About the Center for Peace and Security Studies

Georgetown University’s Center for Peace and Security Studies (CPASS) in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service offers an expansive curriculum, in-depth research, and critical dialogue on security issues. Former Director Michael E. Brown created the Center in 2000 with a fourfold mission to:

  • Create a hub where the academic and policy communities meet;
  • Bring together experts and scholars from every discipline who study international peace and security issues;
  • Produce a new generation of scholars, analysts, and policymakers fully aware of the complexities of international peace and security problems; and
  • Sponsor projects that lead to the development of sophisticated strategies and policies for enhancing international peace and security in the 21st century.

CPASS Faculty in Print

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Inside Terrorism
by Bruce Hoffman

SSP Core Faculty member Bruce Hoffman publishes a new edition of his seminal work, Inside Terrorism.

The academic pillar of the Center for Peace and Security Studies, the Security Studies Program (SSP) is the nation’s preeminent professional Master of Arts program devoted to security studies. When Stephen Gibert established the National Security Studies Program (NSSP) in 1977 as a “defense MBA”, the original classrooms met in the Pentagon and the degree was an MA in Government with a certificate in Security Studies.  In 1984, the Master of Arts in Security Studies degree was established, and all classes eventually moved over to Georgetown University's main campus by 1994.

In contrast to programs in security studies at other universities, the SSP offers courses on a broad range of security topics. Courses address the many facets of security today, ranging from broad examinations of strategy and foreign policy to more focused classes on terrorism, intelligence, defense planning, military operations, and the security problems of different world regions. Younger SSP students apply their recent theoretical undergraduate education to practical policy applications. More seasoned students, professionals in the military, intelligence, and defense contracting sectors, enhance their practical experience with critical thinking, analytical writing, and theory-based solutions.

The program’s more than 1,500 graduates have filled key positions in the U.S. and foreign governments, the defense industry and the private sector, research institutions, and non-governmental and international organizations. Other graduates pursue doctoral programs and academic careers.

CPASS engages a large and experienced faculty who are also security specialists. They publish regularly in leading scholarly and popular journals, as well as serve as advisors or analysts to leading security organizations and government agencies. Their research examines many contemporary security challenges, such as intelligence reform, comparative counterterrorism, military occupation, global intelligence networks, intelligence-policy relationship, role of regional organizations in international peace operations, nuclear programs, and the rise of paramilitary groups. The prestigious SSP adjunct faculty builds on this foundation, providing a wide range of first-hand experience to the SSP students. The distinguished adjunct professors’ contributions enable the Security Studies Program to stay at the forefront of today’s security issues.