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

Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, December 4, 2013

NATOSource

Aug 22, 2014

NATO Warns of Russia Moving Artillery Units and Special Forces Into Ukraine

By NATO and New York Times

From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO:  I condemn the entry of a Russian so-called humanitarian convoy into Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian authorities and without any involvement of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

NATO Russia
Sweden and Finland are NATO Partners

NATOSource

Aug 22, 2014

Special Summit Series: Sweden, Finland, and NATO

By Magnus Nordenman

Over the last decade Sweden and Finland have emerged as NATO’s arguably best operational partners.

International Security Assistance Force NATO
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, April 10, 2014

NATOSource

Aug 21, 2014

Beyond Ukraine: NATO Solidarity in a Time of Crisis

By Bohuslav Sobotka, Foreign Policy

[I]t is important that NATO members see the alliance’s security guarantees as a two-way street, not only in bringing benefits in the form of extra security, but also responsibilities.

Afghanistan Central Europe
NATO AGS

NATOSource

Aug 21, 2014

Drone Maker Northrop Grumman Eyes Europe Orders

By Robert Wall, Wall Street Journal

Northrop Grumman Corp. is betting the introduction of high-altitude surveillance drones within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will help trigger orders for dozens of such aircraft from European armed forces.

Drones Germany

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2014

At NATO summit, the Alliance should re-affirm role of its nuclear arms

By New Atlanticist

As NATO leaders prepare for their annual summit conference in two weeks, they should be ready to re-affirm the importance to the Alliance of nuclear weapons, including US nuclear warheads deployed in Europe, several Atlantic Council analysts say in two new essays. Three Atlantic Council board directors who served as top presidential advisers on security […]

NATO Nuclear Nonproliferation
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Oct. 22, 2010

NATOSource

Aug 21, 2014

Special Summit Series: Germany and NATO

By Robin Allers

At NATO’s summit in Cardiff, Wales, Germany will be at the center of attention. Not because allies expect bold initiatives or major policy changes from Berlin, but because of Germany’s role as Europe’s undisputed leader.

Afghanistan Germany
Russian destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov

NATOSource

Aug 20, 2014

Russia Vows to Strengthen Navy to Ward Off NATO

By Dmitry Zaks, AFP

Russia announced plans Tuesday to bolster its navy with more advanced weapons in response to NATO’s vow to halt the Kremlin’s push into Ukraine and feared expansion into eastern Europe.

NATO Russia

In the News

Aug 20, 2014

Benitez: NATO Eyes ‘Alliance Assurance’ Force

By Jorge Benitez

Scowcroft Center Senior Fellow and NATOSource Director Jorge Benitez writes for Defense News on a potential reform to come out of the NATO summit in Wales: 

NATO Security & Defense
Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, June 25, 2014

NATOSource

Aug 19, 2014

Secretary General: Independent Scotland Would Have to Apply to Join NATO

By BBC

An independent Scotland would have to apply to Nato as a new state, secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said.

NATO Security & Defense

Defense Industrialist

Aug 19, 2014

On the Arrogance of Should-Cost

By James Hasik

Better outcomes in military procurement still await a better-educated workforce. In April 2010, then-Under Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter promulgated the first version of his Better Buying Power concept, which mandated (amongst other things) “should-cost” reviews for major procurements. The strategy aims to determine what a weapon should cost, if the government and the contractors […]

NATO Security & Defense

Experts

Events