Naval postgraduate school: training special operations personnel for certainty; educating for uncertainty.(Company overview)

Since its inception in 1992, the Special Operations Master's Degree Program, or SOMDP, has trained more than 550 officers to fill key staff and leadership positions in the Department of Defense. While the curriculum has evolved over time, the program's mission to develop critical thinkers and capable operators, planners and commanders has steadfastly adhered to General Peter Schoomaker's admonition, "Train for certainty; educate for uncertainty."

SOMDP, taught at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., began when a group of 13 Navy SEALs doing their graduate work at NPS saw the need for a curriculum that would focus on the "unconventional" problems encountered by personnel assigned to the U.S. Special Operations Command, or USSOCOM.

Under the guidance of Dr. Gordon McCormick, a visiting professor from the RAND Corporation, NPS built a course of instruction around operational and strategic issues and the use of special-operations forces. The proposed course of instruction was so well-received by the students, including Commander Bill McRaven, now commander of the Joint Special Operations Command, that the NPS superintendent arranged for the curriculum to be briefed to the commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, who immediately decided to sponsor the unique program.

Over the years, SOMDP has undergone many changes. In 1994, sponsorship of the program switched to USSOCOM to reflect the growing demand of the joint curriculum. In 1995, the special-operations curriculum added two senior service school-equivalent fellowships. In 2001, it became its own academic department, the Department of Defense Analysis.

In 2003, it began receiving students from the International Combating Terrorism Fellowship Program. In 2004, it was designated a developmental course for Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations officers. Today, the program hosts more than 140 joint SOF, conventional and international officers each year, and students are awarded a master of science degree in defense analysis upon completion of the program.

SOMDP is the only education program in DoD in which 100 percent of the instruction is dedicated, directly or indirectly, to the study of irregular warfare, or IW. In fact, the Joint Staff has recognized SOMDP as a "center of gravity" in the education of IW strategists and campaign planners, and USSOCOM has named NPS as a top-tier school in its plan to build its own IW expertise, as mandated by the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review and the subsequent IW Roadmap.

The 18-month program comprises 21 courses, a thesis requirement, mandatory attendance at numerous symposia and roundtables, and a robust series of guest speakers. The SOMDP curriculum revolves around a core set of courses that all students are required to take. After the second quarter, each student picks a major track that entails a host of specialty courses. Examples of these tracks include: IW, terrorist operations and financing, regional area studies, information operations, stabilization and reconstruction, and operations research.