Ankara Summit Content Series

These articles are part of a series featuring Atlantic Council experts’ analysis and recommendations on the key challenges facing allies at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, and beyond.

TRACKING NATO SPENDING


Trackers and Data Visualizations

Jun 20, 2025

NATO defense spending tracker

By
Kristen Taylor, Julia Salabert

The Transatlantic Security Initiative’s NATO defense spending tracker delves into data and figures to analyze current defense spending trends.

Europe & Eurasia
NATO

FEATURED READING

FEATURED EVENTS

TUNE IN

ARCHIVES: THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL ON THE ROAD TO THE NATO SUMMIT

Programs and initiatives

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.

Within the Atlantic Council’s longstanding commitment to strengthening the transatlantic relationship, the Atlantic Council Turkey Program conducts research, provides thought leadership, and offers a platform for strategic dialogue between the US, Turkey, and NATO allies to address the region’s toughest challenges and explore opportunities, including in the fields of energy, business & trade, technology, defense, and security.

Content

Event Recap

Oct 3, 2016

Stability Operations: 2020 and Beyond

By Lauren Speranza and Marija Vaicekauskaite

As new waves of turmoil erupt across the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe’s southern borders, getting cooperative crisis management right will be critical for the future of transatlantic and international security. To tackle this challenge, on October 3rd and 4th, the Atlantic Council, in partnership with NATO Allied Command Transformation, hosted a special two-day […]

NATO Security & Defense

Event Recap

Sep 30, 2016

America’s Role in the World with Anders Fogh Rasmussen

By Strategy Initiative

In his book The Will To Lead, Secretary General Rasmussen reviews current geopolitical events — the Arab Spring, the Iranian nuclear deal, the Russian annexation of Crimea, and the invasion of Ukraine — and critically analyzes the strategy and decision-making of Prseident Obama and his secretaries of state. Rasmussen looks at past presidents to identify the […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

New Atlanticist

Sep 29, 2016

NATO ‘Best Deal’ the United States Has Ever Made

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warns against placing conditions on defense of allies In a thinly veiled swipe at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a former secretary general of NATO, said on September 29 that it is in the United States’ best interests to be the world’s “policeman,” and it […]

Economy & Business Libya
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, Sept. 26, 2016

NATOSource

Sep 29, 2016

Secretary of Defense: NATO is Updating its ‘Nuclear Playbook’ to Deter Russia

By DoD News and Department of Defense

From Jim Garamone, DoD News:  Defense Secretary Ash Carter kicked off a visit to DoD’s nuclear deterrence enterprise

Korea NATO
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, June 3, 2014

NATOSource

Sep 26, 2016

Europe’s Misguided Plan for a New Joint Military Headquarters

By Jorge Benitez, National Interest

The recent campaign by Juncker, Mogherini, and the governments of France and Germany for an EU military headquarters is a regrettable step in the wrong direction.

European Union France
British military exercice, Feb. 19, 2016

NATOSource

Sep 22, 2016

Seeking to Protect NATO, Britain Could Yet Thwart EU Defense Plans

By Robin Emmott and Andrea Shalal, Reuters

Britain will resist new European Union defense proposals if it feels they undermine NATO, British officials say, in a warning to France and Germany that London will defend its military interests even as it negotiates to leave the EU bloc.

European Union Germany

Event Recap

Sep 22, 2016

Enhancing US-Nordic Defense Cooperation

By Lauren Speranza & Marija Vaicekauskaite

On September 22, the Atlantic Council hosted a private lunch discussion on US-Nordic defense cooperation. The session featured keynote remarks by Finland’s Chief of Defense General Jarmo Lindberg and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Jukka Juusti, and a moderated discussion led by Atlantic Council board director Dov Zakheim. As Finland continues to prepare […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Report

Sep 22, 2016

Global risks 2035: the search for a new normal

By Mathew J. Burrows

What will the world be like in 2035? The forecast seems dire. In the four years since Global Trends 2030 was published, the biggest change in the world is the increased risk of major conflict.

China NATO
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, June 18, 2012

NATOSource

Sep 21, 2016

The United States Must Be the World’s Policeman

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Wall Street Journal

Barely had I been seated before Vladimir Putin told me that NATO—the organization that I then headed—no longer had any purpose and should be disbanded.

NATO Northern Europe
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin, May 10, 2015

NATOSource

Sep 21, 2016

Russian Hackers Linked to Another Cyber Campaign Targeting Political Parties in Germany

By AFP and Deutsche Welle

From AFP:  German political parties have fallen victim to a new round of cyber attacks, documents showed Wednesday, after Berlin’s domestic spy agency accused Russia of a series of operations aimed at spying and sabotage.

Cybersecurity Germany

Experts