NDU&CHDSClub/Argentina

The CHDS - Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies was created in 1997. During the first Defense Ministerial Meeting of the Americas held in Williamsburg (Virginia, U.S.A.) in July 1995, the defense masters of the region requested US assistance to enhance the capabilities of civilians in the conduct of military and defense issues. The US Secretary of Defense, William J. Perry, announced the creation of the CHDS during the 2nd Defense Ministerial Meeting of the Americas held in Bariloche, Argentina, October 1996.

The CHDS was integrated to the US National Defense University, and opened its doors to students at the beginning of 1998. Its mission is to train civilian specialists on military and defense matters, by offering graduate studies in defense planning and management, executive leadership, civil-military relations and inter-agency operations. The participants of the Center's programs are civilians in defense-related positions, or in the executive, legislative branches, or else, with interests in the defense area as is the case of the academic sector, the media or the private sector, as well as military officers. Multiple-subject curricula are designed to meet the requirements identified by governments and experts from democracies from all over the Hemisphere, including the US and Canada. The Center is a dynamic forum aimed at increasing mutual understanding and reviewing the complexities of the decisionmaking process in the area of defense and resource management within a democratic society. The CHDS is the third regional program for professional education in defense created by the US Department of Defense.

The Center offers four programs, as well as a library with a large number of working documents:

1. The Program of Studies on Defense is a three-week postgraduate academic seminar called "Defense Resource Planning and Management" and lasts three weeks. It is taught at the Center headquarters in Washington D.C., four times a year. The course curriculum includes:

• Introduction to the defense organization
• The military profession: evolution, traditions, values and ethics
• Purpose, responsibilities and defense tasks

• Defense economy
• Planning and budgeting
• Human resources
• Exercise

• Control and Oversight
• Public Relations
• Inter-agency relations
• Exercise

1. The Center organizes an Annual Conference on Education for Defense, aimed at officials, graduate students and other people interested in Education for Defense. The IV Annual Conference on Education and Defense will be held in Washington between May 22 and 25 this year under the title: "Research and Education in Defense and Security Studies Seminar".
2. External Seminars are one-week long seminars organized at different Latin American and Caribbean locations. The Center works with a cosponsoring institution and, with its cooperation, prepares the curriculum so that the requirements identified by both organizations can be met. The first external seminar took place in La Paz, Bolivia, in November 1998.
3. The Ongoing Education program is intended to foster permanent contact among Center graduates and provide assistance in curricula and ongoing education through Internet and other information and education tools. The program is the result of one of the most important points discussed during the Williamsburg conference. All the members in this conference agreed on the importance of Ongoing Education. At present the Center has retained a company to conduct an analysis of the matter.

Since its inception, by the end of 1997 through the present time, 544 people from 33 countries of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean graduated at the Center in Washington. In addition, high officials and civilian and military leaders have attended the Legislative and Education and Defense Seminars organized by the Center.

Graduates from 13 countries have joined to form their respective groups and implement a wealth of activities.

For more information on the Center and its activities please visit our site in the Internet: www3.ndu.edu/chds/