One think tank is mentioned in the article: The Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Here is the excerpt:
Taylor also spent $100,000 to sponsor a fifth- anniversary party in January 2012 for the Center for a New American Security, a defense think tank. Senators, ambassadors and a former defense secretary came to the W Hotel overlooking the White House and listened as the Joint Chiefs chairman, Gen. Martin Dempsey, sang “Happy Birthday” to CNAS in his warbling Irish tenor.
The best moment for Taylor, though, came at the beginning of the night, when the crowd was still waiting for the ballroom to open. Ashton Carter, the Pentagon’s second-highest-ranking civilian, descended the stairs with his handlers. Carter, who had been Taylor’s adviser at Harvard, wrapped an arm around his shoulder. In a room full of 400 of Washington’s most-influential national security officials, Carter gripped the back of Taylor’s head, pulling him close. “Great to see you,” he said. A photographer captured the embrace.
Here is a press release from MEP announcing that it was sponsoring a CNAS event in 2011. Here is a transcript from that conference with former CNAS CEO Nate Fick giving a shout-out to Chris Taylor.
In the recently released University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings, CNAS was ranked as the 14th best think tank in the US. It was also ranked as the 24th best security and international affairs think tank in the world. It was ranked 25th in the world in terms of think tanks having the most significant impact on public policy.