Achilles Seminar on Transformation and the Transatlantic Relationship

Washington,DC - Norfolk,VA

October 16-19, 2006

The Streit Council co-sponsored, together with the Atlantic Council of the U.S. and the Allied Command Transformation’s Department of Strategic Vision (NATO Public Diplomacy Division), the “Achilles Seminar on Transformation and the Transatlantic Relationship."
Named after NATO founder and late Atlantic Council Chairman Theodore Achilles, this four-day event brought emerging young leaders in the Atlantic countries together for a dialogue on defense policy with government officials, think tanks analysts, and other experts in Washington DC and Norfolk.
Welcoming speeches were delivered by Robert Hunter, President of the Atlantic Treaty Association and former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Jim Townsend of the Atlantic Council of the United States, Tiziana Stella of the Streit Council for a Union of Democracies, and Carmen Iezzi of the Young Atlantic Treaty Association.
The idea of the seminar was rooted in the concept of Theodore Achilles about "the successor generation problem". Achilles felt it was essential to convey an understanding of the continuing relevance of the Atlantic Alliance to new generations, which had not gone through the experience of Alliance bonding in the World Wars. This led to the establishment of an ongoing Successor Generation program at the Atlantic Council. Speakers included Robert Hunter, Ian Brzezinski, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Europe and Terry J. Pudas, Director of the Office of Force Transformation of the Department of Defense.
The seminar took on the widening and deepening of the Atlantic Alliance by focusing on the global partnership of NATO as well as its internal reform. Experts offered broad coverage of NATO transformation, showing how structural reforms are also associated with NATO’s new partnerships and global developments in the defense industry. The seminar attendees were then tasked with working out a common position on issues of NATO transformation.
Students travelled to Norfolk , Virginia to visit Allied Command - Transformation (ACT) and learn about new directions in military capabilities and doctrine and how these will affect NATO and its operations.

Achilles Transformation Seminar participants

The Streit Council cosponsored the event as part of its work to advance the ideas of the Atlantic movement in a contemporary context, and to involve young graduates in the study of Atlantic and inter-democracy integration.

See program of the event

Learn More about Theodore Achilles