It is two years since the financial services sector of many of the world's leading economies were plunged into disarray. The uncertainty this generated meant that individual and institutional investors were very reluctant to participate in the financial markets resulting in a dramatic decline in asset values, credit becoming largely unavailable and, as a result, liquidity  became very difficult to generate. Rapid intervention by national governments, directly and through central banks and regulatory agencies, was undertaken in an attempt to restore confidence in the markets and to keep a number of financial institutions solvent. Some were allowed to fail.

In, "Conflicting Policy Presumptions about Cybersecurity: Cyber-Prophets, -Priests, -Detectives, and -Designers, and Strategies for a Cybered World," U.S. Naval War College professor Chris Demchak examines the strategic assumptions of cyberspace and the nature of the cyber threat. Dr. Demchak identifies a set of “cyber communities” and recommends a way ahead to reach consensus on organizing the U.S. government’s response to cyber challenges.

"Cyber Security: An Integrated Governmental Strategy for Progress," authored by former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and Atlantic Council Vice Chairman Franklin D. Kramer, lays out a whole of government approach that would ensure that the national security functions of the U.S. government can continue to operate while under cyber attack, establish an effective public-private partnership to safeguard critical infrastructure, and limit cyber espionage and exfiltration of sensitive government information.

During David Cameron’s first visit to Washington as Britain’s Prime Minister, a new Atlantic Council issue brief calls for the White House and Senate to act to ratify the U.S.-UK and U.S.-Australia Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties. To affirm the U.S.-UK special relationship, and to advance timely military, economic and diplomatic interests, Cameron’s visit is the ideal occasion for Washington to move on a treaty signed more than three years ago.

In the issue brief “Behind the Eight Ball: Deciding on an OSCE Summit,” co-authored by the Chairman of the task force, Senator Chuck Hagel, Patriciu Eurasia Center Director Ross Wilson, and Vice President and International Security Program Director Damon Wilson argue that the U.S. focus on Central Asia since 9/11 through the prism of the war in Afghanistan has distorted America’s relations in the region, undermined its integrated regional approach to Afghanistan and invited corruption and instability to spread to Kyrgyzstan.

According to “Uncertain Kyrgyzstan: Rebalancing U.S. Policy” by Patriciu Eurasia Center Director Ross Wilson, and Vice President and International Security Program Director Damon Wilson, the international community is failing to respond in ways commensurate with the crisis.

The Atlantic Council presents the executive summary from its new report, Pakistan in the Danger Zone: a Tenuous U.S.-Pakistan Relationship by Shuja Nawaz, Director of the Council's South Asia Center.

What is the optimal strategy for the United States and its allies to pursue in Afghanistan? Observers across the political spectrum agree that military operations alone are not enough to secure Afghanistan against a powerful insurgency linked to global jihadism.

Julian Lindley-French, member of the Strategic Advisors Group (SAG), writes in the latest SAG Issue Brief about the need for the Strategic Concept to correctly address the issue of the Comprehensive Approach, or political-military cooperation.

Strategic Advisors Group (SAG) members Harlan Ullman and Julian Lindley-French implore NATO to innovate and modernize its defense education construct in the latest SAG Issue Brief.