The purpose and scope of this course is to expose students to a broad array of Homeland Security problems and opportunities in the realm of science-and-technology solutions. By focusing the class on real issues in Homeland Security, such as Fentanyl overdoses and poisonings, climate change concerns, the United States (U.S.)-Mexico border, counterterrorism, and artificial/augmented intelligence, we will be learning while doing Homeland Security. We will also focus on real-world natural disasters that may occur during the semester, such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, wildfires, and earthquakes. These real events help demonstrate multiple approaches and solutions (“multiple simultaneous events”) for what Homeland Security officials are expected to know or must decide and then respond. The course is meant as a mentorship toward being a professional in the Homeland Security community. It is also meant as a means of increasing the value of your knowledge of events and solutions of immediate need and opportunity. As such, the quality of the assignments, the means of solving problems, and the relationship with others in the class are all vitally important. With the uniqueness of everyday occurrences, we will also be trying to demonstrate solutions that could be deployed across the Homeland Security Enterprise. As real events take place, we will try to use them to help the learning process, so the class has a “real-time” sense of what will be covered. Hopefully, some of these efforts can inspire thesis or project ideas for you, so that you can begin working on your final effort during your first semester in the program. You might think of this as part of your “game plan” for the whole program.

o    Can the student understand the basic concepts of science and technology in Homeland Security and the opportunities and concerns each may have and how to get further information about each item if the student needs to use the information in new ways, determine courses of action, and defend or support decisions to use science and technology in legal, ethical, and appropriate manners?

o    Can the student use information such as near real-time hurricane information to evaluate where the danger will be, support these decisions with graphics through time, and create reasoned response and recovery suggestions for Emergency Management officials and the public?

o    Can the student recognize the complexity, cost, and possible solutions for a host of science and technology challenges in Homeland Security as well as choosing possible solutions and constructing position papers supported by graphics to assist leaders and the public in making decisions?

o    Can the student recognize likely inappropriate courses of actions and potential impacts such as ATF’s “Fast and Furious” tragedy? Can the student then distinguish between different other solutions and defend suggested choices as well as develop briefing solutions to convince others of the wisdom of their suggestions?

o    Can the student recognize the management viewpoint of what can be done in Homeland Security operations like at the US-Mexico border and how security can be achieved while also increasing trade and revenues for the private sector on both sides of the border? Can the student assemble data and create convincing presentations about the security, safety, and trade operations of the border?

o    Can the student explain how collaboration among agencies, between different countries, and among very different organizations can help defend victims of human trafficking and transnational criminal organizations? Can the student create presentations to make compelling cases for trying to assist the US and other nations in the battles against groups like transnational criminal organizations, against human trafficking, against wildlife trafficking, and against the hundreds of other challenges faced in the Homeland Security Enterprise according to law?

o    Can the student recognize appropriate groups to belong to as professional organizations that help create solutions such as during global disasters including the World Wide Human Geography Data working group (https://www.ihs-i.com/wwhgd-resources) and Law Enforcement professional partnerships between government and the private sector such as the FBI InfraGard (https://www.infragard.org), San Diego InfraGard (https://www.infragardsd.org), and the US State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (https://www.osac.gov/)

o    Can the student connect science and technology to other parts of Homeland Security including targeted extremism, border security, global trade, disaster response, and cybersecurity and create solutions that appropriately use science and technology for the safety and security of the community and nation?

The course will be graded by a combination of the design of two (.pdf)  Fact Sheets, one individual Counterterrorism AI Poster Project, and Discussion Board Posts, for a Total of 100 possible points:

·      Assignments will be about evenly spaced throughout the semester and will focus on linking possible solutions to problems to possible funding sources, much as would be done by an official with a professional Homeland Security position. These will be done through the independent creation of two (.pdf) Fact Sheets and an individual PowerPoint (NCITE Research Gap/Topic) Counterterrorism AI Poster Project Presentation, which will be described in detail during the class. Each Fact Sheet will count for 20% of the grade (40% total), the final individual Counterterrorism Poster Project presentation will count for 45% of the grade, and Discussion Board Posts will count for 15% of the overall course grade.

·       The Final Poster Project and presentation of the AI results in front of the class will be 45% of the grade and focused on one aspect of the course with a final individual presentation at the end of class (last one or two classes).

·       Most graduate students should receive an A or B in the class; normally, a C is seen as having done poorly, as you must obtain a 3.0 or above GPA to graduate. Receiving a C- is very difficult and rare; as this requires that the class be taken over again because it must be on your Program of Study (all Program of Study classes must be C or above, with overall GPA needing to be 3.0 or higher). The goal of the class is that students do well, so hopefully no one runs into difficulty. If students earn a C-, D, or an F, these are appropriate to assign as well. This simply means that you will need to pay for and take the class again to graduate. An incomplete (you have a year to finish) can be obtained if difficulties arise, but this needs to be discussed and arranged for—simply not turning things in and wandering away is not an Incomplete but normally an F or related grade. We absolutely want to work with you to pursue the best actions for you if difficulties arise in your life. Your life and health (as COVID-19 and host of other things) take precedence, and we can normally work with you in creative ways to reach a positive solution for you. Don’t give up! If you have challenges in your life, please contact me and we can brainstorm.

·      Excused Absence/Make-up Policies: Most of the students are working adults with complex travel and daily lives. Generally, it is possible to work with individuals who are not able to make class for valid reasons. Simply contacting the instructor before class is the best way to approach this and can individually arrange to make up the material or get directions on things to read or turn in for class. Normally, it works best for students to connect to other students to specifically share the details of what was discussed, assignments, and handouts. Likely the greatest benefit from the class will be the associations with other students and professionals, so we will focus on building relationships through shared experiences. Zoom recordings should make it possible to avert most things in life.