Faculty Contact Information:
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Consultation:
| Instructor welcomes and encourages students to contact him on the classroom site or by email, for help or guidance, to offer suggestions or for other reasons related to the course at any time. | |
Required Texts and Readings:
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Supplementary Readings:
The 9/11 Commission Report. Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States.
The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. Report to the President of the United States. March 31, 2005.
Protecting the American Homeland: One Year On. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. ISBN: 0815764537.
Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism, National Research Council. (2002). Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. ISBN: 0309084814.
Cordesman, Anthony H., with Justin G. Cordesman. (2002). Cyber-Threats, Information Warfare, and Critical Infrastructure Protection: Defending the U.S. Homeland. Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN: 0275974235.
Interagency Working Group on Information Technology Research and Development, National Science and Technology Council. (2002). Strengthening National, Homeland, and Economic Security. Arlington, VA: National Coordination Office for Information Technology Research and Development.
Additional materials as assigned. | |
Recommended Journals:
| Publications of the various professional societies (such as ACM -- the Association for Computing Machinery, the IEEE Computing Society, and the various management professional societies) are strongly recommended. In addition, there are many trade journals (such as eWEEK) that MIS professionals should become familiar with, many of these being published both weekly and on-line. | |
Course Description:
| The course identifies and defines physical, cyber, political and social aspects of homeland security, their integral relationships and importance. Inherent and incidental vulnerabilities are examined, as are natural, accidental and deliberate threats, from individuals, groups or nations. Organizational and political considerations are addressed both theoretically and pragmatically. Homeland security is considered prospectively, from a planning perspective; dynamically, as an ongoing process; and retrospectively, requiring continual remediation and improvement. The course addresses the challenge of managing far-flung programs and operations, working closely and cooperatively with other nations, governments at various levels, and engaging both the public and private sectors on critical issues with no previously defined parameters. Fundamental constitutional and legal issues, especially social and human rights issues, are examined. Advanced technologies and services critical to homeland security, particularly telecommunications and information technologies are discussed. | |
Course Goals:
Upon successful completion of this course, the student should understand and be able to apply knowledge concerning:
- The homeland security needs at all levels of government,
- Institutional vulnerabilities in both the public and private sectors,
- The trade-offs inherent in providing both protection and privacy,
- Technology's importance as both an asset to be protected and a critical element of support in providing security.
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Course Objectives:
At the end of the course the students should,
- Delineate the primary domestic and international, state and local aspects of homeland security, their inherent links, practical interrelationships, significance and vulnerabilities.
- Explain the diverse but interdependent dimensions of homeland security, including the fundamental importance of safeguarding of key infrastructures and political, economic and social institutions.
- Recognize significant vulnerabilities, whether widespread or peculiar to a location or circumstance and be aware of possible threats to homeland security that may arise from individuals, groups or nations.
- Elaborate the far-reaching challenges of organizing, managing and coordinating homeland security operations within the federal government itself and in its relationships with state, local and international governments and with the private sector.
- Recognize that fundamental human rights and responsibilities, including privacy and due process of law, are essential to homeland security and must be safeguarded as such.
- Understand the critical value of advanced technologies, systems and services --telecommunications and information technologies and systems, in particular -- in making our nation safer.
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Grading Information:
Class Participation 25%
Study Group Assignment 25%
Individual Research Report 25%
Final Exam 25% | |
Course Requirements:
| Students are required to read materials assigned each week and participate in the discussion threads on posted topics; to take a role with others in leading discussions as assigned, typically one week during the course; actively participate with others, as assigned, in the research of a specified topic and submission of a Word document and Power Point report on the topic; selection of a topic for individual research, researching the topic and preparing a Word document report on the topic; researching and responding to final exam. | |
Description of Course Requirements:
Active participation on a timely, regular basis is essential to quality distance education and is expected of all students. The study group assignment is integral to collaborative learning, providing a dimension that complements the ongoing interactive role afforded through the classroom website; the individual research report affords each student an opportunity to research in depth a relevant topic of particular interest; and the final exam will seek to pull together fundamental elements of homeland security.
Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment. | |
Course Schedule:
Week 1
Introduction and Bios
Overview of the Course
A New Normalcy for America
Study Groups Assigned
Week 2
Recognizing Vulnerabilities & Threats
Understanding Terrorism and Terrorists
Week 3
Strengthening National Intelligence
Individual Research Topics Selected and Assigned
Week 4
Assessing Present and Future Risks and Countermeasures
Developing a Homeland Security Strategy
Week 5
Creating a Framework for Homeland Security at Home and Abroad
Engaging State and Local Governments and the Private Sector
International Cooperation and Collaboration
Study Group Reports Due
Week 6
Utilizing Advanced Information Technologies
Safeguarding Critical Infrastructures
Week 7
Protecting Constitutional Rights
Course Review
Individual Research Reports Due
Week 8
Final Exam
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Academic Policies:
The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the University's contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Code of Civility
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center. | |
Faculty Bio:
Biographical Information for Richard Thayer, PhD
My field is information and telecommunications, focusing particularly on emerging technologies and their applications. I spent years with AT&T, the last ten representing Bell Labs (then part of AT&T) with the federal government, and left AT&T in 1996 to begin my own consulting firm, Telecommunications & Technologies Intl., Inc., or TTI, (http://www.ttinetwork.com). I have taught for some years, mostly on a part-time basis, at the City University of New York, Georgetown, Maryland and other universities. I welcome you and look forward to getting to know each of your over the next few months.
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