Institute for World Politics

What you'll study

All courses are four credits unless noted. The curriculum is structured across core requirements, intelligence-and-statecraft requirements, and concentration requirements.

• Core Requirements (16 credits): Includes IWP 606 Ideas and Values in International Politics (2 credits); IWP 608 Sources of American Political Thought (2 credits); IWP 615 Western Moral and Political Thought (2 credits); IWP 627 International Relations, Statecraft and Integrated Strategy; IWP 634 Geography and Strategy (2 credits); IWP 642 Economics for Foreign Policy Makers (2 credits); and IWP 799 Capstone Course (2 credits).
• Intelligence and Statecraft Requirements (20 credits): Required courses include IWP 605 Intelligence and Policy; IWP 610 Counterintelligence in a Democratic Society; IWP 652 Estimative Intelligence Analysis and Epistemology; a choice among IWP 656 Intelligence Collection or IWP 668 Espionage or IWP 631 Foreign Propaganda, Perceptions and Policy; and IWP 681 Intelligence and the Law.
• Concentrations (16 credits): Students must take at least 4 credits in each of the two listed concentrations. Options in The Art of Intelligence include courses such as IWP 632 U.S. Intelligence in the Cold War and Beyond; IWP 640 Cultural Intelligence for Strategy and Analysis; IWP 650 Writing for National Security Professionals (2 credits); IWP 662 Surprise, Warning and Deception (2 credits); IWP 667 Forecasting and Political Risk Analysis; IWP 676 A Counterintelligence Challenge: The Enigmas and Benefits of Defectors; IWP 678 Covert Action and National Security; IWP 683 Violent Non-State Actors in Today’s Security Environment (2 credits); IWP 684 Nuclear Strategy and Arms Control (2 credits); IWP 701 Geospatial Intelligence (2 credits); IWP 703 The Theory and Practice of North Korea Espionage (2 credits); IWP 708 Female Roles in Contemporary Insurgencies & Small Armies (2 credits); and IWP 721 The Fog of War and The Dark Days of Diplomacy.
• Options in Counterintelligence and Foreign Intelligence include IWP 622 Comparative Intelligence Systems: Foreign Intelligence and Security Cultures (4 credits); IWP 644 Soviet and Russian Intelligence and Security Services; IWP 647 The Operations and Cases of U.S. Counterintelligence; IWP 654 The Evolution of the CI Community; IWP 659 Enemy Threat Doctrine of Global Jihadism; IWP 663 Cyber Statecraft; IWP 669 Counterterrorism and the Democracies; IWP 683 Violent Non-State Actors in Today’s Security Environment (2 credits); IWP 684 Nuclear Strategy and Arms Control (2 credits); IWP 686 Terrorist Advocacy and Propaganda (2 credits); IWP 691 Cyber Strategy Development (2 credits); IWP 692 Cyber Terrorism and Intelligence (2 credits); IWP 695 American Domestic Terrorism in the Modern Era (2 credits); IWP 703 The Theory and Practice of North Korea Espionage (2 credits); IWP 708 Female Roles in Contemporary Insurgencies & Small Armies (2 credits); IWP 717 Turkish Foreign Policy, Intelligence, and Security Services (2 credits); and IWP 726 Intelligence in Africa: History, Culture, and Trends (2 credits).

Entry requirements

The programme description states the degree is aimed at students pursuing intelligence or counterintelligence careers and at professionals working for agencies or clients involved in intelligence. Students may enroll full-time (9 or more credit hours per semester) or part-time (less than 9 credit hours per semester). Candidates are not required to pass a language proficiency examination but may choose to do so to enhance marketability; language training opportunities available to the Statecraft and International Affairs programme are recommended.

Career prospects

Graduates have entered a range of government, military, private-sector, and international organisations. Reported employers include U.S. federal agencies (e.g., CIA, FBI, NSA, DIA, DHS, Office of Naval Intelligence), military intelligence branches, national labs and departments (Energy, Defense, Treasury), international organisations (International Atomic Energy Agency), major contractors and consultancies (Booz Allen Hamilton, Leidos, SAIC, CACI, Accenture Federal Services), technology firms (Google), and other public- and private-sector employers involved in security, cyber, or intelligence work.

Scholarships & funding angle (general)

The programme page does not list specific scholarships. Prospective applicants should consult the institute’s central admissions and financial-aid offices for available fellowships, grants, employer tuition assistance, and language-training funding options that may apply to graduate students in this field.