This also furthered the need for learned experts in the developing homeland security field. Private-sector employment opportunities encouraged practicing and budding professionals to build their homeland security credentials. The multidisciplinary instruction and study found in educational settings provided this, and the demand for homeland security education – from students, the private sector, and DHS – encouraged universities and institutions to provide more homeland security-focused courses.
It was not until several years after the department began operations, Beardsworth said, that DHS job applicants began bringing graduate degrees in homeland security-related fields. Increasingly, universities offered courses focused on homeland security issues and leadership, and today, there are numerous undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates specifically in homeland security. But to what extent does this offering meet the needs of the security challenge?
“Given the scale of what we call the homeland security enterprise and what it means for our society, academia has been missing in action,” said Flynn. “Extraordinarily, universities have not seriously engaged [homeland] within their traditional disciplines in this area.”
With DHS grants and other incentives, as well as a growing demand for homeland security educational opportunities, this is changing.
Building Bridges with Academia
Homeland security education or study differs from homeland training. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents, for example, receive specialized training for their agency operations. The academic study of homeland security, however, involves the concepts and tools used in resisting and responding to man-made and natural disasters. It focuses on threat and risk analysis, on policy and leadership, and on the many technical fields involved with homeland security efforts.
Homeland security-specific programs largely arose after 9/11, though there are examples of institutions that seemed to be ahead of the curve. In 1998, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approached The George Washington University Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management, proposing a graduate-level program in crisis and emergency management, structured for people who also hold full-time jobs. The institute began offering master’s and Ph.D.-level programs with a concentration in crisis, emergency, and risk management. After 9/11, enrollment doubled, and the institute began incorporating courses in homeland security policy.
“Emergency management and homeland security are being seen as recognized professions,” said Dr. Gregory Shaw, the institute’s co-director. “We look at this as a management science, not as first responders. We teach people how to manage programs from the budgetary side, dealing with stakeholders, risk-based analysis, and building consensus.”
As DHS sought solutions to its security challenges, it prompted academia with the Homeland Security Centers of Excellence network, offering funding for universities and colleges to take on centers of multidisciplinary research, pursuing solutions for DHS’ security questions. There are currently 12 Centers of Excellence housed at more than 20 educational institutions across the country, each focused on a different aspect of the homeland security challenge.
The University of Southern California Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) held a lecture for scholars and students featuring terrorism expert Marc Sageman. From left: CREATE Associate Director Erroll Southers, USC student Tony Huynh, Marc Sageman, student Alexander Pascal Gallotta-Mishkin, and student Robert Florkowski. Courtesy of Tony Huynh
Tony Huynh is a University of Southern California (USC) public policy graduate student pursuing a homeland security and public policy certificate from the Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE), a Center of Excellence.
“USC is very good at risk and economic analysis,” he said. “Combine that with counterterrorism, and you’re getting a lot of new policy tools and solutions dealing with homeland security challenges. Over the past two years, we’ve seen more and more academics and professionals talking to each other, which really pushes the field to a new level.”
Centers of Excellence primarily bring together academics and practitioners to develop new solutions to changing threats for DHS. There is, however, an educational component, and because the centers are university-led, there are inevitable benefits for students.