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Russian War Report: Drone footage confirms failed Russian military pontoon crossing 

Issue Brief Mar 9, 2022

Defending every inch of NATO territory: Force posture options for strengthening deterrence in Europe

By The Scowcroft Center Task Force on Deterrence and Force Posture

Deterrence in Europe can be enhanced through a range of US and NATO force posture enhancements.
Conflict Defense Policy
Russian War Report: Drone footage confirms failed Russian military pontoon crossing 

The Big Story Mar 8, 2022

What are the risks and benefits of US/NATO military options in Ukraine? Our strategic risk calculator has answers.

By Tyson Wetzel, Barry Pavel

A strategic risk calculator for policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic to assess the possible risks and benefits of boosting their military assistance to the Ukrainian government.
Conflict NATO
Russian War Report: Drone footage confirms failed Russian military pontoon crossing 

New Atlanticist Feb 9, 2022

Why NATO will endure well beyond today’s crises

By Ana Palacio

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his efforts to destroy the liberal international order, has shaken the foundations of NATO. But this is a time for reinvigoration.
Crisis Management Europe & Eurasia

NATO 20/2020

NATO 20/2020 Podcast

NATO 20/2020 is a weekly podcast that explores 20 bold ideas to push NATO to be more visionary, more capable, and more self-evidently valuable to the security of more people.

Read the essays

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.

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Open a bank

by Max Bergmann and Siena Cicarelli

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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‘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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Threaten decisive nuclear retaliation

by David Gompert and Hans Binnendijk

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

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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.

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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.

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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

In-depth reports on NATO’s agenda

Issue Brief

Mar 9, 2022

Defending every inch of NATO territory: Force posture options for strengthening deterrence in Europe

By The Scowcroft Center Task Force on Deterrence and Force Posture

Deterrence in Europe can be enhanced through a range of US and NATO force posture enhancements.

Conflict Defense Policy
Finland and NATO

Issue Brief

Mar 4, 2022

Europe’s security architecture, transformed: Why Finland is now on a path to join NATO

By Rasmus Hindrén

Finland is now on a prudent approach to NATO membership that is likely to build on its post-Cold War approach of continuity yet also to adapt to a new European security environment.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Issue briefs and reports

Mar 22, 2021

The China plan: A transatlantic blueprint for strategic competition

By Hans Binnendijk, Sarah Kirchberger, James Danoy, Franklin D. Kramer, Connor McPartland, Christopher Skaluba, Clementine G. Starling, Didi Kirsten Tatlow

China presents the United States and its partners with the most serious set of challenges they have faced since the Cold War. To manage this challenge, transatlantic nations need a blueprint to build a common approach.

China Europe & Eurasia

In-Depth Research & Reports

May 12, 2021

Falling in: The deterrent value of Host Nation Support in the Baltic Sea region

By Kathleen McInnis and Connor McPartland

Host Nation Support plays a vital, yet often overlooked, role in enabling NATO’s overall deterrence strategy for the Baltic Sea region.

Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia
Women in Swiss security

In-Depth Research & Reports

Mar 8, 2021

NATO partnerships for Women, Peace, and Security

By Lisa Aronsson

Lisa A. Aronsson outlines the achievements and the implementation challenges NATO faces, and offers three sets of recommendations for overcoming institutional hurdles, leveraging non-NATO members, and reviving NATO’s sense of purpose on the Women, Peace, and Security agenda.

Europe & Eurasia NATO
more in-depth reports on nato

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

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NATO leaders are finally focusing on human security, a major step toward a broader vision of crisis management.
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Programs

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

Using drone footage supplied by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the DFRLab confirmed the incident took place near the Russian town of Belohorivka. (Source: @DefenceU/archive)

New Atlanticist

May 13, 2022

Russian War Report: Drone footage confirms failed Russian military pontoon crossing 

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

The DFRLab geolocated drone footage that showed the obliteration of the Russian unit that tried to cross the Siversky Donets in the Donbas region.

Disinformation Eastern Europe

New Atlanticist

May 13, 2022

Why Finland and Sweden can join NATO with unprecedented speed

By Christopher Skaluba, Anna Wieslander

Both have put in the prescient and painstaking work to make a potential transition from partner to member so straightforward.

Defense Policy European Union

In the News

May 13, 2022

Wieslander speaks with public radio’s “The World” on Finnish and Swedish NATO membership
Europe & Eurasia NATO

In the News

May 13, 2022

Wieslander speaks with CNN on Finnish and Swedish NATO membership
Europe & Eurasia NATO

In the News

May 13, 2022

Wieslander speaks with CNBC International on Finnish and Swedish NATO membership
Europe & Eurasia NATO

Fast Thinking

May 12, 2022

FAST THINKING: Why Finland and Sweden are feeling secure about NATO membership

By Atlantic Council

How did the two countries arrive so quickly at this juncture? And what opportunities and dangers lie ahead? Our experts in Helsinki, Brussels, and Washington have the answers.

Conflict Europe & Eurasia

TURKEYSource

May 12, 2022

Energy security is critical to NATO’s Black Sea future

By Arnold C. Dupuy

Russia's invasion of Ukraine demonstrates the fragility of energy security in the Black Sea region, which NATO should address.

Conflict Geopolitics & Energy Security

New Atlanticist

May 11, 2022

Russia Crisis Military Assessment: How Ukraine is taking the fight to Russian soil

By Atlantic Council military fellows

Ukraine is striking behind enemy lines to interrupt Russian supply lines and destabilize its military establishment, according to our military fellows.

Conflict NATO

Event Recap

May 11, 2022

How can the US and NATO help bring about Russia’s ‘strategic failure’ in Ukraine?

By Connor McPartland

On May 2, the Scowcroft Center's Transatlantic Security Initiative hosted a public conference discussing priorities for the upcoming NATO Summit and next steps for security in Europe.

Conflict Defense Industry

In the News

May 11, 2022

Wieslander interviewed by The Guardian on Swedish and Finnish NATO membership

By Anna Wieslander

“Although Johnson’s key guarantee is necessarily a political declaration, as opposed to an international treaty guarantee, the British commitment was of high value at a time of great tension, Anna Wieslander, the Atlantic Council’s northern Europe director said.”

Europe & Eurasia NATO
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