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

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu & Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Nov. 30. 2015

NATOSource

Dec 18, 2015

NATO Sending Planes and Ships to Strengthen Turkey’s Air Defenses

By Robin Emmott, Reuters

NATO allies agreed on Friday to send aircraft and ships to Turkey to strengthen Ankara’s air defences on its border with Syria, the alliance’s chief said, a package that is partly designed to avoid any more shoot-downs of Russian planes.

NATO Russia
Secretary of Defense (at the time) Chuck Hagel, April 4, 2013

NATOSource

Dec 18, 2015

Hagel Critiques Obama’s Policies on Syria and Russia

By Dan De Luce, Foreign Policy

[At the time Secretary of Defence Chuck] Hagel wrote a two-page memo to [National Security Advisor Susan] Rice and [Secretary of State John] Kerry — and copied the president — saying the administration needed to decide on its approach to the conflict in Syria and its stance toward the Assad regime.

NATO Russia
NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Gen. Denis Mercier

NATOSource

Dec 15, 2015

NATO Commander: Alliance Must Adapt To Evolving Geostrategic Threats

By Denis Mercier, Defense News

A major shift has taken place in our geopolitical and security environment.

NATO NATO Partnerships
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Dec. 2, 2015

NATOSource

Dec 14, 2015

NATO Chief Stoltenberg: ‘Now Is the Time To Invest in Our Defense’

By Jens Stoltenberg, Defense News

We are facing the biggest security challenges in a generation. They are complex, interrelated and come from many directions.

NATO Russia
Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide, June 25, 2014

NATOSource

Dec 14, 2015

Norway’s Defense Minister: It’s Time to Boost NATO’s Maritime Profile

By Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, Defense News

We need to raise NATO’s profile in the maritime domain. This requires maritime power and presence.

Europe & Eurasia NATO
SACEUR Gen. Philip Breedlove, May 21, 2015

NATOSource

Dec 11, 2015

SACEUR Breedlove Looks Back as He Charts NATO’s New Path

By John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes

For NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove, the intelligence coming into his headquarters pointed to a watershed moment for European security, but not everyone wanted to see it that way.

NATO Russia

In the News

Dec 11, 2015

Benitez on UN-Russian Relations

By Jorge Benitez

Stars and Stripes quotes Brent Scowcroft Center Senior Fellow and NATOSource Director Jorge Benitez on NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Phillip Breedlove’s approach toward Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s intervention in Ukraine:

NATO Russia
Gen. Ben Hodges, Commander of US Army Europe, Dec. 9, 2015

NATOSource

Dec 10, 2015

Russia Could Block Access to Baltic Sea, US General Says

By Defense One, Defense News, and Army News Service

From Marcus Weisgerber, Defense One:  Russia has moved ballistic missiles to and conducted nuclear strike drills from its Kaliningrad exclave, prompting Pentagon fears that Moscow could block access to the Baltic Sea.

Central Europe Hungary
Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, March 25, 2014

NATOSource

Dec 9, 2015

NATO Moves Forward with Montenegro

By Janusz Bugajski & Srdjan Darmanovic, American Interest

Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin has been adamantly opposed to further NATO enlargement. Following NATO’s invitation to Montenegro, Russian officials immediately asserted that they would be forced to react.

NATO Russia

In the News

Dec 9, 2015

Grigas: Russia’s Motives in the Baltic State

By Agina Grigas

Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Agnia Grigas writes for the Foreign Policy Research Institute on Russia’s use of influence in the Baltic States to attempt to destabilize NATO:

NATO Russia

Experts

Events