LOOK BACK ON THE WASHINGTON SUMMIT

Atlantic Council at the NATO Summit in Washington

Live commentary, authoritative analysis, and high-level events covering NATO’s Washington summit, courtesy of our experts.

Essays on the Alliance’s future

NATO’s seventy-fifth anniversary is a milestone in a remarkable story of reinvention, adaptation, and unity. However, as the Alliance seeks to secure its future for the next seventy-five years, it faces revanchist old rivals, escalating strategic competition, and uncertainties over the future of the rules-based international order. 

With partners and allies turning attention from celebrations to challenges, the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative invited contributors to engage with the most pressing concerns ahead of the historic Washington summit and chart a path for the Alliance’s future. This series features seven essays focused on concrete issues that NATO must address at the Washington summit and five essays that examine longer-term challenges the Alliance must confront to ensure transatlantic security. 

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.

Content

Inflection Points Today

Dec 13, 2024

Monitoring the global ‘Trump effect’

By Frederick Kempe

The incoming president is already making waves in China, Iran, Ukraine, and NATO as he articulates goals and the world responds to them.

China Europe & Eurasia
A Swedish flag is raised during a flag-raising ceremony at NATO headquarters following the accession of Sweden to the alliance, in Brussels, Belgium March 11, 2024. REUTERS/Yves Herman

Issue Brief

Dec 13, 2024

How a new global defense bank—the ‘Defense, Security, and Resilience Bank’—can solve US and allied funding problems

By Rob Murray

A perennial problem for NATO is getting member states to meet their financial commitments, which include the pledge to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defense. A bank specifically focused on funding defense projects could offer a way out of the political impasse—and keep NATO technologically up to speed.

Europe & Eurasia International Financial Institutions

In the News

Dec 10, 2024

Michta in RealClearDefense and RealClearWorld on a new approach to NATO

On December 9, Andrew Michta, director and senior fellow of the GeoStrategy Initiative, published an article in RealClearDefense on why the United States must rethink its approach to NATO. He outlines that, due to the wide range of challenges facing the Alliance, the next US president should focus efforts toward the countries in the Northeast […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Report

Dec 10, 2024

Europe and the United States need to revolutionize their defense industrial bases—and how they cooperate

By Rob Murray

With powerful state and nonstate actors challenging the post-World War II international order, innovation in the tech sector happening at breakneck speed, and climate change threats, NATO allies must rethink traditional defense cooperation to stay relevant.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

TURKEYSource

Dec 6, 2024

What the US-Turkey relationship will look like during Trump 2.0

By Rich Outzen

The second Trump term presents new opportunities and risks for US-Turkey relations.

Elections Middle East

New Atlanticist

Dec 4, 2024

How the Nordic-Baltic states are leading the way on European security

By Anna Wieslander

Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden are becoming increasingly significant to security on the continent.

NATO Northern Europe

Defense Journal by Atlantic Council IN TURKEY

Dec 3, 2024

NATO in an evolving geopolitical landscape

By Atlantic Council Turkey Programs

The fourth issue of the Defense Journal by Atlantic Council IN TURKEY explores the future of NATO in the context of changing transatlantic relations and regional security issues.

Conflict Defense Industry

Defense Journal by Atlantic Council IN TURKEY

Dec 3, 2024

The “other” US election and what it means for transatlantic security

By Rich Outzen

US allies and partners have better grounds to expect continued US leadership— and alliance commitment—than is commonly appreciated.

Elections Europe & Eurasia

Defense Journal by Atlantic Council IN TURKEY

Dec 3, 2024

Political-military lessons for a NATO-Russia conflict

By Can Kasapoglu

NATO should learn these three lessons from the Ukraine-Russia conflict to win a potential NATO-Russia war.

Conflict Defense Policy

Defense Journal by Atlantic Council IN TURKEY

Dec 3, 2024

How prepared is NATO?

By Richard D. Hooker, Jr.

Is NATO ready to respond to a possible expansion of Russian aggression to assure Europe's safety?

Central Europe Conflict

Experts

Events