Title: NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg to speak at Georgetown University in event co-hosted by the School of Foreign Service and the Brookings Institution

On October 5 at 12:00 p.m., the Brookings Institution and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service will host NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for a conversation on Georgetown’s campus about the challenges and opportunities facing NATO, moderated by Dr. Michael O’Hanlon.

More than 70 years after its founding, NATO remains an indispensable alliance—the ultimate guarantee of security for its 30 members from Europe and North America. Today’s security environment, however, has changed radically since NATO was created. The global balance of power is shifting, with Russia and China leading an authoritarian push-back against the rules-based international order. The alliance faces a range of other security challenges, including disruptive technologies, sophisticated cyber- attacks, nuclear proliferation, international terrorism, and climate change.

How is NATO adapting to this world of growing global competition and increasingly complex threats to our security? And how will the Alliance’s role change after the end of NATO’s largest military mission in Afghanistan? Secretary General Stoltenberg will discuss NATO’s new strategic vision for the future of transatlantic security, as it looks ahead to the NATO Summit in Madrid next year.

Press information: Press interested in covering the event should RSVP to marie.harf@georgetown.edu. Reporters may attend in person or virtually. This event will be streamed with live captions on SFS’ Facebook page, and media may submit questions on the livestream. For accommodation requests due to a disability or medical condition, contact sfsevents@georgetown.edu by Friday, Oct. 1.

About the Speakers

H.E. Jens Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg became NATO Secretary General in October 2014, following a distinguished international and domestic career. As a former Prime Minister of Norway and UN Special Envoy, Mr. Stoltenberg has been a strong supporter of greater global and transatlantic cooperation. Mr. Stoltenberg’s mandate as NATO Secretary General has been extended until the end of September 2022.

Before coming to NATO, he was the UN Special Envoy on Climate Change from 2013 to 2014. He has also chaired UN High-level Panels on climate financing and the coherence between development, humanitarian assistance and environmental policies.

As Prime Minister of Norway, Mr. Stoltenberg increased the defense spending and transformed the Norwegian armed forces with new high-end capabilities and investments. He also signed an agreement with Russia on establishing maritime borders in the Barents and Polar Sea, ending a 30-years dispute. Mr. Stoltenberg was also Prime Minister during the deadly terrorist attacks that killed 77 people in Oslo and Utøya in 2011, urging in response, “more democracy, more openness, and more humanity, but never naïvete”.

Mr. Stoltenberg holds a postgraduate degree in Economics from the University of Oslo. After graduating in 1987, he held a research post at the National Statistical Institute of Norway, before embarking on a career in Norwegian politics.

Dr. Michael O’Hanlon (moderator)

Michael O’Hanlon is a senior fellow and director of research in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in U.S. defense strategy, the use of military force, and American national security policy. He co-directs the Center for Security, Strategy, and Technology; the Defense Industrial Base working group; and the Africa Security Initiative within the Foreign Policy program. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown’s Center for Security Studies, an adjunct professor at Columbia University, a professional lecturer at George Washington University, and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. O’Hanlon was also a member of the external advisory board at the Central Intelligence Agency from 2011-12.

Dr. O’Hanlon is the author of a number of books on international security and warfare, most recently The Art of War in an Age of Peace: U.S. Grand Strategy and Resolute Restraint. He holds a doctorate from Princeton in public and international affairs; his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, also from Princeton, are in the physical sciences.