The University of Advancing Technology (UAT) Instructor Aaron Jones participated in a 40-hour Dignitary Protection Course hosted by Karl de la Guerra, Inc and was afforded an opportunity to work with protection agents and law enforcement in an education environment where they studied protective driving, Tactical Emergency Casualty Care, IED recognition, and advanced intelligence topics.

As part of the training, university students were expected to mockup an intelligence brief that could then be used by the protective detail to plan routes, sniff out threats, and prepare for potential emergency situations. Instructor Jones requested permission to include several students from UAT in the intelligence planning phase, and that request was granted.

UAT students immediately sprang into action. A common document was created, addresses were researched, and data was sifted through in a hurry. Students were able to locate photographs of places the protection team would be visiting, discovered potential threats, and used tools like Wigle to map out the EMF footprint of the areas, as well as checked for dead spots in communication. The brief was considered one of the best yet that has been presented in one of these classes.

Instructor Jones would like to commend the students who participated in this exercise as well as to thank KDI Executive Protection Training for allowing UAT students to work on their field training exercise. Students at UAT expect a quality education experience and are always ready to rise to the occasion when afforded an opportunity to practice their skills, no matter the environment, and developing partnerships with individuals in the executive protection and training field gives our students the ability to better understand the austere and sometimes hostile environments that they need to be able to work within when their cyber skills are needed.

Read the student testimonials about their experience:

The amount of hands-on work that we do at UAT has demonstrated to me that I learn and retain a dramatically increased amount of information over just classroom busy work. I have been to two different colleges, both professing hands-on learning. In the last three weeks, I have learned more in a five-hour scenario assisting my professor with the KDI Executive Protection training field exercise than I learned in 2-3 years at other institutions.

~Philip Wrighton

I believe that hands-on experience with network security and intelligence will always weigh more than just going over slides in a sterile classroom environment. The hands-on opportunities that I have experienced at UAT over the last two semesters have been great. Last semester I spent time at Basha High School putting together servers and giving back to my community and this semester I assisted Professor Jones with creating a mock threat brief for KDI Executive Protection Training and their field exercise. Every hands-on experience I participate in at UAT adds another skill to my resume and makes me a stronger cyber security candidate.

~Jerrod Touchton

When I first came to UAT, I was expecting to be able to work on some really cool things, but my expectations were far surpassed. Aaron Jones has introduced me to the world of industry intelligence, and it's been an amazing experience; I now have a much firmer basis for further interactions with the intelligence community, and I am eternally grateful for the opportunity that has been provided for me by UAT.

~Micah Turpin

Thank you to Karl L. de La Guerra, PPS, CLSS and all the cadre at KDI Executive Protection Training for allowing these UAT students to participate in their field training exercise.

Earn a Degree In Cyber Security at UAT

UAT offers a Master’s of Science in Cyber Security, as well as bachelor’s degrees in Network Engineering, Network Security, and Technology Forensics. Our Cyber Security Degree for Ethical Hackers and Network Security Curriculum has been certified through the NSA/DHS National Information Assurance Training Program in Information Assurance and Cyber Defense.

Designated as a Center of Academic Excellence by the National Centers of Information Assurance Education (CAE/IAE), UAT’s Network Security Bachelor’s of Science degree prepares students to take on the ever-evolving world of information security.

If you believe a career in cyber security may be right for you, request information about our degree programs. At the University of Advancing Technology, we’re passionate about helping students enter STEM fields and acquire the skills they need to land a rewarding career in cyber security and beyond.