When asked why NATO was strategically important, British Gen. Hastings Ismay wryly answered, "To keep America in, the Soviets out and the Germans down." Today, more than punchy slogans are needed as the centerpiece for strategy.

Prof. Dr. Sven Biscop, Director of the Security & Global Governance Programme at the Egmont Institute and member of the Atlantic Council Strategic Advisors Group, and Brig-Gen. (Ret.) Jo Coelmont, former Belgian Representative to the European Union Military Committee, co-authored an Egmont Institute Security Issue Brief entitled Permanent Structured Cooperation for Effective European Armed Forces.

From March 5-7, the Atlantic Council, in partnership with Wilton Park, the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique and the Royal United Service Institute, held a conference on "The Transatlantic Strategic Partnership in a Globalised World" in the United Kingdom. The conference was co-sponsored by NATO and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and was chaired by Strategic Advisors Group (SAG) member Robert Hunter.

The Atlantic Council hosted a group from the Pugwash Conferences and the Top Level Group for a working lunch to discuss U.S. nuclear posture in Europe.

The Atlantic Council hosted Danish Minister of Defense Gitte Lillelund Bech for a NATO Forum strategy session on her first visit to the United States as Minister and only days after she took office. Atlantic Council Board Director and former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe General Joseph Ralston, now Vice Chairman at The Cohen Group, hosted and moderated the discussion.

Kurt Volker, an Atlantic Council senior advisor and member of the Strategic Advisors Group, delivered a lecture at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs on the challenges of transatlantic relations since the end of the Cold War and prospects for the future of the Alliance.

A small country has its advantages, if it knows how to use them. With less bureaucracy and fewer actors, most of whom have known each other for years, a small country can sometimes be more nimble and strategic than a large one. Of course there can be disadvantages and vulnerabilities as well – but that’s where smart policy can help.

From its creation in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – NATO in English and OTAN in French, nicely reflecting long-standing and often-competing views within the alliance – has faced one perilous crossroads or another.