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

In the News

Jul 11, 2018

Burrows Quoted in Axios on Trump, NATO, and Global Peace

By Matthew Burrows

Read the full article here.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

NATO Ministers Preach Unity, But Divisions Persist

By David Wemer

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen stressed the importance of unity in the Alliance during a panel discussion in Brussels on July 11. Although each of the ministers implored the Alliance to find common ground on the challenges facing the bloc, divergent views […]

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StoltenbergEngagesFeature

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

NATO’s Stoltenberg Credits Trump as Allies Increase Defense Spending

By David Wemer

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on July 11 credited US President Donald J. Trump for pushing a “clear message” that allies need to invest more in their national defense, and argued that real increases in spending have been a direct result of this push. Stoltenberg spoke at NATO Engages: The Brussels Summit Dialogue, the official […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2018

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Stands Up for NATO

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on July 11 delivered a resounding defense of NATO—the transatlantic military alliance that today grapples with external as well as internal challenges—and sought to address questions of burden sharing noting that it is the quality of the output rather than the quantity of the input that actually matters. “A lot […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 10, 2018

The United States Should ‘Recommit to NATO’

By Atlantic Council

Interview with Daniel Fried, a distinguished senior fellow at the Atlantic Council On the eve of the NATO Summit in Brussels on July 11 and 12, Daniel Fried, a distinguished senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Future Europe Initiative and Eurasia Center, laid out what he wants from the meeting: “I want to see [the […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 10, 2018

Nord Stream 2 is a Bad Deal for Europe

By Agnia Grigas and Lukas Trakimavičius

This week, Western leaders will gather at the NATO Summit in Brussels to discuss the most pressing issues of the day, likely including the construction of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline. The pipeline, owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, would significantly increase Moscow’s capacity to export natural gas directly to Germany. Nord Stream […]

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NATOSource

Jul 10, 2018

Sixteen Former Foreign Ministers Send Letter to Trump Calling for Unity at NATO Summit

By Nahal Toosi, Politico

Madeleine Albright and 15 other former foreign ministers from around the world are urging President Donald Trump to shore up America’s “deteriorating relationship” with its Western allies

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Jul 10, 2018

‘We’ve Got a Good News Story to Tell’

By Teri Schultz

Interview with NATO’s James Appathurai It’s no secret people are nervous at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, and not just with jitters that would be normal ahead of any major event with the eyes of the world upon it. With twenty-nine heads of state and government on their way to the Alliance’s sleek new headquarters, there […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 10, 2018

NATO’s 2 percent guideline: What about the United States?

By Steven Grundman

At the NATO summit four years ago, the allies declared their commitment to “reverse the trend of declining defense budgets, to make the most effective use of our funds and to further a more balanced sharing of costs and responsibilities.” To that end, the heads of state and government gathered in Wales that summer recommitted themselves […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Jul 10, 2018

NATO Needs to Get Smarter About AI

By Karlijn Jans

The United States’ complaint that few of its allies meet the 2 percent of GDP defense spending goal is likely to dominate the discourse at the NATO Summit in Brussels on July 11 and 12. While adequate burden sharing is important to maintain credible capabilities, this discussion will distract from what else is happening in […]

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