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The NATO Summit

NATO’s Vilnius Summit

At the NATO Summit in Vilnius on July 11-12, allied leaders will gather to take significant steps on Ukraine, defense and deterrence, China, and beyond Our experts break down everything you need to know, from NATO’s future relationship with Ukraine to the plan for the Alliance’s strategic future.

Wieslander quoted in Wall Street Journal on Turkey & Sweden’s NATO accession

Issue Brief May 23, 2023

Providing long-term security for Ukraine: NATO membership and other security options

This issue brief evaluates membership and other security options for the alliance and its members to consider with regards to Ukraine, from formal actions by NATO as a whole to collective or individualized efforts by member nations.

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Wieslander quoted in Wall Street Journal on Turkey & Sweden’s NATO accession

Issue Brief Apr 11, 2023

Defining success for NATO’s Vilnius summit: A primer

By Charles Barry and Christopher Skaluba

A successful NATO summit in July requires significant progress on a host of NATO’s political and military priorities, especially those enumerated at Madrid.

Europe & Eurasia National Security
Wieslander quoted in Wall Street Journal on Turkey & Sweden’s NATO accession

Issue Brief Apr 18, 2023

NATO deterrence and defense: Military priorities for the Vilnius Summit

By Franklin D. Kramer

Ahead of the NATO Summit in Vilnius, this issue brief sets forth six priority actions that NATO should undertake to enhance its deterrent and defense posture.
Defense Technologies Europe & Eurasia

Featured events

Public Event Fri, May 5, 2023 • 8:30 am ET

Ideas to implementation: Priorities for NATO’s Vilnius Summit

After more than a year of Russia’s brutal, illegal, and unprovoked war in Ukraine, the transatlantic community remains at a critical juncture. The upcoming Vilnius summit is an opportunity for the Alliance to turn ideas into action.
Defense Policy Eastern Europe Europe & Eurasia NATO
Online Event Wed, April 19, 2023 • 10:30 am ET

NATO’s Vilnius summit: Ukraine’s future and the completion of Europe

NATO leaders are gathering in Vilnius in July to discuss the future of the alliance. What should NATO leaders do to vouch for Ukraine’s long-term security and stability? What steps should NATO take to ensure its own defenses against Moscow’s revisionist objectives?

Defense Policy Eastern Europe International Organizations NATO

NATO Expansion

Wieslander quoted in Wall Street Journal on Turkey & Sweden’s NATO accession

Strategy Memo Apr 13, 2023

Memo to NATO leaders

NATO’s upcoming Vilnius summit has to produce more than a rhetorical expression of support for Ukraine. Allied leaders must leverage the opportunity to drive forward a NATO defense and deterrence posture that underscores NATO’s resolve to support Ukraine and begins the process of fully integrating Ukraine within the transatlantic community, including as a NATO member.
Conflict Europe & Eurasia
Wieslander quoted in Wall Street Journal on Turkey & Sweden’s NATO accession

Issue Brief Jan 6, 2023

How allied Sweden and Finland can secure Northern Europe 

By Anna Wieslander, Eric Adamson, Jesper Lehto

NATO is approaching its ninth round of enlargement. The accession of Sweden and Finland—two solid democracies and defenders of the international-rules based order—into the Alliance will strengthen the core of the transatlantic community.
Defense Policy NATO
Wieslander quoted in Wall Street Journal on Turkey & Sweden’s NATO accession

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

New Atlanticist

Apr 13, 2023

NATO should offer Ukraine a membership plan now

By Franklin D. Kramer

Considering today’s geopolitics and NATO’s values, offering a membership action plan is the most effective and appropriate response to the challenge Russia presents.

Conflict NATO

New Atlanticist

Mar 18, 2023

Experts react: Turkey moves to approve Finland’s NATO membership. Where does that leave Sweden?

By Atlantic Council experts

After Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would approve of Finland’s membership in NATO, our experts break down what’s next.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

New Atlanticist

Jan 30, 2023

Sweden has a chance to transform European security—even before it officially joins NATO

By Franklin D. Kramer

Sweden can wield the agenda-setting powers of its presidency to push a EU security and defense budget directed toward three crucial aims: mobility, sustainment, and critical infrastructure protection.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

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?

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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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

In the News

May 29, 2023

Wieslander quoted in Wall Street Journal on Turkey & Sweden’s NATO accession

“The Turkish leader’s demands have created a political knot that will be difficult to address unless he is willing to soften his stance, said Anna Wieslander, the Stockholm-based director for Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council. ‘It’s worrisome that he put something on the table which is not solvable,’ Wieslander said. ‘Turkey is creating a […]

NATO Northern Europe

New Atlanticist

May 25, 2023

Russian War Report: Belgorod incursion brings deluge of online mockery of Russia’s defenses

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

After an anti-Putin Russian volunteer military unit attacked Belgorod, trolls and bloggers online viciously ridiculed Russian defenses.

Australia Conflict

In the News

May 24, 2023

Kroenig and Ashford debate the implications of Turkey’s elections

On May 19, Foreign Policy published its biweekly "It's Debatable" column featuring Scowcroft Center deputy director Matthew Kroenig and Emma Ashford assessing the latest news in international affairs.

Democratic Transitions Elections

In the News

May 23, 2023

Wieslander quoted in Dagens Nyheter

“‘You could say that there are two completely different fears about Russia. The French and continental fear is that Russia will come out of this too badly. French President Macron has said that Russia must be defeated but not crushed,'” says Anna Wieslander. “‘The second fear is the opposite. In the Baltics and Eastern Europe, […]

NATO Northern Europe

Issue Brief

May 23, 2023

Providing long-term security for Ukraine: NATO membership and other security options

By Hans Binnendijk, Franklin D. Kramer

This issue brief evaluates membership and other security options for the alliance and its members to consider with regards to Ukraine, from formal actions by NATO as a whole to collective or individualized efforts by member nations.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

In the News

May 22, 2023

Jones and Stefanini in The Guardian discussing the need for continued support to Ukraine

On April 17, Atlantic Council Executive Chairman Emeritus James Jones and Transatlantic Security Initiative Nonresident Senior Fellow Stefano Stefanini, along with other experts, co-authored an article for The Guardian arguing for democratic cooperation and unity in providing support to Ukraine. The co-authors make the case that a Russian victory in Ukraine would be disastrous for […]

China NATO
Explosion of a missile is seen in the sky over the city during a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

New Atlanticist

May 19, 2023

Russian War Report: Russia fires barrage at Kyiv while UK promises ‘kamikaze’ drones

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

A series of Russian missile strikes directed at Kyiv were largely intercepted while the UK promises hundreds of drones. In Poland, a missile "cover up" controversy.

Conflict Intelligence

UkraineAlert

May 18, 2023

Ukraine’s European integration is the key to a sustainable peace

By Stephen Nix, Zachary Popovich

Ukraine's full integration into the institutions of the Western world is the only way to end the threat of ongoing Russian aggression and secure a sustainable peace in Europe, write Stephen Nix and Zachary Popovich.

Conflict European Union

Event Recap

May 17, 2023

How NATO can take a 360-degree approach to the Vilnius summit

By Joslyn Brodfuehrer, Zelma Sergejeva

According to officials and experts at a recent Atlantic Council event, Russia will remain at the top of NATO's Vilnius agenda—but that doesn't mean the Alliance shouldn't have its eye on challenges posed by China and emerging technologies.

Conflict Defense Industry

UkraineAlert

May 8, 2023

Russia’s last red line: Will the West help Ukraine liberate Crimea?

By Dennis Soltys

The Crimean question has become a litmus test for Ukraine’s Western partners; do they want Ukraine to win the war, or are they merely seeking to avoid an outright Russian victory?

Conflict European Union
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Experts

Fellow

Viltaute Zarembaite

Visiting Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

China Eastern Europe

Staff

Alvina Ahmed

Program Assistant

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

NATO Security & Defense

Staff

Nika Aleksejeva

Resident Fellow, Baltics

Digital Forensic Research Lab

Belarus Disinformation

Millennium Leadership Fellow

Kirk Allen

Digital Communications Lead, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

Millennium Leadership Program

Middle East NATO Partnerships

Fellow

Lukas Andriukaitis

Nonresident Fellow

Digital Forensic Research Lab

Disinformation Eastern Europe

Fellow

Lisa Aronsson

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Europe & Eurasia NATO
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