A discussion with
James J. Townsend, Jr.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy,
US Department of Defense

Moderated by
Magnus Nordenman
Deputy Director,
Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security
Atlantic Council

Last week, President Barack Obama embarked on a three-country tour which took him to Poland, the G7 Summit in Brussels, Belgium and then onto France to commemorate the seventieth Anniversary of D-Day. The President reaffirmed the United States' commitment of support for the people and government of Ukraine, announced a broader Reassurance Initiative to strengthen NATO, and highlighted the need to diversify European energy linkages and continue the negotiations around the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. At the same time, ministers at the NATO Defense Ministers Meeting further reinforced NATO’s reassurance measures in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The ministers also approved Germany’s Framework Nations initiative to help boost multinational defense cooperation, and agreed on a new cyber-defense policy. 

Jim Townsend, who attended the NATO Defense Ministerial with US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel last week, will brief the Atlantic Council on the major implications and significance of these developments.  The conversation will be off-the-record.

James J. Townsend Jr. (Jim) was appointed deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy in 2009 and has since been responsible for managing the day-to-day defense relationship between the United States, NATO, the EU and the nations of Europe. Before taking up his current position, Jim was a vice president at the Atlantic Council and directed the Council’s Program on International Security. Jim joined the Atlantic Council after a distinguished career at the Pentagon and at NATO. Jim was the principal director of European and NATO policy (2003-2006), the director of NATO policy (2002-2003) and the director of the Defense Plans Division at the US Mission to NATO in Brussels, Belgium (1998-2002).

Members' Conference Call Series

This conference call is part of a larger series of Atlantic Council members’ programming, which seeks to provide members the opportunity to dialogue directly with policy experts on the most relevant topics of the day. 

 

Wednesday, June11, 2014 
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET

Toll-free dial-in information is as follows: 

1-800-311-9410 USA
0800917614 FRANCE
08001844180 GERMANY
800876557 ITALY
008001124603 POLAND
08007563333 UK
00800142077657 TURKEY

The passcode is 28369.

Please contact us if you will be calling from another country, as other toll-free numbers may be available. To participate in the call, RSVP at the link below