The Perry Center conducted a Caribbean Regional Countering Transnational Threats Seminar on April 27-29, 2016, in Kingston Jamaica, with over 70 defense and security professionals in attendance. Participants included officials from Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the US.

Admiral Kurt Tidd, Commander, US Southern Command, delivered the seminar keynote address, highlighting the need for increased bilateral and regional cooperation to address the formidable security and defense threats posed to the Western Hemisphere by illicit networks, like violent extremist groups and transnational criminal organizations.

Through a series of subject matter expert lectures, country briefings, and interactive panel presentations, seminar participants examined threats posed to the region by international terrorism, transnational organized crime, cybersecurity, and external actors, and discussed strategies and policies to counter these threats in the Americas.

The Perry’s Center Jamaican Alumni Chapter organized and hosted a symposium on “Human Trafficking: The Scourge” led by chapter President, George Benson, and guest speakers Carol Palmer, Permanent Secretary – Ministry of Justice, Lisa Palmer-Hamilton – Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and Carl Berry, OIC TIP Unit – Counter Terrorism and Organized Crime (CTOC). The event brought together over 40 alumni from the Perry Center’s past Caribbean Defense and Security courses. The gathering allowed alumni to continue to expand their professional networks and reconnect with Perry Center professors, staff and fellow classmates who share a passion for security, defense and international exchange.