Think Tank Quickies (#384)

• COVID-19's effect on think tanks in ten headlines, via On Think Tanks.
• Devin Nunes wants to know if Brookings was involved in developing Steele dossier.
• How-to guide for economic think tanks, via CIPE.
• Hudson Institute launches new Center for Defense Concepts and Technology.
• An overwhelming majority of think tanks use Zoom.  Is it secure?
• WaPo's Jennifer Rubin: Quality of Heritage Foundation has plummeted.
• University of Alberta launches criminology think tank. 
• NYC think tank predicts sizable employer move from city. 
• Conservative think tank director says Lincoln Project members beholden to pro-business Republicans.
• Mizuho Bank and its think tank, Mizuho Research Institute, lose millions of pieces of customer data.

New Think Tank Quickies (#383)

• US spy drone seen over South China Sea headed for Taiwan, says Chinese think tank.
• Washington Redskins should be renamed Washington Think Tanks?
• UPenn organizes Global Think Tank Virtual Town Hall. 
• "Think Tanks in the Tank" on the Manhattan Institute in the Trump era.
• New Atlantic Council report on global strategy for shaping the post-COVID-19 world. 
• Heritage Action for America deputy director of government relations Wesley Coopersmith is leaving to be legislative director for Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA).
• The Daily Beast: Media outlets duped by "experts" who are fake personas pushing propaganda.
• Washingtonian: "A think tank employee who watches porn with his girlfriend..."
• Grayzone: "Influential DC-based Ukrainian think tank hosts neo-Nazi activist."
• Axios: "Iran's former crown prince entered the Hudson Institute to a standing ovation...before calling on the US to support the will of the Iranian people - to bring down their government."

Think Tank Quickies (#382)

• Think tanks from 39 countries denounce Hong Kong security law. 
• Independent think tanks in China that once reported on the economy have been closed.
• Video: Chatham House event on the future of think tanks.
• Atlantic Council serving as secretariat of The Free World Commission.
• Robin Simcox launches new London-based think tank: Counter Extremism Group. 
• Taiwanese defense think tank to work with Microsoft on defense technologies.
• The reason the field of Chinese foreign policy lacks diversity.
• New CSIS report on the escalating terrorism problem in US.
• The Federalist: Jerry Taylor, President of Niskanen Center, "threatened" couple brandishing guns at protestors outside a St. Louis home.
• The new deputy assistant secretary of defense for industrial policy, Jeffrey Nadaner, previously worked at think tank Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA).

Think Tank Quickies (#381)

• Senior Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett will return to his posts as Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and VP/Managing Director of The Lindsey Group.
• Nicol Turner Lee named as new director of Brookings Center for Technology Innovation. 
• Julian Brave NoiseCat, VP of Policy & Strategy for the think tank Data for Progress, has been in touch with Biden's campaign about climate issues and is one of many progressives compiling a list of names for staffing a new executive branch.
• Think tanks must abandon their saviour complex.
• "Manpanels often held in rooms at think tanks I call Splainatoriums."
• Rory Fleming: "Today I thought I should start a stink tank, a think tank that investigates and critiques other think tanks." 
• Brookings has new "How We Rise" blog that offers policy solutions to upend structural racism and inequality. 
• Event: US foundations and think tanks in world politics.
• Asia Pacific Initiative: A Tokyo think tank which organizes exchanges between US and Japanese military officials.
• Are think tanks too "pale, male, and Yale?"

Think Tank Quickies (#380)

• American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) accused of "pushing the thus-far-unfounded claim that SARS-CoV-2 originated in a Chinese lab."
• USTR Robert Lighthizer bashes PIIE study on US-China trade in Senate Finance hearing.
• Wellcome Trust, a $33 billion UK foundation which has ties to think tanks, gave early coronavirus warning that woke up Wall Street.
• Pic: Think tank cartoon for the times.
• MacroPolo - a think tank run by the Paulson Institute, which promotes constructive ties between the US and China.
• French think tank Obliquum wants edge in African affairs.
• Heritage Action has hired Ryan Walker, currently deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC), as director of government relations. 
• Laura Rodriguez, formerly chief of staff to Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D-FL) and a Bill Nelson and State Dept. alum, is now VP for government affairs at CAP.
• Wendy Edelberg, former chief economist for the CBO, is replacing Jay Shambaugh as director of the Hamilton Project at Brookings.
• John Cusey, who most recently served as director of policy at HHS' Office of Refugee Resettlement, will rejoin AEI as VP of Communications.

Think Tank Quickies (#379)

• Think tank scholars attended Mike Pompeo's "Madison dinners." 
• Absent influencers?  Women in European think tanks. 
• Middle East Institute (MEI) opens up think tank to support DC protestors.
• Public Citizen: Hudson Institute opposes affordable vaccines, took $300k from industry.
• Flashback: John Goodman launches first-of-its-kind virtual think tank (Goodman Institute).
• US think tank seeks to repeal secret deal and delist Chinese stocks.
• 18 states fight conservative think tank effort to freeze fuel efficiency standards. 
• German think tank guide (SWP is the "Mercedes Benz" of European think tanks). 
• Appraising the epistemic performance of social systems: The case of think tank evaluations.
• Build a better blob full of think tankers.

Think Tank Quickies (#378)

• During the last economic crisis, most major US think tanks took a 3 year hit.
• Chinese Embassy in Canada attacks Macdonald-Laurier Institute. 
• Amid pandemic, think tanks extend public reach. 
• Think tanks need to take COVID-19 as an opportunity to evolve.
• AOC: "If you'd like to learn more about how this austerity class of mostly dudes at vague, esteemed-seeming DC think tanks launder harmful policies..."
• Think tanks including The Breakthrough Institute, New America, Niskanen Center, Sante Fe Institute, and Third Way jointly sponsor "Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience."
• Hoover Institution fellow fuels "fake" news story about California herd immunity?
• Pic: Waiting for think tanks who spent years obsessing over Russian propaganda to do a study on Chinese disinformation networks.
• Chinese Embassy in Sweden enraged after Gunnar Hokmark, Chairman of Stockholm Free World Forum, wrote an article calling for China to apologize about COVID-19.
• Politika: A think tank for young people; and one for those 18+.

Think Tank Quickies (#377)

• Think tanks warn of coronavirus "budgetary gluttony" in states. 
• Reimagining think tanks in times of pandemic.
• RUSI report: UK spies will need artificial intelligence.
• UK data think tanks clash over the use of contact-tracing apps.
• How the coronavirus affected the 2020 intern class at Brookings.
• Chiraag Bains of Demos named as co-chair of Joe Biden's "unity task force."
• Anthony Ruggiero, formerly a scholar at FDD, playing a role in US's coronavirus response. 
• Danish think tank says the US ambassador banned a Trump critic (Stanely Sloan of Atlantic Council) from an event.
• Over 265 fake local news sites in 65+ countries managed by Indian stakeholders with ties to large network of think tanks.
• Tucker Carlson: "There are no libertarians outside of think tanks."

Think Tank Quickies (#376)

• BPC: COVID-19 could deplete social security as early as this decade.
• ISPI launches #ThinkTanksReact campaign to show solidarity amid COVID-19. 
• Can think tanks please ease up on the press releases?
• Definitive guide to think tank podcasts.
• US think tanks release annual counterspace and space threats studies.
• 2020 ranking of free-market think tanks measured by social media impact.
• Judge: Wisconsin Gov. can keep conservative think tank members out of media briefings.
• China should be sued for $6.5 trillion for coronavirus damage says top UK think tank.
• Global Times: "Ill-intentioned American think tank fellow maligns Chinese assistance in Middle East to sow discord."
• Kent Calder on SAIS' Reischauer Center: "It is a problem-oriented think tank."

Think Tank Quickies (#375)

• Think tank claims hundreds of fishing boats intrude into Chinese waters.
• Conservative site Gateway Pundit: DC think tanks lobbying for illegal aliens to get checks and healthcare in coronavirus relief package.
• Robert O'Brien had off-the-record dinner at CSIS hosted by Dan Runde for about 20 current and former officials.
• Analysts at think tank present disturbing assessment of freedom in US.
• Nearly all DC think tanks large and small are shut down due to coronavirus.
• AEI has started a tool @COVID2019tests to track total coronavirus testing capacity.
• Think tank CSIS continuing to get South China Sea issues wrong? 
• Ed Lezere, the leader of left-leaning DC think tank DC Fiscal Policy Institute, is running for an at-large seat on the DC Council.
• Radix: A "think tank for the radical centre." 
• American Alliance of Museum's Center for the Future of Museums, a DC think tank "that studies trends and challenges likely to affect the museum world."

Think Tank Quickies (#374)

• What happens to think tanks in a recession (or depression)?
• Hunter Biden was on the board of the Truman Center for National Policy. 
• Pic: Cato and AEI vandalized with slogans reading "capitalism is the virus." 
• Atlantic Council launches GeoTech Center and Commission.
• TRT World: RAND's "controversial" report says more about the think tank than Turkey.
• Center for Security Policy: Russia planning to invade Ireland.
• CNN fact checks Bernie Sander's speech and highlights a think tank error.
• This is how to get hired by an elite think tank created by Google.
• RAND Corp. has posted a collection of tools to target online disinformation.
• Javad Zarif goes to Munich and meets with think tankers.

Think Tank Quickies (#373)

• Republican-aligned think tanks have joined the push by foreign-funded dark money groups to lobby the IRS to repeal remaining reporting requirements.
• List: Those spotted at the annual CSIS pre-Alfalfa luncheon.
• Center-left think tank Third Way urgently calls for Democrats to challenge Bernie Sanders.
• Fmr. Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe named adviser to law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth's global privacy and cybersecurity think tank Centre for Information Policy Leadership. 
• Pics: Johns Hopkins students do a "Think Tank Career Trek." 
• Assessing Asia's think tanks.
• AEI's Charles Murray "sows controversy" with new book.
• Flashback: London-based New Economic Foundation created the Happy Planet Index (HPI). 
• Quincy Institute debut a dud? 
• Latin American free-market think tanks change strategies.

Think Tank Quickies (#372)

• Did the new think tank Quincy Institute help stop war with Iran? 
• China's growing trail of think tanks and lobbyist in Europe.
• CSIS hosted 2020 think tank ranking event on Jan. 30.
• Hudson Institute President Kenneth Weinstein to be next US ambassador to Japan?
• The Nation: Will billionaire-funded think tank FDD get its war with Iran? 
• How do elite think tanks shape public opinion and undermine democracy? 
• Executives can't find decent executive assistants at think tanks?
• Pic: Defense Secretary Mark Esper meets with think tankers. 
• Rolling dice to name your US or UK think tank.
• 30 heads of think tanks at Raisina Dialogue.
• The purpose of think tanks.

Think Tank Quickies (#371)

• What makes a good (or bad) DC policy event?
• Think tanks face two challenges: Growing distrust of experts and the rise of China. 
• Chinese Embassy hires BLJ International to target US think tanks.
• ProPublica: A think tank that pushes the big Trump tax break accused of omissions.
• US think tanks play major role in South Korea arms acquisitions. 
• Experts from four think tanks share what to expect from the global economy in 2020.
• RAND Corp. trustee Paul Volcker dies.
• A "bogus" police think tank?
• Pic: DC think tanks now establishing colonial outposts in Southern Indian strip malls.
• Pic: Wonky lunch sign spotted at AEI.

Think Tank Quickies (#370)

• World Bank official attacks CGD staffer at event.
• Pic: Defense Secretary Mark Esper meets think tank officials.
• Thinking foreign policy in Russia: think tanks and grand narratives.
• Heritage Foundation president invites Kanye West to her think tank.
• Still missing: The woman wonks.
• Orville Schell and Larry Diamond: China infiltrating think tanks.
• Samantha Power interned at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
• Pic: Denmark partners with Hudson Institute.
• Think Tank Diplomacy, via AIIA. 
• Founded by Chinese publishing entrepreneur: US-China New Perspectives Foundation (UCNPF).

Think Tank Quickies (#369)

• Judge rules against think tanker at CGD who lost her job over transgender tweets.
• Men praise their own research more than women.
• Washington think tanks: Legalized corruption and the exercise of power.
• Bruegel to host event on Jan. 30 on the future of think tanks and policy advice.
• Dr. Alina Polyakova named President and CEO of CEPA.
• France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs helping French think tanks. 
• French researchers from SciencesPo Center for International Studies held by Iran.
• "Wes Anderson should make a movie about China experts and think tanks."
• Calls for think tanks to boycott Qatar.
• Game to name US and UK think tanks.

Think Tank Quickies (#368)

• The American Conservative (TAC) holds panel entitled "Think Tank Town: The Swampy Ecosystem Supporting Status Quo."
• Gender gaps at think tanks.
• Pic: Not sure why we need think tanks.
• How China cultivates Europe's policy think tanks.
• Pic: RAND Corp. releases 2020 calendar.
• Claremont Institute recognized by White House.
• Think tanks being challenged in many countries with fake news and alternative facts.
• OxyContin's delayed the reckoning for their role in the opioid crisis by funding think tanks.
• Bloomberg Law: Facebook, Google funding think tanks to shape federal policy debate.

Think Tank Quickies (#367)

• A mealtime guide to DC think tanks.
• The think tank dedicated to keeping the US in Syria.
• Large police presence at Heritage Foundation for Andy Ngo speech.
• Roosevelt Institute at Cornell University joins UK student think tank to tackle global issues.
• CGTN think tank launches in Beijing.
• Florida State University now home to one of the US's only student-run think tanks.
• Economic Innovation Groups spars with ProPublica over Opportunity Zones.
• What is a think tank? A French perspective.
• Huge pro-India fake news network includes Canadian sites, links to Canadian think tanks.
• "DC think tank report or Bachelor's-level international relations paper" is a fun game to play.
• Tip for people designing webpages for think tanks (hint: make it simple!).

Think Tank Quickies (#366)

• Spotted at the Hudson Institute's annual Herman Kahn Award dinner: Rupert Murdoch, Jerry Hall, Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, Chris Wallace, and many others.
• Heather Nauert is joining the Hudson Institute as a senior fellow focusing on foreign policy.
• 133 foreign policy officials, including think tankers, endorse Joe Biden.
• More than 650 Clinton campaign and administration alum came together at their 4th reunion at USIP.
• Nearly 200 FBI investigations into stolen research by Chinese underway at major academic centers in US.
• Meet a think tank: The Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS).
• Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS): A think tank focused on public policy advocacy for Baltimore's black residents. 
• Joseph Overton created his legacy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy: the "Overton Window."
• Gustav Gressel at ECFR published a report on how Germany ignored the interests of its EU neighbors and Ukraine to force through the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline deal with Russia.  Within hours, Miguel Berger at the German foreign ministry took to Twitter demanding an apology. 
• Will Tanner, director of the center-right Onward think tank, made a contribution to the British political lexicon: "Workington Man."

Think Tank Quickies (#365)

• Why we should stop treating peer review as the gold standard of research.
• More scientific papers should be retracted; prank jabs at academic papers; broken system lets doctors omit industry ties in journals.
• Kiron Skinner, who recently took leave as a researcher at the Hoover Institution to serve in the Trump Administration, forced out as State Department's director of policy planning.
• Can you publish virtually anything in scientific journals? Predatory publisher fined $50 million. 
• Let policy wonks proliferate: Xi Jinping is encouraging a boom in "independent" Chinese think tanks.
• North Korea Strategy Center (NKSC): a Seoul-based think tank founded by a North Korean defector.
• DC bucket lists overflow with think tank desires?
• Brookings scholars Carol O'Cleireacain and Alice Rivlin had pushed for DC population growth.
• Wealthy businessmen such as textile magnate Roger Milliken funded anti-globalization studies and think tanks; former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca funded Clyde Prestowitz's Economic Strategy Institute.