Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

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

All commentary & analysis

New Atlanticist

Oct 21, 2011

Taking Government Back

By Shuja Nawaz

The perhaps incorrectly-named Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States appears to be gaining momentum, and even gaining traction overseas. I say “incorrectly-named” since conversations with the protesters indicate that they wish to take back power from the current representatives of government and not just take over Wall Street. The movement contains a congeries […]

Counter-Piracy Task Force: Strategic Approaches to the Piracy Challenge

Event Recap

Oct 20, 2011

Counter-Piracy Task Force: Strategic Approaches to the Piracy Challenge

By Adrienne Chuck

The International Security Program and the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center launched the Atlantic Council Maritime Piracy Task Force, chaired by Atlantic Council Board Director Franklin D. Miller. This was the first in what will be a series of meetings addressing the challenge of piracy and possible strategic approaches.

Maritime Security Security & Defense

Event Recap

Oct 19, 2011

Strategy Session with General Abrial: The Run-Up to Chicago 2012—A Smart Defense Agenda

By Jason Harmala

On October 19, the Atlantic Council hosted an off-the-record strategy session with General Stéphane Abrial, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. The session, entitled, “Preparing for Chicago 2012 – A Smart Defense Agenda,” focused on the individual components and overall implementation of a smart defense initiative for the months leading up to the May 2012 summit.

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 19, 2011

UN Rips Iran’s Human Rights Record in New Report

By Barbara Slavin

A forthcoming U.N. report, obtained by Foreign Policy in advance of its publication later this week, condemns the Iranian regime for wide-ranging human right abuses, including the secret killings of hundreds of prisoners under mysterious circumstances. The report, compiled by Ahmed Shaheed, the new U.N. “Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the […]

Event Recap

Oct 18, 2011

Transatlantic Missile Defense: Phase II and the Lead Up to the NATO Chicago Summit

By Jason Harmala

On October 18, the Atlantic Council held its annual conference on transatlantic missile defense. This year’s conference focused on the progress of the European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA), the implementation of its second phase, and the future of transatlantic missile defense.

Missile Defense Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 17, 2011

Will 3D Printing Change the World?

By Banning Garrett

Transformative technologies are the stuff of history. The steam engine, the light bulb, atomic energy, the microchip—to name a few—unalterably changed our world. Such breakthroughs often take decades from initial invention to changing the way we do things, however. And their potential impact can be nearly unimaginable early in the process. It is doubtful that Tim Berners-Lee […]

3D Printing

Report

Oct 17, 2011

Could 3D printing change the world?

By Thomas Campbell, Christopher Williams, Olga Ivanova, and Banning Garrett

Could 3D Printing Change the World? Technologies, Potential, and Implications of Additive Manufacturing explores the technology of AM and its broader implications.

Technology & Innovation

Event Recap

Oct 13, 2011

Roundtable Discussion with Julianne Smith

By Jason Harmala

On Thursday, October 13, the Atlantic Council’s International Security Program hosted Julianne Smith, Principal Director for Europe and NATO Policy at the US Department of Defense, for an off-the-record briefing on the outcomes of this month’s NATO Defense Ministers Meeting, which she attended with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. 

Europe & Eurasia NATO

New Atlanticist

Oct 12, 2011

Alleged Iranian Assassination Plot Suspicious

By Barbara Slavin

US Justice Department charges that elements of Iran’s government were behind a foiled plot on the life of Saudi Arabia’s U.S. ambassador have boggled the minds of many Americans knowledgeable about both Iran and terrorism.

Iran

New Atlanticist

Oct 7, 2011

Pressure Builds on Iran at Nuclear Watchdog Agency

By Barbara Slavin

As Iran continues a slow march toward potential nuclear weapons capability, diplomatic action to contain the programme is likely to shift to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), whose director general, Yukiya Amano, has taken a harder line than his predecessor about alleged military research by Iran’s nuclear scientists. Experts on the Iranian nuclear programme […]

Event Recap

Oct 5, 2011

Learning From Libya: Implications for Defense in the Age of Austerity

By Jason Harmala

On October 5, the Atlantic Council featured a special Commanders Series event featuring Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton, the Chief of the Air Staff of the Royal Air Force (RAF). He discussed RAF programs in an age of austerity and stressed the importance of the NATO framework for addressing security challenges in the 21st […]

NATO Security & Defense

New Atlanticist

Oct 4, 2011

Russian Musical Chairs: A Country on the Stop

By Ross Wilson

President Dmitri Medvedev’s public dressing down and dismissal of his country’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, on September 26 has attracted widespread attention in Russia and abroad.

Russia

New Atlanticist

Oct 4, 2011

The Train Wreck

By Shuja Nawaz

Complicated and fraught, U.S.-Pakistan relations took a turn for the worse with Adm. Mike Mullen’s Sept. 22 testimony before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee in which he all but declared Pakistan as sponsoring terrorism in Afghanistan. Admiral Mullen referred to evidence linking Inter-Services Intelligence to the attacks: “Extremist organizations serving as proxies of the […]

Event Recap

Oct 3, 2011

Global Trends and US Grand Strategy: Towards a Necessary Synthesis

By Jason Harmala

On Monday October 3rd the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Foresight Initiative and the New America Foundation hosted an all-day roundtable workshop entitled Global Trends and US Grand Strategy: Towards a Necessary Synthesis. The workshop, which included the participation of government officials, business leaders, members of the intelligence community, and researchers, offered an early look at the […]

Event Recap

Sep 28, 2011

The Future of US Posture Towards Cross-Strait Relations

By Adrienne Chuck

On September 28th, the Atlantic Council hosted the first of their five Cross-Strait Series seminars of the year.

China East Asia
Roundtable Strategy Session with Representatives of the Netherlands Ministry of Defense

Event Recap

Sep 27, 2011

Roundtable Strategy Session with Representatives of the Netherlands Ministry of Defense

By Adrienne Chuck

On September 27, the Atlantic Council hosted an off-the-record strategy session with senior representatives of the Royal Netherlands Ministry of Defense, Wim Bargerbos and Joep Wijnands on the views of the Netherlands on key issues in transatlantic defense policy.

New Atlanticist

Sep 23, 2011

The Ahmadinejad Show

By Barbara Slavin

Tormenting Western journalists must be among the few pleasures left to Iran’s beleaguered president. On Thursday afternoon in his New York hotel, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad punted questions about human rights, expressed sympathy for the downtrodden masses of Europe and America, and otherwise managed to wear down an august assembly of American media, from New Yorker editor […]

International Organizations Iran

New Atlanticist

Sep 23, 2011

Obama Must Choose Between Israel and the Arab World

By Rena Zuabi

On the margins of the United Nations Security Council vote on the Palestinian Authority’s bid for statehood, President Obama met with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan this week in New York to discuss the future of Turkey’s deteriorating relations with Israel. Since Israel’s attack on the Gaza Flotilla in 2010, which killed nine Turkish citizens, […]

Israel

Event Recap

Sep 23, 2011

Implementation of the ‘Canada First’ Defence Strategy in the Americas

By Jason Harmala

On September 23, the Atlantic Council’s International Security Program held a discussion with Lieutenant-General Walter Semianiw.

United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Sep 19, 2011

A Transatlantic Weakness to Avoid

By Carles Castello-Catchot

The transatlantic community is weaker and more divided than it has been in a century, sending shockwaves through a world accustomed to seeing the US and the EU lead by example on a global scale.

European Union International Organizations
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