Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting the United States, and with the US elections dominating the news cycle, he decided to have a meeting with top US think tank heads to discuss the elections, among other things.
Those in attendance included:
- Neera Tanden, President and CEO of Center for American Progress (CAP)
- Strobe Talbott, President of the Brookings Institution
- William Burns, President of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP)
- Kurt Campbell, Co-Founder and former CEO of Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
- Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)
- Jon Huntsman, Chairman of the Atlantic Council
- Kenneth Weinstein, Chairman and CEO of the Hudson Institute
- Nancy Lindborg, President of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP)
- Michael Dimock, President of Pew Research Center
Others "think tanks" reportedly represented at the meeting include Center for the National Interest (CNI), Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), and Global Energy Capital (GEC) - which is not actually a think tank.
Here is a picture of the think tankers talking to Modi around a large table.
Many of those think tank heads present at the meeting have advised the presidential candidates and are providing policy advice to them. Moreover, some will likely serve in the next Administration at very high levels.
Foreign heads of state rarely have convened such a high-level meeting strictly with think tank heads on US soil, making the meeting quite rare.