On February 28 the Atlantic Council served as a key think tank partner for the 2012 Supreme Allied Commander Transformation Seminar in Washington, DC, which drew together the leadership of NATO, including Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, SACT General Stephane Abrial, along with the members of the Alliance's North Atlantic Council and NATO's Military Committee.

On October 19, the Atlantic Council hosted an off-the-record strategy session with General Stéphane Abrial, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. The session, entitled, “Preparing for Chicago 2012 – A Smart Defense Agenda,” focused on the individual components and overall implementation of a smart defense initiative for the months leading up to the May 2012 summit.

From the Editors of Bloomberg Businessweek:  Ironically, it was President Barack Obama’s decision to cede leadership of the Libya operation to the French and British that showed the government in Paris that it could use NATO to achieve its goals, much as the U.S. has done in the past.

From David Brunnstrom, Reuters:  Worse looms over the horizon, with France indicating it will need in the autumn to withdraw the Libyan mission's only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, on virtually continuous operations since last year -- with no replacement in the offing.

From Danica Kirka, AP:  The head of the Royal Navy warned Monday that the British fleet off Libya will be unable to maintain its scale of operations without cutbacks elsewhere if the mission drags on until the end of the year.

From Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service:  A new task force NATO’s defense ministers agreed to form will explore “out of the box” concepts for improving efficiency while striving to build capabilities in the face of shrinking defense budgets

From Stéphane Abrial, the International Herald Tribune:  The decisions taken in Lisbon are only the most recent steps in a process that began with the series of cyberattacks on Estonia in the spring of 2007, which struck not only military targets but also key civilian infrastructure.

From Howard LaFranchi, the Christian Science Monitor:  "If one were to say that Europe is going only in the direction of soft power, I would not agree," says Gen. Stéphane Abrial, NATO's supreme allied commander for transformation.