Monday, July 8, 2013

28 Scholars Blast Claim of ISI Think Tank Infiltration


A group of 28 scholars, journalists, former ambassadors and ex-generals have issued a statement denying that Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, has infiltrated a variety of US think tanks.  That claim was made last week by Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa and was first reported by The Times of India on June 30, 2013.

Think Tank Watch has obtained the letter, which was signed by:
  • Dr. Anatol Lieven
  • Dr. Adil Najam
  • Dr. Andrew Wilder
  • Ms. Safiya Aftab 
  • Dr. Walter Andersen
  • Mr. Peter Bergen
  • Amb. Wendy Chamberlin
  • Dr. Stephen Cohen 
  • Mr. Steve Coll
  • Ms. Sheila Fruman
  • Mr. Ejaz Haider 
  • Mr. Yasser Latif Hamdani 
  • Dr. Emma Hooper  
  • Amb. Tauqir Hussain
  • Mr. Zahid Hussain
  • Dr. Ayesha Jalal
  • Dr. Saba Khattak  
  • Lt. Gen (ret.) Talat Masood  
  • Amb. Cameron Munter 
  • Dr. Paula Newberg 
  • Dr. Rasul Baksh Rais
  • Dr. Paolo Cotta Ramusino
  • Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi
  • Dr. Abid Suleri
  • Dr. Marvin Weinbaum 
  • Dr. Anita Weiss
  • Ms. Huma Yusuf  
  • Mr. Mosharraf Zaidi

Here is the previous Think Tank Watch post about the allegations. 

Spies at US think tanks are nothing new.  Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post about spy recruitment at think tanks.  Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on think tanks that foreign spies seem to prefer.  Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on former US spies and intelligence people who now work at US think tanks.

While there are 1,823 think tanks in the US, Pakistan has only 19 think tanks, according to the latest University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.