National Security Affairs Department

As part of the curriculum for each of our core courses of study in Theater Security Decision Making (TSDM) and National Security Decision Making (NSDM), the National Security Affairs Department brings senior national security practitioners to share their knowledge, experience, and perspectives on key issues explored within these courses. Many of these visiting practitioners are also renowned scholars and policy analysts. Students hear from and engage with these visiting practitioners in various interactive formats in an auditorium setting and then reconvene with their professors immediately afterward in small seminars to discuss insights that they have gleaned in relation to broader course themes.

Our practitioner session series for the 2016/17 academic year included:

• Admiral James G. Stavridis, USN (ret), PhD, best selling author and Dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, drew on his experience as a former Commander of U.S. Southern Command, U.S. European Command, and as Supreme Allied Commander Europe to discuss "The Role of the Geographic Combatant Commander" for our TSDM students
• Ms. Stephanie Sanok Kostro, former senior professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee, Mr. Larry Hanauer, former senior professional staff member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Mr. Patrick Garvey, former senior professional staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, gave our TSDM students candid inside perspectives on the role and workings of Congress in the national security realm
• Dr. Kori Schake, formerly the State Department's Deputy Director for Policy Planning and Director for Defense Strategy and Requirements on the National Security Council Staff, and Ms. Rosa Brooks, former Counselor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and senior advisor at the Department of State, participated in a panel discussion of "Civil-Military Relations" for our NSDM students that explored their personal experiences and extensive academic research and influential policy publications on this sensitive topic
• Honorable Dov Zakheim, PhD, best selling author and former Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Planning and Resources, and Honorable Kathleen Hicks, PhD, former Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Forces, participated in a panel discussion for our NSDM students that discussed "Force Planning: Strategy Meets Budget"
  

The National Security Affairs (NSA) Department’s course of study in National Security Decision Making (NSDM) is designed to engage senior-rank students in the current and future complexities of a rapidly evolving national and international security environment.

The course offers a broad interdisciplinary curriculum in contemporary security studies that encompasses a diverse spectrum of global and regional issues and perspectives, but with particular emphasis on U.S. decision making challenges and processes at the national strategic level.

The NSDM course integrates concepts drawn from a number of disciplines including international relations, area studies, foreign policy analysis, leadership studies, and cognate fields. The course is designed to broaden strategic perspective while fostering critical thinking and analytic skills that will have lasting professional relevance long into the future.

The National Security Affairs (NSA) Department’s course of study in Theater Security Decision Making (TSDM) is designed to engage intermediate-rank students in the complexities of today’s national and international security environment with a strong emphasis on regional security issues.

The course offers a broad interdisciplinary curriculum in contemporary security studies that encompasses a diverse spectrum of regional and global issues and perspectives, but with particular emphasis on U.S. decision making challenges and processes at the theater-strategic level of the geographic combatant commands.

The TSDM course integrates concepts drawn from a number of disciplines including area studies, comparative politics, international relations, foreign policy analysis, leadership and management studies, and cognate fields. The course is designed to develop strategic perspective while fostering critical thinking and analytical skills that that will have lasting professional relevance long into the future.