Discussions will focus on the status of the transatlantic Alliance covering a range of topics from the role of NATO in Central Asia and the Gulf to post-conflict reconstruction, and from disasters' consequence management to the Alliance's transformation and future.

The forum will be opened by keynote presentations by Jim Steinberg, Director of Foreign Policy Studies at Brookings Institution, and Joshua Muravchik, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Instititute, focusing on geopolitics in the 21st century from different US perspectives.

On the closing session, General Richard B. Myers, Former Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, will speak about the future of the Alliance.

Other contributing speakers will include Dan Fata, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for NATO and Europe, Paul McHale, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, Ambassador Carlos Pascual, Reconstruction and Stabilization Coordinator at the US Department of State, Lisa Bronson, former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense and currently at the National War College, and Ariel Cohen of the Heritage Foundation.