Security & Defense

Global Trends and International Security

By Derek Reveron

Understanding how the world works is key for developing a sound national security policy. The security environment provides the context for developing strategy and building forces to advance and defend national interests. At the same time, strategy shapes the security environment and is shaped by it. For example, a strategy that emphasizes global trade can […]

Is NATO Deterring Itself?

By Julian Lindley-French

Is NATO deterring itself? A two day meeting here in a searingly hot Rome on NATO’s Deterrence and Defense Posture Review (DDPR) reaffirmed to me the deep transatlantic gulf over NATO’s twenty-first century role. Sadly, no answer will be found to NATO’s existential twenty-first century question: is the Alliance integral to America’s world view or […]

In the United States-Pakistan Impasse the Winner Is Russia

By Sarwar Kashmeri

The continuing impasse between the United States and Pakistan over the accidental killing by American forces of 24 Pakistani soldiers last November means Pakistani territory is off-limits for the evacuation of American and NATO military equipment from Afghanistan.

Cyber Weapons We Can’t Control

By Misha Glenny, the New York Times

From Misha Glenny, the New York Times:  The decision by the United States and Israel to develop and then deploy the Stuxnet computer worm against an Iranian nuclear facility late in George W. Bush’s presidency marked a significant and dangerous turning point in the gradual militarization of the Internet.

U.S., Israel developed Flame computer virus to slow Iranian nuclear efforts, officials say

By Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller, and Julie Tate, the Washington Post

From Ellen Nakashima, Greg Miller, and Julie Tate, the Washington Post:  The United States and Israel jointly developed a sophisticated computer virus nicknamed Flame that collected intelligence in preparation for cyber-sabotage aimed at slowing Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon

Future Challenges of the Netherlands Navy in NATO

On June 19, the Atlantic Council hosted Vice Admiral Matthieu Borsboom, commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy, for a roundtable discussion on the future challenges of the Netherlands Navy in a NATO/European context.

The Future of NATO Lies in Central Europe?

By Jan Hamacek and Jakub Kulhanek

The popular belief holds that the future of NATO rests on the strength of the Euro-Atlantic bond, any weakening of which is interpreted as a potential death knell for the Alliance. The ongoing debate on the purported declining interest of the US in Europe in favor of the Asia-Pacific region clearly illustrates this strategic anxiety; […]