WASHINGTON – The Atlantic Council has announced an initiative that will engage and support the future generation of women global leaders in international security. Officially launched at the Council’s third annual Global Citizen Awards dinner in New York City on Friday, the women’s initiative will be housed in the Council’s newly-inaugurated Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security.

Through specially-designed programming, dialogue, networking, and mentorship, the initiative will integrate women more fully into policy discussions on international security; strengthen diversity in policymaking circles; raise the visibility and voice of global women security leaders; and develop the next generation of women security decision-makers.

This initiative is generously supported by Atlantic Council Board Director Adrienne Arsht and co-chaired by Scowcroft Center Vice Chair Ellen Tauscher, Laura Liswood, and Mary Howell.

“Our goal is to strengthen the role of women in Atlantic Council programming and to form a core advisory group for world leaders on critical international policy issues,” said Ellen Tauscher, a strategic advisor with Baker Donelson and formerly under secretary of state for arms control and international security and special envoy for strategic stability and missile defense. “I am looking forward to stewarding this important effort with my fellow co-chairs to amplify the role of women in international security.”

The Council’s new Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security—under the chairmanship of former National Security Advisor General James L. Jones, Jr.—will engage traditional transatlantic allies and global partners on meeting the urgent policy demands of a dramatically changing world.

Named after the nation’s only two-time National Security Advisor General Brent Scowcroft, the Center will replace the Council’s current International Security Program and build an expanded staff of experts to increase the Council’s capacity to address cutting-edge regional and global security issues. The Scowcroft Center will continue the Council’s long-standing focus on NATO and the transatlantic partnership, while also responding to ‘over the horizon’ regional and functional security challenges to the United States, its allies, and its partners.

This year’s Global Citizen Awards dinner in New York City recognized the outstanding achievements of Burmese politician and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, former Secretary of State and Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger, former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, and musician-humanitarian Quincy Jones. Presented annually, the awards recognize visionary global leaders who embody the Council’s mission to renew the transatlantic community for global challenges and provide solutions to our most critical international challenges.