Hurricane Michael postpones Board of Visitors meeting at Fort Benning, official says

The Board of Visitors annual session at the Western Hemisphere Institute of Security Cooperation has been postponed due to Hurricane Michael , a Fort Benning spokesman for the institute said Tuesday.

Made up of chairmen and ranking members of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, six civilians and military commanders, the 14-member board was scheduled to meet 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday at Bradley Hall on Baltzell Avenue but has been postponed until Nov. 29, said spokesman Lee Rials.

Annual meetings have been held since the institute changed its curriculum and name in 2001. The session gives the board a chance to review the institute’s performance and to make recommendations to Congress based on its findings, Rials said.

This is the first time the meeting has been postponed since the institute changed its name. “We don’t usually get a hurricane in the middle of our meeting,” Rials said.

The School of the Americas moved to Fort Benning from Panama in 1984. It operated for 16 years until its courses faced scrutiny and some graduates were accused of committing human rights abuses. The former SOA closed its doors in December 2000 and the institute reopened with a new name in January 2001.

When the new school was created, the law mandated the Board of Visitors to inquire into the curriculum, instruction, physical equipment, fiscal affairs and academic methods of the institute, matters relating to the institute that the board decides to consider and any other matters the Secretary of Defense determines appropriate. The school provides professional education and training to eligible military and law enforcement personnel from countries of the Western Hemisphere within the context of democratic principles.

This story was originally published October 9, 2018 at 6:44 PM.