BRUSSELS, Dec 10—The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace today announced the launch of the Euro–Atlantic Security Initiative (EASI), a two-year Commission to build the intellectual framework for an inclusive transatlantic security system for the 21st century.

Co-chaired by Wolfgang Ischinger, former German deputy foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, Igor Ivanov, former foreign minister of Russia, and Sam Nunn, former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Commission has assembled distinguished public figures from the former ranks of government, business, and academia.

Making the announcement the three co-chairs said:

“Twenty years ago, the fall of the Berlin Wall promised great hope that Cold War divides would vanish, ushering in a new era of peace and security based on what Mikhail Gorbachev called a 'common European home,' and George H. W. Bush called a 'Europe whole and free.'

“Over the intervening years this moment never arrived, but neither has the hope died. Over the next two years, in consultation with experts and policy makers from Europe, Russia, its neighbors, and the United States, we will look comprehensively at the full range of security challenges facing our nations, assess the existing institutions to cope with them, and recommend steps by which the great swath of nations from the Atlantic to the Urals could be transformed into a genuinely common security space.”

Jessica Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, added:

“Throughout its 99-year history, the Endowment has initiated and supported many independent international initiatives ranging from international conciliation to financial reconstruction to the founding of new institutions.

“Today, Carnegie is uniquely placed as a global institution with the ability to bring together perspectives through our operations in Europe, Russia, and the United States to address this central security challenge of the new century. Creative thinking from all quarters will be essential if we are to clarify the root of our differences and to develop a framework for future positive cooperation.”

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NOTES

• The Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative (EASI) is a new, high-level international commission whose unique goal is to lay the intellectual foundation for an inclusive Euro-Atlantic security system for the 21st century. For more information about EASI, including a full list of commissioners, and video, audio, and transcript from its launch event, please visit www.carnegieendowment.org/easi

• The Commission will operate independently under the leadership of its co-chairs. It will be supported by an eminent staff led by Robert Legvold, Marshall D. Shulman Professor of Political Science at Columbia University and foremost specialist in the foreign policy of the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet states. Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, and James Collins, former U.S. ambassador to Russia at Carnegie’s headquarters in Washington, will work closely with him. Outside experts from across the entire Euro-Atlantic area will be extensively engaged as the Commission chooses.

• The nonpartisan Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, established 99 years ago, was the world’s first think tank on international affairs. Today, as it works to become the world’s first global think tank, it is uniquely positioned to sponsor this initiative with locally staffed centers in Moscow, Brussels, and Washington—as well as Beijing and Beirut. Its multinational, multilingual staff provides unequalled inside knowledge of political philosophy and policy making in America, Europe, and Russia; credibility in all three regions; networks of partners and contacts; and analytical excellence, creativity, and professionalism. All will be at the service of the Commission.

• The Carnegie Moscow Center was established in 1993 and accommodates foreign and Russian researchers collaborating with Carnegie’s global network of scholars on a broad range of contemporary policy issues relevant to Russia—military, political, and economic.

• Carnegie Europe is the Endowment’s pan-European foreign policy forum. From its regional office in Brussels, it serves as an active forum for senior European policy makers, think tanks, scholars and journalists across Europe.

• Press Contact: David Kampf, 202/939-2233, dkampf@ceip.org