NATO and its members are facing a growing threat in the form of Mis-, Dis-, and Mal-information (MDM) campaigns that can be traced back to authoritarian regimes and their proxies. Much of this “weaponized” information seems aimed at weakening confidence in member governments and in the alliance itself. While Russia poses the most immediate threat, China and others are also engaged in these antidemocratic campaigns. One important step in countering MDM is measuring the public’s awareness of the threat. This is difficult because efforts are increasingly sophisticated, subtle, and coordinated. To counter this threat, NATO and its members must measure and build public awareness of MDM and clearly communicate NATO objectives especially younger populations in NATO member states. This event is the second of a four-part series to build public awareness of MDM, communicate NATO’s importance (particularly to youth), and pursue forward-looking, evidence-based, and trust-based policymaking.
H.E. Mr. Jüri Luik is the Permanent Representative of Estonia to NATO since August 2021.
Prior to becoming the Permanent Representative of Estonia to NATO, Jüri Luik was the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Estonia. Before that, he was the Undersecretary for Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2015-2017 he was the Director of the International Centre for Defence and Security. From 2012-2015 Jüri Luik served as the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Moscow. From 2007-2012 he served as the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and permanent representative to NATO. From 2003-2007 Jüri Luik served as the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Washington. From 2002-2003 he served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Head of the NATO accession negotiation delegation. From 1999-2002 Jüri Luik served as the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Estonia. From 1996-1999 he served as the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Brussels.
From 1995-1996 Luik was a Visiting Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in Washington. From 1994-1995 he served as the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Estonia. From 1993-1994 Jüri Luik served as the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Estonia. From 1992-1993 he served as Minister without a Portfolio, heading the Estonian Delegation in Russian-Estonian intergovernmental negotiations. In 1992 he was a Member of the Riigikogu and in 1991 he served as the Head of the Division for International Organisations and Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and later served as the director of the same division. From 1990-1991 Jüri Luik served as the assistant advisor on Anglo-Saxon countries at the Estonian Institute From 1988-1990 he was the political editor at the magazine Vikerkaar. Born on 17 August 1966, in Tallinn, he graduated from the University of Tartu with a degree in journalism. He has been awarded the diplomatic rank of ambassador.
Dr. Evelyn N. Farkas has three decades of experience working on national security and foreign policy in the U.S. executive, legislative branch, private sector and for international organizations overseas. In 2019-2020 she ran to represent New York’s 17th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. She is currently President, Farkas Global Strategies. Prior to that she was Senior Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United State and the Atlantic Council and National Security Contributor for NBC/MSNBC.
She served from 2012 to 2015 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia, Balkans, Caucasus and conventional arms control. From 2010 to 2012 she was Senior Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and Special Advisor to the Secretary of Defense for the NATO Summit. Prior to that, she was Executive Director of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism and senior fellow at the American Security Project. From 2001 to 2008, she served as a Professional Staff Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee responsible for Asia Pacific, Western Hemisphere, Special Operations Command, and policy issues including combatting terrorism, and export control.
From 1997-2001 Farkas was a professor of international relations at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College. She served 1996-97 in Bosnia with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). She has published numerous journal articles and opinion pieces and Fractured States and U.S. Foreign Policy: Iraq, Ethiopia, and Bosnia in the 1990s (Palgrave/St. Martin’s Press). She speaks Hungarian and German, has studied French, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Russian and Hindi.
Dr. Farkas obtained her MA and Ph.D. from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She serves a DC Family Court-Appointed Special Advocate. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Board of Directors for the Project 2049 Institute, Supporters of Civil Society in Russia, Leadership Council-Women in National Security, and the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College.
Edward Lucas is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). He was formerly a senior editor at The Economist. Lucas has covered Central and Eastern European affairs since 1986, writing, broadcasting, and speaking on the politics, economics, and security of the region.
A graduate of the London School of Economics and long-serving foreign correspondent in Berlin, Vienna, Moscow, and the Baltic states, he is an internationally recognized expert on espionage, subversion, the use and abuse of history, energy security and information warfare.
He is the author of four books: The New Cold War (2008, newly revised and republished); Deception (2011); The Snowden Operation (2014), and Cyberphobia (2015). His website is edwardlucas.com and he tweets as @edwardlucas.
Moderator:
David J. Kramer serves as Managing Director for Global Policy at the George W. Bush Institute. Prior to joining the Institute, he taught at Florida International University’s Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs, where he also was Senior Fellow in the Václav Havel Program for Human Rights and Diplomacy and Director for European and Eurasian Affairs.
Before moving to Miami, Kramer worked in Washington, DC for 24 years, including as Senior Director for Human Rights and Democracy with The McCain Institute for International Leadership; President of Freedom House; and Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Kramer also served eight years in the U.S. Department of State during the George W. Bush administration, including as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs (responsible for Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus affairs as well as regional non-proliferation issues); Professional Staff Member in the Secretary’s Office of Policy Planning; and Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary for Global Affairs. He also was Executive Director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy in Washington. He is author of the book, Back to Containment: Dealing with Putin’s Regime.
