Washington, D.C. – For the first time in more than a decade, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff added a school to the list of Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) opportunities for military officers. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin E. Dempsey authorized the National Intelligence University (NIU) to grant JPME Phase I credit to graduate students who complete the university's JPME curriculum.
In the memorandum announcing his approval, General Dempsey noted that the NIU curriculum "provides today's officer corps with an ability to overcome diverse 21st century security challenges and operate effectively in a joint, interagency, intergovernmental, and multinational environment." The NIU becomes the 17th school authorized to grant JPME Phase I credit and the first school since 9/11 to receive this approval. The last program accredited was the Army War College's non-resident curriculum in February 1999.
JPME is a collection of joint learning objectives comprising the educational requirement for an officer to earn a Joint Specialty Officer designation. The JPME Phase I curriculum, taught at the intermediate and senior service college level, emphasizes the fundamentals needed in joint operations from the component's perspective.
Completion of joint education is an important career milestone for military officers; without it promotion potential diminishes. According to NIU President Dr. David Ellison, "This is great news for the military officers who may now receive JPME Phase I credit in addition to earning a master's degree in intelligence. Until now, military officers who earned a masters degree at the NIU had to complete additional courses from other PME institutions to earn JPME credit and make themselves competitive for promotion." The National Intelligence University is a federal degree-granting institution whose main campus is located in Washington, DC. Established in 1962, its graduates include many notable intelligence and national security leaders including a former Director of National Intelligence, and former directors of DIA, CIA, the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and other intelligence community organizations. For more information, visit www.ni-u.edu.