Howard University and Virginia Tech University are now expanding their intelligence curricula as part of a five-year, $2.5 million academic program funded by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
DNI announced two weeks ago that they were going to allot Howard University and Virginia Tech University the grant in order to create a base of undergraduates from which the intelligence community can hire students, according to an article in The Washington Post.
Howard and Virginia Tech are joining 19 other colleges that are part of the DNI program, according the Post. The other two schools joining are Florida A&M University and Miles College in Alabama.
While AU is not affiliated with DNI programs, students do study the field of intelligence and go on to careers in the intelligence community, according to William M. LeoGrande, dean of the School of Public Affairs.
“SPA’s Department of Government, for example, offers courses both on the intelligence community and on homeland security,” said LeoGrande in an e-mail.
AU’s intelligence programming in the School of International Service has expanded extensively, according to Maria M. Cowles, SIS associate dean of Academic Affairs.
“We’re having a broader and deeper focus ... with great faculty working on it,” said Cowles. “Professor [Shoon] Murray has done a wonderful job in further developing this area of study, not only for undergraduate students but for graduate students, as well.”
AU’s intelligence courses not only address “the traditional intelligence world” but also look into issues such as cybercrime, according to Cowles.
One course offered in SIS this fall is “Cybercrime, Espionage and Warfare,” taught by Professor Tom Kellerman. It aims for students to “learn from policy, procedural and technological vantages on how best to manage the risks associated with information technology,” according to the AU course descriptions Web site.
In addition, the course “Intelligence in Transition” is being taught this fall by Professor David Martin-McCormick, and it seeks to address “the changes that are required of the U.S. intelligence community to address the political environment of the 21st century,” according to the AU course descriptions Web site.
Laura Hinkle, a sophomore in SIS, said that though she was not personally interested in going into intelligence, she supports expansion of intelligence curricula in SIS.
“Either if they’re thinking about going into [intelligence] or if they’re just taking it to find out what it’s like ... I know that a lot of people that I’ve talked to here are interested in that,” Durden said.
You can reach this writer at mfowler@theeagleonline.com.
