Intel National Security

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

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.