Dr. Spencer is a professor at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies. He has been responsible for Colombia/South America in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics and Global Threats (2014-2017), and director of Colombia Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs (2011-2012). He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from George Washington University (2002), where he studied Latin American politics, specializing in regional insurgency and terrorism. He earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees (both in International Relations) from Brigham Young University, in 1992 and 1988, respectively. Likewise, he has been director of the fight against terrorism at Hicks & Asociados, has worked in different positions in support of Plan Colombia, and has spent five years in El Salvador as a consultant for the Ministry of Defense during the 1979-1992 civil war. Dr. Spencer has worked for a number of research groups and consulting firms, such as the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA) and the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Dr. Spencer grew up in Latin America, where he lived in Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Venezuela.