Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

Explore the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s latest insights, commentary, articles, media hits, and in-depth reports

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Commanders Series

Sep 18, 2012

The Role of the Marine Corps in the New Defense Strategy

By Jason Harmala

On September 18, the Atlantic Council held a public address and conversation with Commandant of the Marine Corps General James F. Amos.

New Atlanticist

Sep 17, 2012

Turkish Ambassador Calls For NATO to ‘Act Decisively’ in Syria

By James Joyner

In the most powerful call for action yet by his government, Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan declared, “The implosion of Syria is a regional conflagration that threatens international peace and security. What we expect from our partners is a serious engagement and meaningful contribution to the resolution of this conflict.”

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 12, 2012

Free Speech in America Yields Violence in Egypt and Libya

By James Joyner

Dozens of Egyptian protestors climbed the walls of the U.S. embassy in Cairo Tuesday, stormed the compound and tore down the American flag, replacing it with a black Islamist flag bearing the inscription “There is no god but God and Muhammad is his prophet.” Overnight, violent protests at the American consulate in Benghazi killed at […]

Libya North Africa

Event Recap

Sep 12, 2012

Strategy Session with Montenegrin Minister of Defense Pejanovic-Durisic

By Jason Harmala

On September 12, the International Security Program hosted the Montenegrin Minister of Defense Professor Milica Pejanović-Đurišić, PhD, together with prominent representatives from the US Government, allied foreign services and think tank community for a private strategy session over lunch.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 11, 2012

Looking Back: The Wonders We Didn’t Expect

By Paul Saffo

It has been a wild ride of a century full of expected wonders. Molecular manufacturing became a reality well before 2050, turning all sorts of once-valuable materials into commodities, and yes, we even eventually got flying cars.

New Atlanticist

Sep 7, 2012

Internal Conflicts and Defense Planning

By Derek Reveron

There are 27 active conflicts in the world today; only one of them is a traditional interstate war. 

Afghanistan National Security

Event Recap

Sep 6, 2012

ACT Roundtable with Major General Peter Bayer

By Jason Harmala

On September 6th, the International Security Program convened the defense attachés from NATO member countries and other key partners along with selected experts for an off-the-record roundtable discussion with Major General Peter Bayer, deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and policy at Allied Command Transformation.

NATO Security & Defense

Event Recap

Sep 6, 2012

Roundtable Discussion on Romania’s Defense Policy

By Jason Harmala

On September 6th, the International Security Program hosted Dr. Sebastian Huluban, state secretary for defense policy and planning at the Ministry of National Defense of Romania, for a private strategy session with key Council fellows and advisors.

Central Europe Eastern Europe

New Atlanticist

Sep 6, 2012

National Security and Defense: How Much and for What Purpose?

By Harlan Ullman

“How much is enough?” is a perennial question often put to national security and defense requirements. The largely invisible and more important extension of that question is understanding what purposes military force must serve in the first place. “For what” must be the starting point for any excursion on future military capability and where, why […]

National Security Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 5, 2012

What Roosevelt Would Do in the South China Sea

By James Clad and Robert Manning

Planting flags on islets, declaring cities where there are too few residents to fill a restaurant, and huffing and puffing over uninhabited rocks are acts more suited to a Gilbert and Sullivan farce than to nations in the 21st century. Absurdities aside, the tensions in the South China Sea could shape the balance of power […]

China

New Atlanticist

Aug 31, 2012

Afghanistan: An Allotment in a Jungle

By Julian Lindley-French

Nothing makes my blood boil more than recently retired senior government officials suddenly changing their story once retired. Earlier this year I was excoriated for suggesting that our troops were dying in Afghanistan for want of a meaningful political strategy and to avoid the political embarrassment of leaders. Yesterday, Ambassador Sherard Cowper-Coles, London’s former ‘man […]

Afghanistan Russia

New Atlanticist

Aug 31, 2012

How Much Is Enough? – Part II

By Harlan Ullman

Given that the United States’ latest defense strategy was crafted earlier this year accounting for a nearly $490 billion defense cut over the next 10 years, if the Pentagon were to undertake a new strategic review, how might it go about accomplishing one, assuming the huge initial resistance against such an effort could be overcome?

New Atlanticist

Aug 30, 2012

Revelations on the Killing of Osama bin Laden

By Robert Bracknell

On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported a purported landslide revelation in the new book “No Easy Day,” which is taking Washington by storm (SEAL book depicts Osama bin Laden shot on sight in hallway, contradicting original account, Washington Post, August 29).

New Atlanticist

Aug 28, 2012

Soft Power through Hard Power Weapon Sales

By Derek Reveron

In a Congressionally-mandated report, Richard F. Grimmett and Paul K. Kerr recently detailed global arms transfer agreements in 2011 of $85.3 billion, which is greater than the economic activity of 119 countries and tops the defense budget of every single country in the world save the United States and China. The United States accounts for […]

Event Recap

Aug 28, 2012

Strategy Session with Moldova’s Minister of Defense Vitalie Marinuta

By Jason Harmala

On August 28, the International Security Program hosted the Moldovan Minister of Defense Vitalie Marinuta, together with prominent representatives from the US government and think tank community for a private strategy session.

Eastern Europe

New Atlanticist

Aug 27, 2012

UK Support for Military Action in Syria not in America’s Best Interest

By Sarwar Kashmeri

The last time a British prime minister endorsed an American president’s plans for military intervention, it resulted in the US invasion of Iraq – one of the worst foreign policy blunders in recent American history. That is why last week’s endorsement by David Cameron of a warning by Barack Obama that even the threat of […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Aug 27, 2012

The Syria Bluff

By Julian Lindley-French

It is clearly intelligence-led. President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron have said that any recourse to chemical weapons by Damascus would be “completely unacceptable” and would lead the US and UK to “revisit their approach” to the crisis. According to Obama even moving the weapons would cross an American “red line” with “enormous consequences”. The […]

Syria United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Aug 23, 2012

Julian Assange’s Misrule of Law

By Ana Palacio

The uproar surrounding Ecuador’s grant of political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has obscured huge inconsistencies. Only by examining them can we understand what is truly at stake in the case.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2012

West Must Invest in Caspian Sea Energy

By Farid Osmanov

Tensions in the Caspian basin intensified this summer when Turkmenistan said it will bring a dispute about ownership of energy-rich Caspian Sea fields against Azerbaijan before the UN International Court of Justice. The atmosphere of distrust this incident created might seriously undermine the feasibility of future energy projects aimed at reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 17, 2012

A Continuing Misalliance?

By Shuja Nawaz

The tattered relationship between the United States and Pakistan has been patched up yet again—with the political equivalent of duct tape. A low-level Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by bureaucrats, not political leaders, to provide a diplomatic fig leaf.

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