Online discussion with John Rood

Date of event: 10.6.2020

On Challenges and Strains the Transatlantic Relations Face not Only from Russia and China but Also from Allies

John Rood was the Chief American Negotiator on the location of a previously planned part of the missile defence system on the Czech territory. In addition to many years of service as Under Secretary of State and Defense and as a member of the National Security Council he worked as an analyst for the CIA as well. During his career in the private sector, he also served as Vice President at Lockheed Martin and Rytheon Company.

He resigned as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy in February amid reported discord with President Trump on withholding Ukraine military aid. His primary focus in this position was the National Defense Strategy; he was responsible for the implementation of the NDS worldwide. As Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, he was the chief negotiator on the planned missile defence military base in the Czech Republic. In this PCTR online debate, John Rood met his counterpart from missile defense negotiations Tomáš Pojar and other Czech team members he worked with more than ten years ago. The actual state of transatlantic relations was the main topic of discussion, which took part on June 10.

He talked mainly about Russia, China, Huawei and the 5G implementation, the condition of NATO, planned US Army withdrawal from Germany and reinforcement of its presence in Poland in his opening remarks in a lively discussion with leading foreign policy and defence experts.

Article about the debate was published in Echo 24:

The partner of this online discussion was NATO Information Center.

The discussion record is available on CEVRO Institute YouTube or below.