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

Oct 14, 2020

Seek membership for Mexico

By Christopher Skaluba, Gabriela R. A. Doyle

Building a relationship between NATO and Mexico may be the key to keeping a rapidly changing America invested in European security.

Europe & Eurasia Mexico

NATO 20/2020

Oct 14, 2020

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.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

NATO 20/2020

Oct 14, 2020

Revitalize NATO’s grand strategy

By Ambassador 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.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

NATO 20/2020

Oct 14, 2020

Supersize cyber

By Safa Shahwan Edwards, Will Loomis, 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.

Cybersecurity Europe & Eurasia

In the News

Oct 5, 2020

Ashford reviews Andrew Bacevich’s book, The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory

By Atlantic Council

Emma writes a review of Andrew Bacevich’s book, The Age of Illusions: How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory. More about our expert

NATO Politics & Diplomacy

UkraineAlert

Sep 30, 2020

Russia as aggressor, NATO as objective: Ukraine’s new National Security Strategy

By Alyona Getmanchuk

Ukraine unveiled a new National Security Strategy in September 2020 that clearly identifies Russia as the enemy and sets out NATO membership as the end goal of the country's security policy.

Conflict National Security

In the News

Sep 30, 2020

Ashford and Robert Kaplan Discuss Post-Election US Foreign Policy Direction: Biden vs. Trump

By Atlantic Council

Emma and Robert Kaplan discuss what kind of foreign policies to expect from a second Trump presidency or a new Biden administration. More about our expert

China International Norms

Issue Brief

Sep 30, 2020

Why the US-Italy relationship matters

By Giovanna de Maio

In spite of the overall worsening of transatlantic relations over the past four years, and more inward looking foreign policy choices, Italy and the United States were able to preserve consistently positive relations. As far as trade is concerned, Italy managed to avoid the brunt of US tariffs on European goods, and trade exchange between […]

Coronavirus Economy & Business

New Atlanticist

Sep 28, 2020

Pompeo’s trip highlights strong US-Greece relationship

By Katerina Sokou

Rather than being simply an effort to mediate among the parties in the Eastern Med, Pompeo’s trip has focused on the bilateral US-Greece relationship, on a strategic as well as a personal level

Energy & Environment Greece

Inflection Points

Sep 20, 2020

UAE, Bahrain deals with Israel offer the Mideast a historic chance for positive change—if the region will build upon it

By Frederick Kempe

These deals present the region its best opportunity perhaps ever to bury its bloody, self-defeating past and embrace moderation and modernity. Yet that will only be true if the parties can work with international partners to protect the so-called Abraham Accords Peace Agreement from extremist assault and from Israeli hardliners bent on territorial expansion.

Conflict International Norms

Experts

Events