Hanson earns Naval Master's Degree

Malta native Darin Hanson, (son of David (Digger) and Margaret Hanson), the Critical Infrastructure Program Manager at the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services (NDDES), completed a Master of Arts Degree in Security Studies at the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) on March 26th. Mr. Hanson received the Mark Carr Esprit De Corps Award for his leadership and collaboration during the program.

Mr. Hanson is assigned to the North Dakota State & Local Intelligence Center (NDSLIC) where he serves as a conduit between the state of North Dakota, the private sector, and the NDSLIC where he strives to make citizens safer through developing more resilient, prepared, and protected infrastructure. Some of his typical duties at the NDSLIC are partnering with other agencies on election security, school safety, security assessments, cyber security, and other proactive public safety initiatives. In his career as program manager at the Department of Emergency Services, he has been a part of the state's response to floods, fires, civil unrest, a pandemic, and more. Mr. Hanson is retired from the Army National Guard where he held leadership roles in the military police, intelligence, and field artillery. He lives in Mandan, ND with his wife Lynn and his daughter Delaney.

During the 18-month online and in-residence program, Hanson collaborated with homeland security officials from across the nation on current policy, strategy and organizational design challenges. His thesis was, "Normalizing Cybersecurity: Improving Cyber Incident Response with the Incident Command System."

The NPS-CHDS graduates represent a snapshot of the homeland security enterprise, including professionals from the fields of emergency management, education, law enforcement, fire service, homeland security, public health, and city/county government.

Located at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), CHDS is the nation's homeland security educator. Master's degree students develop critical thinking, leadership and policy skills during a rigorous 18-month program. Each graduate completes a thesis on a current issue facing his/her jurisdiction. These theses often translate into policy and practice. The CHDS is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Preparedness Directorate, within the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). For information, visit http://www.chds.us.

ABOUT NPS: The Naval Postgraduate School's mission is to provide unique advanced education and research programs to increase the combat effectiveness of the U.S. and Allied armed forces and enhance the security of the United States. For information, visit http://www.nps.edu.