The Otto Wolff Foundation and Amerika Haus e.V. NRW, in cooperation with the IHK zu Köln, cordially invite you to the annual Otto Wolff Lecture.

Twenty-five years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, NATO faces multiple, diverse security challenges.  To the east lays newly aggressive Russia; to the south instability that breeds ISIS and causes mass migration; and internally challenges in some member states to the core values on which the Alliance is founded.  Can this nearly 70-year-old institution keep pace with the changing security environment?  How is NATO confronting these challenges?  Is the Alliance capable of adapting, or will it fade into irrelevance?  What can we expect going forward?  As some NATO citizens increasing question the value of government and international institutions, can NATO — the world’s most successful and most durable alliance — once again prove its value?

Ambassador Douglas Lute is the former United States Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s standing political body.  A career Army officer, in 2010 Lute retired from active duty as a lieutenant general after 35 years of service.  In 2007 President Bush named him as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor to coordinate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  In 2009 he was the senior White House official retained by President Obama and his focus on the National Security Council staff shifted to South Asia.  Before being assigned to the White House, General Lute served as Director of Operations (J3) on the Joint Staff, overseeing U.S. military operations worldwide.  From 2004 to 2006, he was Director of Operations for the United States Central Command, with responsibility for U.S. military operations in 25 countries across the Middle East, eastern Africa and Central Asia, in which over 200,000 U.S. troops operated. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a charter member of the Flag Officer Advisory Group of the United States Institute of Peace. 

The lecture was moderated by Dr. Thomas Gutschker. As a member of the political editorial department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, he writes mainly on foreign and security policy issues.

The event was held in English.