Since its inception in 1992, the Special Operations/Irregular Warfare master’s degree program has prepared more than 680 officers to fill key positions in both DoD and defense ministries throughout the world. Characteristic of the program is the fact that although its curriculum has evolved over time, its over-arching mission to develop critical thinkers and capable operators, planners and commanders for the rigors of irregular warfare (IW) has steadfastly remained.
The program originated when thirteen SEALs pursuing graduate work at NPS saw the need for a curriculum that would focus on the “unconventional” problems encountered by personnel assigned to USSOCOM.
Under the guidance of Dr Gordon McCormick, a visiting professor from the RAND Corporation, NPS developed a course of instruction specifically built around operational and strategic issues and the use of special operations forces. The proposed course of instruction was so well-received by the students themselves, including CDR Bill McRaven, now commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, that the admiral of NPS arranged for the curriculum to be briefed to the commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, who immediately chose to sponsor this unique program.
Over the years, the Special Operations/Irregular Warfare graduate program has undergone many changes. In 1994, sponsorship of the program switched to USSOCOM to reflect the growing demands for a joint curriculum. In 1995, two senior service school equivalent fellowships were added. In 2001, the curriculum—which formerly had resided under the banner of the Special Operations, Low-Intensity Conflict (SOLIC) academic group—was promoted to an academic department and re-named the Department of Defense Analysis.
In 2003, the department was opened to international officers and students from the Combating Terrorism Fellowship Program. In 2004, the department was designated as a key developmental course of instruction for Civil Affairs and PSYOP officers, and in 2005, under the sponsorship of STRATCOM, a new second curriculum, Joint Information Operations, was added to the department’s offerings. Today students are awarded either a Master’s of Science in Defense Analysis or Joint Information Operations upon successful completion of their program.
Due to the nature of its dual curricula, the department has seen a large spike in students within the last few years. On average, 150 resident students, comprised of joint SOF, conventional, and international officers, are enrolled in at any one time. The department is also home to two nationally prominent research centers, DoD’s Information Operations Center for Excellence and the cutting edge CORE Lab, an intel/ops fusion center.
Today the department features an array of courses that reflect the program’s deliberately interdisciplinary nature. Students enrolled in the Defense Analysis curriculum are provided instruction in courses as diverse as Seminar in Guerilla Warfare, Anthropology of Conflict, Analytical Methods, and International Terrorism. Similarly, students enrolled in the Joint Information Operations Curriculum are provided instruction in courses such as Warfare in the Information Age, Public Diplomacy to Psychological Operations, Electronic Warfare Principles and Applications, and The Rise of Religious Violence. In addition, the department draws upon other courses and programs throughout the Naval Postgraduate School to support its two curricular tracks.
Complementing the interdisciplinary nature of the program itself are faculty who have been deliberately drawn from a variety of academic disciplines and backgrounds, including Political Science, Economics, Cyber Security, Anthropology, Mathematics, Irregular Warfare, and Strategy Management. Currently, the department features twenty-one fulltime faculty, many of whom have been recognized for their subject matter expertise and/or instructional excellence.
In addition, The Defense Analysis Department prides itself in its direct support to of the warfighter. Examples of this support include faculty trips to Iraq to support the development of their counter-terrorism force and oversight panel; reach back support for CJSOTF-A information operations; the completion of a SOF counter-insurgency study that informed DoD’s Guidance for the Development of the Force process; and recent sponsored research on a wide range of operational-related issue areas, including the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, manhunting, unconventional warfare, information operations and military transformation. Since 2008, the Defense Analysis Department also has been working in collaboration with the City of Salinas to develop a “counter-insurgent strategy” for countering the city’s rising problem with gang violence.
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