Imagine a master's degree in National Security that was established before Sept. 11, 2001. The University of New Haven had already conceived such a program - one of the first in the nation.
"Since then a number of programs have begun, but they're not quite the same as ours," said Professor William L. Tafoya. "One thing that sets them apart is that many similar programs are not part of regular academic departments but are offered as extended education."
Now in its fifth year, UNH's National Security master's program was designed and created by a farsighted dean named Thomas A. Johnson.
Tafoya, who retired from the FBI 12 years ago, was attracted to UNH because of his regard for Johnson.
The program is part of the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences and is a joint venture with the political science department.
"Many of the other programs call themselves Homeland Security, but ours is National Security because we are preparing people to work as intelligence analysts in the CIA and the FBI - as opposed to people who might work for FEMA," Tafoya said.
"People in FEMA are dealing with national disasters. Our program, is preparing people to work inside the intelligence community, not to work in an emergency department. There are very few programs like ours."
Students with degrees in political science, international relations and history are attracted to this program, and many students at universities such as Amherst, the University of Pennsylvania and Stanford are interested in graduate degrees in this field.
"Until our program, people weren't trained to be intelligence analysts per se," Tafoya said.
Every trimester 40 students are admitted to the 36-credit program, which typically takes two years to complete. There are between 60 and 70 applicants each time, which speaks to the program's popularity. It also means that the admissions process is highly selective.
Although there is an online component, the degree itself is not offered online.
"We think philosophically it's a bad idea," Tafoya said. "We want to have more direct personal contact with students."
He estimates that three-quarters of those enrolled in this program are taking all their courses "on-ground," the old fashioned way.
There are some computer classes offered online, he notes, but they are relatively limited.
"A disembodied computer doesn't enable you to sense much about a person." In a field where it is essential to assess the suitability of a student when he or she applies for a job, Tafoya believes that nothing can replace the face-to-face encounters that occur in a classroom.
To accommodate students' schedules, the majority of the classes are held in the evenings, with a few in the early afternoon.
"The vast majority of students are pre-service," Tafoya said. "They are coming directly from undergraduate programs to us. When I ask them why they chose this field the answer is because they want to serve our country."
"Patriotism isn't dead among our young people."
One student is a Delta Airlines command pilot, another is a former Marine, another a fighter pilot. The chief of police in West Haven earned his degree there.
Tafoya's courses include Threat Assessment, Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence, Cross-impact Analysis (assessing the interaction of events to identify the probability of occurrence), Research Methods in National Security, Terrorism and Counter-terrorism.
Personnel Security Systems identifies different levels of classification and the requirements of different levels of security clearance.
To learn more about the program visit http://www.newhaven.edu/5924/ .
By: Joan Walden
Hartford Courant
February 24, 2008
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