On January 3, 2020 the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp leader Qasem Soleimani was killed in Iraq by a United States drone strike. Was this event covert action? In this class students will explore covert action and how it is used by nation states to achieve their foreign policy objectives.

This course examines biowarfare, including biological, chemical, and radiological weapons. Historical, plausible, and novel weapons will be studied. Mechanisms of action, biological and societal impacts, detection, treatment and governmental strategies for biodefense will be investigated. Discussions will focus on surveillance and preparedness at the state and federal levels. Relevant aspects of the law will be presented and the bioethical challenges of anti-bioterror research will be explored.

This course investigates the nature of strategic planning as it relates to homeland security and national security in the U.S. Students explore how strategic planning relates to decision making in more stable as well as uncertain environments. Relevant legislation and past decisions (such as the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis) are explored including concepts and techniques from making high quality decisions. Strategic communication principles and techniques are presented.

This course allows students to work collaboratively with an organization to identify and solve a homeland security, physical security, safety, cybersecurity or emergency management challenges. Each group performs a risk assessment in order to identify their client's primary security or preparedness challenges. Students then use their skill to identify and apply best practices as countermeasures. Students culminate their projects with presentations to their classmates and to their clients. The expectation of this class is to develop a professional example of the student's thinking and writing to solve real world security problems.