Scowcroft Center Commentary, Analysis, & Reports

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.

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 […]

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.

North Korean Makeover: Reminiscent of Post-Mao China

Radical changes are taking place in North Korea. It’s been seven months since the state commissioned new leader Kim Jong-Un, and now the Supreme Leader is challenging military control, exposing the Kim family to the public, and reassessing North Korea’s economic strategy and its approach to external cultural influences. We may be seeing the beginnings […]

Pakistan’s Unfinished Challenges

By Shuja Nawaz

As it completes its 65th year as an independent state, Pakistan faces a host of challenges that only it can resolve, if its people and leaders have the will to do so.

Reflections on the Oak Creek Sikh Temple Tragedy

By Deepa Iyer

I have worked with South Asian community members and organizations since September 11, 2001, and the tragic events of this past Sunday in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, has shaken me to the core. As our country tries to make sense of the tragedy that occurred last Sunday at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, it […]

NATO Deputy Secretary General discusses security cooperation with South Korean lawmakers

By NATO

From NATO:  NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow praised the Republic of Korea’s valuable contribution to global security in talks with a high-level delegation from the country’s National Assembly on Tuesday (7 August 2012).

Cyber Hype: Flame, Stuxnet, and Boeing 787’s Falling from the Sky

By Brandon Valeriano

These last few months have been some of the most exciting, depressing, and troubling times for those interested in the phenomenon of cyberwar.  As a cyber skeptic deeply engaged in this emerging debate I want to take a step back and analyze what we have learned.

China: Cyber Threat and Cyber Threatened

By Derek S. Reveron and Jon Lindsay

In any discussion about the security of cyberspace, Chinese hackers are usually singled out as major threats. The most recent (and hardly unique) news involves an operation with Chinese origins, dubbed Byzantine Candor by government investigators, which has been stealing corporate and government secrets for years, to include emails from the president of the European […]

Both Regime and Opposition in Syria Are Mysteries

By Sarwar Kashmeri

Professor Heidi Lane of the Naval War College suggests that prudence not intervention is the best course of action in Syria in a conversation with Sarwar Kashmeri,  senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. (8 minute audio interview)

The United States and the Moroccan Status Quo

By Alec Simantov

The Pentagon attracted quite a bit of attention recently when it announced new military assistance programs in controversial places like Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan, raising questions about the balance between US national security interests and promotion of human rights and democracy.

Cyber Offense is King

By Jorge Benitez and Jason Healey

Every single computer in the world can be hacked. From your personal computer at home to the office workstation of the CIA director, it is not possible to fully protect any computer from cyber penetration. For all the talk about cyber protection and the billions of dollars being spent ($3.2 billion in 2012 for the Pentagon […]

China’s New City: Is this Beijing’s Pivot?

By Robert Manning

It’s not relocating aircraft carriers to the Pacific or stationing 2500 marines in Australia but China’s provocative establishment of a new city, Sansha, in the disputed Paracels chain takes the geopolitical drama in the South China Sea to a new stage. This escalating assertiveness may have a larger strategic importance as part of Beijing’s response to […]

Oversight or Not, Drones Are Here to Stay

By James Joyner

In “The Imperial Presidency: Drone Power and Congressional Oversight,” Michael Cohen argues persuasively that the U.S. Congress has abdicated its constitutional and statutory responsibility to reign in the executive branch in matters of national security policy. Then again, few who have been paying attention this past decade — some would say, the past several decades […]

Limits of Military Power

By Derek Reveron

In its recent report titled “A Decade at War.” the Pentagon’s Directorate for Joint Force Development (J-7) observed that  the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan “were often marked by numerous missteps and challenges as the US government and military applied a strategy and force suited for a different threat and environment.”

Video: How NATO’s Supreme Commander thinks about global security

By Allied Command Operations

From Allied Command Operations:  On 26 June 2012, SACEUR, Admiral James Stavridis, spoke at the TEDGlobal 2012 Conference in Edinburg, Scotland; title of his remarks "Open-Source Security."

NATO: Connected Forces, Connected Minds?

By Julian Lindley-French

NATO must contend with two competing and contending inner-realities: a schism in Alliance strategic culture and concept, driven by deepening divisions over the world view and the future of the Euro; and the austerity-driven need for shrinking armed forces to work ever more closely together in a world in which the balance of power is […]

Before taking on Syria, U.S. should heed lesson of the past

By Kiron K. Skinner

On June 6, 1982, Israel, seeking to relieve pressure on its northern borders by dismantling the Palestine Liberation Organization’s base of operation, invaded Lebanon, a country beset by civil war and Syrian occupation. Soon thereafter, France, Italy and the United States formed a multinational force to help stabilize the country — as differing factions of […]

NATO Global Partnerships Task Force

On July 18, the Atlantic Council’s International Security Program hosted the first workshop of the task force on NATO Global Partnerships. The task force will assess ways that the Alliance can strengthen relations with appropriate partners who want to be associated with the Alliance, offer meaningful contributions, and help to address its global security agenda.