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

New Atlanticist

Jul 12, 2018

Trump’s NATO Strategy: Shake, Rattle, and Commit

By Ashish Kumar Sen

US President Donald J. Trump on July 12 reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to NATO after declaring that allies had agreed to his demands to spend more on defense. This affirmation came hours after the US president chastised allies for not spending enough on defense and even threated to pull the United States out of […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 12, 2018

Here’s What NATO Achieved at Its Brussels Summit

By David Wemer

The NATO Summit in Brussels on July 11 and 12 was dominated by dramatic debates over burden sharing and uncertainty about the United States’ continued commitment to the Alliance. Lost in this shuffle, however, are the tangible actions NATO leaders endorsed after their meetings. Here are the highlights based on the NATO communiqué signed on […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 12, 2018

US Senators Back NATO as Trump Leaves Allies On Edge

By Ashish Kumar Sen

In Brussels, where US President Donald J. Trump has castigated allies and cast doubt about the US commitment to NATO, two US senators—one a Republican and the other a Democrat—speaking at the NATO Engages event co-hosted by the Atlantic Council on July 12 expressed their full-throated support for the Alliance. “Congress has your backs,” said […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 12, 2018

Iceland’s NATO-Skeptic Leader Says Security is About More Than Just the Military

By David Wemer

NATO and the international community must focus on more than just military strength when discussing security, Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir said in Brussels on July 12 at the NATO Engages event co-hosted by the Atlantic Council. “I personally think this is the view of the future,” she said. “I think we need to look […]

NATO Northern Europe
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nato/43295441252/

NATOSource

Jul 12, 2018

Trump Believes US ‘Paying a Lot of Money to Protect’ NATO Allies

By Donald Trump and Jens Stoltenberg, White House

[Excerpts from remarks by President Donald Trump and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, June 11, 2018.]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

The Trump-Merkel Showdown

By Mark Fischer and Mark Simakovsky

Managing a growing rift within NATO US President Donald J. Trump traveled to Europe this week with his rhetorical guns loaded, taking aim at NATO allies for failing to adequately pay for their own defense. The primary target of Trump’s ire is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Despite positive trajectories in both German and NATO allies’ […]

Germany NATO

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

NATO’s Jamie Shea Signs Off On a Positive Note… And With Some Advice

By Ashish Kumar Sen

At a time where there are so many doubts about NATO at the political level, the paradox is that the Alliance on July 11 came out with a communique—agreed to by all member states—that is “the most substantive… the most complete, the most consensual,” notes Jamie Shea, NATO’s outgoing deputy assistant secretary general for emerging […]

NATO Security & Defense

In the News

Jul 11, 2018

Benitez Quoted in the New York Times on Trump’s Relations with NATO and Putin

By Jorge Benitez

Read the full article here.

NATO Russia

In the News

Jul 11, 2018

Vershbow Quoted in Quartz on Trump’s Relations with NATO Allies and Putin

By Alexander Vershbow

Read the full article here.

NATO Russia

In the News

Jul 11, 2018

Vershbow Quoted in Daily Express on the Defense Capabilities of NATO and Europe

By Alexander Vershbow

Read the full article here.

European Union International Organizations

Experts

Events