NATO

NATO

From July 7 to 8, heads of state and government will gather at the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, where allies will seek to capitalize on the success of last year’s landmark defense spending pledge and begin converting cash into capabilities. Check out our commentary, analysis, and events covering the convening, courtesy of our experts.

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

Afghanistan: Can’t Afford to Lose, Can’t Afford to Fight

Dispatches
Apr 20, 2026

Five ideas to make the upcoming NATO Summit in Ankara a success

By
Atlantic Council experts

While the upcoming summit is unlikely to produce anything as singularly significant as 2025’s “5 percent” pledge, there are important steps the Alliance should take.

Europe & Eurasia
NATO

Afghanistan: Can’t Afford to Lose, Can’t Afford to Fight

Dispatches
Apr 10, 2026

Dispatch from Vilnius: Warfare is evolving rapidly. Here’s how NATO can keep up.

By
David Julazadeh, Julia Salabert

The most important change is that the cost barrier to generating strategic effects has dropped dramatically.

Defense Industry
Europe & Eurasia

Afghanistan: Can’t Afford to Lose, Can’t Afford to Fight

Dispatches
Jan 21, 2026

To adapt to today’s security threats, NATO should prioritize the basics of defense innovation

Transatlantic allies must focus on accelerating defense innovation while strengthening their defense industrial bases.

Defense Industry
Defense Policy

Afghanistan: Can’t Afford to Lose, Can’t Afford to Fight

New Atlanticist
Jun 27, 2025

Four fundamental questions the NATO Summit did not answer

By
Torrey Taussig

Over the coming months, NATO allies will have to wrestle with questions about the US commitment to Europe, their shared approach to China, and more.

Conflict
Defense Industry

Afghanistan: Can’t Afford to Lose, Can’t Afford to Fight

Inflection Points
Jun 26, 2025

Dispatch from The Hague: It’s been Trump’s week in Europe and Iran

By
Frederick Kempe

What connects the recent events in Iran and at the NATO Summit is that they won’t be remembered for the threats countered but rather for the opportunities seized.

Europe & Eurasia
Iran

Afghanistan: Can’t Afford to Lose, Can’t Afford to Fight

Fast Thinking
Jun 25, 2025

Trump warmed to NATO at The Hague. But what about Ukraine?

By
Atlantic Council

Allies reiterated their commitment to collective defense. But absent from the communiqué was any mention of how Russia’s war against Ukraine should end.

Europe & Eurasia
NATO

FEATURED EVENTS

Public Event
Fri, April 17, 2026 • 11:45 am ET

The British ambassador to the US on Euro-Atlantic security and the Middle East

British Ambassador to the United States Sir Christian Turner joins the Atlantic Council to discuss the UK’s ongoing diplomatic efforts in the Middle East and its vision for the future of Euro-Atlantic security cooperation.

Europe & Eurasia
Iran
Middle East
NATO


Online Event
Tue, April 7, 2026 • 10:00 am ET

US-Turkish defense relations and the upcoming NATO Summit

A discussion on the new era for the bilateral US-Turkish defense relationship and the significance of the 2026 NATO Summit in Ankara.

Defense Industry
Defense Policy
Europe & Eurasia
Geopolitics & Energy Security


Public Event
Thu, December 4, 2025 • 2:00 pm ET

General Aurelio Colagrande on preparing NATO for the challenges of tomorrow

The deputy supreme allied commander transformation talks about shaping the Alliance’s future through foresight and innovation.

Defense Policy
National Security
NATO
United States and Canada


TUNE IN

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.

Learn more

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.

Learn more

Content

New Atlanticist

Oct 20, 2008

Afghanistan: Can’t Afford to Lose, Can’t Afford to Fight

By James Easaw

The ongoing global financial crisis has truly turned a war that NATO can’t afford to lose, the ongoing struggle against the forces of extremism in Afghanistan, into a war that it may not be able to afford.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Oct 17, 2008

NATO Enlargement: The Unanswered Question

By James Joyner

FAS’ Steven Aftergood draws our attention to “NATO Enlargement: Albania, Croatia, and Possible Future Candidates,” [PDF] a recent study by the Congressional Research Service.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 16, 2008

NATO in Kosovo: 10 Years Later

By James Easaw

In the wake of UN Security Council Resolutions 1160 and 1199 of March and September 1998, the international community grappled with how to deal with the atrocities being perpetrated in a little known province of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) called Kosovo.  A decade later, Kosovo, an independent state in Europe, has been moved […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 8, 2008

NATO Expansion: Time for a Deep Breath

By Nikolas Gvosdev

Let’s get a few things off our chests. The Germans are still goose-steppers who would warm up the panzers in an instant to engage in a fifth partition of Poland with their Red Army counterparts. The French are cheese-eating surrender monkeys who want to appease the big bad bear of the East. The Italians (or […]

Germany NATO

New Atlanticist

Oct 8, 2008

Why Britain Wants Talks with the Taliban

By Jeffrey Lightfoot

A split has emerged between London and Washington over the best way forward in Afghanistan. Over the last week, British diplomats and military commanders have expressed growing doubts about the success of the current NATO strategy. Faced with an imminent change in leadership in the White House and an increasingly deadly stalemate in Afghanistan, London […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 26, 2008

Untying NATO’s Hands: Why the Alliance Needs an Energy Policy

By James Easaw

Since Russia’s August invasion and occupation of Georgia, the short and long term implications have been much debated.  Is Russia reasserting itself in an attempt to become the global power that its predecessor the USSR was?  What’s going on inside Putin’s head?  Is Russia a “rational actor?”  What should NATO do about Ukraine?

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 26, 2008

Foreign Policy Debate: Obama vs. McCain

By Neil Leslie

John McCain and Barack Obama are expected to talk this evening about foreign policy and national security in the first of three Presidential debates scheduled in the run-up to the election. In a 90-minute segment broadcast to tens of millions of people, the two candidates will each deliver a vision for the future of U.S. […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 22, 2008

Wake Up, Gassiev is Calling!

By David Smith

In the predawn hours of August 7, Russia invaded Georgia.  Gassiev, a border guard of the separatist regime in the Georgian territory of South Ossetia, was at the southern end of the Roki Tunnel that leads from Russia.  At 3:52 a.m., he used his mobile telephone to tell his supervisor: “The armor and people . […]

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 22, 2008

NATO’s Tunnel Vision: Seeing Beyond Russia

By Nikolas Gvosdev

Perusing the media reports after the meeting of NATO defense ministers in London, I was most struck by what did not appear. For instance, no apparent discussion about what is a growing threat to the economic security of the entire Euro-Atlantic world—the increasing ability of both “rogue states” and non-state actors (warlords, rebels and terrorist […]

NATO Russia

New Atlanticist

Sep 15, 2008

Cold War II

By James Joyner

The dramatic escalation in tensions between NATO and Russia that followed the West’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence from Serbia and, especially, Russia’s invasion of Georgia, have many analysts fearing a return to the bad old days of the Cold War.   Jim Townsend, the Atlantic Council’s vice president for international security programs, declared to a C-SPAN […]

NATO Russia
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Experts

Fellow

Anca Agachi

Nonresident Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Africa Conflict

Staff

Nika Aleksejeva

Resident Fellow, Baltics

Digital Forensic Research Lab

Belarus Disinformation

Millennium fellow

Kirk Allen

Digital Communications Lead, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems

Millennium Leadership Program

Middle East NATO Partnerships

Fellow

Lukas Andriukaitis

Nonresident Fellow

Digital Forensic Research Lab

Disinformation Eastern Europe

Fellow

Ryan Arick

Nonresident Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

NATO Security & Defense

Fellow

Lisa Aronsson

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Europe & Eurasia NATO
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Events

Public Event Tue, April 28, 2026 • 10:15 am ET

Belgium’s defense minister on the future of transatlantic security relations
Defense Policy Europe & Eurasia NATO Politics & Diplomacy