Experts, Including Laufenburg '79

"Traditionally, the government and private industry rumed to the military 10 find personnel with the 'right sruff,'but today they are looking much more often at colleges and unive rsities.

"The ana lytic focusof a liberal arts education, coupled with course o fferings in l anguage, computer sciC'nce,math and regional issues/nationa l security,is exactly what employerswouldbe looking for. Another great benefit of careers in n ationa l security is rhe opporrunit)' for foreign assignments,''says Escberg.

Escberghas serwd ,he Derattment of Defensefor 33 years,includingmore than IO rears in Gennany.In September,he willbegin a three-yeartenn as intelligenceadviserat the North Atlanric TreacyOrganizationHeadquartersin Brussels,Belgium.

He suggeststhat students who have a knack for languagestrain in "exotic" languagessuch as Middle Eastern and Asian languages.If such programsaren't a,·ailable,the government often will hire those who have done very well in European languages,offering them the chance to learn another non-European languagein high demand. Addi1ionall1 • , those with strongcomputer skillsare encouragedto consider pursuingwork o n rhe defensive, o r Information As.sur, ance, side of rhe house.

"Putting it , e r)' simply,"Estberg says, ..those \\'orkingthe intell ige nce missionare the 'code breakers';rhose workingthe defensive,inforntation assurance mis.sionare the 'code cnak, ers.' Graduates with skills in eit.her area are in great dernar,d."

H. l ee Jones '73 of Highland Vil, )age,Texas, worksfor the Oepanment of Homeland Security on a contract basis doing presentations regarding telephone issues.He is regionalout· reach coordinator for the Government EmergencyTelephone Service and WirelessPriorityService.

There are five such coordinators (or the country, and Jones covers the Great Lakesstates, O klahoma and Arkansas. He gives presenracionsregardingprior, icycall serup servicesavailablefor emergencyrespondersin times of telephone network congestion.The;e emergencyre,ponders include Wi..«con· sin Emerge ncy Management.,state police, hospitals,judges, b3nks,elecnic companies- "anybodywho has a ro le in assisting during o r after an emer.. gency,"Jones says.

He sees a lot of opportunities in the field of security.

Jo nes studied economicsat Ripon and has a master's of businessadministration from the Universityof Wisconsin, Whitewater. He has been workingon the federalprioriry calling programsince 1995,first at Verizonand now for the Department of Homeland Secwity. He also is pur, suing a n1aster•sdegree in his, tory at the Universit)' of Nonh Texas in ~nton, Texas. ous aspects of national secu· rity are certainly turning ou t graduates who are more 'marketable.'

"The post-9/11 world has seen a massive ii,crease in anencion and funding for this kind of career,''Jones says."The threats to overall security ha\1e dramati~ cally increased,so che governmenr is responding.The opportunities that I see a re quice expansi\'e."

Drew Davis '07,Ripon's first gradu, are 10claim the national security minor, is counring on Lhoseopportunities.

I've had a strong interest and ambit ion for politics and work in government since lirerallythe second grade," Davis says.~1,vasdra,vntO\\'ard the service side of government and dealing with people, the diplomatic approach to goveminenr."

He says the national sec uriti~ minor helped show him routes co rake 10pur, sue his dream.

" It wascructallyintegral ." says Davis. "It's exactly what it needs m be at chis ume in our country's histOT)',Our nation facesa whole new host o f threats. This minor allowsfor tha t fresh,contemporary approochand undemanding to those threats. It's not an archaic, historical textbook an alogyof the threats we faced in the past and during the cold war. h's cutting-edgefor the 21st cen· rur)' That sreaks highly of Ripon - that it can provide something so cut · ting-edge for its studc-nts:•

The minor is the brainchi ld of Lamont Co lucci, as:.isiant professor of poliucs a nd go,·e rnmen t, \\·ho has brought to Riron a focuson ontema· t ional relations and ,ecurity which he feelsis crucial in toda~r'stroublingrimes.

Like Oa,·ts,Colucci sayshe a lwa\'S has had an inte n~st in polilics, hi 5lory, d iplomacyand international relations. He h ad a career in rhe field as a foreign s..,rvice officer with the U.S. Diplonmic Corps and "·asa n international rc1adons-ro 1icy cons.ultant ,,·it.hGcrwn Lehrman Group, a global necworkmg o rgamration . He has led e<lucational exch;1ngesto Tah,·an and Russia; ,vas a Korean Society Fe llow and a Fulbrighc scholar to Ch iM; and has Ix-ento Japan as a ream leader for a U.S., Japan C lose, Up Fellowship,a Ke,zai Koho Fellowship and a Fulbright Memorial Fellowship.

"I wanted co ha ve part of my liie Jevot,-.. l to the practice of these a reas, noc just chestudy,"saysCo lucci " I was able to experience che good, rhe bad a nd the ugly of that both in Washington a nd ove rseas. It aJlo,\·edinc to h a,·e my feet in both worlds.I s incerely be lieve it is the most critical field of study in a republic. If a republic is based o n t he substance of it.s citizens, l can't 1hink of a field that is more important."

He then pursuedusing his field expe• rience a t the academic level

" I had a faicly dear idea of what the real world ts about from that practi• tione r's , ·ic,\1-"()inc, a real sense oj the arduous and s low process that d iplomacy car, take aswell as some of th e problems there are m how they deal with thi ngs," Co lucci sa\•·'' It also gives me a sense of \,·hat can \\'Ork and \\'hat can't . I hope che abi lity to blend both of these makes my teach ing bette r."

A fter teaching for a sh«)rt t in1cat the Univer>ityofWL<consin-Mad1son and ocher campus seni ngs, Colucci came to Ripon three years ago. He lx-gandewloping a specialt:ed rr ogram on national security a year-and-a-half later.

Co lucc i o rganiied an "inaugura~ cion"o f t he nadon<'l l securities minor in March with a keynote address b)' Conner Jir e<:to r o f Centra l Intell igence James Woolsey.Othec panicirams included Kennet h deGraffenreid, profc.ssorof intelligence stu<lies a t The Inst itute of World Politics in Washing• to n , D.C , and a forn,~r ~pury N3tionalCou nterintelligence Exe:cu~ t l\·e; R. Do bi e Langenkan,p, former DepucyAssistant Secreuity fot Naval Petroleum Reserves and Di, ·esunem and Conn e r O.:pucyAssistant Secretary for Oi l, N arural Gas an d 0 ,1Shale; and Ret. Col. James F.Laufenburg '79 of Arlington, Va. Laufonbucgserved in n,·o back,t o,.back tou rs in Iraq, as Chie f o f Scaff fo r General David H. Pctraeus (currentll' commander of a ll focces in Iraq) when he was the Com· mander o i lhe !Olsc Airbon1e Division ( 2003 04) and then as his Chief of Staff when he was rhe c omma nder o f , he Multinationa l Security Transition Command (2004-05).

"I felt s ince 9/11 th a r th e academy universitysystem has not done enough to pron,ott n at io na l sec uriry srudies," saysCo lucci. ''The United States is faced with a na tional security thre a t that will bemulti-generatio nal. le will probably go beyond my lifetime and most, if not a ll, of our studen ts' lifeti1ne-sTo be frank,I can'r seea more impor ta nt areao f stud)·an.d concernto anybod)', not jw t Ripon."

..Ha,·ing a n ational securitr1n inor i.s a wonderful and long overJu e addit ion LO the Ripon Co llege curriculum,"sa1·s

Laufenburg,"·ho nO\V \\'Orks for Computer Sctences Corp. 35 a din:ctor of Army rro, grams. "Having served in the military for 27 years, I recognize iir~lhanJ ho"·importanc it is to understand ou r national securityen\'lronmenr -which encompas..<es a ll th e eletnents o( national po,ver.

" I believe cha<we all understand that che world in which we li,·e is much smaller than it "·a; 20 years ago due co globalization and t he advancement of informacion rechnologies. Kno~·i.ngthis, and having an appr~c iatio n of our nat ional security frame\\'Ork and processes.are c ritical to a con,plete don,e.sticand international c.ontexr. A nat iona l secu rity minor \\'ill educate and expose studenrs co the complex ities anJ hard work required to ach ie , ·e a compre· hensive nationa l secu rity strategy and its in,plications throughout the \\'Orld."

Estberg Sa\'S ou r country's, ·eryex1s.. tence is dependent on the scrongest possiblesecurity,which enrnils far more chan airport security, background check,, border s tops an d ocher tangible, ph ysical saieguards.

"Attempt ing to learn the p lans a nd in tentio ns of groups and countries,vith in cere.s.cs inim ical co our O\\'tl is a kcr piece of na tional s.ecurity, as is develop• n,en t of too ls, soft\\•are and har<.hvare co keep our O\\' n sensitive co1nmunic.ations secure from foreign cavcsdcopping,"he sa)'s. "Most inre lligence s hortcomings, real or perceh·ed,become public knowledge; wlfortunatdy, the same cannot l:,e said for th e many intelligence succes, stories which have aboolutely s.wed U.S. lives anJ pcoperty.

"Th ose who choose a career in thi s impottar\l field nce<lto ceali:e, going in, th at they will rarely t...ahle co boast of the ir s kills and achievements to friends and family. But the payoff lies in know• mg chat there are fewjobs in this countr)' today \Vithrnorepote ntial for a c.rue, lo ng-lasting benefit to our nauon. Paychecksare nice; kno,"·ingyou ..uc sen·.. i1,g your nation in this n,osc critical (in1e is e\·en ni cer." R