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:: Full Course Descriptions :: DSS 501: Nuclear Strategy and Arms Control: This seminar examines selected strategic, conceptual, and policy issues associated with the U.S.-
Soviet, U.S.-Russian, and U.S.-Nth country nuclear weapons policies, doctrines, and objectives.
Current issues of nuclear force modernization, defenses against such weapons, and strategic
offense-defense relationships will be covered. The future of nuclear weapons policies of the
United States, Russia, and other nuclear weapons states, and their role in international security
affairs, will be examined. Nuclear arms control experience will also be studied, comparing
theory and practice, assessing current arms control agreements, and judging the future of arms
control. The emphasis of the seminar will be on (1) the evolution, current status, and possible
future development of U.S. nuclear policies and concepts, as compared with those of the Soviet
Union, and now Russia; (2) the modern record of arms control, including recent and pending
agreements; and (3) nuclear balances and trends, and specific force program decisions, including
the current and planned status of U.S. nuclear forces, strategic and tactical. DSS 502: International Security Affairs: This course will present a study of the origins of war, the strategies nations employ to avoid war or succeed in conflict, and how peace is best preserved. The core text for the course is Kagan’s On the Origins of War. Basic theories of warfare, and strategies for war avoidance and conflict will be studied. This course is designed as an intermediate-level seminar in analytical techniques for international security strategies. It explores the measures of relative power among nations, and the manner in which such power, or lack of it, shapes the capability of a nation to act effectively in the international sphere. DSS 503: Analysis of International Security Politics: This course deals with the methods and techniques of collecting and assessing information for use in the study of international security politics, problems, and policies. It explores the measures of relative poweramong nations and the manner in which such power, or lack of it, shapes the capability of a nation to act effectively in the international sphere. DSS 504: The Geopolitics of Conflict and Accommodation: This course examines the role of geography as it affects the physical and social environment in which politics, strategy, and war take place. Historical and contemporary circumstances where geography has intruded on politics, and politics on geography, are examined. Maps, photo analysis, and interpretations that illustrate physical characteristics and geopolitical factors that impact on the actions of nations are reviewed. The purpose of the course is to develop a comprehension of those aspects of politics, war, and strategy that are most directly influenced by the nature of the physical universe. DSS 600: Strategy and U.S. Defense Policy: This course examines the basic concepts and issues of strategy, deterrence, and arms control, and DSS 602: Regional Security Problems: This seminar provides an advanced and in-depth analysis of contemporary regional security problems. It focuses on four critical conflict situations, analyzes how these situations arose as threats to regional and U.S. interests, and examines alternative policies and actions, including military force requirements, for the states involved. The four conflict situations will be chosen by class participants from the following list:
DSS 603: Science, Technology and Defense Policy: This seminar evaluates the concept of revolutions in military affairs. We examine how major social and technological changes, such as nationalism, industrialization, the rise of bureaucracy, and information technology influenced war in the period between the emergence of the modern nation-state to the 2003 Iraq War. The seminar examines in detail the conduct of the Napoleonic Wars, World War I, World War II, the 1991 Gulf War, and 2003 Gulf War from the perspective of these social and technological changes. DSS 604: Arms Control - Theory and Practice: This course examines multilateral arms control theories and concepts. It includes a review of the arms control policies, multilateral arms control organizations, and multilateral treaty obligations that affect the sale of arms worldwide. The scientific and technical issues related to arms control, including those of research and development, testing, production, and deployment are studied, and arms negotiations, and treaty verification and compliance issues are reviewed. DSS 605: NATO Security Issues: During the more than 50 years of its existence, NATO has undergone a multitude of organizational and military changes, doctrinal adaptations, and geographical expansions. This seminar examines the history of the politics, defense policies, and security issues associated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as contemporary issues associated with its expansion, to include the newly emerging democracies of the former Soviet Union. The individual security policies of the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France are reviewed. The general problems associated with membership in such alliances, both in peace and in war, will be discussed. Special emphasis will be given to U.S. involvement in NATO and with its European component. A discussion of NATO’s reaction to 9/11, and the available literature speculating on the future of NATO is included. DSS 606: Soviet and Russian Military Strategy: This seminar examines Soviet military policy, doctrine, strategy, and programs from the 1950’s through the 1980’s. It considers problems of identifying, interpreting, and analyzing Soviet strategic policies and programs - problems of U.S. intelligence and threat assessment. The seminar extends this study to post-USSR Russia, and focuses on the current direction of Russian strategic policy. Particular emphasis is placed on military reform, continuity, and change in military policy, and the status and role of the Russian military forces. DSS 607: Defense Policy Analysis: Congress and US National Security: The class will examine the relationship between Congress and the Executive Branch in the development and implementation of U.S. national security policy. The class will consider the constitutional, historical, political, organizational and procedural aspects of each branch of government that shape their respective roles and relationship with each other. The class will consider historical cases that shaped and defined the role that each branch of government plays. The class will also explore how policy positions are developed and promoted within the Executive Branch and by members of Congress, and how each tries to influence the views of the other. The subject matter will provide a vehicle for refining analytical, written, and verbal communications skills, and will help prepare students who aspire to hold public policy positions in the Congress or Executive Branch. DSS 608: Contemporary Security Issues in the Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union: This seminar addresses current developments in the emerging democracies of the former Soviet Union as they bear on issues of national and international security, and on U.S. national security policy-making. The seminar includes an analysis of the internal governmental structures that each country has created as part of its transformation to a democratic state, its internal politics, its military and power structure, and the evolving international and U.S. policies that have been developed in response to these newly-democratic countries. DSS 609: Space and Information Warfare: This seminar explores the role of space and information warfare in the development of national security policies and programs, and military doctrines of the United States and other countries. The seminar is divided into three parts: Part One focuses on the role of space in national security, including background on U.S. and Soviet/Russian space programs; the nature of space technologies and systems; the environment of space as a theater of military operations; the impact of international law and treaties on space warfare; the development of space threats to the United States and its allies; the historical and future role of space assets in terrestrial warfare; and the nexus between civilian and military space programs. Part Two examines the burgeoning field of information warfare by seeking to define and understand what is meant by the concept; what benefits and risks it offers to American national security; in what ways the pursuit of I-War capabilities is shaping the development of American military doctrine and force structure; and how and to what extent I-War capabilities are replacements for more traditional military capabilities, such as conventional and nuclear forces. Part Three examines the relationship between space warfare and information warfare, including how the two are conceptually supportive, and how civilian and military applications of information and space technology will be increasingly blurred in the future. DSS 610: International Terrorism and Security: This seminar attempts to define and examine security issues related to terrorism and lowintensity conflict. The origins of modern terrorism are explored, and terrorism is studied in the context of a strategy to achieve political ends. Case studies of terrorism in various regions, e.g., the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, show some of the current empirical evidence of global terrorist activities. An analysis of the causes of “old” terrorism and terrorist groups will be compared to more recent terrorist groups and their motivations. The impact of terrorism on liberal societies and their ability to defend themselves is examined in the context of counterterrorism strategies. DSS 611: The Rise of the United States to Preeminence: This course examines the political development of the United States, and its rise to great power, and then superpower status. Students study major U.S. wars and the political circumstances surrounding those conflicts. The course addresses why the United States successfully developed into a world power, and how its grand strategy to greatness changed over time. The class will consider the current state of world affairs, and the challenges that the United States faces today and in the future. The course will address the lessons that today’s strategists can draw from the experience of successful predecessors; whether there is a distinctive American strategic culture; and whether the United States is well-positioned to guide international politics in the future. DSS 612: American National Security Policy: This course evaluates the major actors and components of U.S. national security policy. America’s traditional national interests are studied – accenting World War II, the Cold War, and the present day. The course addresses the circumstances of major foreign policy crises, such as the Cuban missile crisis, and the causes of successful and unsuccessful American interventions during the Cold War. It also examines America’s foreign policy and defense policy in the post- Cold War era. Particular emphasis is placed on American policies toward China, Japan, and Russia, as well as on contemporary foreign and defense policy crises, such as the war on terrorism. DSS 613: Intelligence, Counterintelligence, and Covert Action: This course provides students with the ability to evaluate the impact of intelligence on national security policy and international relations. The major actors in the realm of intelligence policy are introduced, and the U.S. intelligence agenda during the Cold War is examined. How that agenda has and has not changed since 9/11 is analyzed. The major steps in the intelligence process are studied – targeting, collection, analysis, and the evaluation of data - and issues surrounding oversight of the intelligence community are considered. Specific problems associated with the analysis of intelligence data are studied, and historical cases reviewed. Counterintelligence issues and problems are examined, including an evaluation of the use of covert action and paramilitary means to advance national security policy. The course concludes with a review of the issues that make it difficult to learn the right lessons from intelligence failures and successes. DSS 614: Strategic Thought: There is a rich literature on strategy and warfare, and even the oldest surviving works on strategy are arguably relevant to contemporary political leaders. This course will examine the ideas of strategic thinkers who lived in a variety of historical periods. Students will read works by (and in some cases, about) such figures as Sun Tzu, Niccolò Machiavelli, Baron Antoine Henri de Jomini, Carl von Clausewitz, Thucydides, J.F.C. Fuller, B.H. Liddell Hart, Colin S. Gray, and Herman Kahn. DSS 615: Grand Strategy: Grand strategy defines the interests of a state, the threats to those interests, and the policies and military forces needed to minimize the danger posed by those threats. Grand strategy is an important topic in international politics, because if a state has clearly defined interests and the means to protect them, the chance of war may be reduced or heightened. The aim of this seminar is to examine the grand strategies of great powers to determine what the relationship is between a great power's grand strategy and stability in international politics. Particular attention will be paid to the factors that affect grand strategy; the grand strategy of the major European powers before World Wars I and II; U.S. grand strategy during the Cold War; and the competing arguments over what constitutes U.S. grand strategy in the post-Cold War world. DSS 616: Understanding Military Operations: A sophisticated understanding of modern military operations requires a prior understanding of both the material side of war – weapons, communications, and information processing technologies – and the human or organizational side of war, particularly military doctrine. This seminar delineates selected past, current, and future sea, air, space, and land conflicts into their constituent parts to examine the interaction of political objectives and military doctrine. It explores how political objectives and military doctrine influence technological development and military innovation. The seminar examines a variety of military tactics, including strategic bombing, tactical air support, and armor deployment as applied in World War II and in the current war with Iraq; the role of artillery on the modern battlefield; the development of missile accuracy; antisubmarine warfare; airpower as applied in the Vietnam War; the post-Vietnam suppression of enemy air defenses and development of precision strike capabilities, and other contemporary debates.. DSS 617: Small Wars, Imperial Conflicts, and Guerrilla Warfare: This seminar examines some of the many forms of warfare that differ from “symmetrical” conflicts between great powers. Special attention is paid to how great powers fight such wars, and why they succeed or fail in bringing them to a satisfactory conclusion. Students read a variety of literature written by authors such as C.E. Calwell, Victor Davis Hanson, and Colin S. Gray, as well as by insurgents such as Che Guevara. The class includes historical case studies, with an emphasis on the Nineteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-first centuries. DSS 618: The Causes of War: This seminar explores the causes of warfare through the lens of human evolution, psychological approaches, economic system, ideology, and the international system, with the intention of understanding the strengths and limitations of each level of analysis. From that foundation, the seminar applies each level of analysis to the study of the origins of particularly significant wars: the Peloponnesian, Crimean, Seven Years’, Korean, and Vietnam Wars, as well as World War I and World War II. DSS 619: Strategic Culture: This seminar will provide an introduction to the use of strategic culture as an analytical approach to understanding the cultural, religious, historical, and leadership sources of state and non-state actor behavior, with special reference to issues related to weapons of mass destruction. The concept of strategic culture captures domestic sources of state behavior, and offers an alternative or supplemental explanatory frame work to the prevailing realist and constructionist theories of international relations. This seminar is designed to examine the cultural context for applying theories of deterrence and dissuasion, and will involve a survey of thinking and analysis on strategic culture, from both theoretical and policy perspectives, as well as an exposure to the framework and methodology of strategic cultural analysis. Several key strategic cultures will serve as case studies. DSS 620: Internship Training in DSS: Students are placed in internships with a U.S. government department or agency, a Washington, DC defense policy research institute, or institution of comparable professional stature to gain experience in defense and arms control policy-making. Requirements include the preparation of a written report or research paper based on the internship. This is for students pursuing the M.S. degree, and may be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours. DSS 621: Missile Defense Policy: This seminar examines the role of missile defense in the national security policies, programs, and military doctrines of the United States. Particular emphasis will be placed on exploring the evolution of missile defense within the broader context of contemporary American deterrence and defense policy. DSS 622: Emerging Strategic Threats: For the purpose of this seminar, strategic challenges are defined as those emerging trends or security threats – political, economic, or military – that could fundamentally alter the present pattern of interstate relations or the core principles of U.S. foreign and defense policy. Examples include a possible cascade of proliferation resulting in 20 or 30 nuclear-armed states, a single terrorist with a nuclear weapon, or a resurgent Russia or ascendant China rising to a level of a peer competitor of the United States. Seminar reading and discussions will focus on: 1) Examining the causes, effects, and responses to these potential strategic challenges, especially the spread of weapons of mass destruction to state and non-state actors, both terrorists and enablers such as the A.Q. Kahn network; 2) Assessing assumptions, policies and capabilities for dealing with these challenges and how the concept of dissuasion, deterrence, and defense must adapt to the new security environment; and 3) Exploring how best to hedge against strategic uncertainties and how best to shape the future of the nuclear enterprise to promote the expansion of nuclear energy globally while reducing the risks of proliferation. DSS 623: Counterproliferation: This course will explore the challenges posed by nuclear and biological weapons in the hands of state and non-state actors. Students will investigate why various actors pursue these weapons, why some give them up, why others refuse to give them up, and the assorted instruments of national power that may be employed in the development of a national strategy to combat these weapons. Students will consider both the national security and homeland security aspects of these challenges. The subject matter will provide a vehicle for refining critical analytical skills; both verbal and written. The course will stress the refinement of each student’s analytical and problem solving abilities as part of their development as national security strategists. DSS 624: Leadership in National Security Policy: The issue of national security policy leadership is addressed in this seminar. Students will investigate the critical topics, including the components of good leadership, and the consequences of leadership failures. Speakers from the national security community will participate in order to explain the leadership challenges they faced in their careers. The subject matter will provide a vehicle for refining student leadership skills as part of their development as national security strategists. DSS 696: Directed Research and Reading: This course provides for individually tailored directed readings or research for bibliographical purposes; for the improvement of research skills; to achieve a broader background of knowledge in areas not covered by seminars, such as classical writing on strategy or on the art of warfare historically; for more depth in selected areas of specialization; and/or to help meet the non-thesis M.S. research requirements. DSS 697: Special Topics: This seminar addresses the defense and international security issues at the forefront of today’s news, and is offered to develop areas of expertise that are best addressed through presentations by experts and policy-makers from government, industry, academia, and the intelligence community. This course may be repeated for a maximum of six hours, as topics change. DSS 698: Contemporary Defense Issues: The topic of this course for the Fall 06 semester is “Challenges and Strategies for Combating Proliferation.” This course will explore the challenges posed by nuclear and biological weapons in the hands of state and non-state actors. Students will investigate why various actors pursue these weapons, why some give them up and others refuse to do so, and the assorted instruments of national power that may be employed in the development of a national strategy to combat these weapons. Students will consider both the national security and homeland security aspects of these challenges. The subject matter will provide a vehicle for refining critical analytical skills, both verbal and written. This course may be repeated for a maximum of 6 hours, as topics change. DSS 699: Thesis: Independent research and study connected with the preparation of thesis.
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