Atlantic Council blogs

France Investing A Billion More Euros in Cyber Defense Forces

By Marine Pennetier, Reuters

Huddled around their computers, two dozen French 20-somethings have been typing away feverishly for seven hours. Their objective is clear. Eliminate a virus crippling the systems of a government environmental agency.

Innovation Key to Maintaining US Defense Leadership

The United States’ role as a global leader in defense is not “automatic,” it must be maintained and improved by building bridges between the technology and security sectors to encourage innovation in military operations, former US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said at the Atlantic Council on April 4. While the US military “is the finest […]

TRADE in ACTION – April 6, 2017

By Global Business & Economics Program

This week in TradeinAction: President Trump signs two executive orders on trade with the intention of cracking down on trade abuses and minimizing the US trade deficit. The European Union and Mexico are currently meeting in Brussels ahead of a possible EU-Mexico free trade agreement. President Trump meets with President Xi Jinping of China at Mar-a-Lago […]

Brexit Bargain Should Not Include Defense

By Lisa Aronsson

One might have hoped that the United Kingdom’s security relationship with Europe could be kept out of the Brexit negotiations, which will be difficult enough without an added layer of political complexity. Alas, just a week after the UK fired the starting gun on its departure from the European Union, it is already clear that […]

Egyptian Media Hails New Era in US-Egypt Relations

By Dalia Rabie

After years of condemning and rejecting what it considered an intrusive relationship, Egypt’s state media finally hailed a new era of bilateral relations between the US and Egypt ushered in by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s first meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump on Monday.

Trump Has Few Options to Respond to Chemical Weapons Attack in Syria

The United States has limited options when it comes to responding to the deadly chemical attack likely carried out by Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria’s Idlib province on April 4, according to an Atlantic Council analyst. The international community has so far imposed sanctions on Syria, which haven’t worked, said Faysal Itani, a senior fellow […]

Commander of NATO Naval Forces Discloses Details of Operation Sea Guardian

By Clive Johnstone, NATO Maritime Command

Central to NATO’s effort to project stability in the South is Operation Sea Guardian [OSG]. This is NATO’s new maritime security operation in the Mediterranean.

Will Syria’s Chemical Attack Be a Turning Point in US Policy?

By SyriaSource

A chemical attack by regime warplanes in the Syrian province of Idlib has left over 70 civilians dead and at least another 100 seeking treatment for exposure to toxic gases. Though details are still being revealed, initial reports suggest that attack used sarin gas, the same deadly gas the regime used in an attack on […]

Admiral: NATO’s Standing Naval Forces are the Alliance’s ‘First Responders’

By Clive Johnstone, NATO Maritime Command

As a sailor, I have a particular interest in the battle of Salamis. It stands as the classic example of a small, allied but unified force acting boldly to defeat a much larger, clumsy and disorganized opponent.

Trump-Xi Summit: ‘America First’ Paves the Way for the ‘Chinese Dream’

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US President Donald J. Trump’s “America First” policy—marked by a retreat from multilateralism—has paved the way for China to step into the void and for its president, Xi Jinping, to realize his “Chinese Dream,” according to two Atlantic Council analysts. Trump and Xi met at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on April 6 […]