Cal State bumps Ivy League in security role
Press-Enterprise 4/14/07
But in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, the nation's intelligence agencies are seeking applicants with more diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
And a consortium of universities headquartered at Cal State San Bernardino hopes to fill the need. On Friday, Cal State officials opened their new Intelligence Community Center of Academic Excellence, the headquarters of a seven-university program preparing students for work in national security and intelligence.
The program, funded by a $3 million five-year federal grant, also includes Cal Poly Pomona and the Cal State system's Bakersfield, Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach and Northridge campuses.
The curriculum concentrates on foreign-language study, critical thinking and writing, national security and intelligence studies and graduate studies in related programs. Top students also will receive scholarships for foreign study, said Mark Clark, the consortium director.
He said the center also will launch a summer national-security institute for high school students this summer at Cal State Long Beach.
Together, the seven schools can call on a highly diverse student population of 200,000. Many are "heritage" foreign-language speakers: people who have grown up familiar with both an American way of life and the speech and culture of another country, Clark said.
"If we're interested in seeing what the world of the 21st century is going to look like, we only need look at the students in our classrooms," said Gary Reichard, executive vice chancellor for the state university system.
Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, attended the opening. He praised the students for their willingness to enter public service.
Until now, Lewis said, universities have not made a commitment to intelligence programs.
"This is a way to reach out to a diverse population and really make a difference," he said.
The Cal State consortium is one of 10 programs nationwide to receive federal funding.
"These grants didn't go to Stanford and the Ivy League because the intelligence agencies know they stayed the same for too long, with the same people, and now they need to change," he said.
Schools included in the federal program will have direct access to recruiters from 16 intelligence agencies, Clark said.