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Manufacturing facility

Global Energy Forum

Jan 9, 2020

The Saudi Aramco-SABIC merger: How acquiring SABIC fits into Aramco’s long-term diversification strategy

By Private: Jean-François Seznec

Throughout 2019, financial markets have watched the planned Saudi Aramco initial public offering (IPO), which was finally launched in December. A quieter, but no less significant, story was the Saudi oil company’s acquisition of SABIC. Saudi Aramco strove to have a successful IPO, especially through increased transparency and diversification, and the SABIC acquisition was a key element of Saudi oil company's diversification strategy. Going forward, what does the merger mean for both companies, what is the new relationship between Saudi Aramco and SABIC, and what are the merger’s implications for the intricate relationship between the various bureaucracies and leadership in Saudi Arabia?

Energy Markets & Governance
Energy Transitions

Issue Brief

Dec 23, 2019

Spotlight: 10 Questions for 2020

By Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center

Looking ahead at the year 2020 in Latin America, here are our predictions for the top 10 questions facing the region. What's your take?

Economy & Business
Latin America

Report

Dec 20, 2019

Leading the free world: How America benefits

By Paul D. Miller

Americans have been the unconscious beneficiaries of a world order that would not exist without them. Just as we take for granted electricity and plumbing, so to we take for granted the peace and prosperity of our system.

China
Nationalism

Report

Dec 16, 2019

US-China collaboration on the Internet of Things safety: What next?

By Karl Frederick Rauscher

While the Internet of Things offers a range of humanitarian, commercial, and national security benefits, its pervasive nature has many concerned over its impacts on safety and security in society. In a new report by the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Karl Rauscher notes that the world’s two largest powers are at a crossroads with regard to their level and scope of cooperation in continued IoT advances. United States–China Collaboration on the Internet of Things Safety: What’s Next? analyzes possibilities for the United States and China to work together to establish consensus policies and standards to make their societies safer and provide a model for the world.

China
Cybersecurity

Report

Dec 12, 2019

Managed competition: Meeting China’s challenge in a multi-vector world

By Franklin D. Kramer

Understanding and responding to the challenges China presents requires a broad perspective, recognizing the interaction of economic, diplomatic, and security issues.

China
Europe & Eurasia

Report

Dec 11, 2019

Aviation cybersecurity: Scoping the challenge

By Pete Cooper, Simon Handler, Safa Shahwan Edwards

The digital attack surface the aviation sector presents to its adversaries continues to grow in such a way that both managing risk and gaining insight on it remain difficult. With emerging technologies like machine learning and fifth-generation (5G) telecommunications seeing wider adoption—alongside electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL), autonomous aircraft, and increased use of space—aviation-cybersecurity risk management is on the cusp of becoming more complex.

Cybersecurity
Infrastructure Protection
Candle in the Dark Destruction Cole

Atlantic Council Strategy Paper Series

Dec 10, 2019

A candle in the dark: US national security strategy for artificial intelligence

By Tate Nurkin, Stephen Rodriguez

AI is expected to have a transformational impact on the future of geopolitics, defense, and security. In this fluctuating environment, where the US is engaged in a high-stakes competition with is near-peer adversaries, and AI is enabling paradigm-shifting changes in public and private sector operations, how should the US respond?

Artificial Intelligence
China

Report

Dec 3, 2019

Strategic estrangement between South Korea and Japan as a barrier to trilateral cooperation

By Dr. Cheol Hee Park

Demand for trilateral cooperation between the United States, South Korea, and Japan is on the rise. However, political willingness and capacity for trilateral cooperation are declining.

Elections
Indo-Pacific

Issue Brief

Nov 22, 2019

What do we know about cyber escalation? Observations from simulations and surveys

By Benjamin Jensen and Brandon Valeriano

Do cyber operations alter how states respond to international crises in a way that creates incentives for decision makers to cross the Rubicon and use military force to settle disputes? This question is central to current cyber strategy debates and the idea of persistent engagement and defending forward in cyberspace. The answer is surprising: no. Based on the evidence, cyber operations offer a valuable escalatory offramp.

Cybersecurity

Report

Nov 14, 2019

Over the horizon: NATO joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in the Baltic Sea region

By Task Force Co-Chairs: ADM Mark E. Ferguson, III, USN (Ret.) and AM Sir Christopher Harper, RAF (Ret.) Project Director: Dr. Richard D. Hooker, Jr.

NATO joint intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance is about getting the right information to the right person at the right time in the right format.

Drones
Intelligence