Wind of change?

Founded in 1952 in Hamburg, the Atlantik-Brücke organisation is considered one of the most influential networks in Germany and has had its office in Berlin for many years. Its stated goal is a traditional US-focused policy. It is a member of the New Traditions Network (NTN). From the NTN's spartan website it can be seen that it has its official headquarter in the US Embassy in Berlin and is administered from there. 

The Atlantik-Brücke can significantly raise now its profile due to the current crisis with Russia: From 1 June 2022, Julia Friedlander will become the new executive director in Berlin. In 2020, she had voiced clear criticism of the Russian government as co-author of the report „Defending the United States against Russian dark money“. But she had already consistently positioned herself against Russia during her 2015 to 2017 work at the Office of Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes and 2017 to 2020 at the White House National Security Council. In 2017, she was at the G20 summit in Hamburg with, among others, Jared Kushner and McMaster, the then US National Security Advisor. 

Some of the German members of Atlantik-Brücke - including well-known journalists - ultimately sued unsuccessfully in 2014 against claims in German media that they were quasi stooges of a NATO-friendly network. In view of increasing hostilities between NATO and Russia, it may be an advantage that Friedlander was an employee of the CIA from 2011 to 2015. Well, Atlantik-Brücke forgot to mention this on its website: "Julia Friedlander served as an advisor at the U.S. Treasury Department and the White House, among other positions." But Julia didn't:

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-friedlander-022347b/ (last access: 19 April 2022)

Anyway, in view of the brazen Russian operations in Berlin, in Germany, in Europe, and also in view of the terrible war in Ukraine, it was probably a necessary step to send clear signals in these personnel decisions as well.

Other personnel from the Berlin office are also interesting. For example, I recognise a link to the German private security industry, among others to an ominous institute, which only had an address in Berlin, but neither email nor telephone. An alleged branch in Brussels, on the other hand, is completely unknown there. But: On this subject perhaps later.