Security Studies MA Personal Statement of Purpose

____University is my first choice among MA Programs in Global Security and Strategy for several reasons. Most of all, I appreciate the sheer excellence of your program, and I am the best fit with ____ University, given the focus of your curriculum and the way that it is highly complementary to my long-term goals of contributing to global security. I hope to be accepted primarily since I am a Somali man who has spent years working professionally abroad, speaks excellent English, and has also spent significant amounts of time in Qatar, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Ethiopia, and Kenya. 

Few other nations, if any, have such an entrenched and powerful, radical Islamist insurgency, as does Somalia, making life difficult and dangerous not only in our country, but beyond our borders as well, particularly with respect to a most volatile Kenya with whom we share a large and porous land border. I want very much to earn the master's degree in Global Security and Strategy to help secure Somalia, working closely with people and organizations that need support in crisis situations: designing and implementing programs to disarm militias, building public trust, etc. Al Shabab must be managed if not defeated, at least kept at arms-length as much as possible, to minimize the damage to our society. I seek to draw my country closer to the US and EU as we depend upon their support in the global struggle against terrorism. 

Earning the MA in Global Security would prepare me for a distinguished career in diplomacy, first working to streamline the effectiveness of the Somali Ministry of Foreign Affairs, then going on to serve as a diplomat. I seek a personal as well as professional, lifelong process of globalization with respect to my worldview, outlook, values, and professional capacity, increasingly engaged in the international arena. Somalia suffers from brain drain, with our best and brightest in the field of technology leaving the country for richer pastures. I want to go back after earning my MA, for ideological reasons and matters of the heart. I love Somalia, and I fear for her safety in coming years, especially since the mission of the African Union peacekeeping forces is set to end soon. 

The AU mission in Somalia, AMISOM, funded by the West, was created by the UN Security Council in January 2007, to support the Somali government in its war with Al-Shabab and other terrorists. Since AMISOM is now scheduled to leave Somalia in 2023, a great deal of work remains to be done to bring security to the citizens and residents of our country. The departure of AMISOM will leave a security vacuum in urgent need of being filled by the government of Somalia. Otherwise, it will be filled by Al-Shabab. Hence, the urgency and timeliness of my application to your especially distinguished program in Security and Strategy at ____ University. Somalia must take over the struggle in the absence of AMISOM, transitioning to our own security infrastructure.  

I look forward to the assiduous cultivation of my negotiation skills and management prowess in your program, with respect to both corporate sectors and the public sphere. It is the duty of everyone to contribute to the security of one’s nation and this is how I was raised by my father, a public servant. My uncle was a colonel in Somalia’s army. Completing my undergraduate studies in the field of Electrical Engineering has prepared me well for building my own public-service career in our digital age, and I have long paid special attention to the area of Security Systems Management. For the last 8 years, I have been working as a Project Engineer in Qatar, gradually assuming increasing levels of responsibility. 

AMISOM was first deployed to Mogadishu and now to the entire country, to support the government and fight terrorists. Even after years of AMISON, however, Al-Shabab is still alive and well and wielding enormous influence, able to appeal to people who feel totally neglected by the government, and maintaining its power through the most vicious means, most frequently torture and murder, often done publicly, so as to make their point. On the strength of earning my master's degree at ___, I plan to go to work for the government of Somalia in the short term. My long-term prospects include running for public office someday. Most of all, I want to participate in and contribute to bringing as much peace to Somalia as possible, and I am convinced that to the extent to which peaceful conditions can be realized, that will depend upon adequate security arrangements being put into place, based on state-of-the-art intelligence gathering. In this way, we will be able to proceed as intelligently and creatively as possible in the pursuit of peace through the enforcement of the law, bolstered by global technology. 

When AMISOM is pulled from Somalia, the government will then take full responsibility for the nation’s security. I want to return and join in this enormous task, helping to organize teams, recruiting, training, pulling together to save our country from what many of us fear will follow the withdrawal of AMISOM - if we fail to adopt and implement urgent and creative measures. I would like to think of myself as a Somali patriot, responding to the grave and dangerous circumstances that cloud the lives of most Somalis today. I hope to work closely with the Ministry of Defense, building and enhancing our security infrastructure and intelligence services, helping Somalia to transition successfully from AMISOM. 

Frankly, and in conclusion, I see Al-Shabab much in the same way as I do COVID-19, it must be defeated, or a viable, global threat remains, not only to Somalia but the entire world. 

Thank you for considering my application to Global Security and Strategy at ____ University. 

Security Studies MA Personal Statement of Purpose