Massachusetts Institute of Technology Security Studies Program
Abstract
The Security Studies Program (SSP) is a graduate level research and educational program based at the MIT Center for International Studies. It traces its origins to two initiatives. One is the teaching on international security topics, and most particularly on defense budgeting, that Professor William Kaufmann began in the 1960s at the MIT Political Science Department. The other is the MIT-wide seminars on nuclear weapons and arms control policy that Professors Jack Ruina and George Rathjens began in the mid-1970s. Initially called the MIT Defense and Arms Control Studies Program, SSP's teaching ties are primarily, but not exclusively, with the MIT Political Science Department. The SSP faculty, however, includes natural scientists and engineers as well as social scientists. Distinguishing the program is its ability to integrate technical and political analyses in studies of international security issues. Several of the SSP faculty have had extensive government experience. They and the other Program faculty advise or comment frequently on current policy problems. But the Program's prime task is educating those young men and women who will be the next generation of scholars and practitioners in international security policy making. The Program's research and public service activities necessarily complement that effort. The Center for International Studies is a major unit of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at MIT and seeks to encourage the analysis of issues of continuing public concern. Key components of the Center in addition to SSP are Seminar XXI, which offers training in the analysis of international issues for senior military officers, government officials, and industry executives; the MIT Science and Technology Initiative, a pioneering international education program active in nine countries; and programs on human rights, migration, technology impacts, China, the Middle East, and U.S. foreign policy.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA456071
Entities
Organizations
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology