The Perry Center started the inaugural edition of its Managing Security and Defense course, the first-ever academic program of its kind. Over the next 10 days, about 40 senior defense officials representing 12 countries will analyze the internal processes of security and defense institutions in the Western Hemisphere. Course content, designed by Dr. Salvador Raza, will cover a myriad of issues: effective management practices, strategic planning, components of multidimensional security, policy-based leadership, decision-making platforms, institutional “culture,” results-based budget processes, information management, force design, logistics, procurement and acquisition considerations, and accountability.

The course is designed to educate ministerial-level senior executives on methods to improve security and defense institutions’ governance and sustainability programs. This, in turn, should improve the effectiveness, affordability, transparency, and accountability of the defense sector. Like most Perry Center academic activities, the course uses a combination of plenary presentations by subject-matter experts, group discussions, and case study analysis to generate academic debate on the course material. The course is the first-ever of its kind; no other institution has organized an academic course with a curriculum as comprehensive or rigorous as the Managing Security and Defense course.

Perry Center Director Mark Wilkins says the course “represents our best efforts to present a useable defense tool kit to those countries interested in strengthening their defense and security institutions. From how to plan for reform under difficult political and economic constraints to measuring and presenting security and defense results, we hope to build the capacity of senior executives to better manage their sectors.”