Gain Experience from Nationwide Leaders

In our online MS in Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security program, you will learn directly from the same voices our nation looks to in times of a homeland security crisis. Your instructor’s expertise ensures you receive a quality online learning experience that offers practical, real-world knowledge that reflects the latest thinking on essential counter-terrorism and homeland security issues. You will connect with real-world leaders in the optional residency, build experience in your internship, and be ready to step into the fast-paced world of intelligence once you graduate.

Learn more about how you may fit into the world of intelligence from the experts who are living it day-to-day.

We invite all students in our MS in Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security program to come campus once a year. This unique opportunity gives you an insider’s perspective of the national security policy world and builds on concepts and ideas discussed in your online courses.

These few days are packed with personalized visits and private tours with our friends and contacts in places like capitol hill and the pentagon.*

You can talk one-on-one with professionals:

  • In the organizations
  • On a career panel
  • At networking dinners

This intensely packed experience also gives you the opportunity to further friendships with peers in the program and connect personally with your instructors.

*The sponsoring U.S. Government agency will have certain policies and procedures that visitors must follow in order to access and visit these sites. These procedures may include the sponsoring agency conducting a brief background check using Personal Identifying Information (PII). The program director will coordinate that process; however, AU cannot guarantee access to students for one or all agencies. Students who are not cleared as visitors will be provided an alternate experience.

As an intelligence research analyst, it’s vitally important that you know how to complete research and analyze data. Aside from individual assignments throughout the coursework in the program, we dedicate two full courses to research and analysis. You start with the foundations of effective research as you learn the “why” and the “how” of theory and then move on to how to complete research and develop its outcomes using STATA, a statistical software for data science.

To graduate from the online MS in Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security, you will complete a non-credit internship that can, if you wish, be carried out in your local area. This is a chance for you to connect classroom learning to real-world situations as you further your qualifications for high-level rigorous jobs in counter-terrorism and homeland security.

Past internship sites include research centers, police departments, cybersecurity departments in organizations, and Federal Government agencies such as DHS, the CIA, and the FBI.

Course Descriptions

The curriculum features a mix of homeland security courses and counter-terrorism courses that build interdisciplinary knowledge in counter-terrorism and its details, including national security law and policy, cybersecurity, and the theories of political violence.

The two-year, 36-credit program consists of 12 courses and an internship in your local area or in D.C.

Internship (Non-Credit)

The internship helps you to further connect coursework to real-life opportunities and get back valuable feedback to your performance. It helps to build your resume and can increase the GS status you receive if you work for the government. The internship can be completed in your local area if you wish. Internship sites include research centers, police departments, cybersecurity, and Federal Government agencies such as DHS, the CIA, and FBI.