Advice Needed from IT Folks & Those with TESC Homeland Security Degree

[marianne202]

Ok, some backgroung, so my son has graduated with two certificates from the local community college and will be transferring to TESC or EC this summer. He has his Network Professional Certificate and Security Specialist Certificate. We decided to transfer him directly into a bachelor's program instead of finishing his AS in Information System Security because the school wouldn't accept any CLEP or DSST and they wanted him to do a ton of math, reading, English etc. He will be doing his A+, Security+, A++ etc. this summer. He has also been working the last 18 months in the schools IT department as a workstudy and they are trying to get a part-time position approved for him right now, but he doesn't want to do that work long-term. Here is our question.

He wants to get into doing cybersecurity / computer forensics type work with law enforcement or the government. We had originally planned on him doing EC's BS in Information Technology with a concentration in Information Security, then do the their Grad Cert in Cybersecurity. While thinking about it as we were working out his CLEP/DSST plan for the summer I got to thinking about the TESC Homeland Security degree. Would he be better suited to do the TESC BS in Homeland Security then do EC's Grad Cert in Cybersecurity?

Which do you think would give him more flexibility in the job market and appeal to both law enforcement and government positions? I figured the IT side would be covered by his current college certificates, Industry IT certs and the Grad certifcate then the law enforcement side could be covered under the Homeland security degree.

Does this make sense? I don't know either fields, but he has done some FEMA's already along with the TX Ext certs, so he has a start there. He doesn't want to be a police officer but strictly IT security / forensics type work. I just got worried thinking about the Government cutting back, the slack current job market and I would like to give him the most flexibility possible. Before we start paying for transcripts and applications I thought it would be worth looking into a little deeper.

Those of you with the TESC Homeland Security degree what have you done with it? I know the IT field focuses more on experience and IT industry certs. so I'm thinking mixing it up might not be a bad idea. Please give me your thoughts and suggestions. This board is such a wealth of info I just can't pass up asking for some guidance in these areas that I just don't know enough about. Thanks in advance for your help!

[sanantone]

I don't have a degree in either field, but I do work for a law enforcement agency as a civilian and I've done a lot of research on LE. While my graduate degree in security studies does touch on homeland security, its target careers are a bit different. I'll post here what I posted to someone else in the other forum. Keep in mind that her goals were slight different, so I would recommend a degree in an IT field over anything mentioned here.

The broadest degree for law enforcement is criminal justice and it's the most widely accepted and recognized. Although, I do have to point out that criminal justice or any specific type of degree is not required for most law enforcement jobs. Most agencies that do require a degree will accept any major. Only a few federal law enforcement agencies have a preference for criminal justice or law degrees. Security management degrees mostly focus on private and physical security. This would help if you were looking to get into corporate security; but, even here, criminal justice , police science , law enforcement , and administration of justice are often listed as degree requirements in job ads. Homeland security focuses on things like terrorism, border security, and emergency management . It has a very limited focus and would probably serve someone in the emergency management field better than someone in the law enforcement field unless one is an LEO for CBP. There are plenty of criminal justice programs with homeland security concentrations or elective courses. These two degrees are just very new and are rarely thought of when hiring managers and human resources specialists create job requirements. If I had to choose between the two for government jobs, I would choose homeland security since it's geared more toward the public sector and its curriculum is more understood and standardized. Even AMU's government security concentration is mostly focused on securing facilities and personnel. This is what security specialists need to know, not law enforcement unless your job is securing government buildings.

For local agencies, some don't require a degree and others require an associates/60 credit hours in any major. State agencies might require anything from 60 college credits to a bachelors degree. There are a few federal agencies where a degree in CJ, law, or a related field can help. For the FBI, a CJ degree can actually hurt. The FBI does have a preference for accounting , law, computer science /IT, and language. After that, they break applicants down by skill set such as law enforcement experience and physical science expertise. CJ majors are on the same level as other majors, but they might be at even more of a disadvantage since I heard that the overwhelming majority of FBI applicants are CJ majors. So, if the FBI wants to diversify, CJ majors have a smaller chance of getting in since they have so many peers to compete against. It's not LE, but I noticed a lot of CJ majors are considering the CIA. I've only seen one opening with the CIA in the past couple of years that openly expressed a preference for CJ. The CIA is an intelligence agency that wants STEM, business, and political science /international relations degrees. They even have few openings for medical professionals, but CJ majors are only desired for security and polygraph examiners (along with psychology ).

Does a CJ degree help in law enforcement ? I'm of the opinion that all LEOs could benefit from at least completing an associates. I've come across many who aren't very bright. They can be negligent and dangerous. A degree could at least be used as a screening tool. CJ does have a good bit of behavioral science mixed in. I think that any of the behavioral sciences could help LEOs better deal with people. LEOs do a lot of mediation and many offenders have mental health issues. Degrees in other areas such as science and business can help one specialize as he or she moves up in a large agency. Other than that, you learn everything you need to know in the academy and during field training. CJ degrees are very general when it comes to law and law enforcement techniques; the academy will teach you about state and local laws. An online CJ program is definitely not going to teach you how to handcuff someone, shoot, or retain your weapons.

If someone wants to get into corrections, then CJ is the way to go. I'm still trying to figure out what one would do with a homeland security degree outside of emergency management . I guess you could somehow get into policy making, but that's very hard to do, especially without experience in emergency management /military/firefighting.

So, basically, I think a degree in homeland security doesn't have much utility outside of emergency management. I also think that homeland security has less utility than criminal justice and I'm always warning people about the limited utility of CJ. Homeland security is a degree for people who work in the public sector, so if you're worried about government cut backs.... On the other hand, private companies will always need information security professionals. Some of the forensics/IT jobs for law enforcement agencies might require that he start as a patrol officer and work his way up. The FBI has civilian positions, but the best IT/forensic jobs are only open to special agents (sworn federal LEOs). If he wants to diversify, I recommend accounting, mathematics, an engineering discipline, physics, finance, and chemistry. Another member here might tell you to scrap IT/information security/cyber security altogether and go for a computer science degree.