On October 7, the day that the Dutch air force initiated against ISIS forces in Iraq, Dutch Minister of Defense Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert joined a strategy session hosted by the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, to discuss transatlantic military cooperation and key security threats to the United States on Europe. This event provided a forum to assess the Netherlands’ bilateral and multilateral roles in the European and wider transatlantic security system, along with key deliverables from the 2014 NATO Summit.

The conversation focused on the crisis in Ukraine, months after the Malaysian Airlines flight downing over Ukraine that killed 193 Dutch citizens. The session also covered rising tensions with Russia and the efficacy of Western sanctions against Russia, the threat of ISIS and the transatlantic community’s response to ongoing turmoil in Syria and Iraq, and Turkey’s role in NATO on the frontlines of these threats.

Hennis-Plasschaert was appointed as minister of defense in the Rutte-Asscher government in November 2012. Prior to this, from 2010 to 2012, Hennis-Plasschaert served as a member of the Dutch House of Representatives. During her tenure in the House of Representatives, she focused on security and law enforcement, as well as disaster and crisis response policies. Hennis-Plasschaert was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2010, serving as a member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs.