The federal government was closed on March 17, which would have been the first day for the Perry Center advanced courses residence phase, so courses began officially on March 18 instead. Students arrived in Washington, DC, during the late weekend snowstorm, and spent Monday preparing for the two-week intensive residence phase. The four courses in session are:

• Civil/Political-Military Relations and Democratic Leadership (CPMR), directed by Dr. Luis Bitencourt and Prof. Guillermo Pacheco
• Governance, Governability, and Security in the Americas (GGSA), directed by Dr. Michael Gold-Biss and Gen. (ret.) Boris Saavedra
• Strategy and International Security (SIS), directed by Dr. Scott Tollefson and Dr. Isidro Sepulveda
• Terrorism and Counterinsurgency (TCI), directed by Dr. David Spencer and Gen. (ret.) Carlos Ospina

A total of 56 students from 20 countries are participating in the four advanced courses, representing Argentina, Bolivia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, and the United States. The courses will run for two weeks, concluding with a closing ceremony on March 28.