Course Listings

Concepts in Homeland Security

HSMN 610 | 3 Credits

Course Desc: An overview of the basic concepts of homeland security, including infrastructure protection, jurisdiction, and issues in technical areas such as interconnectivity and interoperability. The nation's telecommunications and information technology networks are examined as both vulnerable assets and critical solutions.

Critical Infrastructures

HSMN 625 | 3 Credits

Course Desc: Prerequisite: HSMN 610. An introduction to critical infrastructure assurance as a policy field. Review covers the concept of critical infrastructures and their interdependencies. Topics include the development of modern critical infrastructures, the reasons they have become central elements of 21st century societies, efforts being made to safeguard them, and potential threats to their continued effective operation.

Resilience Planning and Preparedness for Disaster Response and Recovery

HSMN 630 | 3 Credits

Course Desc: An in-depth examination of managerial strategies for developing and maintaining resilience in communities, the private sector, and the nation in the face of man-made, natural, and technological disruptions or catastrophes. Emphasis is on the importance of advanced planning. Techniques for performing risk assessments and potential impact analyses and for selecting appropriate risk treatments are explored. Discussion covers preparing to handle adverse events, responding to them, and recovering from them. Resilience management is explored within the context of a life cycle that includes programmatic review and continuous improvement planning. Actual and hypothetical cases are analyzed.

Energy Infrastructure Security

HSMN 640 | 3 Credits

Course Desc: Prerequisite: HSMN 610. An in-depth exploration of the energy sector and homeland security, including resources, critical infrastructure protection, and vulnerabilities. The goal is to understand risk methodologies as applied to the energy industry. Topics include pipeline security, security of the electrical grid, cyber-dependence and SCADA systems. Energy is evaluated as a national security issue.

Seminar in Homeland Security

HSMN 670 | 3 Credits

Course Desc: Prerequisite: Completion of 24 credits of program coursework, including HSMN 610, HSMN 625, HSMN 630, EMAN 620, INFA 660, and BSBD 641. An up-to-date evaluation of vulnerabilities and protective countermeasures regarding various aspects of the nation's critical infrastructure, with emphasis on the food and water supply. Topics include various threat profiles and actions by government, industry, independent institutions, and private citizens that might prevent attack from domestic or foreign sources and mitigate harmful consequences should such an attack occur. Discussion reviews the federal government's organization and management of food and water security and explores what further efforts might be made, building on the nation's health system and engaging government at all levels. The singularly important roles of first responders are also analyzed