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Atlantic Council of the United States[1] | |
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| Formation | 1961; 64 years ago (1961) |
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| Type | International affairsthink tank |
| 52-0742294 | |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) |
| Purpose | Atlanticism |
| Location |
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Chairman | John F. W. Rogers |
President and CEO | Frederick Kempe |
| Revenue | $68,020,533[1] (2019) |
| Expenses | $32,590,683[1] (2019) |
| Employees | 197[1] (2019) |
| Website | www |
TheAtlantic Council is an Americanthink tank in the field ofinternational affairs, favoringAtlanticism, founded in 1961 byChristian Herter andWilliam L. Clayton.[2] It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosperity. It is headquartered inWashington, D.C. and is a member of theAtlantic Treaty Association.[3]
The Atlantic Council was founded with the stated mission to encourage the continuation ofcooperation between North America and Europe that began afterWorld War II. In its early years, its work consisted largely of publishing policy papers and pollingEuropeans andAmericans about their attitudes towards transatlantic and international cooperation. In these early years, its primary focus was on economic issues—mainly encouragingfree trade between the two continents, and to a lesser extent to the rest of the world—but it also did some work on political and environmental issues.[4]
Although the Atlantic Council did publish policy papers andmonographs,Melvin Small ofWayne State University wrote that, especially in its early years, the council's real strength lay in its connections to influential policymakers. The Council early on found a niche as "center for informal get-togethers" of leaders from both sides of the Atlantic, with members working to develop "networks of continuing communication".[4]
The Atlantic Council also works outside Europe and the U.S. It was among the first organizations advocating for an increased Japanese presence in the international community. Its Asian programs have expanded since 2001 as a consequence of thewar in Afghanistan leading to the opening of its South Asia Center and Program on Asia.Climate change, and coordinating with India and China on these issues, were also a factor in this development.[4][5]
In February 2009,James L. Jones, then-chairman of the Atlantic Council, stepped down to serve as President Obama's newNational Security Advisor and was succeeded by SenatorChuck Hagel.[6] In addition, other Council members also left to serve the administration:Susan Rice asambassador to the UN,Richard Holbrooke as the Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, GeneralEric K. Shinseki as theSecretary of Veterans Affairs, andAnne-Marie Slaughter asDirector of Policy Planning at theState Department. Four years later, Hagel stepped down to serve asUS Secretary of Defense. Gen.Brent Scowcroft served as interim chairman of the organization's Board of Directors until January 2014, when former ambassador to China andgovernor of UtahJon Huntsman Jr.[7] was appointed.
They expanded their efforts to Central and South America in 2013 when the Atlantic Council launched the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, named forAdrienne Arsht, a philanthropist and businesswoman who helped fund its creation through a $5 million gift.[8][9][10] The goal of the center was to improve relationships and economic ties betweenLatin American countries, North America and Europe. Their first director wasPeter Schechter, who was chosen due to his extensive experience acting as a lead consultant on elections, polling, advertising, and media relations in the region.[11][12][13] As of October 2023, the Adrienne Arsht Latin American Center at the Atlantic Council has increased its influence across the Latin American region. With a focus on achieving greater socioeconomic prosperity, the center has integrated political economy issues into policy-making and fostered collaboration with a diverse range of stakeholders, including governments, companies, and multilateral institutions.[14]
In 2017,Tom Bossert, previously a Nonresident Zurich Cyber Risk Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Cyber Security Initiative, was appointedHomeland Security Advisor to the Trump administration.[15][16][17]
The Digital Forensic Research Lab was founded in 2016,[18] to study disinformation in open source environments and report on democratic processes. Facebook helped fund the think tank's project in 2018, after donating a significant but undisclosed sum that placed it among top donors to the organization, such as the government of Great Britain.[19]
In 2019, the Atlantic Council entered into a partnership with the Hungary Foundation, a group funded by theOrbán government inHungary. A series of strategy discussions was planned which would have included key US and Central Europe officials. In a meeting in Budapest that year, Atlantic Council members criticized Hungarian Foreign Ministry officials for limiting discussion of the state of democracy in Hungary. Following this, the Hungary Foundation canceled the project. In 2020, the Atlantic Council returned a grant from the Hungary Foundation and ended its relationship with the Foundation.[20]
The Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center[21] was launched in December 2020[22] in a keynote event with ECB PresidentChristine Lagarde. The GeoEconomics Center develops data-driven programs, publications, and thought leadership at the nexus of economics, finance, and foreign policy. The Center aims to bridge the divide between these siloed sectors with the goal of helping shape a more resilient global economy. The center is organized around three pillars - the Future of Capitalism, the Future of Money, and the Economic Statecraft Initiative.[23] They produce cutting-edge data visualizations and research on a range of issues including digital currencies, China's economy, sanctions, and the future of the Bretton Woods system. The center has hosted a range of leading financial policymakers for major policy speeches includingBrian Deese,Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala,Janet Yellen,Gina Raimondo,Kristalina Georgieva,David Malpass, and many more.[24]
In September 2021, the Global China Hub was founded to research three challenges posed by China's economic growth: China's growing influence on countries, global institutions, and democratic values; the global ramifications of political and economic change inXi Jinping’s China; and China’s drive to dominate emerging technologies and the consequences for individual rights and privacy.[25][26] As of June 2023, its senior director isDavid O. Shullman, who also leads the Atlantic Council's China-related work.[27]
During theWar of Ukraine, the Atlantic Council was the think tank most often cited by the top three U.S. newspapers in relation with that war. The Council supported the shipment of Western weapons toUkraine as well as attacks onRussian cities to destroy theircritical infrastructure, while rejecting any compromise with the Russian government.[28]
The Atlantic Council has, since its inception, stated it is anonpartisan institution, with members "from the moderate internationalist wings of both parties" in the United States.[4] Despite its connections, the council is by charter independent of the U.S. government and NATO, aregistered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[4]
In September 2014, Eric Lipton reported inThe New York Times that since 2008, the US organization had received donations from more than twenty-five foreign governments. He wrote that the Atlantic Council was one of a number ofthink tanks that received substantial overseas funds and conducted activities that "typically align with the foreign governments' agendas".[29]
The Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East was established with a donation fromBahaa Hariri and its founding head was Michele Dunne. AfterMohamed Morsi was removed as President of Egypt by the military in 2013, Dunne urged the United States to suspend military aid to Egypt and called Morsi's removal a "military coup". Bahaa Hariri complained to the Atlantic Council about Dunne's actions and four months later Dunne resigned her position.[29]
In 2014, the Atlantic Council produced a report promoting theTransatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) — a proposed trade-accommodation agreement between theEuropean Union and the U.S. — with the financial backing ofFedEx, who were simultaneously lobbying Congress directly to decrease transatlantic tariffs.[30]
In 2015 and 2016, the three largest donors, giving over US$1 million each, were US millionaireAdrienne Arsht (executive vice chair[31]), Lebanese billionaire Bahaa Hariri (estranged brother of Lebanese Prime MinisterSaad Hariri[32]), and theUnited Arab Emirates.[33][34] TheUkrainian oligarch-runBurisma Holdings donated $100,000 per year for three years to the Atlantic Council starting in 2016.[35] The full list of financial sponsors includes many military, financial, and corporate concerns.[36]
The leading donors in 2018 were Facebook and the British government.[19] According to the council, of its 2019 revenue, 14% (approximately $5.5 million) came from government donors excluding the US government.[37]
In 2021, the founding donor wasAdrienne Arsht, and donors giving more than $1 million were theAmerican Securities Foundation,Bahaa Hariri,Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, Facebook,Goldman Sachs,The Rockefeller Foundation, and the UKForeign, Commonwealth and Development Office.[38]
In November 2022, the Atlantic Council hosted the Global Food Security Forum, which was co-hosted with the Gaurav and Sharon Srivastava Family Foundation, run by Gaurav Srivastava.[39] The Atlantic Council subsequently terminated its relationship with Srivastava "after it could not verify important details of his background" following reporting of the Guarav Srivastava Fake Spy Scam.[40] A Spokesperson for the Atlantic Council toldPolitico that it had returned funds received in 2023 for future collaboration, and that it "made the decision to terminate our relationship with Mr Srivastava in May 2023 upon learning new information because of our donor review process. For example, we learned that The Gaurav & Sharon Srivastava Family Foundation was not established501(c)(3) in April of 2023, despite Mr Srivastava's representation to the Council that this was a registered foundation."[41]
In 2025, theQuincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft reported that the Atlantic Council had the highest recorded total of funding by foreign governments of any US-based think tank between 2019 and 2023, having received almost $21 million in donations from foreign governments during the five-year period studied.[42][43]
The Atlantic Council creates a meeting place for heads of state, military leaders, and international leaders from both sides of the Atlantic. In 2009, the Council hosted former NATO Secretary GeneralAnders Fogh Rasmussen's first major U.S. speech, in which he discussed issues such as NATO's mission in theWar in Afghanistan, NATO cooperation withRussia, and the broader transatlantic relationship.[44][45] Members of the U.S. Congress have also appeared, including SenatorRichard Lugar and Secretary of StateJohn Kerry.[46][47][48] The council hosts events with sitting heads of state and government, including former Georgian PresidentMikheil Saakashvili,[49][50] Ukrainian Prime MinisterArseniy Yatsenyuk,[51][52] and former Latvian PresidentVaira Vīķe-Freiberga.[53][54][55]
Since January 2007, the council has hosted military leaders from both sides of the Atlantic. The council's Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security has, held periodic events known as the Commanders Series, where it invites military leaders from the United States and Europe to speak about conflicts of interest to the Atlantic community.[56] As part of the Commanders Series, American military leaders such as former GeneralGeorge Casey[57][58] and former AdmiralTimothy Keating[59][60] and European leaders like former French Chief of Defense GeneralJean-Louis Georgelin[61][62] and Dutch Lieutenant GeneralTon van Loon[63][64] have spoken on issues such as theIraq War, the war in Afghanistan, and security threats in Asia and Africa.
Its annual events include theDistinguished Leadership Awards in Washington, DC; the Future Leaders Summit;[65][66] theWroclaw Global Forum in Wroclaw, Poland;[67] the Atlantic Council Energy & Economic Summit in Istanbul, Turkey;[68] and theGlobal Citizen Awards in New York City.[69][70]
On February 22, 2019, the Atlantic Council released itsDeclaration of Principles at theMunich Security Conference.Frederick Kempe, President and CEO of the Atlantic Council, said it was "an effort to rally and reinvigorate 'free peoples' around the world".[71]
In August 2023, a senior Atlantic Council delegation led by former Lithuanian presidentDalia Grybauskaitė visitedTaiwan with support from theTaipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office and met with PresidentTsai Ing-wen.[72][73]
In 2024, the Atlantic Council and theMotwani Jadeja Foundation launched a joint delegation to India as part of the Global India Dialogues initiative. The delegation was announced during the Council’sGlobal Citizen Awards event.[74][75][76]
In 2016, the Atlantic Council drew criticism from the founder of theHuman Rights Foundation for its decision to award a Global Citizen Award toAli Bongo Ondimba.[77] Bongo declined the award amidst controversy over the2016 Gabonese presidential election.[78][79]
In July 2019, Russia said the activities of the Atlantic Council pose a threat to the foundations of its constitutional system and the security of theRussian Federation. Russia added the Atlantic Council to its list ofundesirable organizations, preventing it from operating within Russia.[80] Russian scholarsAndrei Tsygankov,Pavel Tsygankov, and Haley Gonzalez (2023) noted pro-NATO andanti-Russian bias in Atlantic Council publications.[81]
TheUnited States diplomatic cables leak revealed that the Atlantic Council worked closely withChevron Corporation andExxonMobil representatives to undermine the Brazilian legislative proposal to grantPetrobras chief operator of the pre-salt oil deposits in the Brazilian coast.[82] Upon failure, the organization pivoted to undermine the institutions that held that legislation in place by openly supporting theimpeachment of Dilma Rousseff[83] and the ongoing lawfare against Petrobras.[84][85] After the legislative victory, the success of the first auctions was announced in an event organized by theWoodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars[86] and the main contributors to the Atlantic Council on this endeavour,[87] Chevron,[88] ExxonMobil,[89]Shell plc[90] andBP,[91] were awarded with pre-salt exploration contracts.
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