Commander Series

In an effort to highlight and examine the national security issues that dominate the transatlantic policy agenda, the Atlantic Council is bringing senior U.S. and foreign military officers and defense officials to the Council to provide off the record remarks to groups of influential Washington decision makers and opinion shapers. The Council carefully selects speakers who speak on very timely national security topics, which are of special interest to the Washington policy community. This series features senior U.S. and Allied military commanders providing their insights not just on the issues of the day, but providing a more strategic look at the full range of security problems facing the Transatlantic Community in the years to come.

A key part of this series will also feature teleconferences with US and Allied ground commanders participating in various NATO operations. This part of the “Commanders Series”, built around our new video-teleconferencing capability, features VTCs with SHAPE, ISAF and other elements of the NATO and U.S. command structures that can provide Allied VTC participants from the field who can provide the Washington community with their perspectives regarding ongoing NATO and U.S. military operations.

Featured Events:

• General Dan K. McNeill (12/6/07) -- "Report from Afghanistan" with, General Dan K. McNeill, Commander of the International Security Assistance Force. General McNeill offered his views on the progress of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of some 40,000 troops from over 38 allied and partner nations and their efforts to secure and reconstruct Afghanistan.
   

• Major General Ton van Loon (6/5/07) -- Dutch Major General Ton van Loon, former commander of NATO forces in Southern Afghanistan, told an audience at the Atlantic Council that the Taliban have "lost the war". They remain dangerous in some parts of the country, but are unable to launch an effective offensive, v an Loon continued. Van Loon warned that NATO will still face tough days ahead as the alliance and its partners continue to work to stabilize and reconstruct the war torn country of Afghanistan.
  [watch video] [view PowerPoint presentation]
  
  

• General Barry McCaffrey (4/16/07) --General Barry McCaffrey, USA ret., a member of the board at the Atlantic Council of the United States, delivered a sweeping assessment of America’s current challenges in the Global War on Terror, Afghanistan, Iraq, as well as the home front. General McCaffrey has traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the greater Middle East several times in the last few years to meet with senior U.S. diplomats and military commanders engaged in the region to garner impressions and information for his After Action Reports that have become widely circulated in the White House, the Pentagon, and the Washington policy community. General McCaffrey’s last trip to Iraq was in March, 2007.
  [Read Transcript] [View Presentation]
  
  

• Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani (3/16/07) -- Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave a presentation about his recent trip to Afghanistan
  
  

• Lieutenant General Karlheinz Viereck (1/26/07) -- As commanding officer of the EU Force (EUFOR) in Congo, LTG Viereck provided a briefing on the EU operation in Congo, as well as the lessons learned for future EU military operations.
  
  

• General James L. Jones (12/21/06) -- General James L. Jones, Outgoing Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and Commander, U.S. European Command, gave a presentation titled "Future of NATO".
  [Watch Event on C-SPAN] [Read Transcript]