The curriculum, designed by University faculty in consultation with law enforcement, intelligence, and public management experts, provides graduates with the foundation to become more effective public security professionals and managers.

Students who successfully complete the five-course Specialization earn 20 credits and a graduate certificate in Public Security.

The following courses are required of all students in the Public Security Specialization:

• Data, Models, and Decision I and II – Computer-based tools are essential for planning, policy analysis, and decision-making in the public security environment. In this course, students use modeling, spreadsheets, databases, and other technical tools for decision making, resource allocation, communication, and information management.
• Introduction to Terrorism and Insurgency – The emergence of terrorist groups, their impact on government and society, and the efforts to counter them are the focus of this course. Using existing theory and research, students examine the origins and impact of terrorism, as well as strategies for dealing with it.

Students must take two additional specialized classes, among them :

• Terrorism, Public Security, and Information Analysis – Information technologies are defensive tools used to combat cyber terrorism and protect our information–based infrastructures. Students investigate advanced information retrieval, data analysis and mining, and forensic analysis as techniques for intelligence gathering and monitoring.
• Terrorism, Public Security, and Law Enforcement – Domestic law enforcement, a major player in preventing and responding to terrorism, routinely faces a host of strategic, operational, organizational, and legal issues. Students explore the information gathering, resource allocation, and intergovernmental issues that face law enforcement agencies.
• Globalization, International Cooperation, and Terrorism – Globalization makes it easier for commerce, people, and ideas—as well as terrorists and their finances—to pass freely over national boundaries. Students learn how efforts to address the global terrorist threat must also examine challenges of cooperation at both the interagency and the international levels.

The Public Security Concentration helps participants increase their understanding of:

• Origin, nature, and impact of terrorism
• Strategic challenges of fighting terrorism and its organizational terrain
• Forces affecting flow of information and intelligence
• Role of domestic criminal justice agencies
• Global dimensions of terrorism and role of international networks and organizations
• Analytic, methodological, and technological skills for analyzing security issues
• Ethical issues surrounding privacy and due process