Last week, co-hosts Andrea Ochoa and Christina Oh attended the 2024 NATO Youth Summit, which was a collaborative event hosted by NATO, The Aspen Institute, Aspen Institute Romania, the Swedish Defence University and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. The event focused on global security issues and enhancing youth understanding of the transatlantic alliance, including how the alliance can address current and future security challenges. 

As part of the event, Burn Bag sat down with some of the following panelists and speakers: 

• Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, U.S. Department of State
• Vice Admiral Guy Robinson, Chief of Staff, NATO Allied Command  Transformation (ACT) 
• Colonel Florian Lemoine, Scientific Advisor, NATO Allied Command Transformation (ACT)
• Lauren Walsh, Professor and Director of the Gallatin Photojournalism Initiative, NYU

Topics included INDOPACOM U.S./NATO priorities, NATO multi-strategic operations, NATO emerging technologies and defense innovation, and more. 

The 2024 NATO Youth Summit also featured the work and idea exchange of some of the Summit’s Youth Challenge Winners, who proposed a variety of ideas to help shape a more secure tomorrow. These challenge winners will be featured in our next episode as part of our 2-part series covering this event.