For Students - Spring 2008 & Before

The Security Studies Program (SSP) curriculum offers three concentrations: International Security, Technology and Security, and U.S. National Security Policy. In addition, students interested in a particular region or functional area may work closely with the SSP Director to create a customized concentration. Examples are Conflict Management and Peace Studies, Homeland Security, and Economics and Security. 

International Security:  Students in this concentration will examine the broad range of issues that affect security in the world today. Topics range from non-proliferation to terrorism to infectious disease, all of which are examined from an international perspective.  This concentration will prepare students for a broad range of careers, including in the and foreign governments, with international organizations, in private companies that focus on security, and other research and policy institutions.

Technology and Security: This concentration addresses both technical literacy for novices as well as policy formation for technical experts to provide students a conceptual framework for understanding relationship between technology and security. Students expand their working knowledge of technologies such as nuclear weapons, missile defense systems, satellites, and encryption. These students are uniquely skilled to bridge the technology and policy communities. Many apply this education in the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense, and Homeland Security, as well as in the intelligence community and private sector.

U.S. National Security Policy: Study in this concentration provides students with the conceptual and substantive background necessary to identify and analyze U.S national security issues and to formulate the policy options to successfully address these challenges. This concentration is particularly relevant for students seeking careers in the U.S. State Department, the Defense Department, on Capitol Hill, and with organizations that support those institutions such as the Congressional Research Service and research institutions.