The Atlantic Council today named Michele Dunne, a former White House and State Department official, as the director of its new Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. The center will begin its operations this week in Washington, D.C.

"What side of history will the world's great democracies be on?" That question, posed by U.S. Senator John McCain, captured the essence of the 2011 Freedom Awards, presented by the Atlantic Council at its annual Wroclaw Global Forum.

Today the Atlantic Council named Barry Pavel as Director of its International Security Program and Director-Designate of its new Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. Mr. Pavel also will be the first Arnold Kanter Chair of the Brent Scowcroft Center.

The Atlantic Council has named Julie Chon as a non-resident senior fellow for the Global Business and Economics program, where she will build upon her extensive background in finance to enrich the program’s work on international financial issues.

A NBC News and G.P. Putnam's Sons Project, the eBook Features a Video Introduction by Tom Brokaw, Rare Video Footage from the Cold War Era, and Much More

The Atlantic Council today will announce two ambitious new initiatives:  the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security and the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. The two centers will significantly expand the Council’s focus on advancing greater transatlantic cooperation to address emerging security and economic challenges.

At a time of dramatic historic change across the region, the Atlantic Council today will announce the launch of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security. Both centers are aimed at more effectively harnessing the transatlantic community to address emerging global challenges.

Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe’s new book, BERLIN 1961: Kennedy, Khrushchev and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth, will be released May 10 by G. P. Putnam’s Sons. A starred review in Publishers Weekly calls it “a gripping, almost day-by-day chronicle of colorful, often clueless leaders and their byzantine maneuvers.”

The Atlantic Council, in partnership with VeriSign, is launching a new Cyber Statecraft Initiative and has named Jason Healey as the first director leading the Council’s expanding work on international cyber policy issues.