The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) announced today (March 7) that former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) has joined the think tank as a Visiting Fellow. Sen. Kyl will also be a Senior Advisor at the law firm of Covington and Burling.
AEI says that Sen. Kyl will lead the American Internationalism Project, a new effort from AEI's Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies. The Project's focus will be to rebuild and reshape a bipartisan consensus around American global leadership and engagement.
AEI announced the creation of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies last year. Marilyn Ware, a former Ambassador to Finland under the George W. Bush Administration, is an AEI trustee. AEI said Ware pledged a multimillion-dollar commitment for the establishment of the Center.
Sen. Kyl has already done his job promoting AEI and its President, Arthur Brooks. Kyl cited Brooks, and his book, The Battle, in a floor speech last year.
Sen. Kyl has been a regular at AEI's annual World Forum, which was held last year at The Cloister, a swanky resort on Sea Island, Georgia.
As Think Tank Watch previously noted, Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), who attended AEI's World Forum last year, ran into a bit of a payment issue related to a friend who joined him on the trip.
In related World Forum news, Mikheil Saakashvili, President of Georgia, reportedly will attend this years World Forum.
Sen. Kyl will join dozens of other Members of Congress who are affiliated with think tanks. Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post that has a list of Members of Congress that are housed at various think tanks.
Kyl's Senate colleague from Arizona, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who is still in Congress, started his own think tank last year - the McCain Institute for International Leadership.
Last month, AEI announced that it would be moving to 1785 Massachusetts Ave., NW, the current headquarters of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
AEI was recently ranked as the 7th best think tank in the US and the 20th best think tank in the world by the University of Pennsylvania annual rankings.
At the end of 2012, AEI said that its small community of donors - nearly 1,000 individuals, foundations, and corporations - helped the think tank mark a record fundraising year in 2012. "We have more donors, in more places, contributing more money than at any point since our founding in 1938," said AEI.
AEI said that in 2012 its think tankers testified more often on Capitol Hill than scholars from any other think tank, university, or non-profit policy or academic organization. AEI also says that in 2012 its scholars published nearly 90 op-eds and they authored dozens of books and monographs, five of which were national bestsellers - unprecedented in the history of US think tanks.
