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NATO Expansion

New Atlanticist

Sep 30, 2022

Zelenskyy is pushing for fast-track NATO membership. Does Ukraine have a fighting chance to join the club?

By Atlantic Council experts

Experts from our Transatlantic Security Initiative break down NATO’s response to the Ukrainian president’s surprise move.

Conflict NATO

New Atlanticist

Aug 8, 2022

When will Sweden and Finland join NATO? Tracking the ratification process across the Alliance.

By Atlantic Council experts

With this tracker, the Atlantic Council team is keeping tabs on the countries that have ratified the amended NATO treaty—and handicapping the political prospects for ratification in the rest.

Europe & Eurasia NATO
Atlantic Council announces signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with NATO Allied Command Transformation on deepening transatlantic relations

Issue Brief Aug 22, 2022

Sweden and Finland are on their way to NATO membership. Here’s what needs to happen next.

By John R. Deni

In response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden took the historic step of applying to join NATO. Both nations will bring modern capabilities that will help defend against malign actors. As Finland and Sweden’s membership is forthcoming, Alliance leaders, NATO watchers, and transatlantic security experts need to consider how to fully integrate the new allies, include them in operational plans, and best enhance defense of a longer border with Russia.
Europe & Eurasia National Security
Atlantic Council announces signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with NATO Allied Command Transformation on deepening transatlantic relations

New Atlanticist May 20, 2022

For Finland, the Cold War never ended. That’s why it’s ready for NATO.

By Paul R.S. Gebhard

For decades, Finland has persevered on its own—and now NATO has the opportunity to benefit from that.
Defense Policy NATO
Atlantic Council announces signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with NATO Allied Command Transformation on deepening transatlantic relations

New Atlanticist May 18, 2022

Sweden would strengthen NATO with fresh thinking and an able force

By John R. Deni

Sweden’s unique characteristics could make it a serious security provider—not merely a security consumer—in the heart of Northern Europe. 
Crisis Management Defense Policy

The NATO Summit

At the last NATO Summit, which Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg deemed “historic and transformative,” leaders gathered to address “the most serious security crisis we have faced.” Our experts break down everything you need to know, from the expansion of the Alliance to the plan for its strategic future.

Atlantic Council announces signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with NATO Allied Command Transformation on deepening transatlantic relations

New Atlanticist Jul 22, 2022

Now for the hard part: A guide to implementing NATO’s new Strategic Concept

NATO should be proud of its recent accomplishments—but now it needs to follow through.

Read More
Atlantic Council announces signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with NATO Allied Command Transformation on deepening transatlantic relations

Scorecard Jul 7, 2022

Scowcroft Strategy Scorecard: NATO’s Strategic Concept clear on threats, but will require sustained commitment from Alliance

By Atlantic Council

Several of the Scowcroft Center’s strategy experts analyzed the Alliance’s new Strategic Concept, assessing the strategy based on five criteria. The reviewers generally agreed that the document was clear-sighted about threats facing the Alliance. However, implementing the ambitious strategy will require sustained commitment and high investment from Alliance members. Here are the full assessments.
Europe & Eurasia International Organizations
Atlantic Council announces signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with NATO Allied Command Transformation on deepening transatlantic relations

New Atlanticist Jul 1, 2022

Summit speed read: How the G7 and NATO pushed back on Putin

By Daniel Fried

The free world’s leading institutions did a lot this week—but the war still hangs in the balance. Here’s what was agreed to and what is yet to be accomplished.
Conflict Economic Sanctions

Dive back in: The NATO Public Forum

Flagship Event Tue, June 28, 2022 • 9:00 am ET

The NATO Public Forum

On the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Madrid, the Alliance’s leaders as well as international security experts will gather for the NATO Public Forum.
Climate Change & Climate Action Crisis Management Defense Policy Defense Technologies

Visualizing NATO’s priorities

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US and NATO Eastern Flank force postures have been enhanced.

The United States and NATO allies have taken numerous steps to bolster allied force posture in Eastern Europe, enhancing deterrence against further Russian aggression and demonstrating the Alliance’s ability to defend its eastern flank.

Visualizing the NATO Strategic Concept: Five ways to look at the Alliance’s future

We asked our experts: With so much happening in the global arena, what critical but underappreciated topics will be featured in the Strategic Concept—and how should NATO think about addressing them?

Featured events

Online Event Wed, June 15, 2022 • 10:00 am ET

Allied resolve: NATO perspectives on the Russian invasion of Ukraine

AN #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT – Four former Secretaries General of NATO offer their perspectives on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and NATO’s priorities ahead of the NATO Summit in Madrid.
Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia NATO NATO Partnerships
Online Event Tue, March 29, 2022 • 8:30 am ET

A conversation with the Baltic presidents

AN #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT – The Baltic presidents discussed the implications of the Russian-initiated war in Ukraine on European security and NATO’s adaptation.
Eastern Europe Europe & Eurasia NATO Northern Europe
Online Event Tue, March 29, 2022 • 12:30 pm ET

A conversation with Minister of Defence of Germany Christine Lambrecht

AN #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT – Germany’s Minister of Defence Christine Lambrecht discusses Germany’s new defense priorities in the face of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Conflict Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia Germany
Online Event Wed, March 23, 2022 • 10:30 am ET

Previewing the NATO Summit with Ambassador Julianne Smith

AN #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT – US Permanent Representative to NATO, Ambassador Julianne Smith, previews this week’s NATO Summit and discusses how the United States and its allies are strengthening defense and deterrence in Europe.

Europe & Eurasia NATO Russia Security & Defense
Online Event Fri, January 28, 2022 • 9:30 am ET

Enhancing NATO’s collective defense: A conversation with former Supreme Allied Commanders Europe

NATO can take several steps to improve its collective defense posture in the face of Russian aggression.

Eastern Europe Europe & Eurasia NATO Russia
Online Event Fri, January 28, 2022 • 8:30 am ET

A conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

AN #ACFRONTPAGE EVENT – Secretary General Stoltenberg discusses NATO’s response to the renewed tensions in Europe.
Economic Sanctions Europe & Eurasia NATO Politics & Diplomacy

Visualizing burden-sharing data

NATO allies contribute to a variety of missions. Here’s a look at how each country chips in.

The NATO alliance conducts a variety of missions on land, sea, and air. Here is a breakdown of how each country has been contributing to a selection of these missions.

Despite COVID-19 pandemic, NATO defense spending continues to rise

Even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, NATO allies have continued to increase their defense investments.

Learn more

Subscribe for the latest on NATO

Sign up for updates from the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative, covering the debate on the greatest security challenges facing the North Atlantic Alliance and its key partners.



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NATO 20/2020

Modernize the kit and the message

by H.E. Dame Karen Pierce DCMG

NATO will only remain successful over the next seventy years if it modernizes its capabilities, takes command of emerging technology, and harmonizes its strategic messaging.

Read the essay

Open a bank

by Max Bergmann and Siena Cicarelli

NATO can fund critical defense investments by bringing the necessary financial tools in house.

Read the essay

Design a Digital Marshall Plan

by the Hon. Ruben Gallego and the Hon. Vicky Hartzler

NATO allies, led by the United States, must cooperate in securing national 5G communications systems in Europe and beyond against malign Chinese influence.

Read the essay

Rethink and replace two percent

by Derek Chollet, Steven Keil, and Christopher Skaluba

NATO’s two percent metric is reductive and politically fraught but offers lessons for better ways to measure burden sharing.

Read the essay

Build an Atlantic-Pacific Partnership

by James Hildebrand, Harry W.S. Lee, Fumika Mizuno, Miyeon Oh, and Monica Michiko Sato

NATO is the only institution capable of organizing transatlantic and transpacific stakeholders to address China’s political, military, and information threats.

Read the essay

Disband the NATO Response Force

by John R. Deni

Replacing the NRF with a plug-and-play interoperability model increases the chance that NATO will employ its high-readiness forces.

Read the essay

Build resilience for an era of shocks

by Jim Townsend and Anca Agachi

NATO needs a fourth core task to protect allied populations from nontraditional threats like COVID and climate change.

Read the essay

‘Game out’ decision making

by AM Sir Christopher Harper, KBE, RAF (Ret.)

In an era where the distinction between peace and conflict is increasingly complex, NATO should retain its competitive advantage by using synthetic environments and virtual worlds to support rapid, efficient, and effective strategic decision making.

Read the essay

Digitalize the enterprise

by Jeffrey Reynolds and Jeffrey Lightfoot

If NATO is to unlock new frontiers of innovation and harness emerging technology, digitalizing how it does business is the key.

Read the essay

Listen to women

by Lisa A. Aronsson

Twenty years after its creation, NATO should affirm the strategic significance of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda and define what it means for an era of great power competition.

Read the essay

Ramp up on Russia

by Amb. Alexander Vershbow

NATO needs to increase the costs for Russian aggression while building back crucial dialogue if there is any prospect for improved relations with Moscow.

Read the essay

Put NATO back in the narrative

by Bridget Corna and Livia Godaert

NATO can recapture the imagination of allied publics by telling its own story better and in new ways to new audiences.

Read the essay

Seek membership for Mexico

by Christopher Skaluba and Gabriela R. A. Doyle

Mexico’s membership in NATO may be the key to keeping a rapidly changing America invested in European security.

Read the essay

Supersize cyber

by Safa Shahwan Edwards, William Loomis, and Simon Handler

NATO should adopt a digital .2 percent policy whereby member states commit to spend .2 percent of their gross domestic product on cybersecurity and digital defense modernization.

Read the essay

Christen a carrier strike group

by Michael John Williams

Using the HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales as its backbone, a NATO carrier strike group is an opportunity for high-end interoperability under European leadership.

Read the essay

End the Russian veto on Georgian accession

by Luke Coffey and Alexis Mrachek

Admitting Georgia to NATO without extending an Article 5 guarantee to Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali Region can fulfil the promise of the Bucharest Summit.

Read the essay

Threaten decisive nuclear retaliation

by David Gompert and Hans Binnendijk

NATO should thwart Russian use of nuclear weapons by threatening certain retaliation.

Read the essay

Revitalize NATO’s grand strategy

by Amb. Timo Koster and Ivanka Barzashka

Collective strategic analysis is the pathway to a more inclusive, transparent, and systematic process for creating NATO’s next strategic concept.

Read the essay

Set NATO’s sights on the High North

by Jim Danoy and Marisol Maddox

Security in the Arctic is waiting on no one. NATO needs a strategy for defense and deterrence in the High North before it is outflanked.

Read the essay

Reimagine the Washington Treaty

by Damon Wilson and Will O’Brien

Reexamining NATO’s founding charter can be an exercise in creating an Alliance fit for a new geopolitical era.

Read the essay

Related program

The Transatlantic Security Initiative, in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, shapes and influences the debate on the greatest security challenges facing the North Atlantic Alliance and its key partners.

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Content

Press Release

Nov 29, 2022

Atlantic Council announces signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with NATO Allied Command Transformation on deepening transatlantic relations

Washington DC — November 29, 2022: Today, the Atlantic Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding with NATO’s Allied Command Transformation to leverage their complementary strengths to collaborate on the military transformation of the Alliance at this crossroads moment for transatlantic security and defense. The agreement also informs key transatlantic policy debates. “Russia’s brutal war in […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

UkraineAlert

Nov 25, 2022

The West must urgently overcome its fear of provoking Putin

By Daniel Bilak

Western leaders insist they will stand with Ukraine until Russia's invasion is defeated but fear of provoking Putin continues to constrain the democratic world's response to a war that has already cost tens of thousands of lives.

Conflict Economic Sanctions

UkraineAlert

Nov 23, 2022

Lessons from the Cuban Missile Crisis: Putin is no Khrushchev

By Harlan Ullman

The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis may offer some useful insights as Western leaders seek the right response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent nuclear saber-rattling over Ukraine, writes Harlan Ullman.

Conflict Disinformation

UkraineAlert

Nov 22, 2022

Ukraine must be allowed to strike back against targets inside Russia

By Ira Straus

In order to defeat Putin and end the war, Ukraine must be allowed to strike back inside Russia. At present, this is not possible due to restrictions imposed by Ukraine's overly cautious international allies, writes Ira Straus.

Arms Control Conflict

In the News

Nov 22, 2022

Wieslander in WSJ China on Polish missile incident

Anna Wieslander, the Atlantic Council’s director for Northern Europe, said in an interview to Wall Street Journal China that Poland’s hard-line stance on the Ukraine war could create a potential rift within NATO if the Polish government pushes for a strong and rapid NATO response to Russia. However, she said, the government has shown restraint […]

NATO Northern Europe

UkraineAlert

Nov 20, 2022

Putin’s invasion has strengthened the case for Ukrainian NATO membership

By Taras Kuzio

Vladimir Putin's ongoing invasion has highlighted the dangers of allowing Ukraine to exist in a geopolitical gray zone and strengthened arguments for the country's post-war NATO integration, writes Taras Kuzio.

Conflict Disinformation
Anti-LGBTQ counter-protesters stomp on a rainbow flag during a protest by gay rights activists in central Moscow, June 11, 2013. (Source: Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

New Atlanticist

Nov 18, 2022

Russian War Report: Russia defends ‘traditional values,’ criminalizes LGBTQ ‘propaganda’

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

After two Polish citzens were killed by a missile, Poland and NATO both say the hit was not a Russian attack. Meanwhile, Putin enacts an anti-LGBTQ ord

Central Europe Civil Society

In the News

Nov 17, 2022

Brzezinski and Scheunemann in El Mercurio: NATO reactions to the missile strikes in Poland (in Spanish)

On November 17, TSI NRSF Ian Brzezinski and TSI Deputy Director Leah Scheunemann were quoted on NATO reactions in the wake of wayward missile strikes in Poland (text in Spanish).

Europe & Eurasia Missile Defense

In the News

Nov 16, 2022

Wieslander interviewed by Sveriges Radio on missile striking Poland

“Ukraine has a right to self defence,” Anna Wieslander said to Sveriges Radio. This incident would not have occurred “if Russia was not attacking Ukraine.”

Europe & Eurasia NATO

In the News

Nov 15, 2022

Deni in The Conversation and Al Jazeera: quoted on NATO’s article 4 and 5 commitments

On November 15, TSI NRSF John Deni was quoted on NATO Articles 4 and 5 commitments in the wake of missiles straying into Poland. Quotes from the article were also picked up by Al Jazeera.

Europe & Eurasia Missile Defense
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Experts

Staff

Nika Aleksejeva

Lead Researcher, Baltics

Digital Forensic Research Lab

Belarus Disinformation

Millennium Leadership Fellow

Kirk Allen

Regional Marketing Lead, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

Millennium Leadership Program

Middle East NATO Partnerships

Fellow

Paolo Alli

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Rafik Hariri Center & Middle East programs

Eastern Europe Italian

Fellow

Lisa Aronsson

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Fellow

Kyle Atwell

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Forward Defense Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security

Afghanistan Colombia

Staff

James Batchik

Assistant Director

Europe Center

Central Europe Digital Policy
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