Atlantic Council

In 2005, the Atlantic Council of the United States established the Christopher J. Makins Lecture Series to honor Christopher J. Makins (1942-2006), the Council’s past president, who served from 1999 to 2005.

The first Lecture was given by the Honorable Zbigniew Brzezinski on the evening of May 31, 2006 at the residence of Sir David Manning KCMG, Ambassador of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the United States. More than one hundred government officials, ambassadors, business leaders, academics, directors, councillors and friends of the Council attended to celebrate the memory of Christopher Makins and to listen to Dr. Brzezinski present his thoughts on the global challenges of the 21st century.

During the ceremony, the Council also awarded the 2006 Transatlantic Student Essay Contest Award to Wes Carpenter of the University of Texas at Austin.

Read transcript of Brzezinski’s remarks (PDF)

Media Coverage:

Never-Ending War on Terror Obscures the Real Threats – Philip Stephens, Financial Times

Other Makins Lectures:

• 2009: Henry Kissinger
• 2007: Vaira Vike-Freiberga

More about the Christopher J. Makins Lecture Series:

Quickly becoming recognized as the preeminent annual analysis of transatlantic relations, the Makins Lecture series focuses on the state of the strategic Atlantic partnership, its future direction, and the prospects for the furtherance of common European and U.S. interests.  It is directed at policy makers and political leaders around the world and provides a platform for the importance of the Alliance and the need for continued transatlantic cooperation.  The Atlantic Council intends the series to be a reference tool for policy makers, legislators, the think tank community, academic scholars, and the media on both sides of the Atlantic.

The lecture series honors the life of Christopher J. Makins, president of the Atlantic Council from 1999 to 2005, who passed before his time in January 2006.  After more than a decade in the British Diplomatic Service, he chose to settle in Washington and tackled defense, arms control, and other security issues in the nonprofit community.

The Makins Lecture series complements the Atlantic Council’s ongoing mission to promote constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs, based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st century.

Sponsorship:

The Atlantic Council is grateful to the following foundations, corporations and individuals who provided support to the establishment of the Annual Christopher J. Makins Lecture Series: