The Think Tank That Destroyed the Paris Climate Agreement

A little-known US think tank has played an outsized role in encouraging the Trump Administration to pull out of the Paris climate agreement.

Here is more from Axios:

The non-profit Competitive Enterprise Institute played a big role in rallying outside conservative groups.  An administration source says CEI was "the energy" and "enabled the issue to stay high profile in the White House for months."  CEI marshaled a coalition letter of influential outside groups, and helped generate the letter from the 22 Republican senators — including Mitch McConnell — that gave Trump crucial ammo.

Myron Ebell, Director of Global Warming and International Environmental Policy at CEI, and the leader of Trump's transition team for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), recently said that the Trump Administration is moving too slowly to unravel climate change regulations.

Ebell correctly noted that Trump would pull out of the deal before the official announcement was made.  Here is CEI's statement commending Trump on pulling out of the agreement.

Here is a CEI statement on why the Paris agreement "is all pain and no gain" for Americans.

Here are some more tidbits about CEI's influence from The Daily Caller:

In early May, the heads of 44 free market groups sent a letter to Trump, urging him to withdraw from the agreement.  The coalition was led by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).

In May, CEI launched an online petition and ad campaign to remind Trump of his campaign promise to withdraw from the Paris accord, and AEA circulated another petition calling for Trump to withdraw from the agreement.

CEI senior fellows Chris Horner and Marlo Lewis published a report detailing the legal risks of remaining in the accord.  CEI’s Myron Ebell, who headed Trump’s EPA transition team, was also public about his opposition to the Paris agreement.

CEI has also been a big defender of EPA chief Scott Pruitt, and was among the groups that supported his nomination.

According to the latest publicly available Internal Revenue Service (IRS) records, CEI has 33 employees, annual revenue of around $7.4 million, and net assets of around $2.4 million.

In related news, the president of the conservative think tank Heartland Institute was among those invited to the White House climate announcement.

In more related news, the Heritage Foundation says that it impacted Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

Think Tanker Attacked by Name on Senate Floor...22 Years Later

There is some good news for think tankers out there who are wondering if the policy papers they write get any attention.  They certainly do, although it can sometimes take decades.  The case of former think tanker Sasha Volokh is a perfect example.  Here is what he just wrote for the Washington Post:

One of the problems with working in policy — whether at think tanks or in academia — is that it’s hard to measure one’s impact. We kind of believe that ideas have some effect in the real world (if we’re being optimistic), but it’s rare for us to see the evidence as to ourselves personally. Even intermediate measures — do people even read our stuff? — can be hard to come by.

In my case, I finally know that someone is reading my work from 22 years ago! Straight out of college, in 1993-94, I worked at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free-market policy organization in Washington, D.C. One of the areas I worked in a lot was the FDA and tobacco policy — this was shortly before the Clinton FDA asserted jurisdiction over tobacco, a move that the Supreme Court said in FDA v. Brown & Williamson (2000) was contrary to the statute. The capstone of that year was getting my first Wall Street Journal op-ed published: “Feel a Heart Attack Coming? Go to France."

Last week, I finally got tangible proof that someone was reading my pieces from back then. As part of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s (D-NH) attack on CEI, she said..."CEI lobbied politicians, conducted symposia, and published policy papers and op-eds with titles such as ‘Safety Is a Relative Thing for Cars: Why Not for Cigarettes?’ CEI’s then-policy analyst, Alexander Volokh, even went so far as to describe the act of smoking as a civic duty."

The video of the attack can be viewed here (go to 5:15).  So do not fear you young think tankers.  After all, you too may one day have your paper blasted on the Senate or House floor, just like Mr. Volokh.

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."

Coolest Think Tank Studies Program

Bland think tank studies programs focusing on topics such as economics, foreign policy, immigration studies, and education policy abound at think tanks.  Boring.

But do not fear all of you bon vivants, for the conservative think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) probably has the coolest program around, and it is run by Michelle Minton, a Fellow at CEI and Director of "Sindustry Studies."

Yes, sindustry studies. Her Twitter description says that she fights for the right to eat, drink, gamble, and be merry.

In other words, she writes about beer, wine, liquor, soda, sugar, meat, doughnuts, junk food, Internet gambling, and even tampons.  Where do we sign up?

We think that the program should join forces with what is probably the coolest corporate think tank in 2015: Absolut Labs.  The brand director of that new think tank also happens to have the coolest think tank business card around.

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.

Third Way Knows How to Party

The think tank Third Way has just held a huge 10-year anniversary birthday bash, and here is how it celebrated (via Politico):

Third Way held a huge “Party of the Decade” 10th anniversary bash last night at Union Market Dock 5, with White Ford Bronco as its band with a grilled cheese bar, bacon bar, and dumpling bar.  SPOTTED: Stephanie Cutter (on her birthday), Jill Zuckman, “The West Wing’s” Melissa Fitzgerald, Sen. Heidi Heidtkamp, DE Gov. Jack Markell, a host of House Dems (Bera, Kind, Himes, Sinema, Aguilar, Polis, Bustos, Peters), Bill Schneider, Trisha Enright, Ryan McConaghy, and about 600 others.

We should mention that this is not just a one-off day of happiness for the think tank.  Third Way is also known for having  great snacks (and a decent stash of alcohol).

The think tank is certainly living up to one of its mottos: "We don't just sit around and think, in a tank or elsewhere."

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch piece on how libertarian think tanks party.

Of course, foreign policy and defense think tanks, such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), also know how to throw a rocking party.

Carly Fiorina's Quiet Adventures in Think Tank Land

Carly Fiorina, the 2016 Republican presidential candidate who got rave reviews at yesterday's presidential debate, has had an under-the-radar relationship with a handful of think tanks.

For example, the former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard has been a Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Among other things, she was tapped to be a member of CSIS's Executive Council on Development.  Earlier this year she gave a speech at CSIS for the "Smart Women, Smart Power" initiative.  In 2013 she gave a speech at the think tank at a forum on innovation for government effectiveness.

Of course, CSIS is not the only think tank that Carly Fiorina has a connection to.  Earlier this year, Fiorina gave a keynote address at the annual dinner of the conservative think tank Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI).

Ms. Fiorina was also the Chair of the Board of Directors of Technology Policy Institute (TPI), a Washington, DC-based think tank focusing on the economics of innovation and technological change.

Following are a few things that other think tanks have put said about Fiorina:

• Here is what the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has put together on the foreign policy positions of Carly Fiorina.

• Marc Thiessen of American Enterprise Institute (AEI) writes how Carly Fiorina is on the rise.

• The Heritage Foundation said earlier this year that no other potential 2016 GOP candidate was tougher on Hillary Clinton than Carly Fiorina at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

• Brookings Institution scholar John Hudak has said that Fiorina probably has more potential as a vice presidential candidate, and could possibly be tapped as Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

Think Tank Watch prediction: After yesterday's performance, don't be surprised if Fiorina starts making her way around the think tank circuit more regularly.

Exxon Has Spent $30+ Million on Think Tanks?

Corporations are the glue that keep most large think tanks intact, as a whole spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year for think tank studies and access to scholars.  One specific example is ExxonMobil Corporation, which has reportedly spent tens of millions of dollars on think tanks over the past few decades.  Here is more from a Herald & Tribune op-ed:

...for decades thereafter, the company [Exxon] nevertheless spent $30 million on think tanks and researchers...

According to The Huffington Post, in 2014 alone Exxon spent $1.9 million on 15 think tanks, advocacy groups, and trade associations.  Here is a list from around 2005 of the various think tanks that Exxon was funding.  Think tanks on that list include Cato Institute, Heritage Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), Hoover Institution, and Hudson Institute.

Exxon's corporate website does not list the think tanks it currently funds but says that it "provides support to a variety of think tanks, trade associations and coalitions in order to promote informed dialogue and sound policy on matters pertinent to its interests."  Today, Exxon funds think tanks such as the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) and the Brookings Institution.  [Chevron is also a donor to those two think tanks.]

Other think tanks that have received Exxon money include: Resources for the Future (RFF), New America Foundation (NAF), and Center for a New American Security (CNAS).

In 2007, it was reported that Exxon had been funding the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI).  At that time, AEI was sending letters to scientists offering them up to $10,000 to critique findings in a climate report from the United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It is also important to remember that in 2009, Exxon head Rex Tillerson came to the Wilson Center in Washington, DC to announce for the first time that Exxon was supporting a carbon tax.

Here is more about big oil companies' funding of think tanks.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) connection to Exxon.

Exxon has also given large amounts to colleges and universities, often considered the largest competitors to think tanks.

In related news, a recent New York Times piece entitled "Emails Reveal Academic Ties In a Food War" outlines the large sums of money that Monsato has given to academics.  That piece does not mention Monsanto's funding of think tanks, but it is public knowledge that Monsato has donated to think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and Hudson Institute.

Think Tank Quickies (#185)

• USIP hosts Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on July 22.
• VP Joe Biden gives speech at Truman National Security Project and CEIP.
• Will these three new Hong Kong think tanks shake things up in Hong Kong?
• The future of think tanks in Africa, via On Think Tanks.
• Conservative think tank CEI has a new whiskey (!) project.
• A complex web of Chilean think tanks, via Alejandro Chafuen.
• 4th Transatlantic Think Tank Conference held.
• "Darkode" described as "massive think tank for cybercriminals."
• CAP to host special presidential envoy John Allen for discussion on countering ISIS; CAP hires former HHS official Joan Lombardi as Senior Fellow focusing on early childhood issues.
• Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) speaks at Atlantic Council. 
• Henri Barkey named new Director of Wilson Center's Middle East Program; Laura Dawson named new Director of Wilson Center's Canada Institute.