New Atlantic Initiative

The New Atlantic Initiative (NAI) was initiated on May 10-12, 1996, at the Congress of Prague, "where over 300 political, intellectual, and business leaders gathered to debate the new agenda for transatlantic relations ... In June 1996, the NAI was established as a public policy research center. It is headquartered at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, D.C."

In 2005 NAI was shut down and merged into the "European Studies" program at AEI.

According to the AEI's website:

NAI's central objective is to strengthen Atlantic cooperation in the post-cold war world by bringing together Americans and Europeans to work toward common goals, including:

• The reinvigoration of Atlantic institutions of political cooperation and consultation.
• The admission of Europe's fledgling democracies into the institutions of Atlantic defense and European economic cooperation, notably NATO and the European Union.
• The establishment of free trade between an enlarged European Union and the North American Free Trade Area as a complement to strengthening global free trade.

NAI also sponsored conferences, debates, and roundtable discussions in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere.

Interpretation

The Atlantic Initiative was an attempt to carry the lobbying methods of AIPAC to Europe. Its related organizations, all with an "Atlantic" in their names, aimed to influence policy throughout Europe. There are Atlantic Initiatives/Foundations in about ten European countries, and most Eastern European countries, the "new Europe", have Atlantic representation. Much of the initial emphasis of these foundations is to foster friendly relations towards Israel, to scuttle attempts to impose sanctions, and to crack down on anti-semitism.

Activities

Characteristic of the views promoted by the NAI is an article in the Wall Street Journal by Vladimir Socor of the Jerusalem-based Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies calling for NATO air policing of the Baltic states entering NATO and the drawing up of contingency plans for their defence in the event of aggression from the Russian Federation.

Patrons

According to the 2005 version of the AEI website, NAI patrons were:

José Maria Aznar | Leszek Balcerowicz | Václav Havel | Henry Kissinger | Helmut Schmidt | George P. Shultz | Margaret Thatcher

Executive director

In 2002-2005 Radosław Sikorski was a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and executive director of the New Atlantic Initiative.

International Advisory Board

According to the 2005 version of the AEI website, NAI International Advisory Board members were:

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki | John Bolton* | Zbigniew Brzezinski | Robert Conquest | Paula Dobriansky* | Josef Joffe | Adrian Karatnycky | Mikhael Khodorkovsky | Martin Koffel | William Kristol | Robert Malott | Antonio Martino | Mitch McConnell | Rupert Murdoch | Klaus Naumann | William E. Odom | John O'Sullivan | Marcello Pera | Colin Powell | David Pryce-Jones | Jean-François Revel | Lord Robertson | Peter Rodman* | Donald Rumsfeld* | Lord Salisbury | Antxón Sarasqueta | Roger Scruton | Marilyn Ware | Lord Weidenfeld | W. Bruce Weinrod | Robert Zoellick*

*suspended while on government service

Funding

In the 1995-2002 period the AEI received $2.808,000 from the right-wing Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, in part to sponsor the NAI.

Contact

Website: website