PROFESSIONAL REFLECTION
My nearly three decades in law enforcement has frequently shown me the underside of humanity and a realist view of how people interact with each other, yet the causes and reasons why people committed crime or had conflict with each other in matters I investigated did not directly involve matters of international security, U.S. foreign policy, or geopolitics. Instead, my work mainly focused on the “who, what, where, when, how”, and most importantly the “why”. Understanding the “why” of what people do provides unique perspectives of one’s acts; did they steal out of greed, or need? Did the suspect shoot the other person out of malice or self-defense based on their perspective at the time of the act? Often the answers are obvious, sometimes they are not; thus, it is important to understand the ‘why’ of what people do to better understand the world around us and to formulate more effective solutions and outcomes to problematic situations.
I had no intention of understanding U.S. foreign policy or international relations/security early on in my career. I had plenty to do in my own ‘world’ in southeastern North Carolina with little time to do anything else other than advance my career and start a family. However, one late summer day in 2001 changed my view of how matters from afar can affect my everyday life and career perspectives. September 11, 2001, started out just like any other morning for not only me but for hundreds of millions of Americans. By the end of the day, not only had our notions changed of using the phrase “it’ll never happen here”, but for me it also opened new inquiry on the United States’ role and position in the world. It personally piqued my interest in looking beyond my own community, state, and region to understand the world in which we now lived in. Suddenly, in-service trainings and seminars offered information how terrorists can infiltrate local communities and act as ‘sleeper cells’, we learned about the intelligence failures of the events leading up to September 11th and how collaborations are more important than pride and protection of intelligence. National Incident Management System (NIMS) training was part of the regimen in some basic or advanced form. We used, to our own investigative benefit, federal laws such as the USA PATRIOT Act enacted after 9/11 to investigate financial crimes. Another ‘JFK’ moment was upon us; anyone who was asked what they were doing on that morning on September 11th knew also that their lives in some way had changed; mine was no different. As I watched on live TV the impact of the 2nd plane into the South Tower while getting ready for work; and after absorbing and internalizing what had happened as the events of the day unfolded, I wanted to understand fully why the United States was the target of foreign terrorists. In time however, while I was still interested in understanding U.S. foreign policy and international relations and security from an American perspective, my raison d’être as a police detective existed on the municipal level; international security and relations was nothing more than a hobbyist pursuit.
However, another event, this time occurring across the Atlantic, left me to consider if a higher calling was still waiting for me. The Manchester Arena bombings of May 22, 2017, tipped the scales in determining my future career trajectory. While I had no connection whatsoever to the victims of the bombing, images of them posted in a BBC report rekindled a desire to understand why this venue was targeted and why did these particular people had to perish. I had just re-enrolled to get my undergraduate degree as I knew my law enforcement career was going to wind down in another eight years. I thought that I would pursue a marketing career, but I also knew that service to my country and community was still a strong desire. I changed tracks after enrolling and pursued a criminal justice degree (what else after 23 years in the profession?) and eventually registered in classes that I now term as my “bridging courses” to the International Security Studies Program at the University of Arizona; courses like Introduction to Terrorism Studies, Counterterrorism Strategies, Intelligence Studies, World Regional Geography, Human Trafficking and Slavery, and Homeland Security propelled my interest further and cemented my future career course.
In seeking to find a program that offered the necessary curriculum to help me understand the ‘why’ of U.S. foreign policy and international relations and security, I scoured literally every four-year college and university web site looking for the perfect fit. I narrowed my selection down to six schools: George Washington University, UMass Lowell, University of Texas at El Paso, Arizona State University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Arizona. Arizona attracted me for two reasons, the breadth of courses offered enabled me to build a unique career track that would suit my objectives in a particular concentration of study while being able to find other courses of interest where connections may exist with that concentration and secondly, the affordability of the program compared to other programs I considered. While earning a degree from George Washington or Johns Hopkins may have impressed people who only look at where you graduated from, they were also too expensive and that after perusing the International Security Studies (ISS) site, I felt that Arizona could easily compete with these institutions in quality while not breaking the bank; I was not disappointed.
The online ISS program at Arizona 100% exceeded my expectations and challenged me to look beyond my own perspectives while it also made me feel part of a larger collaborative effort to looking at past, current, and future geopolitical issues and coming up with innovative solutions to not only determine the United States’ future foreign and domestic policy course but also to help the United States maintain its role as a global leader and to create a more secure world while understanding not only our allies’ and partners’ needs and perspectives but also our adversaries and those states that are ambivalent towards us. Delivered in an online format, I felt that the program attracted a diverse – and talented – collection of individuals that could not otherwise attend in person in Tucson. The program is flexible for those who already have full-time lives with work and family but connects these individuals who bring their own unique experiences to the virtual classroom. Additionally, the instructors positively push the program participants to challenge their own limits and go outside their comfort zones.
The degree I earned in the ISS program is the nexus which I anticipate will connect my current law enforcement career and my interest in international relations and security for the transition to my new career ambitions. As to which door I will enter and make my home in the field of international relations and security, that is still to be determined. I initially sought to get into intelligence but after immersing myself in the ISS program I discovered I could also contribute by working with NGOs, federal agencies, private firms, and possibly even assist some of the greatest minds in U.S. foreign policy by being an assistant and contributor to a think tank. By sharing my work I produced in the ISS program within my professional colloquium web site I hope to accomplish two objectives – to gain the attention of someone in the international relations community for them to take notice of my works and secondly to show both the quality and value of earning a masters degree from the ISS program at the University of Arizona in promoting the program to aspiring individuals who hope to also enter the realm of international relations and security.
To date, I can truly claim that enrolling in the ISS program at Arizona was the best choice to not only further my personal educational experience but more importantly giving me the best chance in launching my 2nd career in the realm of international relations and security. The program has both humbled me and given me confidence in my abilities to think critically, analytically, strategically, and pragmatically to the ever-evolving realm of geopolitics and to consider the United States’ role moving forward in world affairs. I also feel that I have made impactful connections and hopefully lasting relationships with both my fellow classmates as well as the faculty within the program, appreciating their unique perspectives consisting of not only a Ukrainian national who through emails gave me her view of Putin’s invasion of her homeland, but also career armed services members’ experiences as well as other perspectives from every other walk of life in between. In sum, my time within the ISS program at the University of Arizona will leave memories and experiences that will prove lasting for decades to come and has provided me with a better appreciation of world affairs from many different perspectives and views.
I had no intention of understanding U.S. foreign policy or international relations/security early on in my career. I had plenty to do in my own ‘world’ in southeastern North Carolina with little time to do anything else other than advance my career and start a family. However, one late summer day in 2001 changed my view of how matters from afar can affect my everyday life and career perspectives. September 11, 2001, started out just like any other morning for not only me but for hundreds of millions of Americans. By the end of the day, not only had our notions changed of using the phrase “it’ll never happen here”, but for me it also opened new inquiry on the United States’ role and position in the world. It personally piqued my interest in looking beyond my own community, state, and region to understand the world in which we now lived in. Suddenly, in-service trainings and seminars offered information how terrorists can infiltrate local communities and act as ‘sleeper cells’, we learned about the intelligence failures of the events leading up to September 11th and how collaborations are more important than pride and protection of intelligence. National Incident Management System (NIMS) training was part of the regimen in some basic or advanced form. We used, to our own investigative benefit, federal laws such as the USA PATRIOT Act enacted after 9/11 to investigate financial crimes. Another ‘JFK’ moment was upon us; anyone who was asked what they were doing on that morning on September 11th knew also that their lives in some way had changed; mine was no different. As I watched on live TV the impact of the 2nd plane into the South Tower while getting ready for work; and after absorbing and internalizing what had happened as the events of the day unfolded, I wanted to understand fully why the United States was the target of foreign terrorists. In time however, while I was still interested in understanding U.S. foreign policy and international relations and security from an American perspective, my raison d’être as a police detective existed on the municipal level; international security and relations was nothing more than a hobbyist pursuit.
However, another event, this time occurring across the Atlantic, left me to consider if a higher calling was still waiting for me. The Manchester Arena bombings of May 22, 2017, tipped the scales in determining my future career trajectory. While I had no connection whatsoever to the victims of the bombing, images of them posted in a BBC report rekindled a desire to understand why this venue was targeted and why did these particular people had to perish. I had just re-enrolled to get my undergraduate degree as I knew my law enforcement career was going to wind down in another eight years. I thought that I would pursue a marketing career, but I also knew that service to my country and community was still a strong desire. I changed tracks after enrolling and pursued a criminal justice degree (what else after 23 years in the profession?) and eventually registered in classes that I now term as my “bridging courses” to the International Security Studies Program at the University of Arizona; courses like Introduction to Terrorism Studies, Counterterrorism Strategies, Intelligence Studies, World Regional Geography, Human Trafficking and Slavery, and Homeland Security propelled my interest further and cemented my future career course.
In seeking to find a program that offered the necessary curriculum to help me understand the ‘why’ of U.S. foreign policy and international relations and security, I scoured literally every four-year college and university web site looking for the perfect fit. I narrowed my selection down to six schools: George Washington University, UMass Lowell, University of Texas at El Paso, Arizona State University, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Arizona. Arizona attracted me for two reasons, the breadth of courses offered enabled me to build a unique career track that would suit my objectives in a particular concentration of study while being able to find other courses of interest where connections may exist with that concentration and secondly, the affordability of the program compared to other programs I considered. While earning a degree from George Washington or Johns Hopkins may have impressed people who only look at where you graduated from, they were also too expensive and that after perusing the International Security Studies (ISS) site, I felt that Arizona could easily compete with these institutions in quality while not breaking the bank; I was not disappointed.
The online ISS program at Arizona 100% exceeded my expectations and challenged me to look beyond my own perspectives while it also made me feel part of a larger collaborative effort to looking at past, current, and future geopolitical issues and coming up with innovative solutions to not only determine the United States’ future foreign and domestic policy course but also to help the United States maintain its role as a global leader and to create a more secure world while understanding not only our allies’ and partners’ needs and perspectives but also our adversaries and those states that are ambivalent towards us. Delivered in an online format, I felt that the program attracted a diverse – and talented – collection of individuals that could not otherwise attend in person in Tucson. The program is flexible for those who already have full-time lives with work and family but connects these individuals who bring their own unique experiences to the virtual classroom. Additionally, the instructors positively push the program participants to challenge their own limits and go outside their comfort zones.
The degree I earned in the ISS program is the nexus which I anticipate will connect my current law enforcement career and my interest in international relations and security for the transition to my new career ambitions. As to which door I will enter and make my home in the field of international relations and security, that is still to be determined. I initially sought to get into intelligence but after immersing myself in the ISS program I discovered I could also contribute by working with NGOs, federal agencies, private firms, and possibly even assist some of the greatest minds in U.S. foreign policy by being an assistant and contributor to a think tank. By sharing my work I produced in the ISS program within my professional colloquium web site I hope to accomplish two objectives – to gain the attention of someone in the international relations community for them to take notice of my works and secondly to show both the quality and value of earning a masters degree from the ISS program at the University of Arizona in promoting the program to aspiring individuals who hope to also enter the realm of international relations and security.
To date, I can truly claim that enrolling in the ISS program at Arizona was the best choice to not only further my personal educational experience but more importantly giving me the best chance in launching my 2nd career in the realm of international relations and security. The program has both humbled me and given me confidence in my abilities to think critically, analytically, strategically, and pragmatically to the ever-evolving realm of geopolitics and to consider the United States’ role moving forward in world affairs. I also feel that I have made impactful connections and hopefully lasting relationships with both my fellow classmates as well as the faculty within the program, appreciating their unique perspectives consisting of not only a Ukrainian national who through emails gave me her view of Putin’s invasion of her homeland, but also career armed services members’ experiences as well as other perspectives from every other walk of life in between. In sum, my time within the ISS program at the University of Arizona will leave memories and experiences that will prove lasting for decades to come and has provided me with a better appreciation of world affairs from many different perspectives and views.