Intelligence and Security Studies – (M.A.)

Contents

The course is offered on either a full-time basis, taught over two terms and a dissertation during the summer, or part-time basis taught over four terms with the dissertation completed during the summer of the second academic year. Four out of six course modules are taught on the basis of lectures, seminars and directed reading, The second term Case Studies course is a student-led seminar programme in which participants present detailed case study reports on major intelligence successes and failures.

The second term Analytical Simulation Exercise will involve students in a simulated joint, all-source intelligence assessment modelled on the actual joint assessment processes in the US and UK governments.

The dissertation will consist of a directed research project supervised by a member of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies.

Course Modules

• Intelligence Concepts: Theory and Policy

Deals with the essential concepts and issues of what intelligence is and its role in government and decision-making. It introduces the basic concepts of intelligence studies, the various sources of intelligence available to national governments, and examines the analysis of those sources, sources of intelligence success and failure and intelligence needs in the contemporary environment.

• Intelligence and International Security since 1939

Provides students with a historical overview of the role of intelligence in the international arena since the Second World War. The development of contemporary methods and institutions is traced from formative events during the Second World War, the Cold War, and the post-Cold War security environment.

• Rise of the National Security State

Invites students to make a critical analysis of the power politics behind national security agencies and the intelligence community. Particular attention is paid to how the present system arose out of the security concerns at the very beginning of the Cold War.

• Intelligence Agency and Community Management

Introduces students to the application of issues and concepts from management and public administration to intelligence and security agencies. The course commences with management issues in individual agencies, then looks at the control of national intelligence communities, and then finishes with an examination of political control and accountability issues.

• Intelligence Failure and Success Case Studies

This course is intended to introduce students to case study methods, and take them through a series of case studies of key intelligence successes and failures. Students undertake their own intensive case studies, and also learn to perform 'devil's advocate' or 'red team' assessments of those case studies.

• Analytical Simulation Exercise

ASE is the jewel in the MA/ISS crown. It provides students with an opportunity to undertake a simulated intelligence analysis on a real-world subject. ASE is designed to emulate the interdepartmental assessment methods of the British Cabinet Office Joint Intelligence Committee, and gives students a chance to apply hands-on analytical principles and methods they have learned abstractly in the MA/ISS taught courses.

• Dissertation

The final leg of the programme will be a supervised research dissertation of 15,000 - 20,000 words.

All modules are assessed on the basis of coursework including individual essays, case studies and written and oral presentations.

Awards

A master's degree is awarded if you reach the necessary standard on the taught part of the course and submit a dissertation of the required standard. The pass grade for all modules and the dissertation is 50%. Students are normally required to pass all the required taught modules before being permitted to proceed to the dissertation. If you do not achieve the standard required, you may be awarded a Postgraduate Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate if eligible.

Funding details

The Brunel International Scholarship

The Brunel International Scholarship is an annual award scheme designed to promote talent and encourage excellence in scholars coming to Brunel from around the globe. For 2010/11, 35 awards of either £3,000 or £2,000 are available to both undergraduate and postgraduate students who have been offered a place on a full-time course at Brunel.

All applications must be submitted online before 26 May 2010.

Bursaries

Bursaries may be available from your School, and your course director once you have secured and accepted a place on a course for information on any funding opportunities.

• A limited number of part-scholarships of £1,500 are available for the MA programmes in Music and Drama. Details will be sent to candidates who have confirmed their intention to study at Brunel in the 2010/11 academic year.
• The Leaders of Tomorrow PhD Bursary in Human Centred Design is supported by a donation from Brunel graduate and philanthropist Peter Ilori. The bursary provides £5,000 of financial support towards the study fees of high-achieving graduates who wish to pursue a PhD in Human Centred Design. Selection is based on the quality of applicants´ PhD study proposal.

Extra-curricular scholarships

Extra-curricular scholarships do not cover living costs or tuition fees. They are available to both taught and research students.

A number of Music Awards to help cover music tuition costs are made each year to students who are not studying music performance as part of their academic course.

The Brunel Sports Scholarship helps elite performance athletes by supporting their academic study and sporting needs simultaneously.