Category: Content Series

Considering US Options for Implementing Reconstruction Projects in Syria

By Emelie Chace-Donahue

Although the United States government has yet to officially become involved in the reconstruction conversation, it will, with little doubt, be involved in some capacity in Syria’s reconstruction. Postponing the how, when, and where will only weaken America’s position vis-à-vis other actors in the country. In a press conference in May, special envoy Brett McGurk […]

France, Italy, and Libya’s Crisis

By Karim Mezran and Elissa Miller

In a major development in Libya’s ongoing conflict, head of the internationally recognized Libyan government Fayez al-Serraj and strongman Khalifa Haftar met in Paris this week, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, to discuss a way out of the country’s current crisis. The meeting between Serraj and Haftar is the second in three months and […]

Trump’s Transgender Ban Raises Legal Questions

By Rachel Ansley

Is a tweet legally binding directive, asks former US Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning [Editor’s note: On July 27, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that military policy regarding who may serve will not change until US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis issues new guidelines. “In the meantime, we […]

Underground Hospitals: Investing in Protection

By Kathleen Fallon

Throughout the conflict in Syria, regime forces and their allies have deliberately and systematically targeted medical workers, ambulances, and hospitals in opposition-held areas. There have been more than 454 attacks on medical facilities in the conflict, with the Assad regime and Russia responsible for ninety-one percent of them. Over 814 Syrian health workers have been […]

STRATCOM

Read the Primer Read the Report Watch the Webcast   On September 26, 2017, The Atlantic Council hosted the first Transatlantic Forum on Strategic Communications (StratCom) in Washington, DC. State and non-state actors seek to influence Western democracies through targeted disinformation campaigns tailored to the digital world. Policymakers across the Atlantic have recognized the threats […]

Cyber Risk Monday: The Darkening Web

By Kenneth Miller

Ransomware attacks crippling business operations and threatening human lives around the globe; accusations of Russian interference in Western elections; reported US sabotage of North Korean missiles. No single invention of the last few decades has so fundamentally changed the nature of political conflict as the Internet, which is increasingly used as a weapon by actors eager to exploit or curtail global connectivity in order to further their interests. This Atlantic Council discussion examined the consequences of the battle for cyberspace among nation states and non-state actors alike, threatening not only our personal data but human lives, global stability, and the fundamentals of the Internet as we know it today.