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

Event Recap

Feb 25, 2009

Kerry and Hagel Unveil Atlantic Council’s Pakistan Report

On Wednesday, February 25, Senator John Kerry and former Senator and Atlantic Council Chairman Chuck Hagel unveiled Needed: A Comprehensive U.S. Policy Towards Pakistan, the report of the Atlantic Council’s Pakistan Task Force, at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee room.  Kerry and Hagel both served as co-chairs of the Task Force.

New Atlanticist

Feb 24, 2009

Trust Deficit Undermines U.S.-Pakistan-Afghanistan Cooperation

By James Joyner

Over the next three days, a high level delegation of U.S., Afghan, and Pakistani officials will meet to “seriously deal with the hard issues: how do the Afghans want to deal with [the insurgent activity on] their border, how to do this better, how to undermine those insurgents that run across their territory,” Laura Rozen […]

New Atlanticist

Feb 23, 2009

Pakistan-India Kashmir Talks Revealed

By Peter Cassata

Indian and Pakistani officials engaged in secret talks from 2004 to 2007 that almost resulted in a deal over Kashmir, according to New Yorker journalist Steve Coll.  The talks fizzled out in 2007 and have since been set back even further.

New Atlanticist

Feb 20, 2009

Kim Jong-il’s Successor Named

By Peter Cassata

Kim Jong-un, the 25-year-old youngest son of dictator Kim Jong-il, is the likely heir to North Korea’s police state, according to reports emerging from the Korean peninsula.

Korea

Transcript

Feb 19, 2009

Chuck Hagel on CNN’s American Morning: Transcript

Transcript from CNN, February 19, 2009. […] ROBERTS: Joining us now from Washington to talk about the new strategy, former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, who is the new chairman of the Atlantic Council. Congratulations on your new position. It’s good to see you, sir. CHUCK HAGEL, FMR. NEBRASKA SENATOR: John, thank you very much. ROBERTS: […]

Afghanistan NATO
STOCK - Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Feb 18, 2009

Principles for an Afghanistan Strategy

By James Joyner

The left-of-center National Security Network has released a statement of “Principles for an Afghanistan Strategy.”

Afghanistan

New Atlanticist

Feb 18, 2009

Osama bin Laden Found!

By James Joyner

A team of UCLA geographers have narrowed Osama bin Laden’s location to one of three houses in Parachinar. Using patterns of how animal species spread, the world’s most wanted terrorist can be tracked down to a town in the tribal region of North West Pakistan it is claimed. By factoring in his need for security, […]

New Atlanticist

Feb 14, 2009

New President, Same World

By Derek Reveron

On February 12, President Obama’s Director of National Intelligence provided the annual threat assessment of the intelligence community to the Senate. With his testimony, Admiral Blair provided the Senate and the world a clear view of what keeps him up at night.

New Atlanticist

Feb 13, 2009

Fulfilling Reagan’s Dream: Nuclear Disarmament

By Joe Craft

In 1986 at the Reykjavik summit, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, both passionate about nuclear disarmament, shocked deterrence experts with an unimaginable proposal – total nuclear disarmament.  “It would be fine with me if we eliminated all nuclear weapons,” said Reagan.  “We can do that,” replied Gorbachev, “Let’s eliminate them.  We can eliminate them.”

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2009

Azerbaijan Air Force Chief Murdered

By James Joyner

Rail Rzayev, head of the Azerbaijan air force, was murdered in front of his home Wednesday, Aida Sultanova reports for AP. An unidentified gunman fatally shot Azerbaijan’s air force chief Wednesday, the Defense Ministry said — the highest-level killing to hit the oil-rich country’s armed forces in peacetime since the Soviet collapse.

New Atlanticist

Feb 12, 2009

Afghanistan and Pakistan Need Better Governments

By James Joyner

Shuja Nawaz, director of the Council’s South Asia Center, has an interesting post at Foreign Policy‘s new The Argument blog, entitled “Panic Stations in Kabul. Is Islamabad next?”

New Atlanticist

Feb 11, 2009

Wired For War Book Review

By Magnus Nordenman

The use of unmanned systems in warfare has exploded over the last decade. An interesting novelty just a few years ago, today the battlefield is swarming with unmanned vehicles that fly, hover, sit, roll, crawl, and swim. Unmanned aerial vehicles keep an eye on the terrain for NATO soldiers in Afghanistan and take out high-value […]

New Atlanticist

Feb 10, 2009

Getting NATO to Say ‘Yes’ on Afghanistan

By James Joyner

The United States has committed to an additional 30,000 troops for the Afghanistan mission and NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has called on Europe to step up with a similar commitment.  France has already said no.  General David Petraeus asked again and was again rebuffed.  Today, Spain joined them.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Feb 9, 2009

Russia Reset Button Will Restore Default Values

By James Joyner

Speaking in Munich over the weekend, Vice President Joe Biden pledged to “press the reset button” on United States relations with Russia.   While this has brought renewed hope for some, most observers are rightly skeptical.

Russia
North Korea Nuclear Weapons

Report

Feb 5, 2009

Achieving peace and security in Korea and Northeast Asia: A new US diplomatic strategy toward North Korea

The Atlantic Council is pleased to release its Final Report of its three-year project on U.S. policy toward North Korea. This report makes clear that unless President Obama adopts a new strategy of seeking a comprehensive settlement in Korea, the U.S. is unlikely to eliminate North Korea’s nuclear program.D Adopting the new diplomatic strategy of […]

East Asia Korea

New Atlanticist

Feb 5, 2009

France Wants Key NATO Posts for Increased Presence

By James Joyner

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is offering a very meager increase in French participation in NATO in exchange for command of two prestigious posts.  

France NATO

New Atlanticist

Feb 5, 2009

U.S. Pressures NATO on Afghanistan

By James Joyner

A major overseas conference provides the Obama administration its first chance to influence the direction of transatlantic relations.  David Rising reports for AP.

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Feb 4, 2009

Russia Forms 7-Nation Rapid Reaction Force

By James Joyner

Russia has announced the creation of a rapid reaction military force comprised of seven former Soviet states.  President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia, Armenia, Belarus and four Central Asian nations — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan — had reached the agreement to form a new security force during a summit of the Moscow-dominated Collective Security Treaty […]

Russia

New Atlanticist

Feb 4, 2009

Kyrgyzstan Closing U.S. Base Key for Afghanistan

By James Joyner

On the same day militants took out a key bridge used to get supplies in from Pakistan, NATO’s logistical problems in Afghanistan got worse. AP’s Mike Eckel:

Afghanistan NATO

New Atlanticist

Feb 3, 2009

Beating Al Qaeda But Losing in Afghanistan?

By James Joyner

 We’re winning the war against al Qaeda, killing its leaders faster than competent replacements can be found, NPR‘s Tom Gjelten reports.

Afghanistan
Load More

Newsletter

Stay connected with us by signing up for our weekly newsletter “The Strategist” to be notified of all upcoming events, new publications, recent media hits, and exclusive updates within the Scowcroft Center:

The Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security works to develop sustainable, nonpartisan strategies to address the most important security challenges facing the United States and the world.

Learn more