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Education: War colleges

Air War College

This school, at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., is the Air Force’s senior professional military education school. The 10-month resident course for lieutenant colonels, colonels and civilian equivalents prepares students to lead in a joint, interagency and multinational environment at the strategic level across the range of military operations.

The course focuses on developing cross-domain mastery of joint air, space and cyberspace power and its strategic contributions to national security through graduate seminars, exercises, lectures, international field research and the Secretary of the Air Force’s National Security Forum.

About 240 students graduate each year from the resident program, while, on average, another 2,000 complete the program through distance learning each year.

Contact: (334) 953-5458; DSN 493-5458; http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awchome.htm

Army War College

The Army’s senior service college for colonels, lieutenant colonels and civilian leaders, at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., offers graduate-level education in a 10-month resident program and a two-year distance education program. Instruction focuses on strategic use of land power and its application in joint and combined operations. The college sponsors the Advanced and Strategic Arts Program and the National Security Policy Program.

Supporting institutions include the Center for Strategic Leadership, Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, the Army Heritage & Education Center and the Military History Institute.

Contact: The registrar for student information at (717) 245-4372, or the public affairs office at (717) 245-4389; http://www.carlisle.army.mil

Marine Corps War College

The Marines’ 10-month senior service school provides Phase I (Senior Level) Joint Professional Military Education and offers students a Master of Strategic Studies degree. Up to half of a student’s grade comes from participation in seminars and small-group discussions and debate.

Admissions are based on 17 allocations split among officers in paygrades O-5 and O-6 and federal civilian employees in the GS-15 and GS-16 grades.

Contact: Director, MCU, 2076 South St., Suite 2, Quantico, VA 22134-5068; (703) 432-4546; DSN 278-4081/4082; Fax (703) 784-2384; http://www.mcu.usmc.mil/mcwar

National Defense University

This institution offers advanced national security studies. At Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., are the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the National War College, the Information Resources Management College, the Institute for National Strategic Studies, several regional centers and the university’s special academic programs. The Joint Forces Staff College is in Norfolk, Va.

Contact: (202) 685-4700; http://www.ndu.edu

Naval War College

The College of Naval Warfare in Newport, R.I., is a 10-month professional military education resident program that meets both the Navy senior-level and the statutory requirements for JPME Phase II. The interdisciplinary graduate-level curriculum focuses on strategy and policy, national security decision making, and joint military operations.

Students are O-5 and O-6 military and U.S. government civilian employees, who begin in August, November, or March. They are joined by almost 50 international officers. The course is designed to produce broadly educated leaders who possess a strategic perspective, underpinned by strategic analytical frameworks. Graduates apply disciplined, strategic-minded critical thinking to challenges in multiservice, multiagency, and multinational environments, and they are prepared to be able strategic planners and joint war fighters who are effective maritime advocates. Graduates may earn a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies.

Contact: Registrar, (401) 841-6597; http://www.usnwc.edu

Navy College of Distance Education

Administered by the Naval War College, this program provides active-duty officers, reservists, eligible U.S. government civilian employees and a limited number of allied naval officers the opportunity to complete the Navy’s intermediate-level professional military education curriculum. Students may attend seminars at selected military bases throughout the U.S. via an evening Fleet Seminar Program, a Web-enabled program, or a CD-ROM-based correspondence program. Completion times for these nonresident programs vary.

Contact: (401) 841-2135; www.usnwc.edu/CDE