Professor Interrogated by Iran About Inner Workings of Think Tank

Haleh Esfandiari, a scholar who spent more than 100 days in solitary confinement in Iran's Evin Prison in 2007, says that she was interrogated by the Iranians about her work at the Washington, DC-based think tank Wilson Center.  Here is more from The Washington Diplomat:

Haleh Esfandiari is perhaps best known for spending 105 days in solitary confinement in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison in 2007, but it was her highly respected work as director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center in D.C. that put her behind bars.

Not that the Iran-born professor, author and think tank scholar did anything wrong. Quite the contrary, she had simply spent a lifetime studying, dissecting and challenging Middle Eastern politics, culture and policy. The Iranian government, however, saw her as part of a subversive U.S. plot to overthrow the clerical regime.

Iranian intelligence spent months interrogating Esfandiari on the inner workings of the Wilson Center and her connections to opposition activists inside Iran. Back home, the scholar’s friends and family mobilized a high-profile campaign to get her released.

Esfandiari, a former journalist in Iran who founded the Wilson Center’s Middle East Program in 1997, was eventually released and wrote a book about her experience titled “My Prison, My Home: One Woman’s Story of Captivity in Iran.” The book was published in 2009 and Esfandiari went back to the Wilson Center to resume her leadership of the Middle East Program.

Here is the Wilson Center biography of Dr. Esfandiari, which notes that she is no longer the Director of the Middle East Program at the think tank.

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.

Prostestors Interfere With Cheney Speech at AEI

Typically, at ones home think tank, a speaker can find a sympathetic crowd.  But that is often not the case with controversial figures such as former Vice President Dick Cheney.  Mr. Cheney, who is affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), faced a rather hostile protester as he was giving an Iran speech there.  Here is more:

Protesters briefly interrupted former Vice President Dick Cheney’s speech at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday asking, “Why should we be listening to you?” They also told Cheney that he’s a “war criminal.”

Cheney was giving an anti-Iran nuclear deal speech, where he said the deal will have “catastrophic” consequences and put the U.S. at the direct risk of nuclear devastation.

“My generation wants peace, not war,” one protester yelled at Cheney.

While the protesters were escorted out, Cheney stood on stage, smirked, and said “thank you very much” before continuing on.

Although the article above uses the plural "protesters," only one protester can be seen on videos shot during the outburst at the conservative think tank.  A short video of the protester can be found here.  A longer video can be found here.

The Hill newspaper notes that the woman protester was escorted out of the room after a brief scuffle in which a security guard "seemed to try to wrench away" a banner she was holding.  The Hill also notes that the protester appeared to be aligned with the activist group CodePink, which was protesting Cheney outside of the think tank earlier in the morning.

The protests certainly added some excitement to usually-calm think tank land, in which the most exciting thing to usually happen is a moderator berating an audience member for being too long-winded.

Think Tank Watch wonders if there will be any protesters at Brookings, which is hosting both Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Hillary Clinton this week at separate events for a discussion on Iran.

Dick Cheney to Give Major Iran Speech at AEI

The conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has just announced that former Vice President Dick Cheney will give a major speech on the nuclear deal with Iran on September 8.  The event will last one hour and will be moderated by AEI Senior Vice President for Foreign and Defense Policy Studies Danielle Pletka.

Cheney, who is a member of AEI's Board of Trustees , has given numerous speeches at the think tank, including one in 2014 on 9/11 and the future of US foreign policy.  In 2009 he gave a speech at AEI on the ongoing threat terrorism poses to the US, and in 2003, he delivered a speech at the think tank on the "war on terror."

CNN says that Cheney's speech will "hammer" President Obama's Iran nuclear deal, and Politico says that he will speak out against the deal.

We should also note that Cheney's wife, Lynne Cheney, is a Senior Fellow at AEI, specializing in culture and education.

Think Tank Quickies (#186)

• Brookings in a year-long development and redesign of its website to a top news site.
• Defense think tank CSBA, which just went through major shake-up, is on a hiring spree.
• Iran debate illustrates think tanks' niche in policy ecosystem.
• Paul Maley wins 2015 Lowy Institute Media Award (and $20,000).
• Many prestigious think tank refuse to pay their interns? (via USG official)
• "What are think tanks saying (and who's paying)?" via Michael Harris at Guerilla Wire.
• On Think Tanks organizing international online conference on think tank research methods.
• Hong Kong think tanks can play a positive role, if their quality is up to scratch.
• If fish tanks make you think happy thoughts, do think tanks?
• DC, home to our nation's most impressive and frequently cited think tanks (pic).
• Think tank launches summit to reshape Arab region.
• The corporate community, think tanks, policy-discussion groups, and government, via UCSC.
• Think tanks, lobbyists and the need for independent ideas in planning, via Chris Hale.
• Think tanks and universities have a complementary role to play (from Stimson Center talk).
• Jim Gilmore asked why he's running for president instead of doing something like running a think tank, and notes that he does head a think tank (i.e., Free Congress Foundation).
• The role of think tanks in the EU policy process remains largely uncharted territory for political scientists.

Powerful Think Tanker Sells Iran Deal on Capitol Hill

Think tanker Nicholas Burns, a top diplomat in the Bush Administration, has been tapped by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to sell the recently reached Iran nuclear deal to Capitol Hill.  Here is more from Politico:

A former top diplomatic appointee in the administration of President George W. Bush will help sell the Iranian nuclear deal to House Democrats this week.

Nicholas Burns, who served as undersecretary of state for political affairs from 2005 to 2008, will brief the caucus on Wednesday at the invitation of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Burns, who helped Bush design the current detente with Iran, is a strong proponent of the nonproliferation deal.

Mr. Burns is a Director of the International Advisory Board at the Atlantic Council and sits on the board at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).  He is also a member of the board at Harvard's Belfer Center.  He also serves on the Panel of Senior Advisors at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House). He was previously a public policy scholar at the Wilson Center.

In related news, Ellen Laipson, President and CEO of the Stimson Center, has just penned a piece entitled "Iran Deal Debate Highlights Think Tanks' Role in US Policy."

Nearly every major foreign policy think tank in the US has weighed in on the Iran deal, and many are working behind the scenes to influence its outcome in Congress and elsewhere.

Think Tanks to Build Case for Iran Nuclear Deal

This from Greg Sargent of the Washington Post:

“There will be a multi-million-dollar effort from progressives to defend this deal,” Stephen Miles, the advocacy director for Win Without War, adds.

In addition to J-Street and Win Without War, these groups include Americans United for Change, MoveOn, Credo, and others, and group leaders have been meeting in recent weeks to discuss preparations for the battle to come. Foreign policy think tanks like the Truman Project will also be working behind the scenes and publicly to build the substantive case for the deal.

Here is what Truman National Security Project, which has close ties to a variety of prominent Democrats, says about the Iran deal that was just reached.

Of course, there are a number of conservative think tanks who are already looking to fight the Iran deal in Congress.

Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint has weighed in, saying that the deal will make the world a much more dangerous place.  He says that the deal completely fails to cut off Iran's path to nuclear weaponry.  James Phillips, a senior research fellow at the think tank, just wrote about the major flaws in the deal.

Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) writes about how the Iran deal misses the point.  And AEI's Michael Rubin writes about "the Iran deal's Qassem Soleimani problem."  AEI's J. Matthew McInnis writes about "five big issues" after the Iran deal.

Heritage has put together a piece on what 2016 presidential candidates are saying about the Iran deal.