On Tuesday, October 12th, the Atlantic Council hosted a conference which featured remarks from senior U.S. policymakers, as well as U.S. and European experts to discuss the political, technical, and budgetary issues concerning transatlantic missile defense on the eve of the NATO Defense and Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels and with less than a month before the November NATO summit in Lisbon.

The conference featured a policy address by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Space and Defense Policy Frank Rose, who filled in for Under Secretary Ellen Tauscher, who was unable to participate in the conference. Lieutenant General Patrick O’Reilly, Director of the Missile Defense Agency, provided the attendees with a technical briefing on the status and progress of the four phases of the administration’s missile defense policy.

The conference featured two panel discussions, the first featuring Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Jim Townsend, House Armed Services Committee senior staff member Kari Bingen, and former NATO Assistant Secretary General Peter Flory. The conference’s second panel featured European perspectives on how Europe perceives transatlantic missile defense and how various European governments view attempts to create a NATO missile defense shield. The panels featured remarks by former Bulgarian Minister of Defense Boyko Noev, former Chairman of the NATO Parliamentary Association Simon Lunn, former NATO Assistant Secretary General Edgar Buckley, and Bruno Gruselle, Senior Fellow at the Fondation pour la Recherche Strategique.

This conference continues the Atlantic Council’s efforts to engage both U.S. and European policymakers and experts in the field of transatlantic missile defense. This conference continues the Atlantic Council’s recent history of informing the transatlantic debate on missile defense, following conferences on Third Site in April 2007 and on the Obama administration’s Phased Adaptive Approach in October 2009.

C-SPAN Video:

Press Coverage:

Agenda:

Welcome and First Keynote: Phased Adaptive Approach: The First Year and the Future | Transcript

Moderator:

  • Ian Brzezinski, Senior Fellow, Atlantic Council

Speaker:

  • Lt. Gen. Patrick O’Reilly, Director, Missile Defense Agency

Second Keynote: Transatlantic Missile Defense and the Lisbon Summit | Transcript

Moderator:

  • Frederick Kempe, President and CEO, Atlantic Council

Speaker:

  • Frank Rose, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Space and Defense Policy, U.S. Department of State

First Panel: Assessing the Future of Transatlantic Missile Defense | Transcript

Moderator:

  • Damon Wilson, Vice President and Director of the Program on International Security, Atlantic Council

Panelists:

  • Peter Flory, Former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment
  • Jim Townsend, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe/NATO Policy, U.S. Department of Defense
  • Kari Bingen, Professional Staff Member, U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee

Second Panel: European Views on Transatlantic Missile Defense | Transcript

Moderator:

  • Boyko Noev, Former Minister of Defense of Bulgaria, Atlantic Council Strategic Advisors Group

Panelists:

  • Edgar Buckley, Former Assistant Secretary General of NATO, Thales, Atlantic Council Strategic Advisors Group
  • Simon Lunn, Former Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Associate Fellow, RUSI
  • Bruno Gruselle, Senior Fellow, Fondation pur la Recherche Strategique

This conference is sponsored by Raytheon.

Related Experts: Patrick O’Reilly