May 23, 2022

This paid piece is sponsored by Dakota State University.

The Cyber Leadership and Intelligence, or CLI, degree at Dakota State University is an interdisciplinary degree that combines cybersecurity and the humanities.

“The program provides students with a background in the technical side of cybersecurity but also gives them the analytical tools that are commonly developed in social sciences and the humanities,” said Dr. William Bendix, assistant professor of international relations and intelligence at DSU.

The degree provides students with a balance between the technical side of cybersecurity and the broader understanding of political and cultural history and human behavior, he added.

Because the degree is so broad, no one class can cover the cyber leadership field, so students are steadily introduced to a range of relevant topics through multiple courses and professors to come away with the skills and knowledge base needed.

Bendix describes CLI to prospective students as a program that prepares them to be technology translators. In organizations in the private and public sectors, there is a need to bridge communication between leaders who make broad organizational decisions and those focused on the digital side and cybersecurity area of the business.

“CLI is designed to produce students with a set of skills and knowledge base so they can navigate both worlds and communicate with cybersecurity specialists and also those working in the industry or government,” Bendix said.

Courses in history, sociology and other branches of the humanities help build these skills.

“The major focuses on how cyber affairs intersect with existing institutions like religion, government, the economy and social groups,” said Dr. Kurt Kemper, professor of history. “Having a sense of how those institutions or groups have operated previously and why they operate the way they do now is key to appreciating their complexity.”

Additionally, the humanities help teach qualitative reasoning and evidence-based analysis, Kemper added. “The classes I teach in the major overwhelmingly focus on providing historical context to the events that shape modern cyber affairs.”

The program has two tracks: digital forensics and world affairs. Digital forensics focuses on developing technical expertise, while the world affairs track focuses more on the sociological, historical and policy concerns that impact cybersecurity and on developing stronger communication skills.

Available in person and online, the program attracts a variety of students, including several who are active military personnel. Christofer McClelland is one such student, a member of the Air Force Reserve serving as an all source intelligence analyst; he also works as a USAF civilian in the role of targeting digital network analyst.

Dakota State University’s partnership with the military and the CLI major curriculum inspired McClelland to become an online student in the program.

As a reservist, McClelland and his unit are focused on the broad perspective, diving deep into the culture of an area to understand the people and the different individuals on whom they are focused on in order to brief his team and commanders on the perspective of the situation, he explained.

While there is a lot of training in the Air Force, McClelland and others in similar roles must complete additional training and research on their own. The history and sociology courses from the program help provide a rich cultural and historical background that helps with the job.

“I think one of the key things is, being anyone in intel, you’re supposed to derive significance from intelligence to make something actionable,” McClelland said.

“To make something actionable, you really must understand what your adversary might be doing in the future in order to get ahead of the problem and have that background of what has and is happening in those regions or what might be driving those decisions. This really helps in my ability to predict in those situations and develop courses of action,” he said.

But it’s not just humanities courses that he finds helpful; he found his first two courses in networking valuable. “As soon as I started taking coursework, I was quickly able to apply that to my job.”

McClelland recommends this program to others, especially fellow Air Force members, noting the relevant curriculum. He also points out that an associate degree from the Community College of the Air Force can be applied to a CLI degree.