Program Publications
Stabilizing Afghanistan: Proposals for Improving Security, Governance, and Aid/Economic Development
A New Deal: Reforming US Defense Cooperation with Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia
Does Beijing Have a Strategy? China's Alternative Futures
A Strategy for US Engagement in the Middle East: Contain Threats, Embrace Dignity
NATO Global Partnerships: Strategic Opportunities and Imperatives in a Globalized World
Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security
The Atlantic Council’s flagship International Security Program was relaunched as the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security in September 2012. The Scowcroft Center continues the Council's long-standing focus on NATO and the transatlantic partnership, while also studying 'over the horizon' regional and functional security challenges to the United States, its allies, and partners. The Scowcroft Center works collaboratively with the Council's other regional and functional programs to produce analysis with a global perspective. The Center will honor General Brent Scowcroft’s legacy of service and embody his ethos of non-partisan commitment to the cause of international security, support for US international leadership in cooperation with allies and partners, and legacy of mentorship to the next generation of leaders. General James L. Jones is the Center’s founding chairman and Ellen Tauscher, George Lund, and Virginia A. Mulberger serve as the vice chairs. Barry Pavel, holder of the Center’s Arnold Kanter Chair, will lead the program’s day-to-day activities as its director.Work within the Scowcroft Center orients around the following seven practice areas:
| Transatlantic Security | Strategic Foresight Initiative |
| Cyber Statecraft Initiative | Emerging Defense Challenges Initiative |
| Middle East Security Initiative | Asia Security Initiative |
| Brent Scowcroft Leadership Network |
Congress, Pork, and the F-22
Bernard Finel | July 30, 2009
A frustrating tendency in media coverage of the defense budgeting process is the presumption that anything Congress adds to the Department of Defense’s budget request must be political pork (see, for example, "Pork-Laden Defense Bill Weighed").
An Honorable Exit in Afghanistan?
July 28, 2009
Arnaud de Borchgrave, member of the Atlantic Council and senior fellow at CSIS, published the op-ed "Afghan exit scenario?" in UPI's Emerging Threats section. With a new U.S. defense budget of almost $700 billion, healthcare reform, and an economy in the doldrums at least through the end of 2009, Obama must stay receptive to an honorable exit in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan Exit Scenario?
Arnaud de Borchgrave | July 28, 2009
At the beginning of 2009 Gen. David Petraeus, the new CENTCOM commander, assumed command of a huge theater that stretches from the Horn of Africa to Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, right up to the Indian border.
Transatlantic Partnership under the Obama Administration
Damon Wilson | July 28, 2009
This month's G-8 Summit in Italy marked President Obama's third visit to Europe in the first six months of his Presidency.
New Atlanticist Roundtable: Transatlantic Alliance
July 22, 2009
The Atlantic Council's New Atlanticist blog hosted a roundtable on the future of the transatlantic alliance.
Bush's Third Term
James Joyner | July 22, 2009
In an essay for The National Interest, “Bush’s Third Term,” I catalog the remarkable continuity between Barack Obama’s foreign policy and that of his predecessor.
While noting that real change may be coming on missile defense, Israel, and Cuba, I point out how little has changed on Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, al Qaeda, North Korea, Russia, and Europe.
The Congressional-Military-Industrial Complex
Arnaud de Borchgrave | July 21, 2009
"If the Department of Defense can't figure out a way to defend the United States on half a trillion dollars a year, then our problems are much bigger than anything that can be cured by buying a few more ships and planes." So spoke Defense Secretary Robert Gates, angry with the profligate ways of both the Congress and the Pentagon. But he misspoke.
Will COIN Work in Afghanistan?
Donald M. Snow | July 20, 2009
The Obama administration has invested a great deal (one can argue too much) of its national security capital in the war on Afghanistan, and the chief instrument for realizing that investment has been the application of counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine to the situation.
Revoking the F-22 Raptor
July 20, 2009Arnaud de Borchgrave, member of the Atlantic Council and senior fellow at CSIS, published the op-ed "Raptor is no Reaper" in UPI's Emerging Threats section. With the Pentagon's spending for 2010 nearing $670 billion, Defense Secretary Robert Gates' pledge to "figure out a way to defend the United States on half a trillion dollars a year" has already fallen short.
'International FEMA' Needed for Contingency Operations?
James Joyner | July 15, 2009
Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, argues that we need an "international FEMA" to coordinate complex contingency operations across the various agencies of the American government and institutionalize lessons learned.
Program Staff
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Deputy Director 
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Distinguished Fellow PROGRAM EVENTS
The US Army Astride a New Era
Join the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security on May 29 for a discussion with the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, General Raymond T. Odierno.
Evolving US-European Security Cooperation with the Gulf States
On May 23, the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Peace and Security Initiative at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security is hosting a panel discussion on new developments in security cooperation among the United States, its European allies, and the Gulf states, and how they are likely to evolve in the coming years.
Technology and Governance in the World's Cities
On Thursday, May 16, the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Foresight initiative (SFI) of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security hosted a roundtable discussion with Dr. Mathew Burrows, counselor for the US National Intelligence Council and Dr. Parag Khanna, senior fellow at the New America Foundation and adjunct professor of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
Strategy Session on Hungarian and NATO Security Challenges with Csaba Hende
On May 16, 2013 the Atlantic Council hosted H.E. Csaba Hende, Hungary’s minister of defense, for a strategy session about the most pressing challenges in Hungarian and transatlantic security leading up to the NATO June 2013 Defense Ministerial.
What's at Stake in the UN Arms Trade Treaty?
Please join the Atlantic Council on Wednesday, May 15 for a discussion of what’s at stake in the Arms Trade Treaty approved last month by the UN General Assembly.
East Asia's Future: Nationalism or Integration?
Please join the Atlantic Council on May 15 for a panel discussion on growing nationalism in northeast Asia and the implications of this trend for the integration of the region and the notion of an Asia-Pacific community.
Strategy Session on Transatlantic Defense with German Air Force Chief of Staff
On May 15, the Atlantic Council hosted Lieutenant General Karl Müllner, Germany’s Air Force chief of staff, for a strategy session about pertinent issues in transatlantic and German defense in an era of budget austerity and emerging security challenges.
