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Issue Brief

May 26, 2016

Cyber, extended deterrence, and NATO

By Franklin D. Kramer, Robert J. Butler, and Catherine Lotrionte

Cyber is relevant in conflict as well as in lesser circumstances such as espionage and crime. This paper focuses on a conflict, both conventional and hybrid, with an adversary, such as Russia, that has advanced cyber capabilities (Tier V/VI as designated by the Defense Science Board) and includes a conflict with an improving, but less capable nation-state such as Iran.

Cybersecurity Europe & Eurasia

Issue Brief

May 6, 2016

NATO’s next consortium: Maritime patrol aircraft

By Magnus Nordenman

Airborne systems to provide MDA, and maritime patrol aircraft (MPAs) in particular, stand out among the most important and urgent maritime requirements. Maritime patrol aircraft fulfill a number of roles, from high-end Anti-Submarine Warfare and Anti-Surface Warfare (ASuW) to maritime Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), and search and rescue at sea. NATO members must now recapture these capabilities and invest in a robust maritime patrol aircraft fleet.

Europe & Eurasia Maritime Security

Issue Brief

Apr 6, 2016

A maritime framework for the Baltic Sea region

By Franklin D. Kramer and Magnus Nordenman

An effective maritime framework would be a critical element in an integrated NATO deterrent and reassurance strategy for the Baltic Sea region, in light of hostile Russian actions and the emerging Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) challenge in northern Europe. Such a framework would provide the Alliance the capability for sea and air control over the Baltic Sea region and, as necessary, support the requirements of reinforcement and combined capabilities including intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance, electronic warfare, and precision engagement.

Maritime Security NATO

Issue Brief

Mar 21, 2016

Train, hone, deter

By Matt Brand

NATO exercises play a vital role in ensuring that Alliance forces can respond to any contingency quickly and effectively. Not since the early 1990s has NATO’s exercise program drawn as much attention from NATO’s national leaders as it does now, due in large part to Russia’s increasingly aggressive misbehavior. The NATO exercise program provides the vital functions of keeping the member states’ forces interoperable by integrating new technologies into the force, practicing new doctrine, and validating units for their rotation into contingency roles, like the NATO Response Force.

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Issue Brief

Feb 3, 2016

The renewed Russian nuclear threat and NATO nuclear deterrence posture

By Matthew Kroenig

Over the past decade, Russia has made nuclear weapons a predominant element of its national security strategy and military doctrine, while NATO has consciously de-emphasized its nuclear posture.

NATO Nuclear Deterrence

Issue Brief

Aug 14, 2014

Why nuclear deterrence still matters to NATO

By Matthew Kroenig and Walter B. Slocombe

Over the past two decades, nuclear weapons have been deemphasized in NATO planning, but this should not be interpreted to mean that the Alliance has abandoned the core principle that a nuclear attack will meet a nuclear response, or that NATO will not retain the necessary means to deliver such a response. In the latest […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Issue Brief

Oct 31, 2013

Global trends and the future of NATO: alliance security in an era of global competition

By Barry Pavel and Magnus Nordenman

The latest issue brief by Barry Pavel, Atlantic Council VP and director of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, and Magnus Nordenman, Brent Scowcroft Center deputy director, argues that global shifts in economic and military power, demographics, resource demand, and other critical megatrends will require NATO to overhaul its long-term strategy for the future. […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO

Issue Brief

Mar 22, 2012

The transatlantic bargain after “the Pivot”

By Barry Pavel and Jeffrey Lightfoot

In the issue brief “The Transatlantic Bargain After ‘the Pivot’,” authors Barry Pavel, director of the Council’s International Security Program, and Jeff Lightfoot, program deputy director, argue that as the United States reassesses its defense priorities towards the Indo-Pacific region amid cutbacks on defense spending, European partners in NATO must take on a larger responsibility […]

Defense Policy National Security
Nuclear ICBM

Issue Brief

Aug 30, 2011

Future options for NATO nuclear policy

By Jeffrey A. Larsen

The United States has maintained forward-deployed nuclear weapons in Europe for more than six decades. That may soon come to an end, argue Dr. Jeffrey A. Larsen, a retired Air Force command pilot and expert on arms control, in his Atlantic Council issue brief “Future Options for NATO Nuclear Policy.”  Unless current trends are altered, […]

Europe & Eurasia NATO