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

NATO 20/2020

Jan 26, 2021

Christen a carrier strike group: NATO 20/2020 podcast

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.

Europe & Eurasia Maritime Security
Baiba Braže

Interview

Jan 22, 2021

#DFRLabCoffeeBreak with Assistant Secretary General of NATO Baiba Braže

Assistant Secretary General of NATO for Public Diplomacy joins DFRLab's Lukas Andriukaitis for the latest #DFRLabCoffeeBreak.

Disinformation English

NATO 20/2020

Jan 19, 2021

Threaten decisive nuclear retaliation: NATO 20/2020 podcast

By David Gompert and Hans Binnendijk

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

Arms Control Defense Policy

NATO 20/2020

Jan 12, 2021

Build an Atlantic-Pacific partnership: NATO 20/2020 podcast

By Transatlantic Security Initative

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

Australia China

NATO 20/2020

Jan 5, 2021

End the Russian veto on Georgian accession: NATO 20/2020 podcast

By Transatlantic Security Initiative

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

Europe & Eurasia International Norms

Issue Brief

Dec 23, 2020

Countering Russia’s challenge to the free world

By Edward Fishman, Ash Jain

Over the past decade, the Kremlin has executed a concerted strategy to undermine the cohesion of, and confidence in, democratically-elected governments in Europe and around the world. In response, leading democracies have acted to counter Russia by enacting sanctions and pursuing other measures aimed at defending frontline states against Russian aggression.

Economic Sanctions Economy & Business

NATO 20/2020

Dec 22, 2020

Build resilience for an era of shocks: NATO 20/2020 podcast

By Anca Agachi

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

Climate Change & Climate Action Coronavirus

NATO 20/2020

Dec 15, 2020

Seek membership for Mexico: NATO 20/2020 podcast

By Christopher Skaluba, Gabriela R. A. Doyle

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

Americas Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Dec 9, 2020

NATO must adapt to Afghanistan’s generation shift or it will lose the peace

By Ben Acheson

While the jihadi generation may be the ones who shape and sign a peace agreement with the Taliban, the youth bulge will have to implement and sustain it. They are the Afghans needed to achieve a common international aim: that nineteen one-year wars are not followed by nineteen one-year peace processes.

Afghanistan Conflict

New Atlanticist

Dec 9, 2020

NATO needs continuous responses in cyberspace

By Franklin D. Kramer, Lauren Speranza, and Conor Rodihan

Today, NATO’s security is threatened by Russia’s and China’s continuous cyberattacks on the Alliance and its members. To accomplish its mission of deterrence and defense, NATO needs to implement a strategy of proactive, continuous responses to China and Russia in cyberspace, where great power competition is playing out in real time.

Cybersecurity Europe & Eurasia

Experts

Events