Students within both the Graduate and Undergraduate programs are required throughout their education to complete several research projects for their classes.

For example, within the Strategic Intelligence undergraduate class, students work closely with outside organizations to produce an intelligence project that meets their unique requirements. Projects have included a study of the Great Lakes containerized cargo shipping industry, a study of the future of the Communist Party of China, a study of the future of China's internet and many more.

Also, within the Intelligence Writing undergraduate class, students select a country for the term from a designated region of the world and research everything from the economy, government, military, people, transnational issues, communications, transportation, and geography of that country. They also provide several briefings to the class of their research and findings. This course requires the student to stay on top of news within their selected country and in the end the student develops a key understanding of their region.

Within the Terrorism undergraduate class, students select a terrorist organization within a designated region of the world and provide weekly presentations on their group's activities as well as a final threat assessment project. In this final assessment, students determine the terrorist organization's background, activities, resources and support, membership profile, government response, as well as major areas of operation. This course continues to develop the students overall research and analysis skills.