Want a career in intelligence?

LINCOLN — A real-life James Bond or Emma Peel from Nebraska?

A new program involving four universities will give students the opportunity to pursue careers at federal agencies with intelligence-gathering duties, including the CIA.

But it's not about shaken or stirred martinis, or how to accessorize a leather cat suit.

This program will be heavy on academics, including the physics and engineering of detecting nuclear devices; language and cultural immersion programs; and using statistical analysis to forecast the likelihood of a coup d'etat or which country is likely to gain nuclear capacity.

The federal government recently awarded a $3 million, five-year grant to create the Great Plains National Security Education Consortium, which is led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Fourteen such centers already exist, most based in coastal states. They are the result of a 2004 federal law designed to improve U.S. intelligence-gathering in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The program is not a “spy school” or jobs pipeline for intelligence agencies, officials said.

It aims to increase the pool of people, particularly women and minorities, with the knowledge and skills suitable for intelligence careers. Students are neither required to work nor promised employment at an intelligence agency.

“The intelligence community needs brainpower, to challenge our way of thinking, to allow for the cross-fertilization of ideas,” said Lenora Peters Gant, director of the government's Office of the Centers of Academic Excellence.

Besides UNL, a land-grant research institution, the consortium is made up of the University of Nebraska at Omaha, with its metropolitan emphasis; Creighton University, a private Jesuit institution; and Bellevue University, with its focus on adult students and online course offerings.

Even students with little interest in a career in intelligence say they're excited about the curriculum upgrades.

Architecture student Matthew Conway, 22, of Lincoln said he's eager to enroll in upper-level Chinese language courses proposed at UNL. He expects that his future career will take him to China.

“My major is architecture and everybody's talking about how all the work is going to be in China,” he said. “I don't know if the CIA has a need for an architect. I was just happy to get that program started. It'll be useful for everybody.”

Gant said Nebraska was chosen for its central geographic location, its strong curriculum and its partnership among diverse academic institutions.

The consortium will develop a basic intelligence studies certificate for any student in any discipline at any of the institutions.

The universities also plan to build on existing course offerings by adding new degree programs and offering more advanced courses.

Ten students each year will be chosen to participate in research training and study abroad. Experts on national security will visit Nebraska for an annual colloquium.

Ellen Weissinger, UNL dean of graduate studies and the consortium's director, said most new courses won't be available until the 2010-11 academic year. However, the first group of 10 scholars should be selected early next year.

Creighton, for example, will develop a statistical research method that can be used to try to anticipate future political events.

Terry Clark, director of Creighton's graduate program in international relations, said the program will entail substantial training in math, computers and statistics. Clark said scholars may project, for example, what conditions would need to occur for the government in Iran to collapse, or how to stop nuclear weapons proliferation.

Bellevue University will create a master's degree program in world security and strategic studies.

Therese Michels, dean of arts and sciences, said an undergraduate major in that area was developed three years ago at the request of Offutt Air Force Base officials.

“Offutt recognized that we need to be working with students to understand the cultures of the world and the languages,” Michels said. “They wanted awareness of the emerging cultures of the world.”

The master's degree will be available online, as will certificates in strategic deterrence and in U.S. intelligence structures.

UNO, already home to the Center for Afghanistan Studies, will develop a graduate certificate in global information systems as well as summer institutes in information security, remote sensing and other topics.

At UNL, classes on Arabic language and Islam are always filled, said Simon Wood, assistant professor of religious studies, who teaches both.

The federal grant will allow UNL to add second-year Arabic classes and third-year Chinese language classes. UNL also will develop an interdisciplinary Chinese studies major featuring coursework on the history, culture and politics of China.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9581, leslie.reed@owh.com

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