About the Center for Security Studies

Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies (CSS) in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service offers an expansive curriculum, in-depth research, and critical dialogue on security issues. Former Director Michael E. Brown created the Center in 2000 with a fourfold mission to:

  • Create a hub where the academic and policy communities meet;
  • Bring together experts and scholars from every discipline who study international security issues;
  • Produce a new generation of scholars, analysts, and policymakers fully aware of the complexities of international security problems; and
  • Sponsor projects that lead to the development of sophisticated strategies and policies for enhancing international security in the 21st century.

CSS Faculty in Print

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Economic Instruments Of Security Policy
by Gary Shiffman

CSS Director of Homeland Security Studies Gary Shiffman explores the many economic instruments used for national security such as economic sanctions and foreign aid, international trade, international finance and efforts to attack the sources of funding for international terrorism. This book examines economic policies at available to a head of state and addresses how best to measure the success of these tools.

The academic pillar of the Center for Security Studies, the Security Studies Program (SSP) is the nation’s preeminent professional Master of Arts program devoted to security studies. When Stephen Gibert established the National Security Studies Program (NSSP) in 1977 as a “defense MBA”, the original classrooms met in the Pentagon and the degree was an MA in Government with a certificate in Security Studies.  In 1984, the Master of Arts in Security Studies degree was established, and all classes eventually moved over to Georgetown University's main campus by 1994.

In contrast to programs in security studies at other universities, the SSP offers courses on a broad range of security topics. Courses address the many facets of security today, ranging from broad examinations of strategy and foreign policy to more focused classes on terrorism, intelligence, defense planning, military operations, and the security problems of different world regions. Younger SSP students apply their recent theoretical undergraduate education to practical policy applications. More seasoned students, professionals in the military, intelligence, and defense contracting sectors, enhance their practical experience with critical thinking, analytical writing, and theory-based solutions.

The program’s more than 1,500 graduates have filled key positions in the U.S. and foreign governments, the defense industry and the private sector, research institutions, and non-governmental and international organizations. Other graduates pursue doctoral programs and academic careers.

CSS engages a large and experienced faculty who are also security specialists. They publish regularly in leading scholarly and popular journals, as well as serve as advisors or analysts to leading security organizations and government agencies. Their research examines many contemporary security challenges, such as intelligence reform, comparative counterterrorism, military occupation, global intelligence networks, intelligence-policy relationship, role of regional organizations in international peace operations, nuclear programs, and the rise of paramilitary groups. The prestigious SSP adjunct faculty builds on this foundation, providing a wide range of first-hand experience to the SSP students. The distinguished adjunct professors’ contributions enable the Security Studies Program to stay at the forefront of today’s security issues.