Participants of the Perry Center’s enhanced Security and Defense Policy (SDPe) course were joined by Vice Admiral Gonzalo Nicolás Ríos Polastri of Peru, the Chairman of the Inter-American Defense Board (IADB); Abraham Stein, an advisor on defense issues to the Secretary General of the Organization of American States and liaison to the IADB; and Perry Center Professors Guillermo Pacheco and Luis Bitencourt to discuss the state of the Inter-American system of defense.

In their remarks, the panelists addressed both the advantages and challenges of creating a collaborative defense policy in the hemisphere and debated its implications for issues such as organized crime and public security. SDPe participants voiced their queries and comments during a Q&A period, and their exchanges with the panelists made for both a frank and productive discussion. The students will continue addressing related themes of international cooperation, security, and defense in course lectures and break-out group discussions for the remainder of the course.