Intelligence Studies
INTL300 Research Methods in Intelligence Studies (3 hours)
This course prepares students to employ basic research methods and writing skills to produce sound research papers and analytical products. Students will learn how to develop the elements of a research strategy, critically read and evaluate data, and communicate their findings in coherent, well-organized written work.
INTL301 U.S. Intelligence Community (3 hours)
RECOMMENDED AS SECOND PROGRAM COURSE.
This course surveys the U.S. Intelligence Community, with an emphasis on its current structure. Students review the members of the community and distinguish their key roles and missions. Students also assess the impact of the post-9/11 restructuring of the intelligence community.
INTL302 History of U.S. Intelligence (3 hours)
RECOMMENDED AS THIRD PROGRAM COURSE.
Explores the history of the development of the U.S. intelligence community and an assessment of its successes and failures in covert action, intelligence collection, and intelligence analysis activities from the American Revolution to today.
INTL303 Introduction to Intelligence (3 hours)
This course is an introduction to analysis and addresses the five principle categories of study in strategic intelligence: (1) The role, purpose, and history of strategic intelligence analysis; (2) the use of intelligence to carry-out foreign policy objectives; (3) The nature and evolution of congressional oversight; (4) the role of strategic intelligence collection to support strategic decision making; and (5) the role of counterintelligence at the highest levels of government.
INTL304 Intelligence Collection (3 hours)
A multidisciplinary survey of Imagery Intelligence (IMINT), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT), Human Intelligence (HUMINT), and Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) is conducted. The background, capabilities, and limitations of each intelligence collection method are covered. The course focuses on planning activities which provide an integrated approach to intelligence collection.
INTL305 Law and Ethics in Intelligence (3 hours)
This course examines the legal foundations and oversight mechanisms for the US intelligence community. It also explores the major ethical problems confronting the intelligence profession. Students will investigate the difficult legal and ethical issues in the intelligence community.
INTL401 Critical Analysis (3 hours)
This course provides an introduction to critical thinking, intelligence analysis, and the use of structured methodologies. Functions associated with the processing of information to include perception, memory, and the evaluation of information are examined. Conscious and unconscious cognitive biases along with strategies to mitigate their impact are also assessed. (Prerequisite: INTL300).
INTL402 Intelligence Analysis (3 hours)
This course builds upon the foundations of critical analysis taught in INTL 401, expanding the student's repertoire of analytical techniques. Students explore creative analysis techniques, including hypothesis generation, red-teaming, and adversarial collaboration. Students focus on intelligence as a service to decision makers, including principles of customer-focused writing and techniques for analytic problems designed to provide tactical, operational, or strategic support.(Prerequisite: INTL300).
INTL408 Counterintelligence Operations (3 hours)
This course provides students with an introduction to counterintelligence operations and techniques. Students will study passive and active counterintelligence measures, principles and processes of counterintelligence operations, its relationship to covert action, and the legal and ethical issues involved. Through a series of practical exercises, students will develop a sound knowledge of the practice of counterintelligence.
INTL409 Counterintelligence Analysis (3 hours)
This course provides students with an introduction to counterintelligence analysis of foreign intelligence entities. Students will learn and apply aspects of counterintelligence basic principles, concepts, core competencies, functions, and missions as outlined in the US National Counterintelligence Strategy. Students will be instructed in the analytical process, denial and deception identification, analytical techniques, threat profiling procedures, and analytical tools and databases.
INTL410 Counterintelligence (3 hours)
During this course, students will develop a comprehensive knowledge of counterintelligence, and how intelligence agencies, organizations, and military units in the U.S. use both offensive and defensive counterintelligence to guard and protect U.S. national security interests from foreign intelligence entities. Students will study and analyze counterintelligence, learn and discuss multi-discipline counterintelligence support to intelligence operations, counterintelligence collection process, and analyze how cultural, social, and technological changes affect counterintelligence.
INTL411 International Criminal Organizations (3 hours)
This course differentiates the historical and contemporary patterns, modus operandi, capabilities, and vulnerabilities of organized crime organizations. Course content includes a review of the contemporary literature of South American, Mexican, Asian, European, & African criminal enterprises, traditional organized crime, outlaw motorcycle gangs, and transnational criminal enterprises.
INTL412 Espionage/Counterespionage (3 hours)
This course studies the history of intelligence and espionage and reviews ancient espionage techniques, profiles famous agents throughout history, and focuses on such intelligence issues as SIGINT and HUMINT. The bulk of the course concentrates on 20th century intelligence, assessing changes in intelligence collection and priorities and analyzing how technological changes have affected intelligence collection.
INTL413 Denial and Deception (3 hours)
This course will be an overview of Denial and Deception possibilities. It will review the history, concepts, and implications of Denial and Deception on national security decision making. It will also discuss foreign and domestic case studies, tradecraft, and the different methodologies associated with this form of intelligence training.
INTL414 Intelligence and Assassination (3 hours)
INTL 414 Intelligence and Assassination is a study of both the historical and contemporary use of assassination, with emphasis on assassination or targeted killing as a means to counter terrorism. In the historical portion, the course focuses on assassination as a means for gaining and maintaining power. In the latter portion, the course focuses on assassination as a means of overthrowing governments and to counter terrorism. In this latter portion the course evaluates the use of intelligence and special operations forces and the role they play in the state’s practice of assassination.
INTL415 Covert Action (3 hours)
This course provides a historical account of the use of covert action in both peace and war. Covert actions are those in which an operation may become known to the enemy or the world, but the responsible parties cannot be traced or proven. Current U.S. intelligence community and Special Forces capabilities and limitations for covert action are also covered.
INTL419 Applied Geospatial Intelligence (3 hours)
This course is an exploration of the historical development, capabilities and the constellation of remote sensing and other intelligence collection platforms available for use by decision makers in intelligence driven policies, homeland defense, and law enforcement. The focus will be on how geospatial products are applied to produce analyses of terrain, climate, natural resources, boundaries, various infrastructures, demographics, and intent and capabilities of various nations and groups in the context of the geospatial environment.
INTL420 Geographic Intelligence (3 hours)
Examines the location, analysis of terrain, climate, natural resources, boundaries, transportation, communications, economic activities, and demographics of various nations and areas of the world.
INTL421 Signals Intelligence and Security (3 hours)
This course examines Signals Intelligence also known by the acronym SIGINT. It covers the various methods and modes of collection, analysis and use of strategic and operational level communications (COMINT) and electronics (ELINT) intelligence. The course also reviews the security means available to protect friendly communications (COMSEC) and electronic emissions countermeasures (EECM).
INTL422 Open Source Collection (3 hours)
This course provides and examination of the various unclassified materials including: news services, data bases, government documents, newspapers, journals, magazines, yearbooks and surveys, radio and TV sources, short-wave broadcasts, internet, indexes, materials from various organizations, and country studies.
INTL423 Human Intelligence (3 hours)
This course is an introduction to Human Intelligence (HUMINT). The course will define and examine HUMINT in context with the other intelligence collection disciplines. Through the use of focused discussion supported by directed readings and by applying critical thought to an incremental research project that requires a HUMINT solution, the student will understand the dynamics and functions of human source intelligence as a discipline.
INTL424 Interrogation (3 hours)
This course examines intelligence interrogation from a conceptual perspective that provides students with the tools to develop an overall understanding of interrogation and practical interrogation concepts as they can be applied to intelligence interrogation. This course addresses legal issues, verbal and non-verbal behavior, interrogator and subjects, environmental and cultural issues, coercive practices, as well as current events as they apply to the concepts of intelligence interrogation.
INTL430 Intelligence Data Analysis (3 hours)
Intelligence data forms the foundation of all intelligence analytic processes and products. The course explores the use of data-driven structured intelligence analysis techniques including statistical analysis, the appropriate use of data in analysis, the role of hypotheses, and non-statistical data analysis methods. This course develops competencies in understanding, applying, and effectively using data collected for intelligence analysis purposes and as such forms an essential component of becoming an effective intelligence analyst Students must have access to MS Excel.(Prerequisite: INTL300).
INTL431 Criminal Intelligence Analysis (3 hours)
The rapid increase in multinational analysis and transnational organized crime, corporate drug trafficking organizations, and the impact of crime on national and international policy has created a critical need for law enforcement intelligence experts in the relatively new field of criminal intelligence. The course provides the student with an introduction to the methods and techniques of criminal intelligence analysis and strategic organized crime. It will demonstrate how to predict trends, weaknesses, capabilities, intentions, changes, and warnings needed to dismantle criminal organizations. Law enforcement professionals at the federal, state, and local level, criminal intelligence analysts working in private industry, and military intelligence personnel making a transition from a military to a law enforcement career will benefit from this course. Students will be introduced to techniques such as association and link analysis, visual investigative analysis (VIA), telephone toll analysis, matrix analysis, reporting and application to violent crime, and organized crime to include drug, white collar, and money laundering. This course emphasizes criminal intelligence as opposed to criminal investigation.
INTL432 Geographic Information Systems I (3 hours)
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) contain a powerful set of tools for data acquisition, management, query and display. This course will provide students first with a substantial foundation in the history of cartography and mapmaking. The second major emphasis of this course will merge both theoretical and historical information with hands-on practical training utilizing the basic tools provided with the GIS software. Students will become familiar with the importance of metadata, editing and updating metadata and how this is important to the success or failure of the dataset as a whole.
INTL433 Geographic Information Systems II (3 hours)
Using the ArcGIS software, students will be taught how to manipulate datasets based on complex queries in several advanced platforms within the GIS environment including geospatial analyses, creating basic models, interpolation among multiple data points, and advanced data table editing and creation. Students will learn methodologies for determining the presence or absence of patterns and identify associations among different data layers. Additionally, students will be taught to examine cases where GIS could have been used but was not, and postulate how this system could have improved analysis within each case. This course will focus on vector data analysis techniques only. (Prerequisite: IS418 Geographic Information Systems I. (Prerequisite: INTL432).
INTL434 Threat Analysis (3 hours)
With states as the level of analysis, this course examines their political, economic, and social condition which allows an understanding of threats to the state and their vulnerabilities. This course provides students with analytic procedures to assess a state’s military capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of their political and economic systems, and challenges presented by their social systems.
INTL440 Cyber Warfare (3 hours)
This course provides an overview of cyber warfare and the potential impact of its use by military, terrorist, and criminal organizations. By studying the operation of computer networks, the student will gain an appreciation of how they have both benefited society and made portions of its infrastructure more vulnerable. An overview of cyber weaponry will be presented, and various offensive and defensive strategies will be examined via case studies
INTL442 Tactical Intelligence (3 hours)
This course examines the impact of terrain and weather on tactics, employment of multi-discipline intelligence collections, and principles of tactical intelligence analysis form the core of the course. Students develop an appreciation for the limits of process in applying the art of intelligence to deal with tactical problems and how tactical intelligence theory and practice are utilized in support of ground operations.
INTL443 Foreign Intelligence Organizations (3 hours)
This course introduces students to several foreign intelligence organizations that continue to play a significant role in U.S. strategic intelligence, foreign policy, and national security strategy planning. Each country’s organizational structure, their collection methods, operational strengths and weaknesses will be assessed with the objective of evaluating their overall relative effectiveness.
INTL444 Contemporary Intelligence Studies (3 hours)
This course is a comparative investigation of how intelligence supported U.S. national security policy during times of crisis and how the crises impacted on the intelligence community. The first part of the course focuses on the Cuban Missile Crisis and the role intelligence played in the outcome. The second part of the course focuses on the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations for reforming the intelligence community in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. Students will compare and contrast the 9/11 Recommendations with the Intelligence Reform act passed by Congress.
INTL445 Introduction to the War on Drugs (3 hours)
This course will focus on a variety of aspects related to the U.S. war on drugs, including historical perspectives on counter-narcotics, U.S. policy and strategy, regional overviews, and intergovernmental relationships and liaisons with various agencies. The student will compare and contrast foreign views on counter narcotics with U.S. perspectives, will study the issues of foreign market analysis on narcotics, discuss the pros and cons of the war on drugs, and will also review the connection between the war on drugs and the war on terrorism. During the course, the student will develop a comprehensive understanding of how the U.S. views the war on drugs, how various policies affect outcomes of the war on drugs, strengths and weaknesses in policy and strategies, regional issues of counter-narcotics, and alternative solutions to the war on drugs.
INTL446 Intelligence and Narcotics (3 hours)
This course surveys the role of narcotics and the illicit drug trade as risks to national security, international development, and progress. The purpose is to assess both domestic and foreign intelligence gathering and analysis, with an emphasis on counter-narcotics policies and strategies. Students will be able to critically analyze, strategically assess effective intelligence collection, and evaluate the impact of current drug interdiction efforts by federal domestic and international agencies.
INTL450 Terrorism and Counterterrorism (3 hours)
This course examines terrorism as a social and political instrument from past to present. Topics include comparing insurgencies and terrorism, the paths to radicalization, the roots of extreme Islam, U.S. domestic terrorism issues, counter terrorism, national & domestic intelligence resources employed against terrorism, and a review of U.S. National Security Policy regarding terrorism.
INTL451 Terrorism and U.S. National Security (3 hours)
This course assesses the impact of terrorism on U.S. national security. It focuses on a variety of aspects related to U.S. policy on terrorism, the threat of terrorism to U.S. national security, and the problems inherent to U.S. counterterrorism. The student will develop a comprehensive understanding of how the U.S. views terrorism, how various policies affect outcomes of counterterrorism, strengths and weaknesses in policy and strategies, threats to U.S. national security, and suggestions for solutions to these threats.
INTL453 Illicit Finance (3 hours)
Modern criminal business, to include drug trafficking, trafficking in people or weapons, gold and precious gem smuggling, and even terrorism are reliant on how such activities are funded. Without some form of funding, illicit actors and illicit behaviors would have difficulty existing. This course will explore the shadowy world of illicit finance, from money laundering to Hawalas, to fraud, trade, and corruption used to fund illicit actions.
INTL454 Forecasting Terrorism (3 hours)
This course examines the theoretical underpinnings of the phenomenon of terrorism, actual and planned cases of chemical and biological weapons use, and the modern threat of improvised weapons of mass destruction. The course surveys traditional and newer methods of forecasting terrorism: intuition-based, profiling, conflict vulnerability analysis and prognosis (early warning), etc. It concludes with a brief overview of the state of the terrorist threat almost a decade after 9/11
INTL460 China Country Analysis (3 hours)
Students analyze China from historical, geographic, political, military and technological perspectives. China’s regional relationships with North Korea, Japan and Taiwan are assessed to determine regional dynamics. China’s internal and external policies with respect to the Internet are explored to include Cyber War and the “Great Firewall of China”
INTL461 Iraq Country Analysis (3 hours)
Explores the development of the future Iraqi state. Students first study Iraqi history through the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein. The role of ethnic and religious rivalries is covered in-depth. Post-2003 stability and development activities are also investigated.
INTL462 Iran Country Analysis (3 hours)
Students investigate the growing role of Iran as a Middle East Power. A study of Iranian history through the 1979 Revolution is conducted. An in-depth analysis of post-revolution development is then made to determine Iran’s military, economic, and social strengths and weaknesses. A central focus is on the development of Iran’s nuclear programs.
INTL463 Korea Country Analysis (3 hours)
Addresses the issues in and around the Korean Peninsula. Students make an in-depth examination of key differences between North and South Korea and their neighbors. This will be accomplished by examining historical, sociological, economic, geographic, political, and defense factors as they relate to current issues important to the Korean peninsula today.
INTL464 Afghanistan Pakistan Intelligence Issues (3 hours)
This course will be an overview of the Afghanistan and Pakistan area of operations specifically relating to the difficulties of intelligence gathering and analysis. It will review the history of the area and how it relates to the War on Terrorism, intelligence concepts, and implications of the use of intelligence on national security decision making within the area. It will also discuss foreign influences and case studies, tradecraft, and the different methodologies associated with the use of intelligence in this area of the world.
INTL490 Independent Study: Intelligence (3 hours)
An opportunity for Intelligence students to pursue an independent research project or examine a specific area of Intelligence and its history under the mentorship of a single professor. The course is open to upper division students only. Participation is at the discretion of the faculty member. Students will produce a major research paper (30+ pages. To be eligible for an independent study, students must be enrolled in a bachelors degree program, must have completed 24 hours at APUS toward their current degree program, and should have already contacted a professor and gained approval for the independent study topic. Once these conditions are met the student should contact his/her academic advisor. Once the course is open the student must complete an official online registration for the course.
INTL498 Senior Seminar in Intelligence Studies (3 hours)
The Senior Seminar in Intelligence Studies is required for all majors. This capstone experience for Intelligence Studies majors will review and integrate their academic coursework, strengthen their understanding of intelligence research methodologies, and relate their academic preparation to their post graduation goals. Students will conduct original research and present their findings to the class in written and e-portfolio formats.
Student must have SENIOR standing to register.
MILS440 Information Operations (3 hours)
This course is the study and analysis of the Information Age and its impact on the nature of conflict and military operations. Students examine the fundamental concepts of military information operations, its various dimensions and interpretations, and possible application by military forces. Emphasis is on the base knowledge and conceptual framework required to understand current and future trends in the use of information as a military capability. Students study the views of the United States as well as that of peers, the Chinese and Russians. A short study is included on the conduct of several recent information operations.
