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

Meeting room at NATO summit in Wales, Sept. 3, 2014

NATOSource

May 10, 2016

Five Former Secretary Generals of NATO: Brexit will Undermine the Alliance

By The Telegraph

In a letter to the Telegraph, fiver former secretary generals of NATO urge the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union.

European Union International Organizations
Troops participating in NATO Noble Jump exercise, June 14, 2015

NATOSource

May 6, 2016

Restoring Conventional Deterrence in Europe: How to Climb Out of the Joint Security Trap

By Jeffrey A. Stacey

Russia is currently riding high on the geostrategic landscape, despite a trove of domestic economic woes that stem partly from Western sanctions.

NATO Russia
NATO exercise in Baltic Sea, May 29, 2015

NATOSource

May 6, 2016

The Case for a More Robust NATO Presence in the Baltic Sea

By Franklin D. Kramer and Magnus Nordenman

NATO has also begun to plan and exercise for maritime contingencies in the region, with additional bilateral and national exercises as complements.

France Germany

New Atlanticist

May 6, 2016

Why NATO Allies Should Be Worried About the Scottish Elections

By John Johnston

NATO partners must take a closer look at the defense policies of Scottish political parties in the wake of the Scottish National Party’s historic election victory on May 5 and its leader’s declaration that she reserves the right to hold a second independence referendum if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union “against our will.” […]

NATO Nuclear Nonproliferation

Issue Brief

May 6, 2016

NATO’s next consortium: Maritime patrol aircraft

By Magnus Nordenman

Airborne systems to provide MDA, and maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs) in particular, stand out among the most important and urgent maritime requirements. Maritime patrol aircraft fulfill a number of roles, from high-end Anti-Submarine Warfare and Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) to maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), and search and rescue at sea. NATO members must now recapture these capabilities and invest in a robust maritime patrol aircraft fleet.

Europe & Eurasia Maritime Security
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, March 7, 2009

NATOSource

May 6, 2016

Russia Warns Sweden About NATO Membership, May Deploy Missiles

By Dagen Nyheter and RT

From Dagens Nyheter:  Excerpts from Michael Winiarski interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

NATO NATO Partnerships
Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas, August 31, 2015

NATOSource

May 5, 2016

Baltic Allies Seek US Help to Build Air Defense System

By Kevin Baron, Defense One

Russia’s razor-close fighter jet flybys of a U.S. destroyer in the Baltic Sea this week shows that Moscow is weak, NATO is vital, and Europe’s eastern flank needs the new air defense systems Baltic leaders have been requesting for a year.

Missile Defense NATO
Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, May 3, 2016

NATOSource

May 4, 2016

NATO’s New Commander: ‘Ready To Fight If Deterrence Fails’

By Charles Recknagel, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

NATO has a new supreme commander, whose job is to strengthen it as a defense force after years of reductions of U.S. troops in Europe.

NATO Security & Defense
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter and Gen. Joseph Dunford, May. 3, 2016

NATOSource

May 3, 2016

Secretary of Defense Carter: Russia’s Loose Talk about Nuclear Weapons is ‘Most Disturbing’

By AP and Fox News

From AP: Defense Secretary Ash Carter used a U.S. military changing-of-the-guard ceremony Tuesday to blast Russian aggression in Europe, saying Moscow is “going backward in time” with warlike actions that compel a U.S. military buildup on NATO’s eastern flank.

NATO Nuclear Nonproliferation
Exercise Iron Sword, Jan. 15, 2013

NATOSource

May 3, 2016

SACEUR: In a World of Instability, NATO is a Linchpin for Peace

By Philip M. Breedlove, Washington Post

The NATO alliance is arguably the most critical linchpin supporting stability on the continent that is home to the world’s largest integrated economy — and, incidentally, on the continent that has in the past century or so spawned the world’s most destructive conflicts.

NATO Russia

Experts

Events