Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Assistant Secretary of State Countryman: The US “Will Sign” the UN Arms Trade Treaty

From March 8th through the 28th, the United Nations held a conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)—the last days of a seven-year effort to control the flow of small arms so that they do not end up in the hands of terrorists, organizations aimed at committing human rights abuses, and other malicious entities. The […]

Strategy Session on Transatlantic Defense with German Air Force Chief of Staff

On May 15, the Atlantic Council hosted Lieutenant General Karl Müllner, Germany’s Air Force chief of staff, for a strategy session about pertinent issues in transatlantic and German defense in an era of budget austerity and emerging security challenges.

Park-Obama Summit Bolsters US-ROK Alliance, Impacts Northeast Asia

By Robert Manning

Successful summits tend to be more about symbolism than substance.  South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s summit with US President Barack Obama certainly had its share of symbolism: the first foreign trip of the ROK’s new first woman President, 60th anniversary of the US-ROK alliance, and US-ROK messages to North Korea, to Japan and China. But Ms. […]

Europe’s Strategic Future: Implications of the Eurozone Crisis

By Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute

The Atlantic Council and the Royal United Services Institute have issued a joint publication entitled Europe’s Strategic Future: Implications of the Eurozone Crisis. The report features perspectives from the United States, the United Kingdom, and India analyzing how the Eurozone crisis is likely to impact Europe’s role in the world. Download the PDF

Disruptive Technologies Prompt Concerns About Privacy, Unemployment

On Friday, May 10, 2013 the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Foresight initiative (SFI), of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, in partnership with Singularity University, hosted a discussion with Mr. Salim Ismail, founding executive director and global ambassador, and Mr. David Roberts, vice president of community development and graduate studies program director, both of Singularity […]

Defense: And What Will Europe Do?

By Sven Biscop

The debate about European defense tends to focus on the need to spend more and deploy more. One deceptively simple question is usually ignored: why? Americans seem to assume that more European capabilities will be deployed where it is convenient for the United States. Europeans just seek to avoid the difficult debate that it would […]

The Treacherous Road to Pakistan’s Historic Elections

By Shuja Nawaz

Pakistan’s upcoming elections on May 11 provoke both fear and hope.

France’s White Book: Both Good and the Bad for the US and NATO

By Jeffrey Lightfoot

France’s new White Book on defense and national security offers no radical thinking on the future posture and structure of France’s military and national security establishment, maintaining previous strategic ambitions and positions even in the face of a faltering economy. This is both good news and bad news for Washington and other major French allies. […]

Time For Some American Shock and Awe in Syria

By Sarwar Kashmeri

United States’ intelligence agencies and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are still not certain the Syrian government of President Assad has used chemical weapons against its opposition. Nothing has yet emerged from France, Germany or Britain to unequivocally confirm this charge either. But the clamor among the hawkish segment of Washington lawmakers to get the […]

After the Foreign Minister Meeting: Assessing NATO’s Priorities

By Jason Harmala

On April 25, the Atlantic Council held an off-the-record video conference with James Appathurai, NATO deputy assistant secretary general for political affairs and security policy (PASP) and the secretary general’s special representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, on NATO’s major priorities in the aftermath of the NATO Foreign Ministers meeting, which took place in […]