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Student Resources
Co-Curricular Program for ISP
In addition to the regular academic program, ISP offers other activities. These include guest speakers, field trips, political-military crisis and arms control simulations, specialized symposia, films, and social activities. Many of these activities are planned and organized by the ISP students.
The initial event of the year is a "get acquainted" weekend retreat at a campsite in mid-September. The crisis simulation in the spring semester is entirely organized and conducted by the students. Simulations in recent years have included crises in Kashmir, the Taiwan Straits, Central Asia, and Indonesia; negotiations on the North Korean nuclear program; escalation of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan; the NPT Review Conference; and other subjects.
There is one field trip each year, alternating between a combination of U.S. military installations, in one year, and government offices in Washington, D.C., in the other year. In each two-year cycle, therefore, ISP students have a chance to see something of both operational and policymaking aspects of U.S. national security policy. Expenses for the trips are subsidized (for ISP concentrators only), but participating students pay a share of the costs; exact amounts depend on the particular trip, schedule, and available ISP budget.
Examples of military facilities visited in past field trips, include Fort Bragg (Army airborne and Special Forces headquarters) and Pope Air Force Base; Camp Lejeune (Marine Corps); SACLANT headquarters, Atlantic Command (ACOM), and various ships in Norfolk; Langley Air Force Base; NATO headquarters (Brussels); and SHAPE (Mons), Belgium. The field trip to Washington, D.C. has included meetings (most at the level of assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary) at organizations, such as the Central Intelligence Agency; National Security Council; Office of Management and Budget; State Department Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Bureau of Public Affairs, and Bureau of Intelligence and Research; on Capitol Hill, the House Armed Services Committee, Senate Intelligence Committee, Senate Appropriations Committee, and Congressional Budget Office; and at the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Bosnia Task Force, and offices of Program Analysis and Evaluation, Strategy and Resources, and International Security Affairs.