On Monday October 21, the William J Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies welcomed 81 defense and security professionals representing 15 countries across the Western Hemisphere to the two-week in-person phase of the Strategy and Defense Policy Course (SDP 2019). Course participants come from careers in their respective ministries of security and defense, legislative and judicial branches, NGOs and think-tanks, and police and active-duty military officers among others. SDP 2019 is intended to serve as an introductory course to the work of ministries of defense and security, and does so by examining four critical areas: Policy Writing, Strategic Plans, Institutional Reform, and Resource management.

Course Director Dr. David Spencer and Deputy Director Dr. William Godnick, along with facilitators Ms. Maria Johnana Alarcón, Dr. Jacintho Maia Neto, Dr. Carlos Ojeda Bennett, and Dr. Mariana Oliveira do Nascimento Plum, and Mr. Román Ortiz have already spent a rigorous four weeks interacting with participants via Blackboard for the distance learning phase of the course. Using the international and hemispheric security and defense environment as a framework, SDP 2019 will deal with the challenges faced by Latin American countries to provide security and to improve defense administration.