Atlantic Council Events

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is in the United States this week, following recent visits to Egypt and the United Kingdom. One year after his first meeting with President Trump, Mohammed bin Salman continues to advance dramatic social and economic change in the Kingdom. Under the Crown Prince, Saudi Arabia has loosened some restrictions on the guardianship code and sidelined the religious police, imposed a 5% VAT and increased prices of fuel and electricity, hosted concerts and reopened cinemas, and announced that women will be permitted to seek drivers’ licenses this summer. All of these issues are likely to be on the agenda for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s meetings in the United States. One day after the Crown Prince meets with President Trump, Atlantic Council experts will assess the immediate results and forecast the expected outcomes for the duration of the US visit. What are the key priorities for the various parties? What are the dynamics at play, particularly amidst a transition of US national security leadership? On Wednesday, Nabeel Khoury, Dov Zakheim, and Rachel Brandenburg will discuss the top issues for the US-Saudi relationship, to include the war in Yemen, regional stability and GCC relations, and Saudi Vision 2030.

On January 31st, the Atlantic Council hosted a conversation with female thought leaders about the current state of the transatlantic relationship. In today’s turbulent political and security environment, the transatlantic alliance is at a critical crossroads. Pressing foreign policy and security challenges – from terrorism and Russian aggression to rising nationalism and waning confidence in institutions – have raised new questions about the future of the transatlantic alliance. This discussion features reflects on the past year, and discusses the future of NATO and US engagement in Europe, how the transatlantic partnership must adapt to today’s strategic environment, and the importance of female leadership in foreign policy and international security. A conversation with: Amb. Kristen Silverberg Managing Director Institute of International Finance; Former US Ambassador to the European UnionMs. Julianne Smith Senior Fellow and Director, Transatlantic Security Program Center for a New American Security Ms. Christine Wormuth  Director, Adrienne Arsht Center for Resilience Atlantic Council; Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy US Department of Defense Moderated by:Ms. Sally Painter Chief Operating Officer Blue Star Strategies; Senior Advisor, Future Europe Initiative Atlantic Council  

What are the short and long-term issues and potential fixes to election cybersecurity issues? Can paper ballots help restore faith in electronic voting? And how important is federal and state cooperation in cybersecurity policy formation? In this episode, Jane Holl Lute, Atlantic Council board director and president and CEO of SICPA North America, and Anni Piiparinen, associate director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative, discuss critical issues surrounding election cybersecurity in the lead-up to the 2018 mid-term election and beyond.

What does the Trump administration's strategy toward the Asia-Pacific mean for US-ROK relations? The December 12 forum, "Reimagining the US-Republic of Korea Partnership in the Trans-Pacific Century," explored priorities for the US-ROK security alliance and economic partnership. This podcast features the keynote address "Meeting the Foreign Policy Challenges of 2017 and Beyond" delivered by Secretary of State Tillerson and introduced by H.E. Yoon-je Cho and The Hon. Stephen Hadley. The forum also featured Ambassador Sihyung Lee, Dr. Young-kwan Yoon, The Hon. Paula Dobriansky, The Hon. Wilbur Ross, General James L. Jones, Jr., and Mr. Frederick Kempe.

The Transatlantic Forum on Strategic Communications and Digital Disinformation (StratCom) addressed the threat from hostile governments and radical groups who try to disrupt Western democracies through targeted digital disinformation campaigns. StratCom brought together key stakeholders, researchers, government officials, and members of civil society from the transatlantic community. It featured panels on: Social Media and Radicalization: The Challenge of ISIS and Other Non-State Actors; Straight Out of the Kremlin’s Toolkit: Strategies of State Actors; and Transatlantic Response to Disinformation: Paving a Way Forward. StratCom took place on September 26, 2017.  

On Wednesday August 9, 2017 the Atlantic Council held a conference call where the options and impacts of US sanctions to Venezuela were discussed. Speakers included: Francisco Monaldi, a fellow in Latin American Energy Policy at the Baker Institute for Public Policy, and David Mortlock, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center. The discussion was moderated by Jason Marczak, director of the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council.

On Monday, June 5, 2017 the Atlantic Council held its annual Distinguished Leadership Awards. Each year the Atlantic Council honors several distinguished leaders for their versatile contributions to the strengthening of the transatlantic relationship. The event convenes an elite audience of some eight hundred guests from more than fifty countries, including the highest level of government, business, military, media, and civil society leaders. The 2017 Distinguished Leadership Awards honored the following individuals: * Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein (Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award) * Admiral Michelle Howard, Commander of NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Naples and U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa (Distinguished Military Leadership Award) * Renée Fleming, Award  Winning American Soprano (Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award) * William C. Ford, Jr., Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Company (Distinguished Business Leadership Award) * His Excellency Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Distinguished International Leadership Award)

On Monday, June 5, 2017 the Atlantic Council held its annual Distinguished Leadership Awards. Each year the Atlantic Council honors several distinguished leaders for their versatile contributions to the strengthening of the transatlantic relationship. The event convenes an elite audience of some eight hundred guests from more than fifty countries, including the highest level of government, business, military, media, and civil society leaders. The 2017 Distinguished Leadership Awards honored the following individuals: * Her Royal Highness Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein (Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award) * Admiral Michelle Howard, Commander of NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples and U.S. Naval Forces Europe and Africa (Distinguished Military Leadership Award) * Renée Fleming, Award  Winning American Soprano (Distinguished Artistic Leadership Award) * William C. Ford, Jr., Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Company (Distinguished Business Leadership Award) * His Excellency Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Distinguished International Leadership Award)  

Latin America, with its history of female heads of state, seems to be a rising global leader in terms of notable women in top-level leadership roles. What is the region's secret sauce? Does this phenomenon translate to the empowerment of women throughout Latin American societies? And are women rising to the top across sectors? On May 31, 2017, the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center held a discussion on the realities of women in business and politics throughout the region and discussed concrete tools to guide the empowering of female leadership. The event launched our latest report, "Women's Leadership in Latin America: The key to growth and sustainable development".

The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands presented the second edition of the Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Operations on Wednesday, February 8 at the Atlantic Council.

Samantha Power gave her final speech as US Ambassador to the United Nations at the Atlantic Council on January 17, outlining the threat that Russia poses to the rules-based international order and what must be done to address that threat.

On November 30, 2016, The Atlantic Council released the Middle East Strategy Task Force: Final Report of the Co-Chairs by former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and former National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley. The Atlantic Council convened the Middle East Strategy Task Force (MEST) in February 2015 to examine the underlying issues of state failure and political legitimacy that drive extremist violence and threaten fundamental interests broadly shared by the peoples of the region and the rest of the world. The result of almost two years of intensive study, Albright and Hadley’s final report proposes nothing short of a paradigm shift in how the international community and the Middle East interact. Not only does the report present solutions to the region’s most immediate crises in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya, it also puts forward a pragmatic and actionable long-term strategy that emphasizes the efforts of the people of the Middle East themselves, with an eye toward harnessing the region’s enormous human potential. The event was introduced by Mr. Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, and moderated Mr. Ayman Mohyeldin, Foreign Correspondent of NBC News and Anchor of MSNBC.

On November 16, 2016, Dr. Marlene Laruelle, Mr. Neil Barnett, and Dr. Alina Polyakova, who were joined by Dr. Andreas Umland, Dr. Mitchell Orenstein, Dr. Péter Krekó, and Mr. Josh Rogin, launched their report The Kremlin’s Trojan Horses: Russian Influence in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, a new report from the Atlantic Council’s Dinu Patriciu’s Eurasia Center. Unlike in Central Eastern Europe, Moscow’s tactics in the West are purposely subtler and difficult to trace. This report documents how the Russian government cultivates relationships with ideologically friendly political parties, individuals, and civic groups to build an army of Trojan Horses across European polities. This network of political allies, named in the report, serves the Kremlin's foreign policy agenda that seeks to infiltrate politics, influence policy, and inculcate an alternative, pro-Russian view of the international order. The report presents three cases, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, each written by a leading expert: Dr. Marlene Laruelle, director of the Central Asia Program and associate director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University; Mr. Neil Barnett, chief executive officer of Istok Associates; Dr. Stefan Meister, director, Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia, Robert Bosch Center, German Council on Foreign Relations; and Dr. Alina Polyakova, deputy director of the Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center and senior fellow with the Future Europe Initiative at the Atlantic Council. Visit http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/ for more.

Islamophobia is on the rise in non-Muslim-majority countries. Following the recent spate of global terrorist attacks, Muslims are increasingly portrayed negatively by the media. Furthermore, some US politicians and their European counterparts have proposed an array of policies - from policing Muslim communities to controlling the flow of refugees and migrants from the Middle East. On October 20, 2016, our distinguished group of panelists addressed issues including the media's influence on shaping public perceptions of Islam and Muslims; the role policymakers can and should play in bridging the gap between Muslim and non-Muslim communities; and the role art and cultural institutions can play in shifting the narrative to a more inclusive and productive discussion. The panel features Karen Armstrong, author and commentator on comparative religion; Dr. Mehmet Aydin, former Turkish Minister of State; Vali Nasr, dean of the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University; and Zainab Salbi, host of Zainab Salbi Project of the HuffPost Originals. Ms. Vuslat Doğan Sabancı, vice president of the Aydın Doğan Foundation and publisher of Hürriyet, delivered welcoming remarks, and Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council moderated the discussion.

In the four years since the National Intelligence Council's Global Trends 2030 was published, the biggest change in the world is the increased risk of major conflict. In 2012, a large-scale US/NATO conflict with Russia or China was close to unthinkable. Now, the post-Cold War security order has broken down, and the consequences are immense, potentially threatening globalization itself. In Global Risks 2035: Search for a New Normal, Mathew Burrows, director of the Atlantic Council's Strategic Foresight Initiative and author of Global Trends 2030, analyzes geopolitical and technological trends to present five alternative futures based on how well global actors may respond, react, and adapt to growing uncertainty and change. A panel, consisting of report author Mathew Burrows, Millennium Leadership Fellow Samantha Vinograd, Former US Ambassador to Mexico and Argentina Earl Anthony Wayne, and Director of Communications for 1776 Erin McPike, discussed the highlights of Burrows’ report and then responded to questions from the audience on September 22, 2016. The original report can be found here (http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/publications/reports/global-risks-2035).