Faculty Tout Intelligence Field's Inclusivity and Interdisciplinary Opportunities Monday, January 31, 2022

To build successful teams, the intelligence community seeks a wide range of academic disciplines and professional experience.

"A need for diversity and inclusiveness exists in the recruitment process of individuals from all walks of life," said Michael Botta, D.S.S., professor and chair of the Department of Criminal Justice and Intelligence Studies. 

At Point Park University, the Intelligence and National Security Studies program helps students develop crucial skills that prepare them for career opportunities in the field. But because of the interdisciplinary nature of intelligence, Point Park also offers an Intelligence and National Security Studies minor, which complements many careers not directly in the field, including journalism, political science and more.  

In the Q&A below, learn from Dr. Botta and Sean Elliot Martin, Ph.D., assistant professor of criminal justice and intelligence studies, about the intelligence field and the ways a minor in intelligence studies benefits a variety of careers. 

Describe the interdisciplinary nature and inclusivity of the intelligence field.

Dr. Botta: Intelligence encompasses questions about a large assortment of items that a policy maker needs to know about. Because of this diversity of topics, many disciplines are required to be within the intelligence toolbox, from sciences to history, and agriculture to English.

Intelligence is one of the most diverse career fields and requires inclusiveness within its ranks as it encompasses and involves a vast variety of cultures, religions and politics throughout the globe. Diversity has an enormous impact on the hiring of officers and their deployments. They can serve as specialists in certain areas of concern.

Dr. Martin: Intelligence is the most interdisciplinary field that I'm personally aware of, which is why I love it and was drawn to it in my own studies. I switched disciplines in my own career to pursue it. Up to that point, English literature seemed like the most integrated, interdiscipinary field I could think of, because there's literature about anything you can possibly imagine. When I started looking at intelligence, it was even more interdisciplinary, and I was attracted to the real-world application. It's literally about saving lives. 

What are the requirements of the Intelligence minor?

Dr. Martin: To minor in intelligence studies, students need to take Introduction to Intelligence, Intelligence Tradecraft Techniques and four intelligence courses of the student's choice. We designed it this way so that students are able to customize their minor to suit their interests. 

If someone wants to focus on the analytical side of intelligence, they can take the analyses classes that I teach, as well as threat analysis. Students who are more concerned about global affairs, maybe a political science major, might want to take a propaganda class and our world conflicts class. Someone who is interested in working with federal agencies, maybe even an NGO, might want to take our course on national intelligence authorities. In addition to political science and journalism, this minor can be valuable to students majoring in business management, applied computer science, social justice studies, history, global cultural studies, and other fields. 

Learn more about Sean Elliot Martin, Ph.D., in the video below:

 

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