NATO in a Changing World: A Conversation with Kay Bailey Hutchison

Event Overview

The World Affairs Council of Atlanta will host NATO in a Changing World: A Conversation with Kay Bailey Hutchison, a free, public virtual dialogue with the former U.S. Ambassador to NATO and U.S. Senator, held during the week leading up to the 2026 NATO Summit. Drawing on her experience representing the United States at NATO during a period of heightened alliance tension and transformation, Hutchison will offer timely analysis of the current and future U.S.–NATO relationship and the leadership challenges facing the Alliance today. The discussion will explore how credibility, diplomacy, and collective defense shape deterrence in 21st‑century warfare, including the impact of emerging technologies, cyber and hybrid threats, burden‑sharing, and great‑power competition. The conversation will also examine why alliances remain central to global security, what is at stake for transatlantic unity, and how decisions made ahead of the 2026 NATO Summit may influence international stability in the years to come.

Key Themes

• The U.S.–NATO relationship at a strategic inflection point amid geopolitical competition and internal alliance pressures

• The enduring relevance of collective defense and deterrence in an era of great power rivalry

• How 21st‑century warfare is reshaping alliances, from cyber and hybrid threats to emerging technologies and space

• Burden sharing, defense spending, and alliance cohesion in a changing political landscape

• NATO’s role beyond Europe, including global security, China, and challenges to the rules based international order

• Leadership, credibility, and diplomacy in sustaining alliance unity during moments of uncertainty

• What decisions made during the 2026 NATO Summit may mean for transatlantic security in the decade ahead

  
  

Agenda

• 12:00–12:05 p.m.: Welcome and Introductions

• 12:05–12:35 p.m.: Moderated Fireside Dialogue

• 12:35–12:55 p.m.: Audience Q&A

• 12:55–1:00 p.m.: Closing Remarks

Distinguished Speaker 

Kay Bailey Hutchison is a public servant and businesswoman whose career has spanned leadership roles as a bank executive, U.S. Senator from Texas from 1993 to 2013, and U.S. Ambassador to NATO, a position she held for more than three years before stepping down in January 2021 after working to sustain U.S. leadership within the 30‑nation Alliance. She is the author of three books on American women’s leadership, including the bestseller American Heroines, and has been honored with the naming of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas as well as the University of Texas–based Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law and Business. She serves on the Dallas Mayor’s International Advisory Council and the Board of Directors of the Atlantic Council and is a Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is a member of the NASA Advisory Council and appointed to the Energy Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Moderator 

Rickey Bevington is an Emmy Award–winning journalist and nationally respected voice on global affairs, civic leadership, and the future of media. She serves as President of the World Affairs Council of Atlanta and Executive in Residence at Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business, bringing decades of storytelling expertise and public‑engagement leadership to global dialogue. Previously, she spent more than 20 years as a television and radio journalist with outlets including Georgia Public Broadcasting, NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Marketplace, and delivered a widely recognized TEDx talk on media literacy and civic responsibility. An internationally engaged leader, Bevington has participated in elite leadership programs and fellowships across Europe and Asia and is a sought‑after moderator who has interviewed figures ranging from President Jimmy Carter to General David Petraeus. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Chair of the Agnes Scott College Board of Visitors, and a magna cum laude graduate of Barnard College.