1:52 p.m., Jan. 25, 2011----Jacinth Byles, one of 18 participants in the National Security Institute now under way at the University of Delaware, is looking for new techniques, tools and best practices to respond to a major threat in her country.

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“In Jamaica, we are plagued with a high incidence of crime, which has now become our number-one problem,” says Byles, who is the executive director of the National Security Policy Coordination Unit in Jamaica's Office of the Cabinet.

“Faced with the challenges of globalization and given an opportunity to understand how the U.S. and other countries manage new and similar threats can only serve to be beneficial,” she notes. “I hope to hear from other participants, strategies their countries have employed that could be of value in my country.”

Led by Mark J. Miller, Emma Smith Morris Professor of Political Science and International Relations at UD, the institute, known formally as the Study of the United States Institute on U. S. National Security Policy Making in a Post-9/11 World, is designed to build a community of policy makers and scholars with a deeper understanding of American foreign policy and national security policy. UD has hosted the institute periodically since 2003, with support from the U.S. Department of State.

“The institute offers the opportunity to develop an epistemic community -- a knowledge-based community -- among and between the scholars and their American counterparts lasting beyond the scholars' stay in the United States,” Miller says.

This year's participants were chosen through a careful selection process that considered geographic, gender and career diversity, according to Kevin Orchison, program officer for the Study of the U.S. Branch of the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

The participants include university professors, military officers, government officials and diplomats from Argentina, Bangladesh, Croatia, Czech Republic, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

“We're very happy with the program and the faculty here at the University of Delaware,” Orchison notes. “There's great institutional support, and the faculty are very creative in exploring this topic through a very nuanced presentation, so that when the participants return home, they have a very illuminating perspective on, not just the U.S., but Nepal, India, Kenya, and so on.”

In addition to engaging in lectures, workshops and site visits to locales ranging from Boston to Washington, D.C., and from the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., to West Point, each participant also undertakes a follow-up research project, culminating in a book chapter.

“This is very important work we are performing for the United States,” Miller says. “We are very grateful and proud to do so, with the support of the U.S. State Department, the UD administration, the Institute for Global Studies, the dean of arts and sciences, and our faculty in the Department of Political Science and International Relations.”

Article by Tracey Bryant