Over seventy participants arrived at the Perry Center for the Strategy and Defense Policy course on Monday, 19 October. The participants represent 15 countries in the hemisphere. Two-thirds of the group are civilian government representatives or members of civil society. The remainder are security officials from the police or military institutions in the region. Course content during the in-person phase includes topics such as the distinction between security and defense, missions of the ministries of defense, strategic development, and hemispheric cooperation, among others.
Course director Guillermo Pacheco organized the course to examine four thematic areas in particular:
Each breakout group will analyze these issues in detail during the course. This is the first time that the Perry Center has used this model of its basic security and defense course to examine priority issues in the Western Hemisphere.
This two-week phase includes nearly two dozen plenary sessions, field trips to local institutions, and role-playing exercises. The course concludes on Friday, October 30.
