Seeking Doctorate in National Security or Public Policy

[spohara]

Another option would be to get the cheapest doctorate that is semi-related to the field you want to teach or to get a generic doctorate. You'll rely on your master's degree to qualify for the subject area, and the doctorate will check the box for the doctorate requirement. 

To your point, my goal of starting the thread is to find that "cheapest" RA doctorate. I will be funding my program out of pocket and am definitely working class in terms of pay at the present time. As to teaching based on my masters, my masters is focused on fire department and EMS administration. However, I am looking to move as far away from my current field as possible, and would not be interested in teaching in those disciples any longer. (I've already been a street level practitioner for 20 years and worked as an adjunct instructor and supervisor for 15). 

My goal is to somehow get a full time job with the federal government in the national security arena, get a job with a think tank like RAND, ISW, or get hired full time by a college or university school of public policy or government. As I said, earlier, I also have 16 years of part time experience with the USCG and have interned previously at the state level in the areas of disaster planning and counter-terrorism.

These goals are very different and have different paths to get there.  I can speak to the federal government since that's what I do. The vast majority of the federal government consists of programs trying to achieve a specific objective - that means it will relate down to the tactical level somehow.  For example, my program is an information system used by first responders, so knowing the world of a first responder is tremendously useful.  People from police, fire service and others have been hired in my org to support my program.  There are folks who have masters in similar fields to what you're describing, but most management or high grade positions from the GS-14 to executive level have a bachelors degree.  A handful have MBAs or MPAs and I know one with two doctorates (but I'm pretty sure he was already a GS 15 before his first). 

That type of program is what the vast majority of the federal government consists of, so there are very few jobs just generically in the "national security arena" that don't relate down to the tactical level or have practical tangible goals.  If your goal is to write about national security rather than practice it, CRS might be your best bet - but that is one small sliver of the federal government, and you could end up waiting a long time for your policy area to have a vacancy.  All that's to say for most of the federal government, you already have more than enough to get your foot in the door.  If you're interested, you could probably find some type of program analyst or similar job series within a DHS (or potentially other departments too) program related to your experience and work your way up from there.