The Bush School’s Cyber Policy, Strategy, and Security Program was established in 2018 in response to student demand and growth in the professional opportunities available to Bush School graduates in cyber policy and cybersecurity. It is headed up by Gen. J. Kevin McLaughlin, USAF (Ret.), whose last post before retiring from the Air Force was deputy commander of U.S. Cyber Command. The Program prepares students in the Master of International Affairs and Master of International Policy degree programs for professional careers in government and the nongovernmental sector in the cyber arena. Students can avail themselves of the growing number of courses offered in the Bush School on cyber policy and cybersecurity as well as a full complement of courses on the topic in the Dwight Look College of Engineering and the Mays School of Business. Program faculty are active in a number of research areas, including critical infrastructure development and defense, cyber resilience, cyber-deterrence and coercion, international frameworks for cyber norms, non-state institutions, and governance mechanisms in the management of internet security operations. The Program has established a strong partnership with senior officials in the Department of Defense and U.S. Cyber Command on the government side and with transnational industry groups and NGO’s as well.
Bush School graduates are already at work in the cyber field, including at U.S. Cyber Command, the U.S. Army Cyber Corps, and the South Texas Project Nuclear Operating Company. Teams of Bush School students have participated in a number of national cyber competitions, including at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, (every year since 2016); New York University; Columbia University; and the University of Texas.