Stanton POLS 390
POLS 390: Homeland Security
Fall 2012
MWF 8am
HAL 302
Dr. Samuel S. Stanton, Jr.
Office Hours: MWF 9-11:30am, TTh 11:30am-12:30pm, by Appt.
Office: HAL 303E
Phone: 724.458.3854
Email: ssstanton@gcc.edu
Web Page: http://www2.gcc.edu/dept/pols/faculty/stanton/
Course Overview: The purpose of the course is to help students develop a better
understanding of the complex set of actors, institutions, processes and issues that
constitutes the realm of homeland security. The course will consider why and how
homeland security problems impact the public agenda, why some solutions are adopted
and others rejected, and why some policies appear to succeed while others appear to fail.
The course will be divided into three parts. First we will examine the nature of threats to
homeland security both foreign and domestic. Second we will consider how the federal
government reorganized homeland security capacities after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001
at both the interagency and intergovernmental levels. Finally, we will look at the
functional perspective of homeland security focusing on preventive and protective
measures against terrorism and emergency preparedness for catastrophic incidents.
Goals:
 To aid students in development of an understanding of homeland security
definitions, trends, and issues
 To understand both the natural and manmade threats to homeland security
 To help students examine the application of this knowledge to their futures.
 To assist students in living lives which glorify and honor God through the
advancement of knowledge.
Outcomes:
 Students will demonstrate the ability to assess threats to homeland security
 Students will describe, analyze and evaluate relationships between government
branches and agencies in the homeland security realm
 Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze and critically critique required
readings regarding homeland security concepts, themes, theories, and issues
 Students will demonstrate the ability to conduct research on and critically
examine homeland security concepts, themes, theories, and issues
 Students will demonstrate the ability to engage in discussion of homeland security
concepts, themes, theories, and issues in the classroom setting
Stanton POLS 390
General Objectives for Students Majoring in Political Science
1. Have acquired knowledge of the four major subject areas (American
Politics, Political Theory, International Relations, and Comparative
Politics) of political science
2. Be Competitive for graduate and professional school opportunities.
Political science majors with strong academic records will be competitive
for both master’s and Ph.D. programs in political science and other
professional programs and will be competitive for financial stipends.
3. Be familiar with entry level jobs suitable for political science majors.
4. Be competitive for entry level jobs suitable for political science majors.
5. Have the ability to read, comprehend, and evaluate content in professional
political science journals, scholarly books, and websites.
6. Show familiarity with, and the ability to critically evaluate, information
sources in the Social Sciences.
7. Demonstrate a mastery of research and writing skills in the field of
political science.
8. Develop and capacity to apply a Christian moral principles to issues and
topics within political science, including using a Christian perspective to
evaluate critically political ideas, public policies, and political figures.
Simply stated, our aim is that students will seek to understand the field of
politics as individuals who are committed to historic Christian thought.
Measurement of Outcomes:
Measurement of goals and outcomes will be made by two take home essay examinations
and an in-class essay final examination which will allow students to demonstrate the
ability to explain the historical and social contexts of human rights as an international
issue and the ability to analyze and critically critique required readings. Additionally
students will conduct a research project that demonstrates the ability to conduct research
to support critical critique of readings. Finally students’ engagement in class discussions
and participation in these discussions will be evaluated to show demonstrated ability to
engage in discussion of topics in the classroom setting.
Course Requirement: This course requires participation, 2 take home essay exams, a
final exam, and a course paper.
Participation: I do not expect that every student will be present for every class period.
However, I do expect you to be present unless there are mitigating circumstances such as
illness and university sanctioned event participation. Participation is more than simply
being in the room, participation is discussion, questioning, and answering. Participation
is crucial to learning and thus to your grade in this course. This represents 20% of your
grade.
Stanton POLS 390
Essay Exams: You will have two (2) essay format exams. These exams will be takehome and require a few typed pages for each answer required. Each of these three exams
will count 20% of your grade. The final exam will be done in-class (per GCC
requirements), and will consist of one question from each of the two (2) take-home
exams. The final exam is 15% of your final grade. Exams in total are 55% of your
course grade.
Course Paper: A course paper is required in this class. The required length is 15-20
pages. The paper should follow APSA style format (APSA is a variant of APA). The
paper is 25% of the course grade. A student may chose to write a paper over a research
question of his or her own interest. The topic must be relevant to the course and
defensible as covering some aspect of National Security. A 1 paragraph synopsis of the
proposed paper is due on Wednesday Sept. 26th. Final drafts of papers are due
NLT 8am Dec. 10th.
Paper Option 1: Empirical Research Paper
Students choosing this option may receive a grade of upto 100% for the assignment.
Paper Option 2: Non-Empirical Paper
Students choosing this option may receive a grade of upto 90% for the assignment.
To Be or Not To Be Empirical
To be empirical the paper must address a question and engage in research to answer this
question in a manner consistent with the methodology taught in a social science research
methods course (POLS 277, SOCI 277 or PSYC 204 are examples of such courses taught
at GCC). There are seven basic points to doing empirical research (A lengthier
discussion of the process is included later in this syllabus):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Determine what you want to study. What is your research Question?
How can this question be answered? Theoretical framework
Tell us your proposed answer. Hypothesis
Decide how to study the problem (qualitative/quantitative/both).
Do the study (investigate and test hypotheses).
Tell us what you found (support/non-support for hypotheses).
Tell us what the findings say about your question and theory.
A non-empirical research paper does not require the offering or testing of a hypothesis. It
also does not require the development of a theoretical framework. It does require that
you ask a question and investigate how this question can be answered by engaging in
research of pertinent scholarly literature. I highly recommend to students who have not
taken POLS 277, SOCI 277, or PSYC 204 that they do not attempt an empirical research
project.
Stanton POLS 390
Paper Grading:
30% Style and Composition
70% Content
TWO IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT PAPER GRADING:
POINT 1:
When I grade a paper, I follow “Dr. Stanton’s Rules for Writing” which are attached to
this syllabus. If on any page I am forced to make more than 5 numerical notations, I will
quit reading the paper. This is not a grammar and composition course, I do not have the
time when grading papers to spend 2 to 3 hours on an individual paper because of poor
writing quality. If you follow the “Rules”, have the paper edited, and use the appropriate
style, 30% of your grade is, to be cliché, “in the bag”.
POINT 2:
Even if a paper is stylistically and grammatically correct, and even if you make logical
arguments, discuss major points, and actually do an analytical critique rather than a
report, you may still only earn a C or B on the assignment. Some arguments are simply
better than others. Well written papers make readers think and possibly raise arguments
that a reader might not have thought about before reading this paper. Do not confuse
making the reader baffled with making the reader think. At the end of the day, a paper
meriting an A has met all of the technical challenges of the assignment and has shown a
high degree of intellectual aptitude. A high degree of intellectual aptitude is displayed by
clarity, sharpness of wit and critique, and by how much it makes the reader think. In
short, A papers are special and rare.
LATE WORK: I do not accept late work, except under dire circumstances (death in
immediate family, broken limb, car wreck on way to class, quarantine). Provost Excuses
may allow you to miss a class and I do not count this against your participation, but late
work is not covered by Provost Excuses when you know the deadline at the onset of the
semester. If you must miss class the day the exam is handed out, you must make the
effort to get a copy of the exam from me. If you must miss class the day the exam is due,
you knew when it was due, turn it in before you leave campus.
Stanton POLS 390
Course Grades:
Participation
Exams
Course Paper
20%
55% (2 @ 20% each, 1 @15%)
25%
Course Grading Scale:
90-100
A
80-89
B
70-79
C
60-69
D
Below 60
F
I rarely give +/- grades. A +/- grade is give at the discretion of the instructor based on
student performance. For instance, a student with an 89.5 grade with poor attendance and
without much quality participation will receive a B, same grade would merit a B+ or A- if
based on the quality and quantity of quality participation shown throughout the semester.
The key to getting bumped up is quality of participation. On the other end of the
spectrum, a student with an 80 who had poor participation will earn a B-.
Communication: Every semester events occur which call for changes to the syllabus—
usually pertaining to deadlines or dates in the course outline. I will communicate these
with you in class. I will also communicate regularly by email—I will create a class email
list, so check your email regularly. If you email me, do not leave the subject line
blank, I delete email with blank subject lines without reading it.
Attendance and Behavior: You are adults in an upper division course, however, you
cannot participate if you are not in attendance. This course will center on discussion of
the literature as a pathway to learning critical thinking skills. Basically, obey the
university’s rules on building use and student behavior and everyone will be just fine.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious violation of moral and academic principles. It involves
claiming as one’s own original work the ideas, phrasing, or creative work of another person.
As such, plagiarism is a direct violation of the biblical commandments against stealing,
bearing false witness, and covetousness; thus, the Grove City College policy. We
encourage our students to think seriously about the demands of their Christian faith in
regards to this issue.
We remind students that plagiarism includes the following:
1) any direct quotation of another’s words, from simple phrasing to longer passages,
without using quotation marks and properly citing the source of those words;
2) any summary or paraphrase of another’s ideas without properly citing the source of
those ideas;
3) any information that is not common knowledge —including facts, statistics,
graphics, drawings—without proper citation of sources;
4) any cutting and pasting of verbal or graphic materials from another source—
including books, databases, web sites, journals, newspapers, etc.—without the
Stanton POLS 390
proper citation for each of the sources of those materials; this includes any
copyrighted artwork, graphics, or photography downloaded from the Internet
without proper citation;
5) any wholesale “borrowing,” theft, or purchasing of another’s work and presenting it
as one’s own, whether from the Internet or from another source;
6) any presentation of “ghost-written” papers—whether paid for or not—as one’s own
original work;
7) making one’s work available for copying by others, as well as copying work posted
on the Internet or otherwise made available by another.
The above statement is taken from the Grove City College Bulletin and The Crimson.
Plagiarism in written work in this course will result in a grade of 0 being assigned to that
work, subject to the approval of the Academic Integrity Committee.
TEXTS:
Kilroy, Richard J., Ed. (2008) Threats to Homeland Security: An All-Hazards
Perspective, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. ISBN 9780470073988
Logan, Keith and James Ramsay, Eds. (2012) Introduction to Homeland Security,
Boulder, CO: Westview Press. ISBN 9780813345987
A recommended but not required work:
White, Richard, Tina Markowski, and Kevin Collins, Eds. (2010) The U.S. Department of
Homeland Security: An Overview, New York, NY: Pearson Learning Solutions.
ISBN 9780558834883
Course Outline: This is not set in stone and will change as we progress through the
course.
Aug 27-31
No Class, Dr. Stanton attending APSA Conference
--Read and Review syllabus, documents as emailed
--Read the Quadrennial Report of the Department of Homeland Security,
archived at: http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/qhsr_report.pdf
Sep 3-5
Putting Homeland Security in Context (Kilroy, Chp 1)
--Security from what, to do what?
--As a part of National Security
Sep 7-17
Interests, Hazards, and Assessment
--Homeland Security Interests (Kilroy, Chp 2)
--The all-hazards approach (Kilroy, Chp 3)
--Assessing Threat (Kilroy, Chp 4)
Stanton POLS 390
Sep 19-28
The Department of Homeland Security
--Organization, legal issues, and policy (L&R, Chps 1-2)
--Homeland Security and Intelligence (L&R, Chp 5)
--Security Technology (L&R, Chp 7)
Oct 1-5
Homeland Security Strategies
--Emergency Management (L&R, Chp 9)
--Strategic Communication (L&R, Chp 10)
--Strategic Planning (L&R, Chp 11)
Exam 1 will be passed out on Oct. 5
Oct 8-17
Homeland Security and Terrorism
--State Actors (Kilroy, Chp 5, L&R, Chp 12)
--Non-State Actors (Kilroy, Chp 6, L&R Chp 12)
Exam 2 is due 8 am Oct. 12th, the exam covers all material through
Oct. 10th.
Oct 22Nov 2
Homeland Security and Terrorism, Part II
--Domestic Terrorism (Kilroy, Chp 9, L&R Chp 12)
--Counter Terrorism (L&R, Chp 12, L&R Chp 13)
--Information and Terrorism (Kilroy, Chp 10)
Nov 5-9
Weapons of Mass Destruction (Kilroy, Chp 8)
Nov 12-16
Cyber-Warfare and Homeland Security (Kilroy, Chp 7)
Nov 26Dec 12
Other Homeland Security Issues
--Environmental Security (L&R, Chp 8)
--Public Health (L&R, Chp 8)
--Human Trafficking
--Partnering with Private Sector (L&R, Chp 3)
--DOD and Homeland Security (L&R, Chp 6)
Exam 2 passed out Nov 30 due at beginning of class Dec 7.
FINAL EXAM 12/18 9 am, Instructions for Exam will be discussed in class.
Stanton POLS 390
GUIDE FOR WRITING EMPIRICAL RESEARCH PAPERS
A research paper should pose a question about some relevant event or behavior. This
question should be easily recognizable and found somewhere in the first page of your
paper. Included in the introduction of your paper should be a defense of why anyone
should care about finding an answer to your question. You must conduct a literature
review that critically evaluates how other scholarship has addressed the general area of
your question (or in some cases, how other scholarship has addressed your question
specifically). The literature review serves two purposes: One, it allows you to develop a
theoretical explanation of how events or behaviors occur. Two, it allows you to
determine and explain how your paper adds to our knowledge of the event or behavior
(strengthening your argument about why we should care to read your paper).
Your proposed answer to the research question is your hypothesis. The hypothesis
suggests factors that contribute to or impede the event or behavior in question.
Hypotheses infer something about events or behaviors based on interpretation of some
observation(s). What this means is that in political science we are in the business of
inferring causation, if you want to simply report what is, take a journalism class. The
hypothesis is a testable claim. By using quantitative or qualitative methods, you test the
hypothesis for strength and validity. This means specifying how you are measuring and
interpreting causal factors. It also means reaching findings (inferences) about whether or
not your hypothesis provides a quality answer to the research question.
Research papers end with a conclusion section that ties everything together. What do we
learn about the event or behavior from the research you have conducted? What does this
tell us about the world and its future?
Research relies on the evaluation of multiple sources. If you rely on one or two sources
for most or all of your research you have engaged in plagiarism. Papers that include
plagiarism earn an automatic 0. Popular media should generally be avoided as a source
of information (although use of sources such as the New York Times, London Times, etc.
for specificity of events and statements made by people is acceptable). Textbooks should
also generally be avoided as a source of information (if you have a question about
whether or not a book is a textbook, just ask your professor). Generally, for a paper of 20
pages in length you would desire about 15 quality sources of information.
Style and grammar do matter. Because grammar matters, proofread!!! Because grammar
matters do not use dangling modifiers, end sentences with prepositions, use sentence
fragments, etc. Because style matters, look at a style manual and use appropriate citation
style (not citing the source of information used in your paper is plagiarism), use
appropriate bibliography styles, and always number your pages appropriately.
In Political Science, two styles are prevalent in the scholarly literature—APSA, which is
a revised form of APA, and Turabian, also known as the Chicago Manual of Style (which
was originally edited by Katherine Turabian). However, lately in an attempt to
homogenize the different forms found in the numerous styles, the intelligent designers of
Stanton POLS 390
the use of English have made these styles indistinct. Today, MLA, APA, and Turabian
will look almost exactly the same if one consults a style manual. To be sure, however,
political scientists are resistant to change in some areas. Since the purpose of this course
is in part to correctly train you in appropriate writing technique for professional political
science work, you will find provided for you in the space below, examples of proper intext citation, proper footnote citations, and proper bibliographical citations. For all other
issues (page numbering, title pages, subdivisions (chapters, sub-chapters, etc.) within a
paper, etc.) use APSA. A copy of the APSA style manual may be borrowed for 24 hours
from Dr. Stanton.
Dr. Stanton’s Rules for Writing
Built upon the work of a long line of mentors and colleagues
Sentence Rules:
1. Do not begin sentences in any of the following ways: “There are/is…”, “This is…”,
“It is…,” etc.
2. Do not use “this,” “these,” “that,” “those,” “which,” or “it” unless the word has a
clear and unmistakable antecedent nearby. Never begin a sentence with “this” unless you
follow it immediately with a noun that re-identifies the idea to which you are referring.
3. Never publicly dangle a participle or misplace a modifier: write “Showing
unmistakable signs of ignorance, the student did not persuade his professor;” NOT> “The
student did not persuade his professor, showing unmistakable signs of ignorance.”
4. Never write an incomplete sentence (participles -- “ing” words -- cannot stand as
verbs). A verb must agree with its subject in person and number.
5. Know these three rules about commas:
a. Join independent clauses (clauses with a subject and a verb) either by using (1)
a comma with a conjunction (“Right-handers predominantly use the left side of
the brain, so left-handers are the only ones in their right minds.”) or (2) a
semicolon without a conjunction (“Right-handers predominantly use the left side
of the brain; left-handers are the only ones in their right minds.”)
b. Separate items in a series by using a comma after every item before the
conjunction (“The professor was arbitrary, arrogant, and heartless.”)
c. Never use a comma between the subject and the verb or between the verb and
its object (except for interrupting clauses that use two (2) commas).
6. Bury words like “however,” “furthermore,” “moreover,” “indeed,” etc. (conjunctive
adverbs) in the clause or sentence; do not put them at the beginning. (E.g. “The students,
however, learned something.”)
7. Be consistent when you have two or more parallel structures. With adjectives: “He
was pompous, picky, and terrorized freshmen” is wrong. “He was pompous, picky, and
fond of terrorizing freshmen” is right. With prepositions: “A student could count on his
bad temper and arbitrariness” is wrong. “A student could count on his bad temper and on
his arbitrariness” is right. With correlatives: “He graded a paper not only for content but
for style” is wrong. “He graded a paper not only for content but also for style” is right.
8. Do not end a sentence with a preposition.
Stanton POLS 390
9. Do not use the passive voice (“Careless students are failed by the ruthless professor”);
use the active voice (“The ruthless professor fails careless students”). Because the active
voice is direct and clear, this rule is the most important of style, but it has serious
consequences for your meaning as well. Politicians, administrators, and those foolishly
trying to avoid the consequences of their actions love the passive voice because it
protects them from facts and responsibility: “Mistakes were made.”
10. Adverbs should be adverbs. Do not do it different – if you know what I am saying.
11. Walker’s Rule for Pronouns: every pronoun should have a clear antecedent to which
it agrees in person, number, and gender.
Paragraph and Thesis Rules:
12. Each paragraph must stick to the subject introduced by its first sentence. Most
importantly, the first sentence of the first paragraph must establish the context of your
paper. “John Wayne first appears in Stagecoach with a rifle in his hand.” NOT> “Duke
has a gun.”
13. Do not use one or two sentences as a paragraph.
14. Make the transition between your sentences and your paragraphs clear and logical.
This task is the most difficult in writing, but, as you know, life is hard.
15. Give your paper a clear thesis sentence at the end of your first paragraph. If you can
remember only one rule, this rule is the one you must remember. The first paragraph
should also demonstrate how the rest of the paper is organized.
16. Avoid using quotations to begin or end a paragraph or a paper. Your own words are
most important in those places.
17. In longer papers remind the reader of your thesis throughout the body of your paper.
Rules concerning Argumentation:
18. Never just summarize or paraphrase. Assume your reader has read/seen it. I do not
want to know what happened. I want to know your ideas about what happened.
19. Support your assertions and ideas with concrete examples, with brief quotes from the
story, book, or film you are discussing, or with a short citation from some reliable
authority.
20. Do not hedge. Words like “maybe,” “seem,” “perhaps,” and “might” do not keep you
from being wrong; they merely alert the reader to the fact that you are worried about it.
21. Avoid vague generalizations: “as we all know,” “people say,” “since the beginning
of time,” etc. Obvious claims such as “mankind would not exist without the heart” are
equally lamentable.
22. Write about works of art in the present tense, since Hamlet will be stabbing Polonius
and Roy Hobbs will be knocking the lights out with his home runs long after your
grandchildren have forgotten your name.
23. Avoid rhetorical questions.
24. Delete the phrase “in the past” from your writing as well as any hint of chronological
snobbery. Chronological snobbery is the erroneous assumption that, with the passage of
time, mankind has gotten progressively wiser. In the past such a pedantic list of writing
rules would have been unnecessary for undergraduates.
25. When citing a dictionary refer to the Oxford English Dictionary whenever possible.
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Diction Rules:
26. Do not misspell words. Misspelled words look dumb; do not look dumb. Use a
dictionary or a literate friend to check your spelling. On a word processor always use
spell-check, but do not trust it! Possessing a limited vocabulary and undiscerning
between right words spelled wrongly and wrong words spelled rightly, spell-check is no
substitute for proofreading. Spell out one and two digit numbers.
27. Never use contractions.
28. A possessive without an apostrophe is a misspelled word. One exception is the
possessive of “it”: “its.” “It is” contracts to “it’s.” Since you will not use contractions,
you will never write “it’s” on a paper.
29. Choose the best word for the context. Your papers should be a place “where every
word is at home, taking its place to support the others” (Eliot “Little Gidding,” V.217218). Beware of unintended irony: an N.C. State basketballer once explained his ability to
shoot with either hand, “yeah, I’m amphibious.” Suffice it to say this student-athlete, to
avoid drowning in his coursework, crawled out of school and into the NBA.
30. Also beware these other egregious violations of Rule Twenty-Nine (29): jargon (say
“library”; do not say “instructional media center”), cliche (say “the professor is a
conservative grouch”; do not say “the professor is an old fogey”), slang (say “the teacher
is foolish”; do not say “the teacher is a dork”), hyperbole (say “this man has too high a
regard for himself”; do not say “this man is the most arrogant jerk who ever lived”),
gobbledygook (say “now”; do not say “at this point in time”), and malapropism
(confusion of idioms; one former NFL player commented, “I really cleaned his bell; I
rang his clock”).
31. Use your smallest most Anglo-Saxon, most comfortable words; big words impress
only high school teachers and smell of the thesaurus.
32. Lose the word “very” and, like, you know, other gratuitous additives from, you know,
your written and spoken vocabulary.
33. Non-English words should be italicized. Foreign words and terms that are not
commonly used should be defined when initially used in the paper.
Format Rules:
34. Number your pages. Numbering begins on the first page of text, title pages are not
numbered.
35. Do not widow/orphan lines from lengthier quotes, single sentences from paragraphs,
sub-headings from first line of text in the section, labels of tables, charts, figures,
graphics from the table, chart, figure or graphic to which it refers.
36. Use APA/APSA Style for your papers. See examples attached to your syllabus.
37. Give your paper an informative title. The name of the work you are dealing with is
NOT the title of your paper. “Shakespeare’s Use of Time in Hamlet” is by a thoughtful
person; “It Takes a Broken Egghead to Make a Hamlet” is by a clown; Hamlet is by
Shakespeare.
38. Italicize all full-length films, plays, and books. Do likewise with magazine and
newspaper titles. Short stories, film shorts, one-act plays, and articles go in quotation
marks (“…”). Do not underline or put your own title in quotation marks.
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39. On those extremely rare occasions when you quote more than two lines of text,
indent five spaces left and right and single space the quotation, and leave off the
quotation marks.
40. When you quote from or refer to a source, cite it appropriately and include a works
cited page of some kind.
41. When you borrow and idea or paraphrase statements from existing scholarship, give
appropriate citation.
42. The first citation within a paragraph must contain the author’s name, even if it is the
same author and item from the previous citation in the preceding paragraph. Likewise,
the first citation on any page must contain the author’s name and the year of publication,
even if the citation is for the same source as the last citation on the preceding page.
43. Print your paper out only on the front side of the pages.
44. Use 1” margins top, bottom, and right, use a 1 ½” margin on the left side of pages.
45. Use Times New Roman 12 point font.
46. If a header is used on page 1 to identify you, the course and the date, this material
should be single-spaced and have minimal spacing between it and the body of the paper
and it should be used only on the first page. Such header is not required if a title page is
used.
47. Before handing in your final copy, have an intelligent friend read your paper to you;
then fix it. Frequently save your file, and if possible keep a hard copy, and/or a version
on another drive.
48. Do not hand in a paper unless you have come to care about it. You believe in
goodness and truth; therefore, commit yourself to communicating your ideas well and
true.