA 6917 Frontline of War: South Asia Since 1979This course is a required area of concentration courses in the MASSS South and Central Asia Program. It covers the political and military history of South Asia, with a focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan since 1979. Students will identify and understand the recent security challenges facing those two countries—insurgency and counterinsurgency, terrorism, political Islamism, militarized international peacebuilding and reconstruction, and externally-supported democratization. Students will evaluate each country’s success or failure in meeting these challenges. Students will also be asked to understand and use basic


concepts of comparative political science: they will identify, understand, and apply, as appropriate, lessons that can be learned from other states that have confronted similar challenges elsewhere in the world. Finally, students will evaluate the prospects not only for the international stabilization and counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but for long-term democracy and development in the region. The goal of this course is to complete students’ preparation to be long-term South Asia area experts, who can critically examine the security challenges of the region and are able to evaluate and apply the concepts of this course in an academic, policy, intelligence, or military setting. (3 credits)

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

6926 Perspectives on the American Way of WarWhile much appears new in the recent American encounter with irregular warfare, in fact, the United States was very much an actor in irregular conflicts throughout its past. The United States began with a revolutionary endeavor—a people’s war. In forming a country and in trying to ensure its survival, it experienced a variety of threats and challenges to its existence and to its national identity. As the original Thirteen Colonies evolved into the United States and expanded across the continent and then assumed a greater role in international affairs, conflicts abounded. While some were great struggles, such as the Civil War, there was throughout the elements of irregular war. Some were unique to the American experience, such as the Indian Wars, but many bear a remarkable similarity to the present and while many of the ‘lessons’ of those experiences may have been lost or not received sufficient attention, they shaped much of what we think and do in the world today. This course will examine some of the most salient examples of this environment and its meaning, not only in shaping the American way of war and strategy and its experience and understanding of irregular war, but how that background and experience might inform current and future ideas about what is to be done. (2 credits)

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

CISA 6947 Maritime Security and GlobalizationThe 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 and warfare. This course will use an interdisciplinary approach—integrating diplomatic, economic, environmental, geographic, and strategic perspectives—to explore the challenges presented by contemporary maritime issues around the world. (2 credits)

CISA 6948 Strategy: Brand XThis course looks at some varied and perhaps unfamiliar ideas about how the world really works. It emphasizes the "hard" parts of strategy—so much so that it may often appear to suggest that our concept of strategy is a meaningless delusion—and asks why is it hard? What is the nature of the difficulties? And we mean the word "Nature" quite literally. We see a great deal of pattern, design, and what certainly looks like "planning" and "strategy" in nature, including events we instinctively label "success" and "failure." Nature is presumably unconscious and thus cannot be "strategic" in the sense that we usually mean that term. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable to apply the "if it looks like a duck, etc.," approach. That is, it seems reasonable to suggest that if something looks like strategy, then maybe it can teach us something about strategy. (2 credits)

CISA 6949 Law Enforcement and National SecurityThis course is designed to critically examine the use of law enforcement, at all levels of government, to address terrorism and other national security threats. Students will gain an in-depth understanding of the fundamental capabilities and limitations of civilian and military law enforcement approaches and the necessary elements for a successful law enforcement strategy. The course will involve a critical examination of how law enforcement agencies investigate and prosecute terrorists, how law enforcement can prevent terrorist attacks, and the complexities of using criminal and civil laws to protect against terrorist violence. In addition, the course will examine how the military uses its law enforcement capabilities under the laws of war and how it employs law enforcement concepts in counterinsurgency and stabilization operations. (2 credits)

CISA 6951 Organizing Homeland DefenseMany have stated that the al Qaeda attacks against the United States on September 11 th 2001 changed the world. One of the obvious consequences of the mass-murder committed in Washington, New York and Pennsylvania, was the comprehensive and wide-ranging reform of the way the American government provides for national security. From the Patriot Act to the creation of a Department of Homeland Security, together these changes mark the greatest restructuring of American national security architecture since the National Security Act of 1947. As the core course of the Homeland Defense Fellowship (HDF) program, Organizing for Homeland Defense provides the essential knowledge enabling our HD Fellows to navigate these changes, understand the lessons learned and deduce the applicability or unique sui generis aspects of approaches deployed since September 11th 2001. (3 credits)

6953 Principles of Homeland Security This course relates many of the key Homeland Security and supporting Defense principles, and high-level lessons learned by the United States since the traumatic September 11, 2001, attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. As a survey of major Homeland security issues, the course examines the use of strategy to enhance protection to the Homeland, Defense Support to Civil Authorities (DSCA), and how key elements of national power (law enforcement, intelligence, and the military) synchronize to provide the means to support that strategy. Specialty topics include examining all-hazard and WMD threats to the Homeland–with a case study examining the failed Federal, State and Local response to Hurricane Katrina disaster in August 2005–and Critical Infrastructure and Cyber Security. (2 credits)

6954 Critical Infrastructure ProtectionCritical infrastructure protection is a subject assessed in either very broad or very sector-specific terms. This course is interested in questions of both practical and analytic significance: how is it criticality assessed? Who bears responsibility at which level of government? What is the role of the private sector? How is information shared? What constrains impede stronger efforts? Students will address these and


other challenging questions as part of a collective consideration of policy options in this dynamic homeland security arena. The class is part of an ongoing debate on the subject and students should attempt to develop policy prescriptions in their areas of interest and expertise. The course requires active class participation and the preparation and delivery of in-class briefings (with accompanying short briefing paper). (2 credits)

CISA 6957 Joint Exercise Control Group

The Joint Exercise Control Group course introduces students to fundamental concepts and processes necessary to design, develop, execute and resource a capstone strategic level exercise. The course is taken by 12-16 students who serve as the control group with the remainder of the JSOMA student body comprising the exercise participants. The control group is responsible for coordinating with key senior leaders and advisors to develop exercise scenario options and key exercise outcomes and training objectives. Once the scenario parameters are established the JECG is responsible for all product development to include supporting documentation, the Master Events Scenario List (MESL), nominal intelligence products, and exercise archival data. The JECH is also responsible for all logistic requirements to include exercise venue and catering. Through a primary focus on active learning, it also teaches and uses practical analysis of the kinds of decision-making and policy implementation that students encounter in their careers.

CISA 6963/6964 Counterterrorism Academic Trip and VisitsCounterterrorism Academic Trip and Visits is a required two-semester course worth 1 credit hour each semester in the International Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (ICTFP). This course is designed to enable students to identify the main dimensions of the contemporary security environment through the functioning of components of the Department of Defense, other U.S. government agencies, and elements within the Joint Interagency Intergovernmental and Multinational (JIIM) environment.The program of orientation and visits provides a practical foundation for how governments and elements within the JIIM environment employ and synchronize various instruments of power such as the Diplomacy, Intelligence, Military, Economics, Finance, Intelligence, Law Enforcement & Judicial (DIMEFIL). This course permits students to understand the efforts for horizontal integration across government agencies in the implementation of security policies in general and counterterrorism in particular. (1 credit per semester)

CISA 6973 Conflict ResolutionThis course educates students in conflict resolution methods that have applications in counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, regular and irregular warfare, and traditional international relations. It is an interdisciplinary course that first looks at the causes of conflict between individuals, groups, and nations by examining political, economic, and social factors, as well as psychological, religious, and international influences on how people identify themselves and understand their interests in various interpersonal interactions. The second section introduces practical ways to target identities and interests to find common ground between rival parties so as to create and protect places for dialogue and compromise; these can include symbolic gestures and physical spaces ranging from shrines and historic battlefields to borders and public squares. Case studies provide the principles behind reducing violence and creating peace, as well as examples of how to apply them in the field. Class time includes simulations as well as theoretical and empirical analysis to give experience working through the techniques. Collaborative learning and evaluation, combined with regular input from the instructor, complete the instructional process by training students in dialogue and self-examination. The end result will be greater skills 1) identifying motives and unspoken interests, 2) interpreting communication signals, 3) presenting accurate messages, and 4) handling problems as they arise so as to resolve conflicts rather than let them become intractable problems. (3 credits)


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

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

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

CISA 6983 NATO and the EUThis course explores transatlantic relations from the origins of the Cold War through today, with a focus on security aspects and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The instructor will use the evolution of the transatlantic relationship to provoke discussion on the challenges and opportunities of formal alliance arrangements both in terms of NATO and the nascent European security architecture. How has the United States thought strategically about its relationship with European powers? Why has NATO been in a perpetual state of crisis and yet outlasted the demise of the Soviet Union? What form will cooperation between the United States and Europe take in the future? Topics covered include the founding vision of NATO, the transformation of transatlantic relations in the 1960s, NATO enlargement and relations with Russia, the impact of 9/11, the war in Afghanistan and the Iraq crisis. NATO faces two important events in 2014; a NATO summit in the United Kingdom in September and the withdrawal of NATO troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year. (2 credits)

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

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


CISA 6993 Political Economy for Security PractitionersThis 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. (2 credits)

CISA 6994 Strategic IntelligenceStrategic intelligence is critically important to the American war on terrorism. Strategic intelligence is characterized as the provision of information and analysis—both acquired clandestinely and available in the public domain—from a collection of intelligence agencies to the President of the United States and his key national security lieutenants. Strategic intelligence is especially important to the President as he weighs policy options for threatening or wielding American military power in accordance with national strategy. The American conceptualization of a war against terrorism is a highly contested one, but this course will pay particularly close attention to strategic intelligence provided by the Central Intelligence Agency to the President to help inform policy deliberations in the war against al-Qaeda and the military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. This course will also grapple with emergent threat, such as ISIS, and institutional vulnerability, such as in the cyber realm. (2 credits)

CISA 6996 Globalization and the New Great Game This two-credit seminar is a course developed for the purpose of understanding contemporary events in the vast block of the Eurasian steppe bounded by the South Caucasus, the western borders of China, and by the edges of the Russian Federation, Iran, and Afghanistan. Despite the absence of much interest in this region since the oceanic voyages of the Europeans in the sixteenth century, it has a long historical record of being at the forefront of global change. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, this old, geo-politically sensitive region again became connected with global affairs. But rather than producing another Mongol conquest, the appearance of unstable new nations in oil- and gas-rich Central Asia and the Caucasus raised important questions about whether they will make positive or perverse connections with world-spanning changes that now are restructuring international relations in Eurasia. (2 credits)

CISA 6997 The Politics, Security and Globalization of EurasiaThis seminar is a course developed for the purpose of understanding contemporary events in the vast block of the Eurasian steppe bounded by the South Caucasus, the western borders of China, and by the edges of the Russian Federation, Iran, and Afghanistan. Despite the absence of much interest in this region since the oceanic voyages of the Europeans in the sixteenth century, it has a long historical record of being at the forefront of global change. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, this old, geo-politically sensitive region again became connected with global affairs. But rather than producing another Mongol conquest, the appearance of unstable new nations in oil- and gas-rich Central Asia and the Caucasus raised important questions about whether they will make positive or perverse connections with world-spanning changes that now are restructuring international relations in Eurasia. (3 credits)

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


AY 15-16 Program Requirements

Master of Arts in Strategic Security StudiesConcentration: Counterterrorism

Course Number Name CreditsPhase I

NDU 6000 Strategic Leadership Foundations 4

Phase II (Fall)

6929 Power, Ideology, Legitimacy 36744 Policy Analysis and Critical Thinking 36975 Dynamics of Terrorism 36920 Geostrategy 36963 Counterterrorism Academic Visits 1

Phase II (Spring)

6976 Dynamics of Counterterrorism 36990 CT Strategy and Policy 36901 Strategic Thought 36741 Thesis Advising 36964 Counterterrorism Academic Visits 1XXXX AOC Elective (Choose 1) 2 CISA 6916 Rule of Law: Policing and National Security CISA 6926 Perspectives on the American Way of War CISA 6947 Maritime Security and Globalization CISA 6953 Dynamics of Homeland Security CISA 6978 Terrorism and Crime CISA 6993 Political Economy for Security Practitioners

*Option to take 2 credit NDU Elective for credit overload

Phase III

6959 Strategic Planning for Irregular Challenges 26742 Thesis Preparation and Defense 1

Total Credits: 35


Master of Arts in Strategic Security StudiesConcentration: South and Central Asia Program (SCAP)

Phase ICourse Number Name Credits


Phase II (Fall)

6929 Power, Ideology, Legitimacy 36730 The Politics, Security and History of S. Asia 36920 Geostrategy 36744 Policy Analysis and Critical Thinking 36101 South Asia Language* 26003 Capital Area Knowledge Exchange 1

Phase II (Spring)

6733 The Art and Science of Statecraft 36997 The Politics, Security & Globalization of Eurasia 36901 Strategic Thought 36741 Thesis Advising 36102 South Asia Language* 26008 South and Central Asia Academic Visits 1XXXX AOC Elective (choose 1) 2

CISA 6916 Rule of Law: Policing and National Security CISA 6926 Perspectives on the American Way of War CISA 6947 Maritime Security and Globalization CISA 6953 Dynamics of Homeland Security CISA 6978 Terrorism and Crime CISA 6993 Political Economy for Security Practitioners

Phase III

6742 Thesis Prep and Defense 1

Total Credits: 35/37

*Students exempt from the language requirement will choose a 2 credit NDU elective.


JSOMA – Fort BraggConcentration: International Security Studies

Phase ICourse Number Name Credits


Phase II FALL

6920 Geostrategy 36929 Power, Ideology and Legitimacy 36744 Policy Analysis and Critical Thinking 36001 Triangle Institute for Security Studies 16906 American Foreign Relations 3

Electives: (Choose 1) (2 credits each)

6020 Ethnic and Religious Conflict6978 Terrorism and Crime6994 Strategic Intelligence6996 Globalization and the Great Game

Phase II SPRING

6901 Strategic Thought 36741 Research Advising 36001 Triangle Institute for Security Studies 16908 International Political Economy 3

AOC Choice (Choose 1) 3 credits each6973 Conflict Resolution 36903 Origins of Conflict and War 36750 Comparative Political Analysis 3

Electives: (Choose 1) 2 credits each

6032 Terrorism, Counterterrorism and Security6947 Maritime Security6948 Strategy X6957 Joint Exercise Control Group6983 NATO and the EU

Phase III

6742 Thesis Prep and Defense 1

Total: 35 credits


Certificate ProgramsFall 2015

Homeland Defense Program

Course Number Name Credits6951 Organizing for Homeland Defense 36949 Law Enforcement and National Security 26954 Critical Infrastructure Protection 26965 Practicum (Travel) 1

Total Credits: 8


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