Strategic Studies

This course provides an overview of the manifold challenges and opportunities for United States security in the current disordered and changing world. It aims to help students assess why events occur and what policies are developed in response. In that endeavor, the course has three major objectives. First, the course will review the major perspectives on, and debates about, U.S. security and the institutions through which policy is made and executed. Second, the course will review some U.S. security issues through scholarly, policy, political, and historical lenses. Third, the course will help students write for both policy and academic audiences. This course is not open to students who have had 470.606 American National Security.

This course provide an overview of the principal areas important to the study of terrorism. The course offers a variety of academic, policy, and operational models, theories, approaches, and concepts regarding the definitions of terrorism, the nature and functioning of various terrorist groups across the globe, and a variety of domestic and international governmental operational and policy responses. Through this exploration, students will be able to identify patterns of behavior of both terrorist groups and governmental responses, and will also be able to identify gaps, and principal areas of improvements in how we understand, and respond to this important security challenge.

This class will examine the role of Congress in the making of American foreign policy. In particular, this class will discuss the role of Congress in war powers, economic sanctions, human rights advocacy, the approval of international agreements including treaties, international affairs budgets and spending, investigations and oversight of the conduct of foreign policy by the executive branch as well as the impact of Congress on the general direction of American foreign policies and priorities. Special attention will be given to the role of Congress in U.S. policy toward Iran over the past few decades, the use of military force in Iraq and Syria, the role of the legislative branch in U.S policy toward China and Taiwan and the promotion of human rights as a component of American foreign policy. The class will seek to examine the specific actions of Congress on these matters, and their causes and consequences. The class will use books, articles and original source material from committee deliberations and floor action. As we examine these topics, we will come back to larger themes – the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches, the impact of partisan and bureaucratic politics, and the changing role of the United States on the world stage. All this will be discussed with a mind to the role of foreign policy practitioners.

The South Asian region, with its complex historical context, a large and diverse population, and contested national borders, especially between nuclearized countries, poses some of the toughest security challenges facing the world. This course highlights salient security challenges in South Asia, and draws out their implications for U.S. strategic interests. It examines the sources and implications of the rivalry between nuclearized India and Pakistan, and how it fuels Sino-Indian security competition. Attention is drawn to the sources of militancy in India, and to the threats to international and regional security arising from the conflict in Afghanistan. The Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger insurgency and its eventual defeat in 2009 are also discussed, alongside the rising Islamist militancy threats in Bangladeshi, and the history of Maoist insurgency in Nepal. Finally, some of the climate-based threats to which no South Asian country is immune will also be discussed.

Transnational organized crime often is not well understood because crime is most often conceptualized as a domestic legal concern. However, transnational organized crime is more than that. It is crime ordered into complex clandestine networks that operates transnationally with little regard for the borders of states. The gravity of the problem lies not only in the increasing complexity of these organizations, but more importantly, with the serious challenge they pose in their ability to penetrate and operate with relative impunity in several states simultaneously. These illegal enterprises not only threaten aspects of state sovereignty and security that traditionally have been taken for granted, but they prove the permeability of national borders and the vulnerability of state institutions. This course will examine a variety of transnational organized criminal groups, their modus operandi, and their illicit activities. It also will focus on some domestic organized crime groups both to provide a depth of understanding of the operations of organized criminal activity in different countries, as well as to show how international groups can make inroads into domestic markets if they cooperate with local groups.

This course focuses on transnational security issues and considers how many of these myriad challenges constitute threats to global peace and security. The combined effects of issues such as drug, weapons, and human trafficking, piracy, terrorism, infectious diseases, and deliberate environmental destruction, along with such critical enablers as corruption, and money movements, are not strangers on the world stage. What is new is their global reach and destructive potential. As a result, these issues have made policy makers consider different conceptions of security and, at times, to move beyond sole considerations of state sovereignty into the realm of human security. Not only are transnational security issues varied in nature and scope, but their effects often are obscured by the fact that many are nascent with gradual and long-term consequences. Further, while some transnational issues may not constitute direct threats to global security, they may threaten the world economy, and quality of life of its citizens. Still others compound and reinforce each other, generating mutations of the original threats. This course will examine a small number of these transnational security issues and relevant policy-making efforts.

Russia plays a key role in most international issues and openly campaigns to realign the international system away from what it sees as American domination. This course considers the substance and process of Russian national security policy. It acquaints students with the main instruments and mechanisms available to Russian leaders to advance the country’s national interests and key policy priorities. The course considers how Russia formulates and conducts its national security policy, the history that informs it, the political culture that sustain it, the ideas and interests that drive it, and the people and institutions responsible for it. The course addresses Russia’s role in key global and regional issues and its relations with major powers. It places special emphasis on the wars in Ukraine and Syria, Russian concepts of information war, and on Russian military reform.

This course is a seminar-based overview of the role of energy in national security. Using a range of U.S. and non-U.S. case studies, students will review the roles of energy in grand strategy, the role of energy in conflict, and, finally, as a logistical enabler of military operations.

This course will explore some of the most contested and controversial aspects in contemporary security studies. There are a number of contentious and wide-ranging debates around ideas like radicalization not least concerning its definition, causes, and effects. This course will also prompt you to consider broader issues, such as whether there is a causal link between extremism and violent extremism? Why do some radicalized individuals to embrace terrorism, when other don’t? And should security officials concern themselves with radicalization, or only with its violent offshoots? This course will unpack many of these debates, exploring academic and theoretical literature surrounding the issues of radicalization, recruitment, and deradicalization in modern terrorist networks. It will focus primarily on cases in Europe and the United States, while also exploring new phenomena such as homegrown, self-starter, and lone wolf terrorism.

The multiple crises plaguing the world today make evident the mutual inter-dependence and vulnerability of people and nations. The idea of human security has gained increasing significance within this increasingly complex and interconnected world. Human security places emphasis on the security needs of individual citizens, rather than being preoccupied by traditional, state-centric conceptions of security. It takes into account the impact of security threats such as economic crises, pandemics, and climate change on the lives of individuals within and across national boundaries. The course thus draws attention to alternative interpretations of what constitute security threats and how to contend with the underlying causes of volatility and human insecurity that prevail around the world.

This non-technical course introduces the foundational aspects of cybersecurity policy including basic technical principles of networks and their security, principles of strategy and policy, current governance mechanisms for global information infrastructures, and current strategies and policies for cybersecurity for the public and private sectors. It covers current cybersecurity issues, cyber deterrence and conflict, an inventory and description of state and non-state cyber actors, and the nexus between the public and private sectors. The course assumes little to no exposure to technical and policy aspects of cybersecurity.

Overuse is not the only problem with the maxim that American “politics stop at the water’s edge.” The slogan has simply never been true. American foreign policy has always been a result not just of the crises and opportunities the nation has faced but its unique politics and policy processes. American national interests are determined through the democratic processes established by the Constitution and other legislation and affected by the politics that drive the nation’s elections, its conversations and its foreign policies. These politics and processes have been remarkably consistent since the founding even as the nation’s interests have grown significantly. A better understanding of both the politics and processes of American foreign policy will help students appreciate how the country’s policies are made today and will be made in the future.

Change is perennial in national security and military affairs, but knowing how, why, and when to embrace change is both difficult and vital. Strategies and tactics may be outdated, new ideas may be resisted, and science and technology continue to change our world faster than we can optimize. The paradox deepens with context: innovation in peacetime has one logic while innovation in war has another. This course unravels the nature of change in military affairs through four themes: ideas, materials, human capital and structure, and, appreciation of the enemy. The course explores these themes through a series of case studies from around the world. Topics include civilian development/military application of science and technology; learning from failure and success (including from other nations); institutional reactions to change; procurement and the role of industry; and, the impact and limitations of individual “champions” of change.

This class examines the phenomenon of irregular warfare—of insurgencies and counterinsurgencies in particular—through a historical lens. The course will give you students insight into the origins, objectives, strategies, and tactics of irregular wars, as well as the principles of counterinsurgency theory and practice. Through the course, you will analyze current irregular wars, understand what caused them and whether they are likely to be successful or unsuccessful, and see how they can be combated.

War practitioners, policy makers, and security studies scholars study asymmetric warfare to understand why poorly armed insurgents effectively resist and even defeat technologically advanced and materially stronger armies. This course studies a perfect asymmetry in nonviolent warfare where unarmed ordinary people are able to effectively challenge and eventually defeat a fully armed, resource-rich regimes. In fact, historically, nonviolent movements have been twice as effective against violent regimes as armed insurgencies. This course will consider skills of organized populations in inter-state and intra-state conflicts, including anti-dictatorship, anti-occupation, anti-corruption, anti-violence struggles and analyze how disciplined civilians use nonviolent strategies and tactics to galvanize large and diverse participation, place their violent opponents in dilemma, make repression backfire and cause defections among adversaries' pillars of support.

As China's role on the international stage continues to grow, how will its behavior change the world? Beijing has long espoused a principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, but as China’s overseas presence and interests grow, how is it adjusting its approach to global challenges and influencing the interests of other states? Students will put themselves into the position of national security leaders in China, in the United States, and in third countries to explore a range of national interests, priorities, objectives, strategies, and policy tools.

This course will provide an overview of current issues in the cyber realm, focusing on policy and conflict from a U.S. and international perspective. We will begin with an understanding of the power inherent in cyberspace and consider the policy issues facing the civilian, military, intelligence and private business sectors in dealing with offensive and defensive cyber activity. Through the use of case studies, we will examine previous and ongoing cyber conflicts to understand their impacts on international relations. We will analyze the roles of several different types of cyber actors including state actors, non-state actors such as criminal and terror groups and private sector/business responses. This course will also examine the issue of cyber deterrence, and the unique aspects of offensive and defensive cyber activities by all cyber actors. A technical background is not required and basic aspects of cyber operations will be discussed and demonstrated as part of the introductory class sessions.

Since World War II, American trade policy has been implemented through agreements with a growing array of foreign governments to encourage global economic integration by lowering barriers to international trade. The course will begin with a look at the foundation of this approach to trade policy at the end of World War II and the relationship the Roosevelt and Truman administrations saw between integration and security policy. It will then introduce students to the American trade regime of the early 21st century and the WTO, and examine the ways the U.S. governments has adapted this regime to regional challenges arising from relationships with Japan, China, and the Muslim world, and to policy issues, like resource dependence, sanctions and export controls. The course will have a midterm exam on America’s trade regime and the concepts that have shaped it, and a final paper, in which students will examine an issue of their choice in depth. (Recommended elective for MA in Public Management)

The course examines how terrorist groups finance their operations. It also explores current policy approaches to curb financial support to terrorists through the application of U.S. and international sanctions, in particular how multilateral fora, such as the United Nations and the Financial Action Task Force, disrupt and deter terrorist financing. At the completion of this course, students will have a better understanding of the key tools, including law enforcement, diplomacy, and intelligence, that are used to counter terrorists’ financial networks and activities. Through this course, students will develop proficiency in a series of analytic methods used to study terrorist financing and counter financing. Students will use structured analytic tools such as weighted ranking methods, scenario trees, causal flow diagramming, hypothesis testing, and utility analysis, as well as game theory and logic to form analytic judgments. Prior coursework or professional experience in intelligence, (counter) terrorism, or finance recommended.

This course will provide the analytical and contextual skills required to understand the current political and security situation of Iran. After laying out the context of the Iranian Revolution through a brief examination of the Pahlavi years, the course then weaves together Iran’s political, military, diplomatic, social, economic development during the turbulent years between Iran’s 1978-1979 revolution and the 2015 nuclear agreement—covering a time period of roughly 1941 to the present day. This course covers three main inter-related topics: the history and development of the modern Iranian state; the interaction between state and society in modern Iran; and Iran’s diplomatic history in the 20th and 21st centuries. The course concludes with a discussion of Iran’s present-day foreign, security, and defense structures and processes.

This course examines U.S. policy responses to the changing political and security landscape of the Middle East. Bringing together historical events, primary sources and secondary literature and contextual analysis, this course provides the analytical skills required to develop a sophisticated understanding of the current political and security situation in the Middle East. Students will engage key topics in modern Middle Eastern politics and security, including the origins of Islam, Arab nationalism and its rise to prominence, the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts, the internal/external struggles against Western imperialism, the competition among Arab states for regional dominance, the Cold War the Middle East, America’s relations with Iran and Iraq, the oil economy of the Gulf, the challenge minorities pose to the region, the rise of Islamic radicalism, the Arab Spring, and the rise and fall of the Islamic State.

This course examines the phenomenon of modern warfare through both a theoretical and historical lens. It will provide insight into the definitions, origins, objectives, strategies, and tactics of modern conflict. Throughout the course you will analyze recent and ongoing conventional, irregular, and hybrid wars and understand what caused them, how they were conducted, and why they ended the way they did. Through a combination of lecture and online discussion, students will analyze these conflicts from a variety of perspectives to include state security and military forces, insurgents, criminals, and terrorists.

This course describes the principal challenges facing the making of American Defense Policy and explains previous and current policies declared and practiced to meet them. The course is designed to inform students on the most pressing defense issues confronting the United States, and to present them a framework for defense policy analysis. It emphasizes understanding those defense policies, analyzing them, and considering and weighing alternative approaches to achieving national objectives of deterrence and defense. The course fosters an understanding of the array of U.S. military capabilities providing plausible responses to the use of military power in support of U.S. foreign policy objectives. It examines those policies in the areas of nuclear, conventional, and irregular forces, and weighs alternatives in shaping the size and structure of those forces to meet national objectives.

"Warfare" today is often ambiguous, constant, and non-violent: a combination of low intensity conflict and struggles over information via cyberspace, especially over "narratives" that sway public opinion. Warfare has always included these elements, but our adversaries today fight and stay in this early stage of cyberspace operations, information operations, and limited or no kinetic conflict, careful never to escalate to state-on-state violence. This course will examine how "non-kinetic" warfare (information operations, cyberspace operations, non-violent resistance) takes place today. Students will learn how the control and manipulation of information shapes national security and creates new political realities. Focus will be on Russian hybrid warfare and "information confrontation," Chinese weaponization of business and cyberspace and "coercive gradualism," and terrorist's use of the internet.

This course explores the phenomenon of terrorism and its nexus with technology. Beginning with an emphasis on terrorist group factors most likely to influence terrorists' perceptions and attitudes towards extant and emerging technologies, the course subsequently investigates cases of terrorist use, and noteworthy non-use, of various technologies. Students also receive a broad understanding of the evolution of technology with an emphasis on current and imminent technologies of acute security concern, including weapons of mass destruction, cyber, robotics, and nanotechnologies. The course then addresses counterterrorism technologies and potential terrorist response actions for overcoming such security efforts. Students operationalize all of these elements in the final phases of the course when engaging in Red Team exercises designed to demonstrate which types of terrorists are most likely to pursue certain types of technologies, the role of tacit versus explicit knowledge, likelihood of successful adoption, targeting options, and potential counterterrorism measures. Please note that students do not need to possess a technical background or prior knowledge of terrorism to succeed in this course.

Students gain the foundational knowledge behind WMD (both weapons of mass destruction and weapons of mass disruption) and about how these weapons threaten U.S. homeland security. Weapons of mass destruction traditionally include nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, while weapons of mass disruption include radiological weapons, such as "dirty bombs." In addition, the course covers the technology behind three WMD delivery vehicles: ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles. In assessing each WMD threat, the course first examines the science and technology for each type of weapon and then applies this theory to real world threats emanating from state and non-state actors. Students apply this knowledge by engaging in red team exercises to identify options for preventing and reducing vulnerabilities from WMD. Please note that students do not have to have prior technical knowledge about WMD issues to succeed in this course.

Since 1945, eight states have tested nuclear weapons, and perhaps two dozen others have started -- and stopped nuclear weapons programs. This course considers why some countries pursue nuclear weapons and why others forgo them, an issue that bedevils both policymakers, who concerned about the spread of weapons of mass destruction, and political scientists, who attempt to explain and predict it. The class will delve into past and present examples, discussing and evaluating theories of why states pursue such weapons, the technologies that make it possible, and the policy tools available to prevent it. We will also draw on the parallel efforts to control chemical weapons, biological weapons, and ballistic missiles.

Since the end of the Cold War the world has seen a scourge of civil conflicts emerging across the globe, such as in Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, DRC, South Sudan, and now Syria, global conflicts have put enormous pressure on intergovernmental bodies and governments. Whether too slow to respond, afflicted by political restraints or hindered by bureaucracy, the restrictions on international agencies and governments have often placed NGOs at the fore of response. Partnering with both national governments, military, and international agencies, NGOs have gained recognition for their role in diplomacy, conflict resolution, and peacebuilding. NGOs have gained a prominent role at helping to defuse, mitigate, and prevent conflicts strengthening their influence and recognition. This course will provide an overview on the role that international organizations and civil society (including community based organizations) can have in conflict or post-conflict torn countries. Students will learn how to build strategic partnerships when working with local organizations and NGOs. Elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

This course exams the interpretation of constitutional powers and rights under conditions of heightened national security. We will consider the Supreme Court's role in constitutional interpretation, and the balance of power among the three branches. The course will also examine the tension between security and liberty during a time of war. Topics covered during this semester will include military tribunals, unitary theory of the executive, congressional oversight, war-making power, intelligence authorities, and treatment of detainees.

(Core course for the MA in Global Security Studies). This course is designed for students who have already passed 470.851 Introduction to Qualitative Methods in Social Science and either 470.854 Fundamentals of Quantitative Methods or 470.853 Historical Methods (or 470.709 Quantitative Methods with permission from program director). In this class, students will begin and complete a substantial piece of original research explicitly drawing on research methods they learned in the previous two classes. The research study is expected to be methodologically sound and to make a useful contribution to the issue under study. Class meetings are designed to give guidance in the clarification of issues, collection of data, assembly of various parts, and writing. The class will also prepare students for final defense. Graduation is subject to approval of the research study by the committee. Students should come into the class prepared with a detailed research question. Students may enroll in this course only in their last semester of the MA program.

This course introduces students to the field of intelligence, particularly as practiced in the United States. After a brief overview of the historical foundations of modern intelligence, it discusses how intelligence is conducted including collection, analysis, counterintelligence, covert action, and oversight. It also discusses intelligence ethics, as well as the disruptive influences of September 11, new technologies, and emerging social trends.

This course examines the role that strategic culture plays in intelligence analysis. Students leverage strategic culture analysis to better understand the policies and responses of foreign actors to U.S. policies, increase accuracy in intelligence analysis, and enhance predictive and forecasting capabilities. The course will also highlight the role that U.S. strategic culture plays in responding to foreign actors. Using case studies and current operational scenarios from the U.S. intelligence community, students will decipher nation-states’ and transnational entities’ motives, intent, and capabilities, as well as their ability to actualize political ideologies.

This course provides students with an overview of intelligence structures within the Five Eyes community (US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand). It covers both foreign and domestic agencies, be they civilian, military or police; HUMINT or SIGINT- enabled; security-intelligence or foreign-intelligence oriented; and tactically or strategically-focused. The course will compare how the various Five Eyes security or intelligence services set priorities and objectives, define national interests (versus shared requirements), develop tactical intelligence, create actionable insights, and how they craft timely and relevant assessments for both domestic and foreign partners. Students are expected to be able to draw conclusions on the value of different types of intelligence, from tactical operations intended to mitigate threat to life cases, to strategic insights relating to proliferation or espionage cases. Upon completing the course, students will understand the dynamics that exist amongst operators and analysts, as well as partners within and outside of the alliance, between domestic intelligence clients and foreign agencies, in regards to sensitive national interests and those of the international partnership.

This course emphasizes recent changes in US intelligence and assesses the ways in which persistent and emerging issues in the field are helping or hindering the United States in achieving policy objectives. The goal is to provide answers to three questions: "How does US intelligence work in the modern world?"; "What are the larger dilemmas facing US intelligence overseers and those who use intelligence?"; and “How are these realities likely to shape the future of the Intelligence Community?” The approach will be both historical and topical. The history of intelligence offers a surprising number of illustrative cases and themes -- many of which can now be examined in detail using official records and contrarian views, and can even be compared with analogues across nations and time periods. More-recent events are not as well documented in the public, official record, of course, but an understanding of earlier patterns and activities can provide valid insights on contemporary trends. The trends identified in the past and the present will then be explored for their ramifications for the future.

A key function of national security analysis is to dissect and explain foreign militaries to lay bare for senior authorities the perceptions, intentions, and capabilities of potential opponents and allies. This course prepares participants to perform such assessments. It explores what senior decision makers need to know, potential sources of information and the most important questions to ask of analysts, and the analytic tools to parse and understand a complex and partially hidden world. It uses a variety of materials including in-depth case studies, exercises, and discussions to develop the necessary knowledge and skills. The course addresses topics such as the operational level of war, manpower, training, morale, and readiness, technology, weapons assimilation, logistics, the prediction of outcomes. It also discusses how these considerations apply to cyber war.

Counterterrorism is essentially an intelligence war. By definition, both sides use small forces and clandestine means, hiding their presence and activities not only from each other, but often from friends and allies as well. This course will explore the many roles of intelligence in every facet of counterterrorism, and ask students to evaluate their practical, legal, and moral effects and implications. It will also look at the terrorists’ own intelligence activities, and the “intelligence race” between terrorists and counterterrorists. There are no pre-requisites for this course. However, students would be well served to have a basic familiarity with intelligence and terrorism before the class starts.

This course examines the tumultuous history of the United States’ relationship with Central America, from William Walker’s filibustering in the 1850s to the recent wave of migration from the Northern Triangle. We will consider how US policymakers, organizations, and individuals have judged the isthmus in economic and national security terms and intervened accordingly, and we will examine how Central Americans have viewed the United States as a model of modernization, an interloper, and a site of refuge, as well as the ways in which they have shaped the North-South relationship despite the asymmetry of political, economic, and military power. Sources will include works of scholarship such as Confronting the American Dream and The Last Colonial Massacre, as well as texts from Central American authors, including the poetry of Roque Dalton, the personal testimony of Rigoberta Menchu, and the reporting of Óscar Martínez.

The Cold War was anything but for much of the so-called Third World. Although the United States and Soviet Union did not come to blows, millions of lives were lost throughout Latin America, Africa, and Asia as the superpower struggle fueled local and transnational conflicts over decolonization and modernization. This course will examine the Cold War’s effects across the globe and, conversely, the ways in which conflicts and actors in the global South shaped the outcome of the US-Soviet standoff and shaped the contemporary geopolitical landscape. Sources will include works of scholarship such as Conflicting Missions, Hanoi’s War, and The Last Colonial Massacre; primary works like Discourse on Colonialism and essays from Jawharlal Nehru, Fidel Castro, and Ché Guevara; and films such as The Battle of Chile and The Act of Killing.

Media outreach is a critical piece of any strategic communication effort. This course prepares students to build, implement, and measure earned media programs that achieve policy, business and philanthropic objectives. Class lectures, guest speakers, readings and assignments give students an understanding of the priorities and expectations of various types of contemporary media, and how to successfully engage them through research-based strategies and tactics designed to reach key audiences.

This course examines the meaning and importance of intercultural communication as it applies to individuals, groups, organizations and nations. Students examine the meaning of “culture” and how “culture” can affect personal, national and international understanding and communication, beliefs and behaviors. The course examines the difficulties and dangers that can result from cultural misunderstanding. In a modern world with diverse communication methods, there is an ever-increasing need for intercultural understanding and communication. The course investigates the various ways in which cultures differ and the necessity of understanding and respecting other cultures. The course assists communication professionals to be more effective with external communication campaigns in other countries and internal communication within a diverse workplace. The course emphasizes clear and logical spoken and written expression to enhance individual ability to interact effectively with people of different cultures.