CSIS Promoting Weapons Made by Its Defense Donors?

Here is a new piece from Adam Johnson of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR):

As tensions between the United States and North Korea continue to rise, one think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), has become a ubiquitous voice on the topic of missile defense, providing Official-Sounding Quotes to dozens of reporters in Western media outlets. All of these quotes speak to the urgent threat of North Korea and how important the United States’s deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system is to South Korea.

In the past year, FAIR has noted 30 media mentions of CSIS pushing the THAAD missile system or its underlying value proposition in US media, most of them in the past two months. Business Insider was the most eager venue for the think tank’s analysts, routinely copying–and–pasting CSIS talking points in stories warning of the North Korean menace.

Omitted from all these CSIS media appearances, however, is that one of CSIS’s top donors, Lockheed Martin, is THAAD’s primary contractor—Lockheed Martin’s take from the THAAD system is worth about $3.9 billion alone. Lockheed Martin directly funds the Missile Defense Project Program at CSIS, the program whose talking heads are cited most frequently by US media.

While it’s unclear how much exactly Lockheed Martin donates to CSIS (specific totals are not listed on their website, and a CSIS spokesperson wouldn’t tell FAIR when asked), they are one of the top ten donors, listed in the “$500,000 and up” category. It’s unclear how high “and up” goes, but the think tank’s operating revenue for 2016 was $44 million.

FAIR goes on to note that five of CSIS's ten major corporate donors (giving $200,000+) are weapons manufacturers: Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, Boeing, Leonardo-Finmeccanica, and Northrup Grumman.  FAIR also notes that South Korea gives money to CSIS through the governmental Korea Foundation.

Think Tank Watch should point out that Lockheed has given donations to a number of different think tanks, including Atlantic Council, Heritage Foundation, Brookings Institution, and Center for American Progress (CAP).

For decades a number of think tanks have had strong ties to the defense industry.  Here is a recent Salon piece about think tanks and war, and here is a part of the recent New York Times expose on how think tanks amplify corporate America's influence.

Trump Looking to Buy Hotel Across From CSIS

President Donald Trump may not actually be looking to buy up "Think Tank Row," but he is looking to buy a hotel across from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a top defense and foreign relations think tank located in the heart of Washington, DC.

Here is more from The Washington Post:

President Trump’s company is actively seeking to open a second Washington hotel as part of a planned nationwide expansion, potentially creating another venue where he stands to benefit financially from customers doing business in the nation’s capital.

Representatives of the Trump Organization, now run by the president’s adult sons, have inquired in recent months about converting one of several boutique, medium-sized hotels in upscale neighborhoods in and near downtown and reopening it under the company’s new Scion brand.

Eric Danziger, chief executive of the Trump Organization’s hotel division, more recently toured the 199-room Beacon Hotel, at 1615 Rhode Island Ave. NW, with an interest in converting the property to a Scion, according to a real estate executive who was not authorized to discuss the Trump Organization’s interest and spoke on the condition of anonymity. No agreement was reached.

The Beacon Hotel is directly across from CSIS, whose address is 1616 Rhode Island Ave. NW.  There is no word yet as to what the think tank would think of a new Trump neighbor.

Billionaire Chinese Donor to US Think Tanks Caught in Scandal

A billionaire Chinese donor to US think tanks has been expelled from China's top legislature after being caught up in a widespread cash-for-votes scheme, according to the Washington Post.

The donor, Wang Wenliang, Chairman of privately-held construction firm Rilin Enterprises, has given to think tanks such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), as well as various schools such as Harvard University and New York University.

In 2014, CSIS created the Brzezinski Institute of Geostrategy, which was funded by Mr. Wenliang's company.  Here is more from a CSIS press release:

The launching grant for the Institute came from Rilin Enterprises, Ltd., a global construction and logistics firm based in Hong Kong with offices in New York, Beijing, and Dandong, China. Mr. Wenliang Wang serves as chairman of Rilin Enterprises. Mr. Mark Fung, who serves on the Institute’s Advisory Board, is the firm’s general counsel and in the 1990s was Dr. Brzezinski’s student and then seminar assistant at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

Here is a New Republic piece written by John Judis in 2014 questioning Mr. Wang's donation to CSIS.

In recent years, there has been an explosion of billionaires (both foreign and domestic) giving donations to US think tanks.

CSIS President Has Warned of Cyber Pearl Harbor Since 90's

Dr. John Hamre, President and CEO of the Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is warning of a cyber Pearl Harbor, saying that hostile foreign intelligence and militaries are prepared to wage war now.  Here is more from Dr. Hamre, who reflects on the term he had used for nearly two decades:

In November 1997 I was asked to testify at a Senate hearing concerning the growing worry about cybersecurity. At the time, I was deputy secretary of the Defense Department, and that hearing followed an unexplained electricity blackout in San Francisco that left 125,000 people in the dark for a day. Fears were rising that malicious hackers had somehow taken down the grid. I warned the Senate that America was facing the prospect of an “electronic Pearl Harbor.” 

The phrase became a touchstone in the long national argument over cybersecurity, for better or worse. I was not the author of the phrase. That honor goes to a dear friend of mine, retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Tom Marsh, who had just led a national commission looking at cyber vulnerabilities. Tom came to my office to summarize the findings and used the Pearl Harbor metaphor.

I don’t regret using the Pearl Harbor analogy, but in retrospect it was a mistake to use the analogy when I did. We used the vocabulary of war, because that was what we do at the Defense Department. But for most Americans, war is the Pentagon’s business, not theirs.  Ninety-nine percent of American cyberspace is in the private sector, and at the time, the war metaphor didn’t connect. In fact, it backfired: It earned me notoriety as a demon in progressive left, cyber-libertarian circles. But it didn’t mobilize the national awareness of the peril we were in.

The full piece in Politico can be read here.  And here is a piece from 1997 documenting Hamre's comments on an electronic Pearl Harbor when he was at the Department of Defense.

Here is a recent Think Tank Watch piece on why reading think tank reports can actually harm your company.  It notes that a number of think tanks have been victims of numerous cyber attacks.

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.

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 (#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.

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.

Think Tank Event Fail - Syria Edition

Think tank events typically aren't controversial, but when they are, sparks certainly do fly.  Here is the latest example from Josh Rogin of Bloomberg View:

A Washington think tank canceled a congressional forum featuring the first cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Tuesday after protests from the Syrian opposition. When Assad’s cousin eventually did speak in another location, he defended his family’s regime and called for the U.S. to work with the Syrian government.

Siwar al-Assad, the son of President Assad’s uncle Rifaat and nephew of former President Hafez al-Assad, was scheduled to be part of the 82^nd Capitol Hill Conference put on by the Middle East Policy Council, a small Washington think tank. The event was to be held Tuesday at the Rayburn House office building. He was to speak alongside the Washington representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government and Brian Katulis, a senior Middle East fellow for the Center for American Progress.

But when Washington-based representatives for the Syrian opposition found out about the event, they lodged protests with the organizers and also with the office of Democratic Congressman Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who had reserved the room for the event. When Connolly’s office realized he’d be hosting a member of Syria’s first family in the Capitol complex, he cancelled the room reservation.

This reminds Think Tank Watch of another recent event at different think tank that caused quite a stir.  We are, of course, referring to the July 8, 2015 event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) with Nguyen Phu Trong, Vietnam's Secretary General of the Communist Party.

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 Tank Quickies (#193)

• Foreign Affairs: China's think tank trouble. 
• The Diplomat: The rise of Asia's think tanks.
• New Republic flashback: "Meet the Think Tank Scholars Who Are Also Beltway Lobbyists."
• Brookings President Strobe Talbott attends China State Dinner at the White House.
• Bruce Bartlett: "Washington think tanks are a cesspool of corruption." 
• Brookings scholar & former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke pens new, 600-page memoir.
• How Stephen Harper and his think tank colleagues have transformed Canada.
• Atlas Network brings us "Think Tank Shark Tank" competition.
• CSIS maps Iran nuclear deal timeline to 2026.
• New RAND study on the effectiveness of China's submarine fleet.
• Deep think tank thought of the day via Dan Kaszeta: They are call "think tanks," not "know tanks."

Women Leadership Positions Rise at CFR & CNAS, Fall at CSIS

If you are a women looking to make a career out of think tanks, you may want to pick your think tank carefully.

Women have been increasing their ranks in leadership positions at some of the US's top think tanks, but others have seen a decline in top spots for women in recent years.

Micah Zenko and Amelia Mae Wolf of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) have outlined recent findings in a piece in Foreign Policy entitled "Leaning From Behind":

Data gathered from publicly available sources - on what we subjectively considered the top US think tanks working on foreign policy issues four years ago - reveals that women now comprise 24 percent of people working in policy-related positions and 33 percent of total leadership staff.  The prevalence of women in these nine think tanks has increased by less than 1 percent annually in the past four years.

For this analysis, "policy-related" positions were classified as leadership roles (directors, presidents, and fellows) within departments focused on foreign policy, and "total leadership staff" included senior positions in non-policy roles such as human resources, development, and communications, which play an essential role in developing and implementing think tank programs.

The authors go on to say, among other things, that foreign policy and national security communities are "missing out on a wealth of expertise that could provide alternative thinking and policy options" by not hiring enough women.

Also noted is the idea that women are better for preventing war and corruption, and help with the economic competitiveness of a country:

The inclusion of women is proven to have enormous benefits for national security and foreign policy. The International Peace Institute found that women’s participation in peace negotiations, whether holding seats at the negotiating table or as political leaders, benefits the longevity of a peace agreement, making it 20 percent more likely to last at least two years and 35 percent more likely to last 15. This is particularly relevant for the United States, which will have spent an estimated $4-6 trillion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is engaged in a $9.9 million per-day open-ended air war against the Islamic State. Other studies have found that a higher number of women in senior government positions is correlated with lower levels of corruption and economic competitiveness of a country.

The authors call on senior administrators at think tanks to make it a priority to increase the percentage of female experts to 50 percent.

They cite the "women and foreign policy" programs at several think tanks as positive developments, and say that males are "empowered to influence change" by refusing to speak on all-male panels (something that FP Group CEO/Editor David Rothkopf has done), or responding to media/speaking requests with suggestions for alternative female speakers.

Based on the data that Think Tank Watch has reviewed, the Council on Foreign Relations is the first major foreign policy think tank to have at least 50% of its leadership roles given to women.

Interestingly, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) was the only think tank in the study that had a decline in policy-related leadership positions given to women.  Overall leadership positions held by women at CSIS remained stagnant from 2011 to 2015.

The Stimson Center was the only think tank in the study that had a decline of women in leadership positions (overall) from 2011 to 2015.

A chart comparing women's representation at major foreign policy think tanks from 2011 vs. 2015 can be found here.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on women in think tanks.

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.

Obama's Iran Victory Through Group That Funds Think Tanks

President Obama's victory in Congress over the nuclear deal with Iran came from a variety of sources, including one little-known action group that funds a variety of think tanks.  Here is more from The Wall Street Journal:

Early in its campaign, the White House partnered with a range of liberal action groups, veterans organizations and Christian affiliates to bolster its efforts to pressure Congress. A key player was the San Francisco-based Ploughshares Fund, according to U.S. officials. Ploughshares has spent more than $7 million in the past four years funding think tanks, media organizations and activist groups focused on championing diplomacy with Iran.

A week before the deal was reached, Ploughshares organized for the White House a conference call for around 100 activist groups to strategize how to promote the Iran deal. Two members of the White House’s Office of Public Engagement took part.

Here are the funding priorities of Ploughshares Fund.  The group has noted that it funds think tanks such as Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), as well as Cato Institute, Center for American Progress (CAP), Atlantic Council, New America Foundation (NAF), Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and EastWest Institute.

Chinese Think Tank Helping Restart North Korea Nuclear Talks

This is from Reuters:

A Chinese government-backed think-tank will host a forum with officials from six countries involved in stalled talks on North Korea's banned nuclear weapons program, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday, in China's latest push to resume discussions.

Numerous efforts to restart the six-party talks have failed after negotiations collapsed following the last round in 2008. At the time, North Korea declared the deal void, after refusing inspections to verify compliance. 

Academics and experts from China, the United States, Russia, South Korea, Japan and North Korea will attend the Beijing event, hosted by the China Institute of International Studies think-tank, on Friday and Saturday.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will address the gathering, the Foreign Ministry said in a short notice on its website, without saying who else will attend.

According to the latest University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings, the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) is ranked as the world's 36th best think tank.  It is ranked as the third best think tank among the countries of China, India, Korea, and Japan.

This summer, CIIS and Brookings held a closed-door session in Washington, DC on US-China relations.

Technically, CIIS is the think tank of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  It was founded in 1956 under the name Institute of International Relations, and eventually became CIIS in 1986.  Its current president is Su Ge.

In related think tank news on China, it has just been reported that this month will mark the first time that representatives from top security think tanks in both the US and China will make public exchanges at the International Security Conference in Beijing.

Here is a recent Think Tank Watch piece on a US think tank's use of satellite photographs of islands being developed by China and how they could sour the upcoming US visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Will CSIS's New Satellite Intel on China Dampen Xi Visit?

New satellite imagery taken for the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has the potential to dampen the mood of the upcoming visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping.  Here is more from The Washington Post.

China appears to be taking new steps to lay down airfields on two reefs in a disputed area of the South China Sea on the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Sept. 24 arrival in Washington for a state visit.

Commercial satellite photos taken Tuesday for the Center for Strategic and International Studies show that China is flattening, rolling and putting gravel on an area the size of a military runway on Subi Reef, a once-submerged shoal that Beijing has built up into an area suitable for a military base. The flattened area is about 200 feet wide and nearly 1.4 miles long but is expected to grow and be covered with asphalt, say China experts who have examined the satellite photos.

The new construction seems certain to strain the meeting between Xi and President Obama, whose national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, was recently in Beijing. The United States has urged China to stop work in the region, and Beijing said in August that it would halt reclamation. But the satellite photos show that construction continues.

While the Tuesday commercial satellite photos were taken for CSIS, a separate Sept. 3 satellite photo posted on the Diplomat news Web site Thursday evening showed the same developments.

The satellite photos were taken for the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) as CSIS.  That program has just announced that current director Dr. Mira Rapp-Hooper is leaving that program and the new director of AMTI will be Gregory Poling.  Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post describing the background of the AMTI program.

Here is what CSIS has to say on decoding China's maritime decision-making.  Here is CSIS's "Island Tracker" where you can explore China's island-building prowess.  Here is the think tank's latest analysis on the island building by China.

In related Asia news at CSIS, the think tank has just announced the launch of a bipartisan commission to develop a comprehensive economic strategy for the United States to pursue vital US interests in the Asia-Pacific region.  The Asia Economic Strategy Commission (AESC) will be chaired by Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, Evan Greenberg, and Gov. Jon Huntsman.

UAE Ambassador Heavily Funding US Think Tanks

This is from a Huffington Post story entitled "His Town" which says that UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba is the "most charming man in Washington."  The article, among other things, notes how he has been funding a variety of powerful think tanks:

Since Otaiba’s arrival, the UAE has made sizeable donations to a wide range of think tanks and policy centers, including the Center for American Progress, the Aspen Institute, the EastWest Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies—all institutions populated by former and soon-to-be-again government officials who formulate foreign policy conventional wisdom.

The Pentagon meeting Otaiba attended, which caught the attention of The Washington Post’s defense reporter, was organized by John Hamre, the CEO of CSIS.  This year, a UAE-based research institute also partnered with the Saudi Embassy in D.C. to launch the Arab Gulf States Institute, a think tank that has hired numerous recent administration officials as scholars and fellows (Otaiba's mentor, Wisner, serves as chairman of the board).

Otaiba is not the only ambassador of a foreign country to embrace US think tanks.  As Think Tank Watch has previously reported, the French Ambassador to the US loves hosting think tankers for parties at his residence.  But, the French Ambassador may not be as "charming" as the UAE Ambassador.

Think Tank Quickies (#188)

• Thomas Pritzker appointed Chairman of CSIS's Board of Trustees; succeeds former senator Sam Nunn, who will remain as Chairman Emeritus.
• Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint gives keynote at Jackson Hole summit.
• Professor attacks African think tanks as "tanks that do not think."
• Is Bangalore the next think tank hub?
• Cato "goes off the rails" on health policy?
• Sri Lanka made hundreds of contacts with US think tanks in 2014.
• Emanuel Pastreich: Think tanks suffer from a number of shortcomings.
• Bruce Jones named VP and Director of Foreign Policy at Brookings; Hamilton Project at Brookings appoints Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach as new director.
• Rexon Ryu, former Chief of Staff to former DefSec Chuck Hagel, joins Carnegie as Senior Advisor.
• CSIS hires Olga Oliker from RAND to replace Andy Kuchins who will head Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service; Kuchins will be a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at CSIS.
•  Two leading US think tanks (CEIP and Stimson) say that Pakistan will have 350+ nuclear weapons in a decade.