University of Texas at El Paso Academic Catalog

Academic Catalog

Intel Nat'l Security Studies Courses

Courses

INSS 1301.  History and Security.  

This undergraduate survey course provides an introduction to history and security in the long twentieth century (ca. 1870-2000). In particular, the course examines major wars, diplomatic initiatives, and military developments that proved significant to the international state system. It provides a critical foundation for more advanced courses in security studies.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 1302.  Geography and Security.  

This undergraduate survey course examines why geographic knowledge is critical to U.S. national security. The course analyzes a wide variety of geographic issues including demography and climate change. The geographic manifestations of terrorism are examined. The geographic importance of China, Russia, and Africa in the contemporary security environment is also discussed in detail.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 2302.  Security Studies.  

This undergraduate survey course examines security from a global perspective and discusses security issues that transcend borders and which can only be adequately addressed through global security cooperation. Most of these global security issues are non-traditional in the sense that they are not directly related to traditional nation state competition and interstate war. The course introduces the concept of "global security" and discusses the key theories, concepts, and issues that fall under its domain, such as realism, liberalism, great power politics, regional issues, and asymmetric conflict.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 2303.  Writing for Security Prof..  

The undergraduate writing course addresses specific stylistic requirements and use of lucid prose in order to communicate efficiently and clearly as a security professional. Students use a "learning by doing" model to become skilled at conveying information to national security consumers in writing using both the Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) paragraph format and the Conclusion Centric report format. Students learn to employ a writing style that is accurate, brief, and coherent.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 2304.  Statistics for Security Stud..  

This course examines the basic statistical methods and the analytical techniques highly useful in security studies. Applications come from relevant intelligence and security examples. The aim is to illustrate the benefit of statistical thinking and as a result develop a deeper conceptual understanding of complex security problems.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 2305.  Modern Strategy.  

This undergraduate survey course focuses on the application of power through strategy. Informed by theory and history, the use of military power is the primary focus, but three other primary instruments of power are discussed and applied: diplomatic, economic, and informational. Hard versus soft power is one key area of distinction in the conduct of strategy that will be covered. The course also looks at major challenges that impact the making of strategy: nuclear warfare, asymmetric warfare, and the changing environments across the domains of land, sea, air, space and cyberspace.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 3301.  Historical Dev of Nat'l Sec.  

Historical Development and Modern Practices of Intelligence and National Security (3-0) This course examines the evolution of the intelligence services in the United States and how those services have responded to various threats to national security. .

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 3302.  Sem in Intel and Nat'l Sec.  

This seminar examines the process of intelligence and its role specifically in U.S. national security. Students are exposed to the theory and practice of intelligence. Special emphasis is placed upon understanding the major issues and challenges associated with the various intelligence disciplines and the organization of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Students will come away from the course with a better understanding of intelligence and prepared to conduct more advanced study as it pertains to intelligence and national security.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 3310.  Intel & Counterterrorism.  

This course will examine the evolution and dynamics of contemporary counterterrorism and political violence, particularly as it pertains to the activities of the global Salafist movement. Special emphasis will be placed on the development of U.S. counterterrorism policy and U.S. intelligence efforts to identify and track terrorist threats around the world. Attention will also be given to collection and analytical issues associated with monitoring, penetrating, and ultimately countering terrorist cells and networks. Prerequisite: INSS 3302 with a grade of "C" or better (may be taken concurrently).

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 3315.  Intel & Counterproliferation.  

This course will examine the development and contemporary use of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and high explosive weapons and their means of delivery. Special emphasis will be placed on U.S. intelligence efforts to identify and track proliferation threats around the world. Attention will also be given to collection and analytical issues associated with this critical national security issue. Prerequisite: INSS 3302 with a grade of "C" or better (may be taken concurrently).

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 3320.  Counterintelligence & Security.  

This course will examine the evolution of U.S. counterintelligence (C.I.) organization and operations. The course will focus upon basic definitions, actors, objectives, and requirements. Special emphasis will then be placed on selected foreign intelligence services that represent a potential threat to U.S. national security. Attention will also be given to the security threat posed by non-state actors to U.S. government personnel, property, and activities. The course will also explore national C.I. policy and assess the need for reform of U.S. domestic intelligence and C.I. efforts more broadly. Prerequisite: INSS 3302 with a grade of "C" or better (may be taken concurrently).

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 3340.  Seminar in Homeland Security.  

This course introduces students to the history and organization of the Homeland Security Enterprise, particularly in terms of national, state and local policymaking. The course examines all threats and hazards that confront the United States. A special emphasis is placed on specific responses to terrorism, but broader issues of emergency planning, risk analysis, incident command, and the protection of civil liberties are also covered.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 3343.  Crime and Border Security.  

This course focuses on the impact of globalization on crime and border security. Special emphasis will be placed on human, drug, and arms trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border, but will also provide comparative examples from border regions around the world. The role of drug cartels, criminal gangs, and corruption will be addressed. Attention will also be given to the U.S.-Canadian border. Other serious crime such as fraud, identity theft, and cybercrime will be explored. This course will also review current and past strategies for maintaining border security and limiting the flow of criminal activity into the United States. Restricted to class of SO, JR, and SR.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 3348.  Cyberspace & National Security.  

This course examines critically the ubiquitous nature of the cyber domain in U.S. national security. Fundamental principles and case studies in cyber warfare are covered in order to explain the importance of cyber power in national military strategy and in joint/combined operations, including defensive and offensive operations in cyberspace. There is a particular emphasis on Russian and Chinese cyber warfare capabilities and operations in addition to newly emerging threats from non-state actors.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 3349.  Security Operations.  

This course examines the fundamental principles of security operations and security management in the post- 9/11 era. Special emphasis is placed on personnel security, physical security, information security, and industrial security. Risk assessment and management strategies within the context of homeland security environment are also covered in significant depth.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 4301.  Intel Collection & Analysis.  

This course examines the collection methodologies and analytical processes of U.S. intelligence agencies. The course begins with a description of the basic collection disciplines and examples of their application in the field. Then the course examines the processes and products of intelligence analysis. Students will also apply the tools of analysis, including structure analytic technique, to a current national security issue.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

Prerequisite(s): (INSS 3302 w/C or better)

INSS 4302.  Intel & Transnational Threats.  

This course examines a wide variety of transnational threats/dangers and the actors, activities, or forces involved in their conduct. The course explores their impact on U.S. national security and the special challenges they pose for the Intelligence Community. Specific transnational threats such as WMD proliferation, terrorism, narcotics, and financial crime are examined as both unique and interrelated phenomena. The course concludes with an assessment of the Intelligence Community's attempts to deal with these fluid and adaptable threats to our security.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 4303.  Ethics and Security.  

This is an ethics course for current and aspiring security professionals. The course gives a brief introduction to moral philosophy, but focuses primarily on applied ethics relevant to many aspects of national security. There is a particular emphasis on military ethics, intelligence ethics, and bioethics. The main purpose of this course is to make future and current security professionals aware of and sensitive to ethical issues that they can encounter in their daily work and give them guidance in how to resolve these complicated moral issues.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 4309.  Technical Intelligence.  

General introduction into the capabilities, methods, uses, history and future of technical intelligence collection and analysis. There will be a particular focus on the uses and history of signals intelligence and imagery intelligence. The second part of the course deals with the increasing transformation of technical intelligence through the development of new and revolutionary technical collection and analysis capabilities as a result of the growth of information technology and other emerging technologies, such as the internet, artificial intelligence, robotics, and nanotechnology.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 4347.  Critical Infrastructure Prtctn.  

This course examines the various fields of security protection, corporate security, asset protection, vulnerability and risk assessments. Emphasis is placed on security management concepts, target hardening and other proactive activities for protecting critical infrastructures: the people, physical assets, and the communications/cyber systems that are indispensably necessary for both homeland and national security.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 4350.  Selected Problems in Intel.  

This course will address particularized intelligence and national security issues in depth. Examples of issues that may be investigated are intelligence failures, specific modes of intelligence activity (such as electronic intelligence) or the operational activities of a particular intelligence or national security agency. This course may also be used to grant credit for Model NATO or Model Arab Nations programs, in support of study in foreign venues under the Intelligence Community Scholar program, or cross-listing with other course offerings at the undergraduate level. This course may be repeated for a maximum of six semester credit hours. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 4351.  Professional Practices.  

An exploration of skills, values, and behaviors that contribute to success within the profession. Skills to be developed may include professional report writing, presentations, project management, and others. Discussions of values and behaviors may include such matters as ethics and professionalism among others. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 4366.  Security Studies Internship.  

Practical internship experience with a governmental agency selected in consultation with the internship advisor. The experience consists of at least twenty hours of work per week under close supervision by the agency and the program advisor. A substantive paper, project, or verification of ample agency production is required.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
0 Lecture Hours
3 Other Hours

Prerequisite(s): (INSS 3302 w/C or better)

INSS 4380.  Cybersecurity.  

This course examines a wide range of cybersecurity concepts and it is designed for students entering non-technical security careers, but who still need a basic understanding of how to protect information systems. Topics include: computing, networking, and internetworking fundamentals; cyber threats and attack vectors; malware; risk analysis; and continuity planning. Information security concepts such as access control, authentication, encryption, computer and network forensics, and security in Linux and Windows environments are covered. Important legal issues related to information, computer, and network security are also examined.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

INSS 4390.  Senior Capstone.  

This capstone course synthesizes student learning across the entire Security Studies curriculum. Students must demonstrate a broad understanding of the theories, facts, and methods in this discipline through the production of a formal research paper with distinct applicability for U.S. national security. This course is a vehicle for students to focus their research on a critical security issues as a final preparation for future graduate studies or employment.

Department: Intel Nat'l Security Studies

3 Credit Hours
3 Total Contact Hours
0 Lab Hours
3 Lecture Hours
0 Other Hours

Prerequisite(s): (INSS 3302 w/D or better)

Corequisite(s): INSS 4301