On Thursday, October 13, the Atlantic Council’s International Security Program hosted Julianne Smith, Principal Director for Europe and NATO Policy at the US Department of Defense, for an off-the-record briefing on the outcomes of this month’s NATO Defense Ministers Meeting, which she attended with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. 

Julie provided the Strategic Advisors Group and other Atlantic Council fellows and associates with details on Secretary Panetta’s visit to Brussels and his engagement with the European partners. In addition, she shared with the Atlantic Council her insights and thoughts on current NATO operations in Afghanistan, Libya, and Kosovo, the implementation of ‘Smart Defense,’ the challenges of fiscal austerity, and other key issues facing the Alliance in the run-up to the NATO Chicago Summit.  

Julianne Smith is the Principal Director for Europe and NATO policy at the Department of Defense. She assumed this post in March 2009, after serving as a senior fellow and director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2006-2009. Previously, she worked as a program officer at the German Marshall Fund.