Learning Materials from the NPS Center for Homeland Defense and Security
The Reflecting Pool is a series of informal conversations with CHDS Homeland Security Master’s program students about their thesis research, the spark that led to the selection of their topic, research challenges and personal experiences with the thesis process. Participants also discuss how the topic relates to the broader homeland security enterprise and what it’s like to be part of the master’s program.
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...
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,...
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...
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...
Play the audio: Reports of police use of excessive force appear weekly in the media and have generated outrage in many communities. Officers actions are currently judged by the Graham v Connor ‘standard of...
Play the audio: David Flamm (CHDS Master’s cohort 1401/2) discusses the inefficiencies, conflicts, and misinterpretations that are created by emergency responders who rely on different approaches to incident management. He draws on practitioner interviews...
Play the audio: In this podcast, David Riedman, Captain of the Montgomery County MD Fire and Rescue Service (cohort 1401/1402), speaks about how the critical infrastructure club in the United States needs to be...
Play the audio: Standard operating procedures (SOPs) guide emergency responders in a crisis, providing predetermined steps to manage anticipated events. However, modern disasters often manifest as complex systems and produce unanticipated outcomes. As a...
Play the audio: For most homeland security agencies, success is measured by preventing events. However, when it comes to budgets it can be hard to quantify what didn’t happen and make the case for...
Play the audio: Michelle Mallek (CHDS cohort 1401) is legal counsel at FEMA and decided to study ‘Sovereigns‘ because much of the terrorist discussion in mainstream media is focused on external threats. In this episode...
Play the audio: Lisa Palmieri (CHDS cohort 1402) is part of DHS working in intelligence and analysis. In this episode of the Reflecting Pool podcast, Bijan and Lisa discuss how Violent Salafi Jihadism (VSJ) motivated the...
Play the audio: In this inaugural Reflecting Pool podcast, host Bijan Karimi talks to USCG Lt. Chris Kimrey (CHDS Master’s cohort 1402) about how emerging problems often surprise lawmakers and agency officials which can...