Brookings President Steps Down Amid Rocky Time at Think Tank

It is the year of presidential transitions.  First it was Donald Trump.  Now it is Strobe Talbott, the leader of the liberal Brookings Institution, who just announced his resignation after 15 years at the think tank's helm.

The announcement comes at a very rocky time for the think tank, which took a huge beating in the past few years for various pay-to-play schemes that many say weakened its credibility and stature.

While maintaining its ranking as the world's No. 1 think tank in the just-released University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings, it was revealed that the professor who conducts the study had his new book published by Brookings - a bewildering move that further deflated the credibility of the think tank's standing.

Nevertheless, Brookings is still a prolific fundraiser, having recently raised more than $650 million in its Brookings 2.0 campaign.  And according to the most recent tax records, Brookings still has assets of close to half a billion dollars.

Mr. Talbott, who was floated as a possible Secretary of State in a Clinton White House, will step down in October.  In the meantime, a search committee, reporting to the Board of Trustees, has been formed to find a successor.  Brookings says that it will conduct a "global" search.

Talbott was paid a base salary of $606,140 in 2014, so Think Tank Watch images that many people will be applying for the job (even though traditional think tanks may be severely weakened in the new Trump era).

Stay tuned for much more, including reactions and more details of the search for a new president...

Brookings Turns 100 And Pivots Amid Rocky Stretch

On October 1, 2016, as the venerable Brookings Institution turned 100, it issued "Brookings 2.0," a plan for its second century.

Brookings's new goals fall under five categories:

1. Tightening its focus
2. Enhancing its influence and relevance
3. Promoting a culture of collaboration
4. Advancing inclusion and diversity
5. Reinforcing efficiency and sustainability

Among other things, the think tanks says it is reissuing Brookings Classics, books from the think tank's past that are relevant to some of today's issues.  A podcast celebrating Brookings centenary can be found here.

In conjunction with its big birthday, the think tank had announced an initiative to raise $600 million.

A timeline of Brookings, including all of its past logos, can be found here.  A showcase of the impact of the work by the think tank's scholars can be found here.

Brookings notes that it has come a long way since 1916, when it had only 13 staff members; that compares to the 500+ it has now.  Brookings has also joined Snapchat.

We should note that all is not birthday cakes and roses for Brookings.  After all, the think tank has received huge amounts of negative press about pay-for-play schemes and close ties to corporations and foreign governments.  And recent investigative reports show that the think tank has been unable to shake off this decades-old stigma.

The new book "Right Moves: The Conservative Think Tank in American Political Culture Since 1945," says that even in the 1950s Brookings was perceived as "anything but free from special interests."  It adds: "By the post-World War II period, Brookings had gained a reputation, especially among liberals, as a spokesman for big business."

The book also notes that Brookings played a key role in selling the Iraq war to the American public and government.  "The advocacy of think tanks like Brookings...helped create a consensus around the invasion of Iraq."

Sources: Brookings to Merge with Heritage Foundation

Think Tank Watch has learned that the center-left Brookings Institution is in the late stages of a merger deal with the conservative Heritage Foundation to form a new think tank behemoth called "Brookitage."

The deal, a shock to many in the think tank world, could be completed around the end of 2016, according to think tank sources close to the deal.

Assuming the deal is completed, it would be unprecedented for the think tank world, a place where think tanks with competing ideologies generally interact with caution.

A Brookings official tells Think Tank Watch that the deal is being announced in conjunction with the think tank's 100-year anniversary this year.

Brookings is nearing completion of a $600 million fundraising effort as part of its "Second Century Campaign," and it decided that its new vision would include bringing Democrats closer to Republicans, according to people familiar with the talks.

"We cannot afford to be just a liberal think tank in today's polarized political atmosphere," said a senior level Brookings official.  "Bringing the most well-known liberal think together with the most well-known conservative think tank would send a huge message to Capitol Hill.  Things need to change."

A Heritage Foundation official, speaking on condition of anonymity because she is not authorized to speak about internal negotiations, said that there are some grumblings among senior management about the new name of the think tank.  "We just don't want Heritage to lose its identity," she said.

Neither Brookings nor Heritage officials would comment about possible staff reductions or headquarters moves.  But one official with knowledge of the discussions said that President Barack Obama is among the top candidates to become president of Brookitage when he steps down in January 2017.

Editor's Note: April Fool's.

Violence Erupts on Think Tank Row Amid Visit by Turkish President

The usually subdued think tank row in Washington, DC erupted into violence today as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was visiting the Brookings Institution.

Erdogan was giving a keynote speech at the think tank entitled "Global challenges and Turkey's goals for the year 2023."  A video can be watched here.

Foreign Policy has done an excellent job of covering all the chaos that occurred.  Here are some excerpts:

A planned speech by the controversial Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan descended into violence and chaos Thursday, with one journalist physically removed from the event site by Turkish security personnel, another kicked by a guard, and a third — a woman — thrown to the sidewalk in front of a Washington think tank where he was to speak.

A small group of protesters gathered across the street from the Brookings Institute near Dupont Circle in Washington, with one holding a large sign reading “Erdogan: War Criminal On The Loose,” while another used a megaphone to chant that he was a “baby-killer.”

When the protesters tried to cross the street, Washington police officers blocked traffic and physically separated them from Turkish personnel. A Secret Service agent standing nearby told a colleague that “the situation is a bit out of control.”

Later, a shoving match between what appeared to be a Brookings Institute worker and Turkish security broke out. “I am in charge of this building,” the apparent Brookings employee shouted as the two tangled. A Foreign Policy reporter and others holding cameras outside the event were also scolded by Turkish security.  One cameraman was chased across the street by Turkish guards.

There were also confrontations between Turkish security and D.C. police. The Turkish officials wanted police to remove protesters, and the cops refused.

In a statement late Thursday, Brooking’s spokesperson Gail Chalef said that the think tank did its “best to ensure that journalists and other guests who had registered in advance for the event were able to enter.” She added that she believes all journalists who registered were able to attend.

The full, must-read Foreign Policy piece can be read here (make sure to watch the embedded videos).  We told you that think tank events aren't ALWAYS boring.

Ironically, in 2013, Turkey blamed the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) for protests in Turkey.  We wonder if Turkey will blame Brookings for protests on US soil...


Update: Foreign Policy in now reporting that Brookings threatened to cancel the Erdogan speech after his security personnel "pushed, threatened, and kicked both Western and Turkish journalists" and protestors in front of the think tank.  FP says: "In a tense exchange, Brookings President Strobe Talbott told a Turkish official that the organization was prepared to call off the visit even though Erdogan's motorcade was already en route to the event."  FP adds that the cancellation of the event would have been an embarrassment for both Brookings and Erdogan because the speech had been heavily publicized and attracted an overflow crowd.

Paul Light: Think Tanks Don't Think About Policy Implementation

In a recent interview with Federal News Radio, Paul Light, a professor at New York University (NYU) and founding principal investigator of the Global Center for Public Service, has some tough words for think tanks:

What policymakers to on Capitol Hill, and in academia, and think tanks is that they generate these complicated policies and assume that you can just chuck the policy over to the bureaucracy and it will be implemented.  That is just not true.

Some of these policymakers have a certain arrogance as they are drafting legislation.  They don't know much about implementation.  They don't think for a second about implementation.

If you run your finger down the phone books of think tanks around Washington you will rarely find anybody on the team on the scholars list who specializes in implementation.  It's just a non-starter.  It's so boring for most people.  They don't think about it because it's not what turns their boards on and it's not what raises money.

Dr. Light is not speaking out of thin air.  He was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and Founding Director of the think tank's Center for Public Service.  He was also Vice President and Director of the think tank's Governmental Studies Program.

Head of New AIIB Invites US to Join Bank at Brookings

Jin Liquan, president-designate of the new China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), formally invited the United States to join the bank during a talk at the Brookings Institution.

Here is how the New York Times framed the invitation:

He [Jin Liquan] is not giving up on the United States, even if his chances are remote.  "We have a standing invitation" for the United States to join the bank, Mr. Jin said, during an appearance at the Brookings Institution.  "Anytime you think you are ready, pick up the phone, give me a ring."

He made the comment at this event at Brookings.

Here is what Brookings scholar David Dollar has written about the AIIB.  Here is what Brookings scholar Jonathan Pollack says about how the US will respond to AIIB's expanding membership.  Here is what Brookings scholar Thomas Wright says about AIIB.  And here is what Brookings fellow Philippe Le Corre says about AIIB.

Think Tank Quickies (#201)

• Will some of Mark Zuckerberg's billions in donations go to think tanks? 
• Kevin Allen starts #CloudMinds, a traveling think tank.
• AEI to participate in January presidential forum.
• Picture: Is this what all think tanks look like?
• The sweet gig of being a bureaucrat, by Mac Zimmerman of AFP, quoting Cato & CEI studies.
• Hillary Clinton does Brookings AGAIN (with Saban Forum 2015).
• Zaid Jilani: "Only good food" in DC is free food you get at think tank events.
• Hotel Zed in Victoria, BC launches think tank space.
• Simon Marks: Virtually all DC think tanks need to address issues with in-house audio systems.
• What do academic think tanks offer to young researchers?
• Rohinton Medhora and John Boer: The rise and influence of foreign policy think tanks.
• Russia Insider: Think tanks heavily influence US decision-making policy.
• On Think Tanks: How think tanks can attract and retain talent.
• Brookings experts in Esquire.
• Think tanks helping get property back?
• Chatham House: Reduce meat consumption or we will all burn.
• Trailor for A Very Heavy Agenda: Role of neocon think tanks (video).
• US Chamber: "In a city full of think tanks we are a 'do' tank."
• Third Way "exposed."

Think Tank Quickies (#200)

• Center for a New American Security (CNAS) announces formation of ISIS Study Group.
• CNAS announces new project on the future of ground forces.
• Canadian Ambassador to US Gary Doer named Co-Chair of Canada Institute Advisory Board at Wilson Center. 
• Wilson Center gets a new website in November.
• Amb. Ryan Crocker named Distinguished Fellow at Wilson Center.
• Wilson Center award honors Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.
• Meet the Wilson Center's Polar Initiative.
• AEI launches new app for iPad. 
• Kirsten Madison, formerly at the White House, State Department, DHS, and US Senate, joins AEI as Resident Fellow and Deputy Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies.
• AEI hires three for its Economic Policy Studies team: Eric Belasco, Benedic Ippolito, and Lawrence Mead.
• Brookings appoints Janice Eberly and James Stock as co-editors of the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA).
• Brookings launches Brookings China Council to coincide with state visit of President Xi Jinping.
• Brookings announces the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Initiative on Innovation and Placemaking.  (Robert Bass is president of Keystone Group.)
• CFR hires two new adjunct senior fellows: Esther Brimmer (formerly at the State Dept.) and Gordon Goldstein (Managing Director at Silver Lake). 
• Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at CFR; Chris Christie to speak at CFR on Nov. 24.
• Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) appoints Tim Maurer for the think tanks new cyberpolicy initiative.
• CEIP and Chicago Council on Global Affairs launch task force on US policy toward Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia.
• PIIE appoints Pedro Nicolaci da Costa (previously with Reuters & WSJ) to help with social media.
• CSIS hires Jeff Rathke, a former Foreign Service officer, as Deputy Director and Senior Fellow of the Europe Program; also hires Lisa Sawyer Samp (formerly at DoD) for Int'l Security Program.
• CSIS names nine new members to its Board of Trustees, including Erskine Bowles, William Daley, Stanley Druckenmiller, Martin Edelman, Elizabeth Holmes, Ron Kirk, Leon Panetta, Bob Schieffer, and Frances Townshend.
• CSIS announces Marshall Program on Science and National Security.
• Cato Institute names Robert Gelfond, CEO/Founder of Macro Quantitative Strategies, to its Board.
• CAP launches national grassroots effort to raise awareness for nutrition assistance programs.
• Atlantic Council holds Energy & Economic Summit in Istanbul, Turkey Nov. 18-20.
• Atlantic Council, US Embassy Islamabad, and Meridian International Center announce 2015 Emerging Leaders of Pakistan (ELP) Fellows.
• Atlantic Council presented annual Global Citizen Awards on Oct. 1 to Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, and Yu Long; Henry Kissinger accepts Distinguished Service Award, IMF's Christine Lagarde presents award to Draghi.
• Atlantic Council and The Defense Entrepreneurs Forum (DEF) announce partnership.
• Columnist Reihan Salam and Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin join NAF's Board of Directors.
• Secretary of State John Kerry delivers Syria policy speech at USIP.
• USIP lights headquarters blue for UN anniversary.
• Henry Rowen, second president at RAND Corp., passes away.

Washington, DC = Center of Think Tank Universe

Peter Singer, Director of the Brookings Institution's Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence and Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the think tank, wrote this peice entitled "Washington's Think Tanks: Factories to Call Our Own" in 2010.  Here are some excerpts:

Travel down Massachusetts Avenue in Northwest DC and you’ll find yourself in the heart of an industry that was, when it began, unique to the nation’s capital. The imposing facades of the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies bear little resemblance to the old steel mills of Pittsburgh, but they are factories all the same—producing an endless stream of books, policy papers, reports, analyses, and commentary on everything from health care to taxes to defense.

Washington’s “ideas” economy, based in its think tanks and universities, has made the city an intellectual leader. In 2009, the University of Pennsylvania conducted a survey of the world’s think tanks. It identified 6,305 in 169 countries. At the center of this universe was Washington. Some 393 think tanks were located in the District, more than in any other city in the world; DC is home to about one-fifth of all the think tanks in the United States. Another 149 are in Virginia and Maryland. With budgets ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars to $80 million, the ideas industry is a huge driver of the local economy.

And it’s not just a matter of numbers. When the think tanks in the survey were rated for the influence of their work, nine of the top ten in the United States had offices in Washington; the Hoover Institution at Stanford University—staffed with many DC refugees—was the only non-DC think tank to make the top ten.

The latest University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings released in 2015 say that Washington, DC has a whopping 396 think tanks (and Think Tank Watch knows that in an inaccurate figure and there are actually more).  The runner-up in Massachusetts, which "only" has 176 think tanks.  Combined, Maryland and Virginia, which surround DC, have 155 think tanks.

Think Tank Quickies (#199)

• Micah Zenko's look into CIA's "what if?" think tank, the Red Cell.
• Europe's first Turkish think tank aims to boost relations between Turkey, Britain.
• Brookings debate: Is Twitter helping or hurting news?
• New America Foundation (NAF) debate: Will libraries outlive books.
• Google-chaired think tank (NAF) says Google is #1 for digital rights; Google gives to 140 think tanks, civil society groups, and academics.
• Hot tip for think tankers: How to get access to academic papers on Twitter.
• Irish think tanks don't think any more?
• John McCain's think tank wants to shut down Russia's RT.
• Former World Bank VP and Nigeria's Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala joins CGD. 
• CIA Director John Brennan gives keynote at CSIS's Global Security Forum 2015.
• Grover Norquist says AEI head Arthur Brooks is brilliant and all should read him.

Think Tank Quickies (#198)

• CEIP: Could 3-D printing make it easier for states to build nuclear weapons?
• Former CAP staffer Zaid Jilani: We had a ban on writing about Jamie Dimon because JPMorgan Chase gave around a quarter of a million dollars to the think tank.
• Brookings President Strobe Talbott: "We are all French now."
• Prime Minister of Georgia hosts dinner for Atlantic Council delegation.
• Bruce Katz of Brookings named first-ever Centennial Scholar; Amy Liu appointed VP and Director of Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings.
• Subir Gokarn of Brookings India appointed as Executive Director at IMF.
• Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ) on the Netanyahu fiasco at CAP (includes staff rebuttal).
• CBPP staffers ("Center on Buckets") playing some hoops (a new think tank basketball league?).
• 30 think tanks attended the 2015 Latin America Think Tank Summit.
• How the Heritage Foundation uses Medium to replace PDF reports.
• New York Times bestselling author Max Brooks joins Atlantic Council.

Think Tank Quickies (#197)

• AEI: 20 reasons ride-sharing is better than taxis.
• Are think tanks undermining democracy? (via Dr. Glenn Savage of University of Melbourne)
• Karen Attiah of Washington Post: "DC think tanks keep excluding Africans from Africa panels."
• Think tank CEI: "Glyphosate in Tampons, Oh My!"
• RAND Corp. on how to stop the world's growing heroin crisis.
• A case study of the US foreign policy think tanks' debates in the general elections of 2004, 2008, and 2012 (via Seyed Hamidreza Serri).
• CSIS on ISIS access to to nuclear material originating from Moldova.
• Bill Kristol interviews AEI President Arthur Brooks.
• Brookings: Make college free.
• Image of think tank financing. (h/t Transparify)
• Vladimir Putin's close confidant Vladimir Yukunin launches new think tank.

Think Tank Quickies (#196)

• In National Review, AEI's Michael Strain lists his favorite quotes that Think Tank Watch aggregated from the Ezra Klein interview with AEI head Arthur Brooks.
• Map: Right-wing think tanks in the US.
• Third Way Vice President Lanae Erickson Hatalsky appointed to President's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Parnterships.
• Earlier this year, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) joined Third Way as Honorary Senate Co-Chairs, joining Sens. Shaheen, Coons, Carper, and McCaskill.  Reps. Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Scott Peters (D-CA), and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) became Honorary House Co-Chairs, joining Reps. Clyburn, Kind, Crowley, and Polis.
• Under outgoing CEO Michael Grebe, Bradley Foundation has supported an infrastructure of conservative think tanks. 
• Former USTR official Claire Reade becomes Non-Resident Senior Associate on the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS. 
• Trying to crack open Congress's confidential think tank after a century of secrecy. 
• Brookings: Fighting crime with Daylight Savings Time (DST).
• Petitioning Center for American Progress (CAP) to recognize disability as a demographic.
• 43 think tanks from 27 countries joined Silk Road Think Tank Network (SiLKS), co-founded by CIRSD and China's Development Research Center (DRC).

Netanyahu's Think Tank Balancing Act: AEI & CAP

When heads of state and foreign leaders come to Washington, it is customary for them these days to do a bit of the think tank circuit.

As Think Tank Watch reported earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanhayu will be coming to the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) on November 9 to pick up the 2015 Irving Kristol Award.

But in a new twist, he will also be visiting the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP), a think tank with extremely close ties to the Clintons and the Obama Administration.  Here is more from Foreign Policy:

Call it think tank diplomacy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to Washington for a Nov. 9 meeting with President Barack Obama — the first between the two leaders since they engaged in a bruising and protracted feud over the Iran nuclear deal.

Netanyahu has been under pressure to try to repair his battered relationship with Obama and other leading Democrats and raised eyebrows when he scheduled an event at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) for the same day. Perhaps mindful of the poor optics, Netanyahu has settled on a simple way of trying to defuse the controversy: giving an address to the liberal Center for American Progress, which announced Tuesday that it, too, would host the Israeli leader during his November visit.

The decision to visit the liberal think tank is being welcomed by some pro-Israel Democrats, who have urged Netanyahu to try to strengthen his ties to the American left. Critics of the hard-line leader, though, said they doubted he’d use the address to announce any substantive policy shifts.

Initial liberal complaints about Netanyahu’s upcoming visit emerged when the Israeli government announced that the prime minister would visit AEI the same day as his meeting at the White House. AEI is a prominent conservative think tank in Washington that routinely blasts Obama’s policies and maintains relationships with a wide array of veterans of the George W. Bush administration. In September, it hosted former Vice President Dick Cheney, who said the Iran deal was “madness.”

The center’s decision to host Netanyahu has rankled some employees of the progressive research organization. “I’m not thrilled with the idea of giving Netanyahu a platform, but as long as his ideas are challenged in an open way, I think it’s healthy,” said an employee who works in the center’s network.

The Huffington Post has some pretty in-depth reporting on how CAP was able to land Netanyahu for a policy address.  The general conclusion is that it took a lot of lobbying from the Israeli Embassy as well as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).  Here is more:

As part of the tour, the Israeli government pushed hard for an invite to the Center for American Progress and landed an event at the progressive institution on Nov. 10, the day after Netanyahu has a scheduled meeting with Obama. The embassy's push for the invite, sources familiar with the lobbying said, was joined by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which also applied pressure to CAP to allow Netanyahu to speak.

Some current and former CAP employees were disappointed by the news of Netanyahu’s upcoming visit, which was first floated Tuesday by the Jewish Insider, a newsletter on Jewish politics. Multiple sources confirmed the news to The Huffington Post. (Tanden declined to comment.)

“He’s looking for that progressive validation,” said a former CAP staffer, “and they’re basically validating a guy who race-baited during his election and has disavowed the two-state solution, which is CAP’s own prior work."

 “This is someone who is an enemy of the progressive agenda, who has targeted Israeli human rights organizations throughout his term, and was re-elected on the back of blatant anti-Arab race-baiting,” echoed Matt Duss, who used to work at CAP and now heads the Foundation for Middle East Peace. “The idea that CAP would agree to give him bipartisan cover is really disappointing.”

As part of the effort to restore Netanyahu’s clout with Democrats, the Israeli embassy reached out to Tanden, the president of CAP, requesting the institution host the prime minister during his November trip. AIPAC, which has paid for multiple CAP employees to visit Israel, followed up to pressure the think tank on the request.

CAP’s relationship with AIPAC and its allies is fraught. Three years ago, CAP employed policy analyst Matt Duss, and its publication ThinkProgress employed Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton; all three wrote controversial pieces challenging the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Pro-Israel lobbyists pushed hard against CAP, and all three felt the pressure and have since left.

Some former staffers have criticized CAP for not engaging aggressively enough in the Iran debate, a contention those involved in the fight say is simply inaccurate, and doesn't account for both its public statements and behind-the-scenes work. 

Netanyahu is among many of the world's prime ministers and presidents who have recently visited Washington, DC's top think tanks.  For example, on October 27, Indonesian President Joko Widodo spoke at the Brookings Institution.  And earlier this month, South Korean President Park Geun-hye spoke at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Here is a link to CAP's Netanyahu event on November 10.

Update: Here is what The Washington Free Beacon has to say about Netanyahu speaking at CAP.  And here is what The Nation is saying about the upcoming speech in an piece written by former CAP staffer Ali Gharib entitled "Why Is the Center For American Progress Hosting Benjamin Netanyahu."  It notes that MoveOn has started a petition to disinvite Netanyahu to CAP.  As of this writing, the petition had more than 700 signatures.

Update: Los Angeles Times: CAP should host Netanyahu.

Update: Foreign Policy: "Netanyahu Visit Sparks Internal Backlash at Powerhouse DC Think Tank."  CAP held an all-staff meeting Friday on the Netanyahu speech, and at the end of the meeting, around a dozen CAP employees stood up and delivered an impassioned joint statement criticizing CAP's decision to host Netanyahu.  The article also notes that the Arab American Institute and Jewish Voice for Peace has have issued an open letter to CAP criticizing the think tank for hosting Netanyahu.

Update: US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is planning to picket outside of CAP's office on Nov. 10.

Update: Washington Post: CAP under fire for hosting Netanyahu.

Update: Jeffrey Goldberg says that Netanyahu should speak at CAP.

Think Tank Quickies (#195)

• Think tanks close to the Chinese government calling for a two-child policy.
• "America's colleges are liberal think tanks."
• Phebe Novakovic, CEO of General Dynamics, "notably scarce" on the Washington think tank circuit.
• Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) soon-to-be chief of staff David Hoppe has, like many lobbyists, "moved back and forth between government, think tanks, and K Street."  
• Think tank R Street Institute: 15 Reasons Why CRS Reports Should be Public.  (One reason is "they cannot freely share their work with peers in academia and think tanks.")
• Foreign Policy: Qatar boosts outreach to US think tanks.
• Abdulateef Al-Mulhim: Saudi Arabia doesn't have any proper think tanks.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) calling for ExxonMobil probe for its funding of certain think tanks.
• Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips on ending ban on crude oil exports: "All the universities, the think tanks have studied it.  It's good for the consumer, it's good for the country, it's good for government."
• Brookings says end war on medical marijuana research.

Ezra Klein Interview AEI President Arthur Brooks

Following are some of Think Tank Watch's favorite quotes from the recent interview by Ezra Klein of American Enterprise Institute (AEI) Arthur Brooks.

• Ezra Klein: "Arthur Brooks is a snappy dresser and his think tank really matters...he is now wearing a huge, cool silver watch and big, colorful cuff links.  You are, I think it is fair to say, the nattiest of the think tank executives I know."

• Arthur Brooks: "Think tanks are an industry that grew out of academia and academia is the dowdiest possible way of making a living."

• Arthur Brooks: "AEI reached out to me to become a visiting scholar...before that I was actually a donor to AEI.  I was writing checks to AEI even before joining the think tank."

• Arthur Brooks: "The reason many think tank presidencies haven't ended so well is because nobody knows what the industry standard is supposed to be."

• Arthur Brooks: "We don't have any corporate positions at AEI...in fact, we bring in people who don't share our mission precisely to 'murder board' our ideas."

•  Arthur Brooks: "Half of economists [at AEI] think a carbon tax is good and half think it is bad...you should hear them yelling in the hall."

• Arthur Brooks: "We do 350 events per year [at AEI.]  We invite people who disagree with our view.  We regularly have people from the Center for American Progress (CAP) and give them the podium."

• Ezra Klein: "And you [AEI] are known for having the best food." 

• Ezra Klein: "You can find a think tank to justify anything."

• Ezra Klein: "The think tank world in DC is a very cheap way of buying credibility."

• Arthur Brooks: "You often hear 'center-right AEI' but there is no qualifier for liberal think tanks like Brookings.  And there is a tendency [by the media] to stick a finger in stuff by the center-right."

When asked what think tank is the most interesting right now (besides AEI), Brooks said there are a lot of interesting ones at the state and local level, and cited the State Policy Network (SPN) and Goldwater Institute.

And since Think Tank Watch tracks all the world's fantasy/made-up think tanks, we should mention that during the interview, Ezra Klein (purposely) invented his own think tank - The Institute for Competitive Freedom.

Update:  Here is a list that AEI's Michael Strain put together in National Review of his favorite quotes from Think Tank Watch's favorite quotes of the Ezra Klein interview of Arthur Brooks.

Brookings: Sell the US Postal Service

Here is more from the Washington Post:

...With three Congresses in a row failing to pass legislation to help stabilize its finances, some lawmakers and policy experts have reached the consensus that it’s time for the government to sell the post office.  

This group was limited for a few years to conservatives and Republicans in Congress. But now a Democrat at the centrist Brookings Institution, Washington’s premier academic think tank, is joining the privatization side, arguing in a new paper that Congress’s inaction requires that something be done. Elaine Kamarck says that letting politicians continue to protect the Postal Service from competition is no longer viable.  

“If the USPS were a purely private entity, the changing shape of the marketplace wouldn’t necessarily pose an existential threat,” Kamarck wrote in an essay made public last week, “Delaying the inevitable: Political stalemate and the U.S. Postal Service.”

Elaine Kamarck's paper can be found here.   Ms. Kamarck is a Senior Fellow in the Governance Studies program at Brookings and the Director of the Center for Effective Public Management.  The article notes that she was the "creator and manager" of the Clinton Administration's reinventing government initiative in the 1990s.

Here is a response to the article from the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

Congresswoman Blasts Sen. Warren for Axing Brookings Scholar

Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO), who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, has just penned an opinion piece in The Hill where she blasts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for her role is forcing a longtime scholar at the Brookings Institution to step down from his position.

Here is an excerpt:

At the end of the day, who will stand up to Elizabeth Warren? She has made the White House demure in their nominee suggestions, she has made academic think tanks dump long-time, respected employees for expressing an opposing view, and she makes House Democrats cower at the mention of her name.  Warren’s brand of intimidation truly is what is wrong with Washington.

Full Think Tank Watch coverage of the Warren-Brookings war can be found here and here.

Korean President to Speak at CSIS

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is once again showing its deep connections to Asian governments.

On October 15, Korean President Park Geun-hye will be speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and Julie Bishop, the Foreign Minister of Australia, just gave a speech at CSIS today.

Over the years, CSIS has hosted a variety of major Asian leaders at its think tank, including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.  In August, Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's Secretary General of the Communist Party, also gave a speech at CSIS.

Korea, Japan, and Vietnam are among the foreign governments that donate to CSIS.

CSIS was ranked as the world's fourth best think tank in the world by the latest University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was also ranked as the US's third best think tank (after Brookings and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace).  Moreover, it was rated as the world's top defense and national security think tank.

Update: A variety of scholars from think tanks such as CSIS, Brookings, and Heritage, have attended an October 14 Korean-American Friendship Night with Ms. Park

Think Tanks Getting Big Money to Repeal US Oil Export Ban

Another day, another think tank getting paid millions of dollars to write a study that supports a particular interest.

The latest example comes from the oil industry, which has spent big bucks on think tanks in an attempt to support the repeal of the US ban on petroleum exports.  Here is more from The New York Times:

Think tanks have been a critical part of the repeal effort, with prominent centers like the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute issuing reports or sending scholars to Capitol Hill endorsing the move. These same organizations have taken large donations — in some instances exceeding $1 million a year, as was the case for Brookings — in combined contributions from industry donors. 

Thomas J. Duesterberg, co-author of one Aspen Institute report — funded in part by the American Petroleum Institute, ConocoPhillips, Continental Resources, Exxon Mobil and Pioneer Natural Resources — concluded that repealing the ban would create about 630,000 jobs within five years. He said the industry funding had no impact on his findings. But it was obvious to him why the industry helped finance his project.  

“Part of the way you make an argument these days, is to provide some solid economic grounding for your arguments,” Mr. Duesterberg said.

This new NYT report comes as the venerable Brookings Institution just forced the resignation of a long-time scholar over a spat about an industry-funded paper he wrote.

Here is a recent Think Tank Watch piece on Exxon's generous donations to think tanks over the years.