New Atlanticist

Cyber Experts Seek a Prescription to Limit Risks of Putting Patient Data Online

By Larry Luxner

Panel debates ‘rewards and risks’ of technological advances Midway through Season 2 of Showtime’s popular TV series Homeland, US Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody—who is being blackmailed by Iraqi terrorist Abu Nazir—sneaks into the home office of Vice President William Walden, desperately looking for the serial number of Walden’s pacemaker. Brody finds it and transmits the […]

Netanyahu’s Hard Right Turn Could Put Israel on Road to Isolation

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Onus is on Israeli government to mend US ties, says Atlantic Council’s LeBaron Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pre-election declaration not to allow the creation of a Palestinian state could lead to Israel’s further isolation internationally, says Atlantic Council analyst Richard LeBaron. “That’s not good for Israel, and individual Israelis feel it too,” LeBaron, a […]

Brent Scowcroft: An Enlightened Realist

By Fred Kempe and Jeffrey Lightfoot

The battleground was a familiar one to General Brent Scowcroft: the White House Cabinet Room where President George H.W. Bush had convened his National Security Council to reach urgent decisions amid an unfolding crisis. It was eight in the morning of August 2, 1990, only thirteen hours after Saddam Hussein had sent his Iraqi army […]

Happy Birthday, General Scowcroft

“Brent has a great propensity for friendship,” former President George H.W. Bush said of his friend and National Security Advisor, Brent Scowcroft. On his 90th birthday, some of those friends join the Atlantic Council in wishing General Scowcroft a very happy birthday. Fred Kempe, President and CEO of Atlantic Council Dear Brent, How does one […]

Future Tense: A Creative Look at How the Next Great War Begins

By Larry Luxner

In one scenario, an intelligence officer named Army Maj. Morgan Maltz is arrested on suspicion of espionage and possible treason. The top-secret computer files he sold to Beijing have allowed China to destroy a crucial Pentagon undersea communications cable, putting the entire Asia-Pacific region on its highest alert since World War II. In another, a […]

Museum Attack Puts Spotlight on Tunisia’s Security Challenges

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Terrorist rampage in Tunis may force government to shift focus, says Atlantic Council’s Mezran Tunisia’s new government may be forced to clamp down on security following the March 18 terrorist attack on a prominent museum in the heart of Tunis. This could jeopardize the country’s nascent political process, says Atlantic Council analyst Karim Mezran. “If […]

Netanyahu, Obama Will Have to Learn to Live With Each Other

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Prime Minister’s election victory could cost Israel US diplomatic cover at United Nations, says Tamary of Israel’s Channel 10 News The Obama administration may refuse to protect Israel at the United Nations Security Council if Benjamin Netanyahu forms a narrow right-wing coalition government. But the White House would find it much harder to do so […]

Why Has the West Forgotten About Crimea?

By Alina Polyakova

One year after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in a brazen act that violated international treaties and rewrote Europe’s borders for the first time since World War II, Western governments and the media have largely forgotten the peninsula’s plight. In Russia, however, that land grab is far from forgotten. Crimea annexation day will be celebrated […]

Israel Votes: Netanyahu’s Fate Hangs in the Balance

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Prime Minister’s Re-Election Would Further Strain US Ties, Says Israeli Analyst Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political future hangs in the balance as millions of Israelis vote March 17 in an election that most polls suggest is too close to call. In a clear attempt to rally his right-wing base, Netanyahu announced on the eve […]

Strange Bedfellows: Saudi Arabia, Israel Oppose Iran Nuclear Deal for Different Reasons

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Saudis worry about regional power, Israelis about an ‘existential threat,’ say analysts Saudi Arabia and Israel find themselves in the same camp as opponents of a nuclear deal with Iran, but the Sunni kingdom and Jewish state have very different reasons for their opposition. Israelis are concerned mainly with a nuclear-armed Iran, while the Saudis […]