The Atlantic Council was founded with the stated mission to encourage the continuation of cooperation between North America and Europe that began after World War II. In its early years, its work consisted largely of publishing policy papers and polling Europeans and Americans about their attitudes towards transatlantic and international cooperation. In these early years, its primary focus was on economic issues—mainly encouraging free 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.[3]
Although the Atlantic Council did publish policy papers and monographs, Melvin Small of Wayne 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".[3]
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 the war 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.[3][4]
In 2017, Tom Bossert, previously a Nonresident Zurich Cyber Risk Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Cyber Security Initiative, was appointed Homeland Security Advisor to the Trump administration.[7][8][9]
The Digital Forensic Research Lab was founded in 2016,[10] to study disinformation in open source environments and report on democratic processes. Top donors of the project and the think tank, in general, are currently[when?] Facebook, after a 2018 sum was donated, and the government of Great Britain.[11]
In 2019, the Atlantic Council entered into a partnership with the Hungary Foundation, a group funded by the Orbán government in Hungary. 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.[12]
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 in Xi Jinping’s China; and China’s drive to dominate emerging technologies and the consequences for individual rights and privacy.[13][14] As of June 2023, its senior director is David O. Shullman, who also leads the Atlantic Council's China-related work.[15]
Connections and funding
The Atlantic Council has, since its inception, stated it is a nonpartisan institution, with members "from the moderate internationalist wings of both parties" in the United States.[3] Despite its connections, the Council is by charter independent of the U.S. government and NATO, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.[3]
In September 2014, Eric Lipton reported in The 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 of think tanks that received substantial overseas funds and conducted activities that "typically align with the foreign governments' agendas".[16]
The Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East was established with a donation from Bahaa Hariri and its founding head was Michele Dunne. After Mohamed 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.[16]
In 2014, The Atlantic Council produced a report promoting the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) — a proposed trade-accommodation agreement between the European Union and the U.S. — with the financial backing of FedEx, who were simultaneously lobbying Congress directly to decrease transatlantic tariffs.[17]
In 2015 and 2016, the three largest donors, giving over $1 million USD each, were US millionaire Adrienne Arsht (executive vice chair[18]), Lebanese billionaire Bahaa Hariri (estranged brother of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri[19]), and the United Arab Emirates.[20][21] The Ukrainian oligarch-run Burisma Holdings donated $100,000 per year for three years to the Atlantic Council starting in 2016.[22] The full list of financial sponsors includes many military, financial, and corporate concerns.[23]
The leading donors in 2018 were Facebook and the British government.[11] According to the Council, of its 2019 revenue, 14% (approximately $5.5 million) came from government donors excluding the US government.[24]
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.[26] 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. [27] A Spokesperson for the Atlantic Council told Politico 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 established 501(c)(3) in April of 2023, despite Mr Srivastava's representation to the Council that this was a registered foundation."[28]
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 General Anders Fogh Rasmussen's first major U.S. speech, in which he discussed issues such as NATO's mission in the War in Afghanistan, NATO cooperation with Russia, and the broader transatlantic relationship.[34][35] Members of the U.S. Congress have also appeared, including Senator Richard Lugar and Secretary of State John Kerry.[36][37][38] The Council hosts events with sitting heads of state and government, including former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili,[39][40] Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk,[41][42] and former Latvian President Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.[43][44][45]
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.[46] As part of the Commanders Series, American military leaders such as former General George Casey[47][48] and former Admiral Timothy Keating[49][50] and European leaders like former French Chief of Defense General Jean-Louis Georgelin[51][52] and Dutch Lieutenant General Ton van Loon[53][54] have spoken on issues such as the Iraq War, the war in Afghanistan, and security threats in Asia and Africa.
Its annual events include the Distinguished Leadership Awards in Washington, DC; the Future Leaders Summit;[55][56] the Wroclaw Global Forum in Wroclaw, Poland;[57] the Atlantic Council Energy & Economic Summit in Istanbul, Turkey;[58] and the Global Citizen Awards in New York City.[59][60]
On February 22, 2019, the Atlantic Council released its Declaration of Principles at the Munich 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".[61]
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 the Russian Federation. Russia added the Atlantic Council to its list of "undesirable" organizations, preventing it from operating within Russia.[67] Russian scholars Andrei Tsygankov, Pavel Tsygankov, and Haley Gonzalez (2023) noted pro-NATO and anti-Russian bias in Atlantic Council publications.[68]
The United States diplomatic cables leak revealed that the Atlantic Council worked closely with Chevron Corporation and ExxonMobil representatives to undermine the Brazilian legislative proposal to grant Petrobras chief operator of the pre-salt oil deposits in the Brazilian coast.[69] Upon failure, the organization pivoted to undermine the institutions that held that legislation in place by openly supporting the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff[70] and the ongoing lawfare against Petrobras.[71][72] After the legislative victory, the success of the first auctions was announced in an event organized by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars[73] and the main contributors to the Atlantic Council on this endeavour,[74] Chevron,[75] ExxonMobil,[76]Shell plc[77] and BP,[78] were awarded with pre-salt exploration contracts.
