Sharp insights and bold ideas from across the Council

From climate change to the China challenge and the contest between democracy and dictatorship, the New Atlanticist is where top experts and policymakers at the Atlantic Council and beyond offer exclusive insight on the most pressing global challenges—and the US role in addressing them alongside allies and partners.

The Council’s flagship section features big ideas, groundbreaking research, lightning-fast expert reactions, in-depth analyses, and thought-provoking commentary to shape public policy.

NATO Support Steady Through Transatlantic Twists and Turns

New Atlanticist
Jul 29, 2025

The Russia pressure menu: Options to convince Putin to negotiate on Ukraine 

As the US president cuts his deadline for Russia to ten days, there are several options for him to increase pressure on Moscow to pursue peace.

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NATO Support Steady Through Transatlantic Twists and Turns

New Atlanticist
Jul 24, 2025

Dispatch from Manila: A lesson in calling out Chinese maritime aggression

By
Markus Garlauskas, Philip W. Yu

As the Philippines has focused more on Chinese threats to itself, Manila also seems increasingly inclined to see its own security as connected to that of the broader region.

China
Indo-Pacific

NATO Support Steady Through Transatlantic Twists and Turns

New Atlanticist
Jul 1, 2025

The US must enforce sanctions to prevent Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program

By
Kimberly Donovan

To ensure that Tehran cannot get its hands on the financial resources it would need to rebuild its nuclear program, Iran sanctions enforcement should start with China.

Economic Sanctions
Iran

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New Atlanticist

Sep 15, 2011

NATO Support Steady Through Transatlantic Twists and Turns

By James Joyner

The German Marshall Fund has just released its annual Transatlantic Trends report, which measures U.S. and European public opinion on transatlantic issues and trends. The big headline is that a bare majority of Americans, 51 percent, now think the countries of Asia are more important to their national interests than the countries of the European Union, which […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 15, 2011

International Partnership and NATO’s Future in Afghanistan

By William B. Caldwell IV

Reflecting on ten years of United States involvement in Afghanistan, the greatest long-term effect the international community can have in Afghanistan is through continued partnership. Today, nearly a quarter of the world’s nations are working with the Afghan government to rebuild a war-torn society, stimulate economic activity, and develop their security forces. In spite of […]

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 14, 2011

Ten Years Later – Are Americans Better or Worse Off?

By Harlan Ullman

The anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks brings with it the self-evident question of whether the United States and Americans are safer or more secure in 2011 given all the blood and treasure expended since the Twin Towers collapsed. Unfortunately, politics and human nature make finding an objective answer to that question difficult. Republicans […]

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Sep 14, 2011

Strategic Instability is Inherent in Cyber Conflict

By Jason Healey and Hannah Pitts

Strategic instability will be an inherent factor in cyber conflict for the foreseeable future, according to preliminary findings of a research effort by the Cyber Conflict Studies Association (CCSA), led by Greg Rattray and James Mulvenon.

Cybersecurity Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 14, 2011

What 9/11 Has Wrought

By Dov Zakheim

Everyday American images of the war on terror—the legacy of 9/11: Government buildings surrounded by ugly concrete blocks. Pennsylvania Avenue, the street that the White House—once known as the “people’s house”—faces, no longer open to traffic. ID cards required everywhere. Airline passengers waiting patiently in line to take off their shoes, belts, jewelry—and to have […]

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Sep 13, 2011

U.S. Risks World-Leader Role

By Chuck Hagel

As the symbols of our nation’s economic and military strength (or prowess) came under attack 10 years ago today, my first thought: “This is the second Pearl Harbor.” As I told a reporter that day, “I don’t think I’m overstating it.”

New Atlanticist

Sep 13, 2011

Why Ten Years On Britain is Less Secure

By Julian Lindley-French

It has been a bruising decade for Britain. If on 10 September, 2001 an analyst had suggested that within months British forces would be fighting on the ground in Afghanistan, let alone in Iraq less than two years later credentials would have been questioned. 911 quite simply changed all the planning assumptions upon which British […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Sep 12, 2011

Being NATO’s Secretary General on 9/11

By Lord Robertson

Being NATO Secretary General is always a job fraught with challenges and surprises. But on 11 September, 2001, Lord Robertson had one of the most extraordinary experiences of any NATO Secretary General. Here, he recounts how the day panned out. At NATO Headquarters in Brussels, it was just an ordinary Tuesday. One which was to […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 12, 2011

9/11 Ten Years After

By Ioan Mircea Pascu

10 years after 9/11 at the current rapid pace of time are enough to permit a general evaluation of its consequences and, therefore, significance. Of course, the question: “what would have been the US foreign policy without 9/11?” will always remain … Personally, in retrospect, I am of the opinion that the US reaction, particularly […]

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Sep 11, 2011

Paying the Consequences of 9/11 Overreach

By Chuck Hagel

Every American who is at least 20 years old remembers where he or she was on that sunny September morning 10 years ago. Sept. 11, 2001, was one of the most transformative events in the history of America. And its consequences rippled across the globe. This historic attack on the United States set in motion […]

United States and Canada
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