Happy New Year from la familia Perry!

We send you warm wishes for a happy and healthy 2021. It was gratifying to see and reconnect with so many Perry Center alumni at our recent virtual open houses. In addition to allowing us to feel more in touch at a time when travel isn’t possible, these interactive events help to inform the development of programs of interest and importance to you, the Western Hemisphere’s community of defense and security professionals. For those who could not attend, as well as for our stakeholders and partners, I extend our greetings here and provide the following update on your Center – the changes and the constants.

What has changed? In adapting to address the challenges of 2020, we shifted our approaches to programming and outreach in ways that allowed us to expand and enhance virtual engagements. We’ve increased course accessibility, focus topics, English-language forums, and the participation of distinguished speakers. And we continue to move forward in innovative ways that maximize our tight knit and energetic team, renewing our commitment to our active alumni community by providing platforms and support for their collaborative efforts. While these activities don’t take the place of in-person exchanges, they provide value that we will look to maintain moving forward. We encourage discourse and direct feedback to ensure we invest our time and resources in activities that provide the most benefit to our participants and partners.

What hasn’t changed? We are your Perry Center. We remain steadfast in our mission to foster collaborative relationships with individuals and institutions committed to making the Americas safer and stronger. The Center remains an environment of intellectual openness and exchange where we can explore complementary approaches to shared security challenges together. We build trust and collegiality that extend beyond a physical setting. As director, my most sacred duty is to protect the integrity of the Perry Center. We must maintain trust and be a place where people want to convene. It is in bringing individuals together that we strive to bring nations together.

The current list of 2021 courses can be found on our website, but please note other events and activities are added on an ongoing basis. We look forward to seeing Perry Center alumni at Alumni Day events in March if not before. Stay safe, my friends.

Very respectfully,

LTG (ret.) Frederick S Rudesheim
Director of the Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies