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

Issue Brief

Jul 31, 2017

Left of launch: Countering theater ballistic missiles

By Herbert C. Kemp

NATO currently finds itself in an increasingly competitive international environment, with potential adversaries who field, among other things, progressively capable ballistic and cruise missile capabilities. This is particularly the case with Russia, which has proven itself capable of fielding conventional long- range strike capabilities that can reach far into NATO territory.

Missile Defense NATO

In the News

Jul 23, 2017

Braw in The National Interest – Mini-Battlegroups: How NATO Can Take On the Threats of the Future

By Elisabeth Braw

Read the full article here.

NATO Security & Defense

In the News

Jul 17, 2017

Ullman in UPI – The United States, NATO and Russia: War Games Two Can Play

By Harlan Ullman

Read the full article here.

NATO Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Jul 10, 2017

You can’t call the cavalry on two percent

By James Hasik

In a two-percent world, American plans against landward threats to Poland might be limited to aircraft, cruise missiles, and marines. For if the US government proportionately spent what European governments spent, there would be no cavalry riding to the rescue.

China Defense Policy

New Atlanticist

Jul 7, 2017

Trump States US Commitment to Europe, Article 5

US President Donald J. Trump’s speech in Poland ahead of the G20 summit on July 7 reassured allies and emphasized the importance of the transatlantic relationship, noting that a strong Europe is beneficial for the United States and the whole of the West. “When your nations are strong, all the free nations of Europe are […]

NATO Poland

New Atlanticist

Jul 6, 2017

NATO Enhances its Eastern Front

By Teri Schultz

The Baltic States and Poland have long wanted an enduring NATO presence on their territories. Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014 convinced their allies they need it.  With plans approved at the Warsaw Summit in 2016, now the four countries each have a battle group of approximately 1,000 troops stationed on their territory. […]

NATO Security & Defense

NATOSource

Jul 6, 2017

Trump Declares His Administration Will ‘Firmly’ Defend NATO’s Article 5 Commitment

By Donald Trump, White House

On behalf of all Americans, let me also thank the entire Polish people for the generosity you have shown in welcoming our soldiers to your country.

NATO Poland

NATOSource

Jun 29, 2017

Mattis: ‘Russia Must Know… What We Will Not Tolerate’

By Jim Mattis, Department of Defense

Germany and the United States stand together, allied against threats to the peace and security of this continent, Canada and the United States and the disruption of harmony elsewhere.

Germany NATO

NATOSource

Jun 27, 2017

NATO Holds its Peace as Relations with Turkey Degrade

By Arthur Beesley, Financial Times

Kjell Brygfjeld, a 67-year-old commercial lawyer in Stavanger, the oil capital of Norway, never expected the aftershocks from last July’s failed military coup in Turkey to reach his door.

Germany NATO

In the News

Jun 22, 2017

Benitez Joins NPR to Discuss the Growing Military Standoff Between Russia and NATO

By Jorge Benitez

Listen to the full interview here.

NATO Security & Defense

Experts

Events