Atlantic Council of the United States

The Atlantic Council of the United States (ACUS), according to the organization's web site, "promotes constructive U.S. leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the central role of the Atlantic community in meeting the international challenges of the 21st century.

The Council embodies a nonpartisan network of leaders who aim to bring ideas to power and to give power to ideas by:


 * stimulating dialogue and discussion about critical international issues with a view to enriching public debate and promoting consensus on appropriate responses in the Administration, the Congress, the corporate and nonprofit sectors, and the media in the United States and among leaders in Europe, Asia and the Americas;


 * conducting educational and exchange programs for successor generations of U.S. leaders so that they will come to value U.S. international engagement and have the knowledge and understanding necessary to develop effective policies.

History
Within a few years of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in 1949, voluntary organizations emerged in the member countries of the Alliance to promote public understanding and support for the policies and institutions that would build collective security and peace. This international network of citizens' associations was bound together formally in 1954 with the creation of the Atlantic Treaty Association.

In 1961 former Secretaries of State Christian A. Herter and Dean Acheson, with Will Clayton, William Foster, Theodore C. Achilles and other distinguished Americans, recommended the consolidation of the U.S. citizens groups supporting the Atlantic Alliance into the Atlantic Council of the United States, incorporated as a non partisan, educational, tax-exempt organization.

Throughout the 1960s, the Council produced a series of reports on the state of public opinion towards Alliance member countries and sought to actively educate the public about the need for engagement in international affairs through television commercials (starring Bob Hope), an academic journal, and its newsletter. In 1967, the Council produced its first edited volume, Building the American – European Market: Planning for the 1970s. By 1975, the Council was producing numerous policy papers, books, monographs, and other works with the help of international practitioners and had expanded the scope of its work to include environmental management and the relationship between Japan and the West.

In 1979, Atlantic Council Vice-Chairman Theodore Achilles, recognizing the need to formally reach out to young leaders, established the Committee on Education and the Successor Generations. He wanted future policymakers to understand the solidarity required among people of good conscience if they were to build a better world. In 1980, the Council began to host mid-career professionals for a one-year fellowship, in order to provide opportunities for government officials, research scholars, business, media and other private sector leaders worldwide to pursue a year of independent study. In 1985, the NATO Information Office opened in conjunction with the U.S. Department of State, in order to focus public attention on issues of importance to the collective security of the United States and its Allies.

The Council convened a major international conference on rebuilding East-West relations in 1988, featuring speeches by President Ronald Reagan, then-presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Colin Powell, and Brent Scowcroft.

After the fall of communism, programs began to examine the transition underway in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet states, the long-term impact of the conflicts in the Balkans, efforts toward European integration, and nuclear security. Since 1996, the Council has recognized “Distinguished International Leaders” through its annual awards dinner. In 2004, the Council became the U.S. partner in the British-North American Committee, a group of leaders from business, labor, and academia in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada committed to harmonious, constructive relations among the three countries and their citizens. Since that time, the Council has expanded the scope of its programs to include political and economic as well as security issues, and to cover Asia, the Americas and other regions in addition to Europe. All its programs are, however, based on the conviction that a healthy transatlantic relationship is fundamental to progress in organizing a stronger international system.

Accomplishments
Through its diverse networks, the Council builds broad constituencies to support constructive U.S. international leadership and policies. Examples of important contributions by the Council include:


 * identifying and shaping responses to major issues facing the Atlantic Alliance and transatlantic relations;


 * engaging students from across the Euro-Atlantic area in the processes of NATO transformation and enlargement;


 * building consensus on U.S. policy towards Russia, China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan;


 * balancing growing energy needs and environmental protection;


 * drafting roadmaps for U.S. policy towards the Balkans, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, and Libya.

Atlantic Council Sponsors
See List of Sponsors.

Board Members

 * General James L. Jones, Chairman
 * Frederick S. Kempe, President and CEO
 * Henry E. Catto, Jr., Chairman Emeritus
 * Ronald M. Freeman, Treasurer
 * John D. Macomber, Treasurer
 * Jan M. Lodal, Director
 * Walter B. Slocombe, Secretary

Vice Chairs

 * Carol Adelman
 * Charles W. Freeman, Jr.
 * Roger Kirk
 * Geraldine S. Kunstadter
 * Richard L. Lawson
 * John D. Macomber
 * Virginia A. Mulberger
 * W. DeVier Pierson
 * Paula Stern
 * Ronald P. Verdicchio

Honorary Directors

 * James Addison Baker III
 * Frank Charles Carlucci III
 * Warren Christopher
 * Harlan B. Cleveland
 * Russell E. Dougherty
 * Gerald R. Ford
 * Alexander M. Haig, Jr.
 * Christian A. Herter, Jr.
 * Robert S. McNamara
 * Bernard W. Rogers
 * Edward L. Rowny
 * Raymond P. Shafer
 * George P. Shultz
 * William H. Webster
 * John C. Whitehead

Personnel
Senior Fellows

Staff


 * Christopher J. Makins - Former President (1999-?)

Board (2013)
Accessed December 2013:


 * Stephane Abrial, Odeh Aburdene, Peter Ackerman, Timothy D. Adams, John Allen, Michael Ansari, Richard L. Armitage, Adrienne Arsht, David D. Aufhauser, Elizabeth F. Bagley, Ralph Bahna, Sheila Bair, Lisa B. Barry, Rafic Bizri, Thomas L. Blair, Julia Chang Bloch, Francis Bouchard, Myron Brilliant, R. Nicholas Burns, Richard R. Burt, Michael Calvey, James E. Cartwright, Ahmed Charai, Wesley K. Clark, John Craddock, David W. Craig, Tom Craren, Ralph D. Crosby, Jr., Thomas M. Culligan, Nelson Cunningham, Ivo H. Daalder, Gregory R. Dahlberg, Paula J. Dobriansky, Christopher J. Dodd, Conrado Dornier, Patrick J. Durkin, Thomas J. Edelman, Thomas J. Egan, Jr., Stuart E. Eizenstat, Julie Finley, Lawrence P. Fisher II, Alan H. Fleischmann, Michèle Flournoy, Ronald M. Freeman, Robert S. Gelbard, Sherri W. Goodman, Stephen J. Hadley, Mikael Hagström, Ian Hague, Frank Haun, Rita E. Hauser, Michael V. Hayden, Annette Heuser, Marten H.A. van Heuven, Marillyn Hewson, Jonas Hjelm, Karl Hopkins, Robert Hormats, Mary L. Howell, Robert E. Hunter, Wolfgang Ischinger, Deborah James, Reuben Jeffery III, Robert Jeffrey, James L. Jones, Jr., George A. Joulwan, Stephen R. Kappes, Maria Pica Karp, Francis J. Kelly, Jr., Zalmay M. Khalilzad, Robert M. Kimmitt, Henry A. Kissinger, Peter Kovarcik, Franklin D. Kramer, Philip Lader, David Levy, Henrik Liljegren, Jan M. Lodal, George Lund, John D. Macomber, Izzat Majeed, Wendy W. Makins, Mian M. Mansha, William E. Mayer, Eric D.K. Melby, Franklin C. Miller, Judith A. Miller, Alexander V. Mirtchev, Obie L. Moore, George E. Moose, Georgette Mosbacher, Bruce Mosler, Thomas R. Nides, Franco Nuschese, Sean O'Keefe, Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg, Ahmet Oren, Ana Palacio, Thomas R. Pickering, Andrew Prozes, Arnold L. Punaro, Kirk A. Radke, Joseph W. Ralston, Teresa M. Ressel, Jeffrey A. Rosen, Charles O. Rossotti, Robert Rowland, Stanley O. Roth, Michael L. Ryan, Harry Sachinis, William O. Schmieder, John P. Schmitz, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Alan J. Spence, John M. Spratt, Jr., James Stavridis, Richard J.A. Steele, James B. Steinberg, Paula Stern, John S. Tanner, Peter J. Tanous, Ellen O. Tauscher, Karen Tramontano, Clyde C. Tuggle, Paul Twomey, Melanne Verveer, Enzo Viscusi, Charles F. Wald, Jay Walker, Michael F. Walsh, Mark R. Warner, J. Robinson West, John C. Whitehead, David A. Wilson, Maciej Witucki, Mary C. Yates, Dov S. Zakheim

Contact
Atlantic Council of the United States 1101 15th Street, NW 11th Floor Washington, DC 20005 USA Phone: (202) 463-7226 Fax: (202) 463-7241 Email: info AT www.acus.org Web: http://www.acus.org

Also see Atlantic Council Foundation, Atlantic Council

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Vance D. Coffman
 * In December 2013 their interim chairman was Brent Scowcroft, and Peter Ackerman was a board member