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

New Atlanticist

Jun 3, 2016

NATO’s Warsaw Summit: ‘Failure is Not an Option’

By Mitch Hulse

NATO’s Warsaw summit in July is shaping up to be one of the most consequential in the alliance’s history, NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow said on June 3 while noting the growing challenges on Europe’s southern and eastern flanks. “We face one of the most challenging security environments in decades,” Vershbow said. “We have […]

European Union International Organizations

Issue Brief

Jun 3, 2016

A US strategy for building defense and deterrence in the Baltic states

By DAMON WILSON AND MAGNUS NORDENMAN

Since the start of the Ukraine crisis, the Baltic States have come into sharp focus as a key friction zone between a much more assertive Russia on the one hand, and the United States, NATO, and the broader transatlantic community on the other. NATO and the United States have made promising first steps to better […]

NATO Northern Europe

In the News

Jun 3, 2016

Gramer Quoted by AftenPosten on NATO’s Role in the US Presidential Elections

By Robert Gramer

Read the full article here.

Elections NATO

Issue Brief

Jun 3, 2016

Countering Russian aggression in Eastern Europe

By JONATHAN P. DUNNE

The past decade has witnessed a marked increase in Russian aggression and assertiveness. Many Eastern European nations, the Baltic States in particular, have recognized this disturbing and fundamental change in the European security environment and are responding both nationally and multilaterally. In “Countering Russian Aggression in Eastern Europe,” Jonathan P. Dunne, the Scowcroft Center’s US […]

Eastern Europe NATO

New Atlanticist

Jun 2, 2016

Polish Foreign Minister Seeks ‘Substantial’ NATO Buildup on Europe’s Eastern Flank

By Ashish Kumar Sen

NATO should undertake a “substantial” military buildup in Poland and the Baltic States to address the challenge posed by an “aggressive” and “revisionist” Russia, Poland’s Foreign Minister, Witold Waszczykowski, said on June 2. “NATO’s keyword should be deterrence…not as an offensive measure, but rather as the most effective and, in fact, only instrument of peacebuilding,” […]

Eastern Europe NATO

In the News

Jun 1, 2016

Nordenman in USNI News: Larger NATO Baltic Sea Exercise Sends Important Message to Russia

By Magnus Nordenman

Read the full article here.

NATO Security & Defense

UkraineAlert

May 31, 2016

Exposing Russia’s False NATO Narrative

By Stephen Blank

A staple of Russian, pro-Russian, and so-called realist narratives is that NATO not only reneged on its promises to not enlarge after German reunification, it also rebuffed all Russian efforts to integrate with the organization. To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, it is pretty to think so—but that is not the truth. As Mikhail Gorbachev himself said, […]

NATO Russia

Defense Industrialist

May 31, 2016

State secretaries on supply and demand

By James Hasik

Learnings on comparative defense-industrial strategy during lunch two NATO defense ministry officials Last week the Atlantic Council hosted senior defense-industrial officials from Germany and Turkey for discussions about their evolving plans. Taking the time to reread their biographies, we remembered that some of NATO’s member states are clearly finding accomplished people to run military materiel […]

Defense Industry Germany
British frigate HMS Cornwall, July 8, 2009

NATOSource

May 27, 2016

NATO Official Says ‘Lack of Ships’ is a Growing Problem for Allies

By Martin Banks, Defense News

Jamie Shea, deputy assistant secretary general for emerging security challenges, also says a “lack of ships” is a growing problem for NATO members.

NATO Security & Defense

In the News

May 27, 2016

Herbst Quoted by CNN on Russia’s Potential Reactions to NATO

By John Herbst

Read the full article here.

NATO Russia

Experts