Military Innovation Security

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

What causal factor(s) determines best whether a military organization will successfully innovate with and ultimately adopt a given technology? And how does the answer to this question influence a nation’s security? This course focuses on these questions, and it has three purposes. First, the course seeks to help students develop a firm grasp of the military innovation literature, with a specific focus on what scholars suggest are the most likely causes of success (or failure) in bringing new technologies into military organizations. Second, it provides students an opportunity to assess the merits of the theories within this literature through the lens of some of the most noteworthy historical military innovation cases over the past century. Finally, it offers students the opportunity to apply lessons learned from their studies by developing and subsequently presenting a proposal for how they would go about integrating a new technology or technologies in the U.S. military (or other national security organization) to improve overall organizational performance. These proposals can be based on their current and/or potential future positions working on Capitol Hill, in the White House, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, on the Joint Staff, within one of the military services, etc