Master of Arts in Intelligence Studies-Capstone Option

RECOMMENDED AS FIRST PROGRAM COURSE. REQUIRED AS ONE OF FIRST THREE PROGRAM COURSES. Learn basic research methods skills for addressing security and intelligence studies problems and issues. You focus on the detailed procedures for conducting qualitative case studies, which is the foundation for most basic security and intelligence research conducted in academic, government, and business circles. You become well versed in research planning, secondary data collection, and qualitative data analysis methods and how these methods relate to the larger field of social science research. You will also learn the analysis of competing hypotheses approach to research design. You are also introduced to basic social theory which supports security and intelligence research. The course prepares you for later learning intermediate and advanced security and intelligence methods.

RECOMMENDED AS SECOND PROGRAM COURSE. Strategic Intelligence is an examination of the current structure, function, capabilities, and contributions of individual U.S. national intelligence community members. Students appraise the intelligence cycle, including an overview of the intelligence planning, collection, exploitation, analysis, production, and dissemination phases. A review is also made of intelligence oversight structures and restrictions on U.S. national intelligence community activities as prescribed by federal law, executive and agency directives, and the intelligence oversight system.

This course is a study of intelligence collection and information gathering. It focuses on a variety of aspects related to how both the United States and foreign nations gather and process intelligence. The student will develop a comprehensive understanding of the role collection plays in the intelligence community, how various policies affect collection, and how different intelligence agencies monitor and collect intelligence.

This course provides the student with a firm foundation in qualitative analysis and modeling techniques, including rational choice, utility, and game theories, in order to create and test hypotheses. Students will apply basic trend analysis techniques and forecasting methods such as probability tree analysis, analytic hierarchy process, alternative scenarios/futures, Delphi technique, and the Lockwood Analytical Method for Prediction (LAMP).

This course will aid the student in writing clear and concise intelligence related documentation. Through a series of practical intelligence related exercises, the student will learn to choose the appropriate writing style required to properly and effectively communicate their message to their simulated target audience, including proper formatting and citation styles, as well as the best use of tables, diagrams, graphics and charts.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT A RESEARCH METHODS COURSE IS TAKEN BEFORE THIS COURSE. This course first explores the nature of human thought processes: why we think the way we do, and the many analytical, perceptual, and cognitive errors that plague our efforts to conduct sound, dispassionate analysis. The course then addresses various analytical tools that are available to the analyst, using practical exercises to reinforce same. A major research project will demonstrate the applicability of these techniques to analysis, using a notional/contemporary scenario.

Learn how to improve interagency relationships among security, defense, and intelligence agencies. This course introduces the student to theoretical and practical material for understanding the behavior of individual organizations and what can be done to make organizations work more closely together at the federal, state, and local levels. Students are introduced to theoretical material on organizational cultures; bureaucracy; social trust; individual, group, and organizational decision-making; and interagency collaboration. Emphasis is placed on explaining why organizations act the way they do and how to improve interagency coordination. Prerequisite: INTL500 Research Methods in Security and Intelligence Studies or other APUS 500-level graduate research methods course.

This graduate course examines and compares the legal and criminal justice systems of different nations. It focuses on historical, political and social factors, and explains their influence on legal institutions and systems of justice with a particular focus on the nations of Europe, South America, Asia and the Middle East. The course will place particular emphasis on law enforcement, courts and corrections across the globe. Students will focus on criminal justice systems across the globe in order to help enhance the understanding of how the criminal justice system of the United States functions within the community of nations.

Students will examine the role of forensic science in the investigation of crime by introducing the non-scientific student to the field. Through applications to criminal investigations, clear explanations of the techniques, and the abilities and limitations of modern crime labs, the course covers the realm of forensics. The various types of physical evidence normally encountered in criminal investigations will be studied with regard to collection and packaging techniques. Combining case stories with applicable technology, this course serves as an introduction to the field of forensic science investigations.

This course examines the historical roots of organized criminality. Structural models are compared for understanding emerging groups. Special attention is paid to dependencies and cooperation among ethnicities. Additionally, there will be a review of the activities associated with organized strategic aspects (i.e. profit-oriented ventures such as extortion, credit card fraud, counterfeiting, prostitution, drug trafficking, smuggling) and tactical issues (i.e. activities that support the criminal organization such as money laundering, violence, corruption, recruitment).

This course provides the student with an introduction to the methods and techniques of criminal intelligence analysis and strategic organized crime. The rapid increase in multinational analysis and transnational organized crime, corporate drug trafficking organizations, and the impact of crime on national and international policy has created a critical need for law enforcement intelligence experts in the relatively new field of criminal intelligence. The course shows how to use criminal intelligence analysis to predict trends, weaknesses, capabilities, intentions, changes, and warnings needed to dismantle criminal organizations. This course provides knowledge needed by law enforcement professionals at the federal, state, and local level, by criminal intelligence analysts working in private industry, and by military intelligence personnel making a transition from a military to a law enforcement career. The course provides a background of the use of intelligence to dismantle criminal organizations and businesses. This course emphasizes criminal/law enforcement intelligence, as opposed to criminal investigation.

The Master’s Capstone Seminar option in Intelligence Studies includes a thesis or a major research paper in lieu of the final comprehensive examination, which has no credit hours. Those who elect this graduation option may reduce their electives by three semester hours to accommodate the seminar option credit. Students starting their degree program after 1 January 2009 must take INTL699 and complete a thesis based upon a list of available subjects. The thesis or major research paper options are recommended for those students who wish to apply their advanced research and analytic skills to a topic of U.S .or international security interest. The thesis option is recommended for those students planning professional writing careers or those planning to continue their education at higher levels.