1. A10 EZ RE AN ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE WASHINGTON POST TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013
EARN YOUR MASTER OF SCIENCE IN HOMELAND SECURITY.
You’ve got the ideas. You’ve got the drive. We give you the insights and expertise to
take the next step in your career. Colorado Technical University is one of a handful of
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CTU cannot guarantee employment or salary. Not all programs are available to residents of all states. Find disclosures
on graduation rates, student financial obligations and more at www.coloradotech.edu/disclosures. 0413424 1/13
YOU’RE A STRATEGIC THINKER.
BECOME A STRATEGIC LEADER.
“My mom and the rest of my family doesn’t
really understand it,” she said of her passion for
codes. “My husband actually calls me a geek.”
Geek or not, Suggs, 37, has parlayed her
enthusiasm for encryption into a career in one
of the hottest fields going: homeland security.
She works for Cisco as a “national industrial
security specialist” for government clients
(don’t ask too much about what she does).
Suggs hopes one day to have a job with the
organization that bills itself as “the home of
America’s codemakers and codebreakers”: the
National Security Agency (NSA).
To help her develop the skills she needs to
achievehergoals,Suggsispursingbothamaster’s
and a doctorate in information assurance at
Capitol College in Laurel, Maryland. The degree
programs are offered entirely online, so you will
find Suggs at her computer on Wednesday and
Thursday evenings participating in classes such
as “Network Systems Security Concepts.” The
rest of the week, when she’s not working or
spending quality time with her husband and
two children, she does classwork.
“It’s a lot of work, but I am having fun,”
Suggs said.
The term “homeland security” was a new one
to most Americans in the aftermath of the attacks
of September 11, 2001. But it rapidly became
a catchall for a kaleidoscopic range of activities
undertaken in the public and private sectors alike
to protect the United States and its people and
communities from terrorism, natural disasters,
cyberattacks and other threats.
The new emphasis on homeland security
also gave rise to an entirely new category of
jobs. Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security alone employs more than 200,000
people, making it the third largest federal
government agency after the Departments of
Defense and Veterans Affairs. And “homeland
security jobs” aren’t limited to DHS or even
to the federal government. From local law
enforcement to electric utilities to major
financial institutions, countless employers need
workers with a solid understanding of the
homeland security landscape, along with key
security-related skills.
Enter graduate schools like Capitol College
and Colorado Technical University. Capitol,
according to faculty member Jason Pittman,
has seen steady increases in applications and
enrollments in its undergraduate, master’s
and doctoral degree programs in information
assurance in recent years. The MS in Information
Assurance, he noted, is especially popular among
students working in database administration,
networking and related fields who want to shift
to jobs protecting and defending information
technology systems from cyberthreats.
“Cyberattacks are in the news every single
day, and people are seeing how these skills are
in demand so they’re looking for a chance to
be part of a growing field,” said Pittman.
Colorado Technical University (CTU),
for its part, recently joined a handful of
educational institutions offering a dedicated
MS in Homeland Security. Students in the CTU
program take core courses such as “Dynamics
of Terrorism,” “Intelligence Organizational and
Policy Challenges” and “Homeland Security
and Government.” In addition to the core
content, students choose one of two tracks:
Emergency Management and Public Health;
or Cybersecurity Policy. All classes are offered
entirely online via CTU’s virtual campus.
Nadav Morag is CTU’s Dean of Security
Studies. His curriculum vitae includes a job in
the early 2000s as senior director for foreign
policy with Israel’s National Security Council.
In that position, Morag worked with 10 other
senior government officials to develop policy
recommendations for the Israeli prime minister
on matters of national security, including
counterterrorism policy.
In developing the new degree program,
Morag said he and his colleagues at CTU aimed
to target mid-career professionals in fields from
law enforcement to emergency management
who need to “think more strategically” about
homeland security topics.
“These people tend to be really good at
what they do and they have risen through the
ranks and taken on more responsibility as their
careers continued,” Morag said. “But now
they want an understanding of the broader
homeland security picture, how their work fits
into it, and what they can do in their jobs and
careers to help their organizations be smarter
and more strategic about security.”
Students go through the MS program at
CTU as a cohort; the first group started early
in 2013. In addition to their coursework and
ongoing interactions with faculty and fellow
students, students have to write a thesis
identifying homeland security solutions for the
agencies where they work.
“The one big misconception about
homeland security is that it begins and ends
with DHS,” Morag said, referring to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security. The truth,
he said, is that a homeland security degree can
benefit people in any number of professions
and jobs — including law enforcement officials
at all levels, FEMA personnel, local emergency
managers, fire and emergency medical services
workers and more. ■
FEBRUARY 19, 2013
“[Students] want an understanding of the
broader homeland security picture, how their
work fits into it, and what they can do in their
jobs and careers to help their organizations be
smarter and more strategic about security.”
– Nadav Morag, Dean of Security Studies,
Colorado Technical University
PROGRAMS
PREPARE STUDENTS
TO PROTECT USA FROM
CYBERATTACKS, OTHER THREATS
She loves the challenge of devising and cracking codes. “I just think it is so
interesting to look at something that is encrypted and to know there is a
hidden message behind it,” she said. Suggs’s bedside reading: “The Code
Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography.”
Chanel Suggs is a self-described
“encryption nut.”
HOMELANDSECURITYDEGREES
Homeland Security
Workers in Demand
• In areas from critical infrastructure
protection to customs and border security
to emergency response, homeland security
is an enormous and growing field. The
Department of Homeland Security alone
employs more than 200,000 workers.
• Demand for “information security analysts”
is expected to be high in the coming years
as government and businesses strive
to protect their information technology
systems and detect and thwart cyberattacks.
• A basic understanding of cyberthreats and
information security is growing increasingly
important in management and IT positions
in health care, finance and other industries.
More Information
For more information about the graduate
programs explored in this article, please go to
the following links:
Colorado Technical University
coloradotech.edu
Capitol College
capitol-college.edu
ABOUT THIS SECTION:
This special advertising section was prepared by independent writer and
editor William H.Woodwell, Jr. (whwoodwell.com).The production of this
section did not involve the news or editorial staff of The Washington Post.
MY DREAM: Protecting Cyber Assets
MY SCHOOL: Capitol College
Capitol College isn’t for everyone.
But it’s perfect for me.
It’s a dangerous world—especially for our information
assets and infrastructure. But it’s also dicey for cyber
terrorists who have Capitol College information assurance
graduates tracking them down. Capitol’s MS and certificate
programs in IA provide in-depth knowledge on overcoming
malicious intrusions and threats to government and private
sector environments. And courses are conducted online so
busy professionals like me can improve their expertise and
skills while balancing work and family. It’s clear Capitol
College provides me with the best way to secure information
assets as well as a better career.
To learn more about our DSc, MS, BS and certificate programs
in information assurance, visit capitol-college.edu/wpe
Capitol College is recognized as a
National Center of Academic Excellence
in Information Assurance Education
by the NSA and DHS.
A Leader in Cybersecurity
Education Since 2001
ENGINEERING • COMPUTER SCIENCE • INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY • BUSINESS • 800-950-1992