September 02, 2014

Charting the Course

Directions for the New NATO Secretary General

By: Jacob Stokes, Julianne Smith, Nora Bensahel, David W. Barno and USA (Ret.)

"Charting the Course: Directions for the New NATO Secretary General," timed in conjunction with the NATO Summit September 4-5, makes recommendations on key issues like NATO’s response to Russia and Ukraine, military capabilities, crisis management in the Middle East, and Arctic security. The authors charts a course for the next NATO secretary general, to help him set priorities early in his tenure that will guide his full term in office. They identify four sets of challenges that include both the toughest problems and the most promising opportunities for NATO.

Authors

  • Jacob Stokes

    Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Indo-Pacific Security Program

    Jacob Stokes is a senior fellow and deputy director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where his work focuses on U.S.-China...

  • Julianne Smith

    Former Adjunct Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program

    Julianne (“Julie”) Smith is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy, where she coedits “Shadow Government.” She is also a senior advisor at WestExec Advisors, an adjunct senio...

  • Nora Bensahel

  • David W. Barno

  • USA (Ret.)

More from CNAS

  • Podcast
    • April 30, 2025
    Ukraine Negotiates for its Future

    There’s been a flurry of activity on the Ukraine front this week. Over the weekend, Donald Trump briefly met with Zelensky in Rome during ceremonies for Pope Francis’ funeral....

    By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend

  • Commentary
    • The Washington Quarterly
    • April 30, 2025
    A U.S. Strategy for Advancing EU Enlargement

    In 2014, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker famously declared a pause in the European Union’s enlargement. This pause is now over, after Russia’s 2022 invasion ...

    By Nicholas Lokker

  • Video
    • April 30, 2025
    The U.S. Is No Longer the Leader of the West

    Trump’s second term has dismantled the idea of the U.S. as the leader of the West and instead it’s almost “every nation for itself”, says Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center f...

    By Jim Townsend

  • Podcast
    • April 25, 2025
    Germany's New Defense Agenda

    On April 9th, Friedrich Merz, the leader of Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union, secured a coalition agreement with the Social Democrats following his party’s vi...

    By Andrea Kendall-Taylor & Jim Townsend

View All Reports View All Articles & Multimedia