Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

In Year of Summits, Weighing the Benefits and Challenges of NATO-GCC Cooperation

By Owen Daniels

The passports of high-ranking NATO and GCC officials seem to tell a tale of impending dialogue in the coming days. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg’s recent flights to Kuwait, the UAE, and Washington, and Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary General Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al-Zayani’s visit to Brussels presage talk of the GCC working with NATO […]

President Obama and GCC Leaders: Let’s Talk about Jobs

By Richard LeBaron

When President Barack Obama meets his Gulf Cooperation counterparts in Riyadh on April 21, he will yet again reassure them about the US commitment to Gulf security and once again they will work through a litany of regional issues, focusing on Syria, Yemen, and Iran.  There is little expectation of startling results, and given the […]

The United States Has No Gulf Allies

By Bilal Y. Saab

The word “ally” is used far too casually in Washington’s Middle East lexicon. It’s time to break this bad habit, because the truth is that with the exception of Turkey—a NATO member—the United States does not share a single alliance with any Middle Eastern country. As the US-GCC summit in Riyadh approaches, understanding what really constitutes an alliance […]

Working in Tandem on Syria

By Frederic C. Hof

From the beginning of the Syrian crisis Washington and key GCC players have approached the problem with fundamentally differing priorities inspired by one key player: Iran. For Riyadh in particular, the salient feature of Syria’s agony and destruction has been Tehran’s aggressive, aggrandizing reach into the Arab world. For Washington, reaching a nuclear agreement with […]

Jones Testifies Before Senate Appropriations Committee on Violent Extremism and the Role of Foreign Assistance

By James L. Jones

Read the full testimony here.

Navy Espionage for an A2AD Age

By Steven Horrell

US Navy Flight Officer may have jeopardized intelligence gathering capabilities News trickled out this weekend about a US Navy Officer charged with espionage who may have jeopardized significant intelligence collection capabilities and sensitive operations because of the access he had to patrol and reconnaissance aircraft. The Officer, who has been identified (although not officially confirmed […]

Innovation, leadership, and national security

By Franklin D. Kramer and James A. Wrightson, Jr.

This report proposes that both the US government and the American private sector take significant steps to encourage innovation beyond what the United States, already an innovative society, has successfully accomplished.

Impressions from a Trip to Japan

For one week in February, an Atlantic Council team and peers from Washington-based academic institutions and think tanks visited Tokyo, Hiroshima, Saijo, and Miyajima to learn about the culture, traditions, and international policies of Japan. We attended meetings with representatives of government agencies, private companies, and local think tanks. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sponsored […]