RESEARCH ESSAY: PROBLEM STATEMENT ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS OVERVIEW The Research Essay Assignments

For the Research Essay: Problem Statement Assignment, you will provide a one or two- paragraph problem statement in the current APA that introduces the general topic of your research essay linked to a national security enterprise area (see below). Your Problem Statement should define a problem(s) to be addressed, summarize existing research, highlight the shortcomings of existing research, and conclude with a focused statement on the problem's importance and how your research could solve or significantly mitigate the problem(s) in a national security enterprise area.

INSTRUCTIONS You will pick a critical problem or issue related to one of the following national security enterprise areas: o National Security Council (Module 1: Week 1) o Office of the Secretary of Defense (Module 4: Week 4) o A Military Service, Joint Staff, USINDOPACOM, et al. (Module 4: Week 4) o Department of Homeland Security (DHS) (Module 6: Week 6) o Intelligence Community (IC) (Module 5: Week 5)

You will develop a problem statement that should be one to two paragraphs in length. The overall paper should be concise, around two pages (body). The number of references is as required in APA with intext citations

After the Problem Statement, you should summarize the existing research and highlight relevant shortcomings of current research. However, please do not treat this as a literature review. Instead, identify the handful of sources most critical to your problem(s). You should conclude with a focused statement on the problem's importance and how your research could solve or significantly mitigate the problem(s) in a national security enterprise area.

A well-crafted Problem Statement makes the case that there is a concrete problem in a national security enterprise area and that the proposed research essay makes a legitimate academic contribution to solving or mitigating the problem(s)