Learning Materials from the NPS Center for Homeland Defense and Security
Dr. “Chick” Macal’s PrepTalk “Using Complex Adaptive Systems Thinking to Understand Community Interdependencies,” urges emergency managers to apply the principles of systems thinking to their work in preparedness and response. “We find that what...
March 2019 theses released and available in the Homeland Security Digital Library. The most recent outstanding thesis winner is Kristopher Thornburg, with his thesis work entitled “Disruptive Emergent Systems in Disaster Response.” Students in the...
The May 2019 Issue of Homeland Security Affairs features an essay which examines shortcomings in FEMA’s ability to manage civil defense and wartime defense mobilization missions which could seriously hinder the ability of the...
In this NPS-CHDS Viewpoints, NPS-CHDS master’s graduate Stephen Felty, discusses his Master’s thesis, Social Identity Theory and Intergroup Conflict in Israel/Palestine. Intergroup dynamics have been a central vector in long-lasting identity conflicts around the...
In this NPS-CHDS Viewpoints, CHDS alumni Dr. Michael Larranaga and Dr. John Comiskey discuss the results of their examination of the potential threats that climate change could have on the nation’s homeland security...
In this NPS-CHDS Viewpoints, NPS-CHDS master’s graduate Kevin Peters discusses his Master’s thesis, 21st Century Crime: How Malicious Artificial Intelligence Will Impact Homeland Security. Artificial intelligence (AI) is a field of research with the...
Play the audio: How is it that fringe stories and counterfeit narratives get traction, enter mainstream media, and are accepted as fact? Intelligence expert Samantha Korta (Masters 1605/1606 aka 1611) studied information laundering to...
In this NPS-CHDS Viewpoints, NPS-CHDS master’s graduate Colby Stanton, discusses her Master’s thesis, Punching above Their Weight: The Homeland Security Contributions of the U.S. Pacific Territories. While the U.S. Pacific territories were brought into...
Listen to audio: In today’s episode, I had the opportunity to speak with the Director of FEMA’s National Integration Center, Mr. Dan Alexander. Our conversation centered on the direction and changes that have been...
Dr. Jarrod Goentzel’s PrepTalk, “Aligning Public and Private Supply Chains for Disaster Response”, demonstrates how the private sector has far more capacity to respond than the public sector, explains the role of emergency managers...
Dr. Yossi Sheffi’s PrepTalk, “Private Sector Resilience: It is All in the Supply Chain”, explains the modes of failure in supply chain networks, explores new ways to think about disruptions, and showcases a General...
Listen to audio: This is the third episode in our 3-part series looking into school shootings. In Part 1, we looked at the data collection platform – K-12 School Shooting Database. In the following...
Listen to audio: In this show, we talk with Lt. Steve Simonds, Jim Morrissey, and Dr. Carol Cunningham about the school shooting, the tragedy, that occurred at Great Mills High School in Saint Mary’s...
Lecture/presentation — video. Marianne Taflinger Do you wonder where to start when sitting down to write your first paper in homeland security? This course teaches you how to write the introduction, body, and conclusion...
Listen to audio: This Podcast kicks off our 3-part series focused on school shootings. In this episode, we speak with Desmond O’Neill and David Riedman who walk us through the origins of the K-12...
In this NPS-CHDS Viewpoints, NPS-CHDS master’s graduate Mourad Mourad shares insightful methods to counter violent extremism. Mourad’s thesis, “Tailoring Violent Extremism Prevention: A Targeted Intervention Method,” identifies deficiencies in our currently employed...
In this NPS-CHDS Viewpoints, NPS-CHDS master’s graduate Ryan Whitehead talks about the correlation between his thesis research and his position as a Transportation Security Inspector with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in Boston. Ryan’s...
In this NPS-CHDS Viewpoints, NPS-CHDS master’s alumnus Jim Seebock, Captain of Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, discusses the evolution of his thesis. When the October 2017 Vegas Shootings occurred, he sensed a need to...
Play the audio: Providing perfect security in an era of unbounded risk is impossible. In my interview with Jack Anderson (Masters 1401), we talk about caribou scapula divination among Canadian nomadic tribes, jazz standards,...
The Worldwide Threat Assessment has been presented to Congress annually by the Director of National Intelligence; and before that office was created, it was presented by the CIA Director in his position as...
Resources to help improve your reading, writing, thinking, learning, and research skills.
Play the audio: Jessica Bress is the Director of Continuing Education for the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Her thesis explores United States’ drug policy and finds it wholly unprepared for the burgeoning phenomena related...
Leaders and experts in Resource Management in Emergency Situations came together in fall 2018 to talk about ensuring people with access and functional needs are address in shelters, how the insurance industry is rebuild...
Medium.com/Homeland-Security is an App Store of Homeland Security Ideas. CHDS participants are publishing new stories every few weeks. Edited by Rodrigo Nieto Gomez
Listen to audio: Episode 007. Our conversation is with Sheriff Jim McDonnell of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. We’ll be discussing issues ranging from challenges associated with managing the County jail system in terms of...
A database which contains each and every instance a gun is brandished, is fired, or a bullet hits school property for any reason, regardless of the number of victims, time, day of the week,...
Listen to audio: Episode 006. In this episode, we’re taking a look at Russia’s social media war against the United States, assault on our democracy, and some options our government may use to combat...
The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) has resleased a new timeline. This timeline includes a variety of events and milestones related to homeland security and emergency management. New events will be considered and added as...
Leaders and experts in school safety, youth safety and preparedness came together in summer 2018 to talk about Rethinking School Safety, Safety is Personal: Lessons Learned as a Survivor of the Virginia Tech Tragedy,...
Play the audio: We live in a world where information is abundant. But in our search for truth we must be careful. Without carefully curating the quality and rigor of information we receive, its...
In this NPS-CHDS Viewpoints, retired National Guard Brigadier General Mike McDaniel, a master’s degree alumnus, discusses his role in addressing the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. A change in the source of the city’s...
Video presentation at the 2018 APEX workshop (Alumni Professional Exchange). Mike Ananny, Assistant Professor of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, led a session titled “Fake News: A Challenge for...
Video presentation at the 2018 APEX workshop (Alumni Professional Exchange). Michael van Lent, CEO with the company SoarTech, discusses advances and limitations in Artificial Intelligence, or AI. Van Lent talks about systems such...
The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) has added two new Featured Topics: Opioids Pandemics and Epidemics Including resources on Zika Virus, Ebola Virus, Viral Hepatitis, Swine Flu (Influenza), Avian Influenza, SARS (Severe Acute...
Dr. Anne Marie Baylouny, Associate Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School and an expert in the Middle East, Refugees, Islam, and Social Welfare, talks about the Syrian refugee crisis in this four part series....
A collection of presentations and resource lists across a broad range of topics and categorized into Homeland Security and Core Competencies. Topics include Machine Learning, Drought, Aging Infrastructure, Terrorism & Transnational Criminal Organizations, Challenges in Infrastructure Funding, Asymmetric...
Full book list for every course These are some of the text books assigned to Master’s students at the Center for Homeland Defense and Security in 2015-2017 courses. See the list for all current courses:...
The Critical Infrastructure Higher Education Initiative (CI HEI) was a highly successful five year partnership between the Center for Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security (CIP/HS) at George Mason University and the U.S. Department of...
The Homeland Security Digital Library (HSDL) has updated its Featured Topics in Terrorism to include: Domestic (U.S.) Terrorism Global Terrorism Active Shooters Lone Wolf Terrorism Suicide Bombers HSDL Featured Topics are a curated collection of...
Video Series – James Wirtz The notion that the United States is vulnerable to a strategic surprise cyber attack is often characterized as a “Cyber Pearl Harbor,” and is a mainstay of current strategic...
Lecture/presentation Homeland security intelligence is not codified in law, nor is their a defined homeland security intelligence community – which encourages inconsistent interpretations of homeland security intelligence. This module examines some of the needs...
Course — website/web application. Paul Jonathan Smith. Updated May 2017 The following three modules address counterterrorism in the United Kingdom. Tracing the UK response to violent subnational terrorism back to its efforts against the...
Course — website/web application. Developed in conjunction with Sean Everton, Co-Director and Michael Aspland, Faculty Associate for Research at the CORE Lab in the Defense Analysis Department at the Naval Postgraduate School This course is...
Course — website/web application. Nadav Morag. [Updated Dec 2016] Islam is a faith of richness and complexity that has manifested itself over time in a broad variety of ways. Unfortunately, it is also used...
The Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School graduates students with a Master’s degree in Security Studies every March, September and December (with occasional June graduates). Find all 900+ theses...
