Cadets Visit the United States Strategic Command

Cadets in the Department of Social Sciences’ International Affairs special projects course, visited United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska in order to familiarize themselves with the command’s mission and identify a research area that can enhance the organization’s ability to deter our adversaries and assure our allies. This course is part of a pilot project beginning next semester that will offer an alternative to the thesis option with the intent of providing cadets with an experience that synthesizes their field of study in a project for a real world “customer.” Four first class cadets and two faculty advisors from the International Affairs program met with USSTRATCOM’s Chief of Staff, MG Dickinson, who shared a brief overview of the organization’s mission and the Army’s role in it. The group also received a brief from USSTRATCOM’s historian who explained the evolution of the entity to its evolving mission set today with respect to deterrence and assurance. These introductory presentations were followed by a series of engaging meetings with the USSTRATCOM design team, Army strategists, representatives from USSTRATCOM’s Academic Alliance, and a team of experts focused on cyber issues. The cadets have narrowed their research topic to cyber deterrence, making this last meeting particularly helpful in providing them context for their project. The cadets took advantage of these opportunities to ask questions and came away from the trip having learned a great deal about USSTRATCOM, established contacts with relevant subject-matter experts, and well-positioned develop a research question that will help the organization accomplish its mission.