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Student Resources
Co-Curricular Activities
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. Examples of military facilities visited in past field trips include Fort Bragg (Army airborne and Special Forces headquarters); SACLANT and Atlantic Fleet headquarters, and various ships in Norfolk; and NATO headquarters (Brussels) and SHAPE (Mons), Belgium. The field trip to Washington 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 Policy Planning Staff, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Deputy Secretary, and Under Secretaries for Global Issues and International Security Affairs and Arms Control; on Capitol Hill, the House Armed Services Committee, Senate Intelligence Committee, Senate Appropriations Committee, Congressional Budget Office, and General Accounting Office; and at the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Under Secretary and Comptroller, Bosnia Task Force, and offices of International Security Affairs, Program Analysis and Evaluation, Strategy and Threat Reduction, Deputy Under Secretary for Readiness, Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Affairs, Assistant Secretary of the Army, Under Secretary for Policy, and Navy Staff.