ABSTRACT
This chapter explores whether the United States has used the full potential of the G8 in advancing its own interests in counterterrorism, arms control, and regional security. The G8 has a long and proud tradition in arms control, counterterrorism, and regional security. In 2004, the US presidency of the G8 coincided with the presidential elections. The G8 is broader than North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) both in scope and in the geographic extent of its membership. The two countries that are not members —Russia and Japan—have much at stake in the future of the transatlantic relationship. The G8 offers the United States an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. The G8 can be a forum for the reconstruction of transatlantic relations and a vehicle for the advancement of US interests in counterterrorism, arms control, and regional security. Airline security is another case of the G8 advancing American—and, at the same time, wider global—interests.
