Transcript Key Threat - The Swiss Global Economics

The United States and Europe in Global Affairs
Adapting to an Era of Unconventional and Global Threats
September 2010
Global Public Attitudes
GLOBAL CHALLENGES AND KEY THREATS
•








Key Threat:Proliferation Of Weapons of Mass Destruction
Strategy:Prevention
Working through UN and Multilateral agreements
Enhance third countries and regional organisations capabilities
Strengthen the proliferation regime in a balanced, effective,and concrete
manner by stepping up international efforts
Pursue disarmament and ensure the responsible development of peaceful
uses of nuclear energy
Bolster the support for multilateral approach to the nuclear fuel cycle
Contain the proliferation of delivery systems, especially ballistic missiles
Initiate negotiations on a multilateral treaty banning production of fissile
material for nuclear weapons
GLOBAL CHALLENGES AND KEY THREATS
•








Key Threat:Terrorism
Strategy:Intelligence Sharing & Counter-Terrorism Coordination
Preventing radicalisation and the factors behind recruitment
Enhance the coordination and intelligence sharing between the different
EU-US counter-terrorism agencies
Craft a joint target killing strategy to eliminate hard core elements of
terrorists
Protect potential targets and establish a robust mechanism for dealing with
the aftermath of an attack
Appoint a European Counter-Terrorism czar and ensure a near perfect
coordination with his US counterpart
Bolster existing joint EU-US mechanisms on information sharing to track
terrorist financing
Draining the swamp of radicalization by addressing the root causes of
extremist ideology
GLOBAL CHALLENGES AND KEY THREATS
• Key Threat:Cyber Security
 Strategy:Detect, Deter, Mitigate
 Deploy intrusion detection systems across the full spectrum of government
and private critical infrastructure networks to detect potential threats
 Develop and implement a Cybercounterintelligence plan to integrate CI into
all cyber operations and analysis
 Increase counterintelligence cooperation between the EU-US intelligence
agencies
 Establish a robust mechanism of cooperation between the EU-US Cyber-Risk
management programs
GLOBAL CHALLENGES AND KEY THREATS
•



Key Threat:Energy Security
Strategy:Diversification and Dependence
Develop a unified energy market with greater inter-connection
Establish a joint EU-US crisis mechanism to deal with temporary disruption
to supply
 Enhance EU-US wide cooperation on R& D to promote renewable energy,
low-carbon technologies and energy efficiency
 Establish a EU-US nuclear commission to re-examine anti-nuclear stances
and explore the expansion of nuclear power
 Establish a EU-US body for international energy negotiations to deal with
suppliers and consumers
Tracking The Polls, Sensing The Pulse
The Obama Presidency has brought a remarkable shift in transatlantic opinion, with 77%
of people in the European Union and Turkey supporting President Obama’s handling of
international affairs. This rebound has created a new political space for cooperation.
Tracking The Polls, Sensing The Pulse
Despite a growing support for transatlantic security cooperation, there is a palpable
sense of disagreement about the strategic objectives in Afghanistan; how to approach
Iran; how to engage Russia; and a host of other major Global Challenges:
• Afghanistan: Nearly 63% of Europeans are pessimistic versus 56% of Americans who
are optimistic about stabilizing the war-torn Country.
• Iran: in dealing with the Iranian Nuclear Program, there is a divergence between the
European and American approaches, with 53% of Europeans favoring the dual use of
diplomacy and incremental sanctions, while 52% of Americans are favoring the option
of a surgical military strike.
Tracking The Polls, Sensing The Pulse
• The Economy : A plurality of Americans(29%) and Europeans(31%) believe that
managing international economic problems should be the top policy agenda item for
the American president and European leaders. However, there is a divergence in
assessments when it comes to the effectiveness of economic policies:55% of
Americans think that government spending has been excessive in stimulating the
economy, while 24% of Europeans think the same.
• Climate Change: a prevailing sense of mutual concern and disparate responsibility has
been shaping the debate, with 48% of Europeans versus 40% of Americans expressing
deep concern about climate change.
Looking Ahead
• The Obama effect has been a boon for transatlantic
relationship but did not trump substantive national
policy differences
• The transatlantic investment climate remains good, but
security issues are still sensitive.
• Disagreements over regional Strategy for hard cases like
Iran could affect policy options.
• The structural and political elements underpining the
transatlantic tensions in dealing with sensitive issues
such as strategic oulook are likely to persist.
• Leadersip from both sides of the Atlantic is vital to
shape the realm of the political discourse and bring a
policy change