Sec Cooperation: Pol Process

3 Credits · Level: Graduate

This course will introduce students to the primary policies, institutions and processes that govern United States Government enterprise activities. Given its growing importance, both in terms of frequency of use, and the tool of first resort for U.S. policymakers, security practitioners must develop a thorough understanding of the tool's potential as well as its limitations. The course will expose students to major inflection points that have forced the evolution of security cooperation approaches. At the national level, students will be expected to synthesize awareness of the roles of the executive and legislative branches of the government, which include the articulation of strategy, the authorization process and the appropriations process. We will then investigate the Department of Defense's architecture to pursue this strategy, including multiple nested campaign plans, as the context within which security cooperation is executed in pursuit of national interests. Students will be expected to demonstrate their understanding of the security cooperation enterprise through multiple evaluated products, culminating in the presentation of a Section 333 proposal for an assigned country.