On both sides of the Atlantic, new political and security realities have re-emphasized the need for NATO to take bold and innovative steps to adapt to today’s strategic environment. The Alliance is grappling with a revanchist Russia to its east, an arc of instability to its south, and an array of internal challenges, including burden-sharing and political tensions, coupled with new, unconventional US leadership. Through a series of publications and events, this major project seeks to outline a ‘new deal’ for NATO, comprised of practical and policy-relevant recommendations to tackle today’s challenges, focusing on European defense spending and capabilities, counterterrorism, Alliance decision-making, intelligence cooperation, and other crucial aspects. This body of work will be especially relevant surrounding NATO’s 2017 Brussels Summit.

For many years, the Council has played a significant role across NATO’s historic summits, leading unique programming on the margins of the summits and serving as an official public diplomacy partner. Building on our work at the 2016 NATO Warsaw Summit, the Transatlantic Security Initiative is also compiling a “report card” to break down the Warsaw decisions, track their implementation, and outline the implications for NATO’s future. As the Alliance begins to look forward to this year’s mini-summit, the Initiative will also focus on the priorities and issue sets for this critical leaders’ meeting, with programming in Washington, Brussels, and other key European capitals.