Intelligence community turning to Cal State San Bernardino for training

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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - With tensions around the world still at an all-time high, and terrorism reports a fixture in the daily news, the nation's intelligence community is turning to Cal State San Bernardino to find the next Jack Ryan, Jack Bauer or even James Bond.

Over the past several years numerous graduates from CSUSB's master's program in National Security Studies have gone on to work at high profile security agencies, such as the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism groups, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Their job placement rate combined with the state of the nation has caused the university program's enrollment to burst at the seams. Almost every graduate seminar is over-booked with students, and the university's political science department hopes to add faculty to help develop more courses for graduate students.

"The terror attacks of 9/11 and increasing international tension have convinced many people to make changes in their lives," said Mark Clark, director of CSUSB's NSS program. "A majority of incoming students want to serve their country in national service. Since our program is tailor-made for careers in defense analysis or the intelligence community, and with many government agencies looking for employees, our enrollments continue to skyrocket.

"We have police officers, engineers, biologists, physicists and computer scientists, as well as traditional liberal studies students learning the different principles behind defense policy analysis, strategic planning and arms control in relation to the contemporary international environment," Clark said.

All of the students in the NSS program take courses that give them the basic understanding of U.S. and international security policy, the institutions that carry them out and the strategies behind their policy. The program presents an overview of major issues in defense policy, including an introduction to modeling of strategic offensive and defensive forces. Students also examine the strategy of war and peace as a foundation for understanding the use and misuse of force in the world.

"The intelligence community is very specific about what they're looking for and the expertise they want in recruits," Clark said. "They don't want people who are generalists in international relations anymore. They want candidates who are knowledgeable in several fields, and this program offers students that knowledge base and then some."

Though the NSS program does not require students to acquire another language, it has encouraged them to develop one of several languages that have been designated of strategic interest to the United States, such as Arabic, Farsi, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin or Turkic, as well as the traditional foreign languages.

Along with leading the university's NSS program, Clark also will head a California State University consortium that will establish an Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence. Spread over seven CSU campuses, Cal State San Bernardino will serve as the lead institution for the multi-year, multi-million dollar grant from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

Provided through the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the grant will help establish curricular programs for undergraduates at the seven campuses to help students develop critical thinking and analysis, good writing and communication skills, and training in languages and cultures of the world. The program also will work with high school students to help prepare them for college.

The CSU consortium Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence is the only intelligence community-sponsored center with multiple campuses. It includes CSU campuses at Bakersfield, Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach, Northridge and Cal Poly Pomona.

For more information, contact Clark, direc

The National Security Studies master's program presents to its students an overview of major issues in defense policy, including an introduction to modeling of strategic offensive and defensive forces.