National Security (NS)

NS 6003. The Role of U.S. Intelligence in National Security. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

This course provides a broad overview of the role of intelligence work - and in particular U.S. intelligence efforts - in maintaining and enhancing the country's national security posture. The history of the intelligence community from the Second World War onward is examined in terms of how that community has evolved over the years. Emphasis is placed upon the interplay and challenges that the intelligence community face with policy makers. Included is an examination of case studies that illustrate intelligence successes and failures that have had a significant impact on national security. Also covered is the evolving unique nature that the cyber domain plays in cyber/national security issues. Differential Tuition: $387.

NS 6223. Analytical Writing, Reporting and Briefing for the Intelligence Community. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisite: NS 6003. Fundamentals of writing and reporting for intelligence community audiences. Illustrated concepts and principles include bottom line up front, topic sentences, presentation of key judgments, the descriptive use of confidence intervals, estimative language, presentation of alternative outcomes, scenario description, appropriate reading level for reports, key challenges in one time briefings, speaking truth to power, the benefits of brevity and clarity, the issue of source disclosure, the value of context, characteristics of assessments, and avoiding policy statements. Differential Tuition: $387.

NS 6503. Intelligence Reasoning Analysis. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisite: NS 6003. Analysis and analytical reasoning for intelligence analyst professionals requires adherence to analytical standards and principles that promote integrity as well as logic. The course includes, but is not limited to, topics such as transforming data to intelligence, the intelligence process, critical thinking, selected structured analytical techniques, recognizing and overcoming perceptual, cognitive and cultural biases, methods for describing the assessed validity of information or conclusions, and other components of the process, and psychology of intelligence analysis. This course provides students opportunities to apply critical thinking and analytic skills learned in class through exercises, case studies, and a capstone paper. Differential Tuition: $387.

NS 6523. Methods in Intelligence Collection. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

Prerequisite: NS 6003. This course covers the fundamentals of the primary methods for intelligence collection: human intelligence (HUMINT), geospatial intelligence (GEOINT), open source intelligence (OSINT), signals intelligence (SIGINT), and measurement and signal intelligence (MASINT). Topics explored include methods used, nature of the data collected, sources of error within the data collected for each method, limitations of the data, and challenges encountered when integrating and fusing data from multiple sources and methods. Use of unclassified case studies will provide additional examples of some of the concepts and principles covered. Differential Tuition: $387.

NS 6723. National Security and Human-Digital Technology Relationships. (3-0) 3 Credit Hours.

One of the recent key emerging areas of research is the role of psychological, social, and cultural processes in cyber conflict. Following the kill chain upstream you will find at the end a human with motivations and objectives, This course examines a number of critical elements involved in the relationship between humans and digital technology as it relates to cyber and national security, including the role that motivations for malicious online acts and how social dynamics affect the emergence of relationships between non-nation state actors and nation states, the evolving nature of social movements and communities online and the emergence of cyberterrorism as a new entrant into the cyber threat matrix. Differential Tuition: $387.