The National Defense University offered a glimpse into the academic side of counterterrorism strategy with a recent three-day thesis symposium at the university’s College of International Security Affairs.
CISA’s chancellor, Dr. Michael Bell, explained the college’s purpose and the significance of the work its fellows produce.
“Our mission at CISA is pretty simple: educate and prepare U.S. officers and national security professionals from the United States and around the world for the demands of the contemporary security environment,” he said.
DoD’s Flagship for Security Education
As the Defense Department’s flagship for education and building partner capacity in combating terrorism and irregular warfare, Bell said, CISA attracts senior officers from allied and partner nations and other U.S. government agencies. The first panel of fellows to present theses including a representative from the Department of Homeland Security, the Malaysian army, Serbia’s Military Security Agency, the Nigerian air force and the U.S. Air Force.
The panel’s focus, he said, was “the diverse dimensions of countering violent extremism: national politics and insurgent ideology.” Individual topics included the DHS representative’s assessment of U.S. strategies to counter radicalization, and the Nigerian fellow’s proposal for countering the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria.
CISA offers its fellows a rigorous academic program and one that strives to remain relevant to security professionals, Bell noted, and many of the theses produced inform the strategies of the agencies that employ the fellows.
Pushing Education
With a mandate from then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey to “push joint education farther and deeper,” Bell said, forging new paradigms in strategic education is a CISA priority.
Each fellow presented his or her thesis in a timed format, responded to faculty advisor challenges and took questions from the audience.
Other sessions throughout the symposium examined the conflict in Syria, policing and national security, assessing China’s national security perspectives and many other topics.
Bell said the works represented “a year on intellectually, academically and in terms of preparation for the future. … This has been an intellectual workout prior to returning back to the field.”
Thanks to CISA, Bell said, “Many of [this year’s fellows] are now prepared for the challenges they’ll face in the rest of their professional careers.”
(Follow Karen Parrish on Twitter: @KParrishDoDNews)