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

Nov 19, 2020

Rethink and replace 2%: NATO 20/2020 podcast

By Transatlantic Security Initiative

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

Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Nov 19, 2020

How critical science infrastructure investments help put Arctic security challenges on ice

By Benjamin Schmitt

The strategic importance of the Arctic has not yet been matched with corresponding US infrastructure investments in military, economic, and scientific research programs.

National Security NATO

Transcripts

Nov 18, 2020

Speech: German defense minister on America, the West, and the ‘new German question’

By Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer

In remarks on October 23, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer argues for renewed European and German commitment to defending the values of democracy and the transatlantic community.

Germany NATO

In the News

Nov 10, 2020

Wieslander as a speaker with George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies: Podcast – Marshall Center Voices

Europe & Eurasia NATO

In the News

Oct 30, 2020

Vershbow in Voice of America: Moscow’s revisionism must be answered

By Alexander Vershbow

Ambassador Alexander “Sandy” Vershbow explains that the White House should not compromise on principles in negotiations with the Russian government.

Elections Europe & Eurasia

Elections 2020

Oct 30, 2020

Five big questions as America votes: Europe

By Future Europe Initiative

For the past seven decades, Europe has been the United States’ political, economic, and security partner of first resort. Now, as the transatlantic relationship is challenged by internal and external forces, the EU and the United States find themselves at a crossroads in the relationship.

Coronavirus Digital Policy

New Atlanticist

Oct 29, 2020

The transatlantic alliance needs to work together to gain technological edge

By Katherine Golden

Transatlantic democratic allies must begin working together to develop new technologies like cloud computing and artificial intelligence, to strengthen their collective defense, support democracy, and protect their societies. Here’s a quick look at what NATO, EC, and NSCAI experts said about how a transatlantic alliance for artificial intelligence will impact the geopolitical landscape and protect democracy worldwide.

Defense Technologies Internet

Issue Brief

Oct 28, 2020

2020 election scenarios: Implications for American foreign policy

By Ash Jain, Barry Pavel

The outcome of the US presidential election in November will reverberate throughout the world. It will have a direct impact on US allies and partners, as well as structural implications for the global system. Will the United States continue to play its post-World War II international leadership role? Or will Washington continue its steady retreat from international commitments?

China Elections

Elections 2020

Oct 26, 2020

Five big questions as America votes: Eurasia

By Eurasia Center

Easy answers to the Eurasia region have long eluded both a Trump administration and Vice President Biden when he served in the Obama administration—will an electoral victory now give the next US president the momentum needed to manage these foreign policy challenges?

Belarus Conflict

In the News

Oct 22, 2020

Wieslander as speaker at George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Podcast – Security in the 21st Century

Europe & Eurasia European Union

Experts

Events