POST FALLS, Idaho — You won't find classes on calculus, economics or English literature at North Idaho College's Fort Sherman Institute for Human Protection.
Unlike the undergrads seeking an associate degree at the community college, students here are corporate executives, National Guard officers or even missionaries seeking training in how to protect themselves against terrorists, survive a kidnapping or otherwise increase their security.
"We are dealing with persons who might find themselves in a hostage situation," director David Dose said. "We teach avoidance . . . as well as ways to minimize their exploitability" after being taken hostage.
Other colleges have similar programs, but Dose said he believes the institute is the only one of its kind offered by a community college.
The institute is in a nondescript building with combination locks and tinted windows in an industrial park next to a dog racing track, several miles from the main NIC campus.
Dose is reluctant to discuss the content of courses offered. He doesn't want to give potential terrorists his secrets. But he said such training has become more necessary since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The 1999 takeover of Columbine High School in Colorado was a terrorist act, Dose said. The institute seeks to train educators and others what to do once terrorism strikes.
"Once it's there, you're stuck with it," Dose said recently. "The more people understand about terrorism and how it works, the less effective it is."
Using state and federal grants, the 18-month-old institute already has trained thousands of government workers.
Part of NIC's Work Force Training Center, the institute has offered computer-based training to more than 15,000 Idaho emergency workers who would be the first to arrive at a terrorist incident.
Several churches, which Dose declined to identify, have sent missionaries to the institute's courses on how to survive, or escape, captivity while working in foreign countries.
Next month, the institute will begin training about 30 Idaho National Guard personnel in Boise.
Idaho National Guard Maj. Gen. Jack Kane, the state's homeland security director, called the training invaluable, particularly to Guardsmen deployed throughout the world.
"For the military, anti-terrorism training has become more and more valuable in recent years," he said. "I think this is some of the best training of this sort to be found in the country, and it's located right here in Idaho."
The institute already was on the drawing boards when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001.
Dose — a former county commissioner, cop, teacher and Defense Department consultant — had an office within a month of the attacks. Two months later, the institute was officially a part of the college.
Although affiliated with NIC, classes are not offered to the public.
"We don't teach Terrorism 101 at North Idaho College," said Randy Spivey, Dose's security adviser.
The courses, which last from 30 minutes to as many as five days, offer corporations and organizations "a cafeteria plan" tailored to their particular security needs and budgets, Dose said.
Courses are taught at the institute's office in a business park, or at the client's site, and can involve as few as a dozen to more than 500 employees at a time.
For instance, a course in countersurveillance techniques includes a field trip to downtown Coeur d'Alene, where participants shop and try to detect if they are being followed by law enforcement agents hired by the institute, Dose said.
He won't say what the courses cost but says they are "very affordable" when compared to what private security companies charge. The amount is dependent on the level of training sought, he said.
Dose said the program takes information from federal sources and literature on terrorism incidents.
The institute takes its name from Fort Sherman, named for the Civil War general and built in 1876, on whose grounds the college sits in nearby Coeur d'Alene.