On Monday, November 4, the Perry Center kicked off the 2019 Washington Security and Defense Seminar (WSDS). The seminar meets the Center’s mandate to educate Latin American and Caribbean partners about the US government, a massive organization with millions of employees and hundreds of organizations.

WSDS 2019 touches on important topics like US foreign policy, US military strategy, the budget process, security cooperation and foreign aid, and interagency coordination, to name a few of the subjects that will be examined during the five days of the course. Participants will hear from representatives from the Department of State, the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs, the US Southern Command, the National Security Council, and the Joint Staff, among others.

Speakers in the WSDS seminar include some of the top scholars in the country from the fields of political science, security studies, and the diplomatic corps. Panelists include representatives of the current Administration, senior military officials, as well as academic analysts. The seminar seems to have drawn the attention of Latin American and Caribbean embassies in Washington DC; nearly 100 participants from across 19 countries registered to attend the 5-day event.