CFR Head Now in Running for Deputy Secretary of State

Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) did not get the nod for Secretary of State, but he is reportedly still in the running for the number two spot at Foggy Bottom: Deputy Secretary of State.

Here is more from Politico:

As President-elect Donald Trump fills out his national security and foreign policy team, among the names being circulated as the potential No. 2 at the State Department: Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, according to two senior transition aides.

Haass, a veteran of both Bush administrations, has served as director of policy planning at the State Department and as a senior director on the National Security Council.

Trump has praised Haass, who is a regular presence on one of his favorite television programs, MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “I respect Richard Haass, who’s on your show a lot,” Trump told the show’s hosts in May. “And I like him a lot. I have a few people that I really like and respect.”

Haass also met with Trump privately in 2015 in Trump Tower to brief him on global issues. “I've spent an hour with him there. I've seen him a few times on and off golf courses,” Haass told NPR.

In that same NPR appearance, Haass said of Trump, “We obviously have areas of, you know, some disagreement, to say the least, on policy,” citing his support for free trade.

The article also notes that Haass is an acquaintance of his potential boss at the State Department, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil Rex Tillerson.  Mr. Haass hosted Tillerson at CFR in 2012 for a conversation about energy security and climate change.  Moreover, Haass's former colleagues, Bob Gates and Condoleezza Rice, were the ones who recommended Tillerson for the top State Department job.

More about Tillerson's strong connections to think tanks can be found here.

Two others who are also in the running for the Deputy Secretary of State slot also happen to be think tankers: former UN Ambassador John Bolton, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and Elliott Abrams, a Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at CFR.

Rex Tillerson Has Strong Ties to CSIS

Donald Trump's nominee to be Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has very strong ties to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the world's top defense and national security think tank.

Mr. Tillerson, the Chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation, has been a member of the CSIS Board of Trustees since 2005.  Here is a statement from CSIS congratulating Tillerson's nomination.

Dr. John Hamre, President of CSIS, defended Tillerson on PBS yesterday evening, saying he is not an ideological man.  Politico reports that Dr. Hamre has spent more than 100 hours discussing foreign policy with Tillerson over the past 11 years.

Exxon is one of the largest funders of CSIS, and is currently listed in a category of recently giving $200,000+ to the think tank in the past year, according to CSIS's corporate donors list.  That money is earmarked for regional studies, executive education, technology, and "general" programs.

Exxon was among those who gave more than $5 million to support CSIS's new $100 million headquarters in Washington, DC.  Tillerson himself also gave a gift, listed at "under $500,000," to support the new building.

In 2009, Exxon gave $5 million to strengthen CSIS's Global Health Policy Program and to provide space in its new headquarters to house the Global Health Program.

Exxon is a huge supporter of think tanks, having given more than $30 million over the years to more than a dozen think tank.

In 2009, Tillerson gave a speech at the Wilson Center in which he announced that his company supported a carbon tax to help fight climate change.

Tillerson is one of several of Mr. Trump's Cabinet picks who hails from think tank land.

The Most Powerful Think Tanks Now All Start With the Letter "H"

With Donald Trump as the new sheriff in town, think tank influence and power has shifted dramatically to a select few conservative think tanks that all happen to start with the letter "H."  We are referring to the Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institution, and, to a lesser extent, the Hudson Institute.

The Heritage Foundation is by far the biggest think tank winner with the incoming Trump Administration, and has dozens of current and former scholars and experts helping the Trump team with its transition process.  A massive amount of Heritage scholars likely will go into the Trump Administration.

The Hoover Institution is also a big winner, with Gen. Jim Mattis just being named as Trump's Secretary of Defense.  Mattis was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Hoover.

Moreover, it was just announced that Kevin Warsh, another Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Hoover, will be the only think tanker on Mr. Trump's new "President's Strategic and Advisory Forum."

Elaine Chao, Trump's pick for Secretary of Transportation, was a Distinguished Fellow at the Heritage Foundation until June 2016, when she became a Distinguished Fellow at the Hudson Institute.

Of course, other think tanks, such as Atlantic Council, Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), American Enterprise Institute (AEI), and even the Cato Institute could score some big wins, but for now, the "H" think tanks dominate.

Think Tank Watch should also note that these newly empowered think tanks are not omnipotent.  After all, it seems that Donald Trump is listening to a just a handful key advisors much more than the think tankers in Washington, DC.

One Think Tanker on Trump's New 16-Member Policy Panel

On December 2 President-elect Donald Trump established the President's Strategic and Policy Forum, a group consisting mostly of current and former business executives that will advise Mr. Trump on how government policy impacts economic growth, job creation, and productivity.

One think tanker made the list: Kevin Warsh, the Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, a think tank housed at Stanford University.

Warsh served as member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 to 2011.  He currently serves on the Board of Directors of UPS and is a member of the Group of Thirty.

Warsh is married to Jane Lauder, the granddaughter of Estée Lauder and heiress to the Estée Lauder beauty empire.

Mr. Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense, Gen. Jim Mattis, is also a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Two Think Tank Heads Could be Trump's Secretary of State

In recent days President-elect Donald Trump has been expanding his search for Secretary of State, and Jon Huntsman, the Chairman of the Atlantic Council, is one of the names that has recently surfaced.

The Atlantic Council has been issuing strategy papers meant as a "blueprint" for the Trump Administration, and Huntsman has participated in the writing of some of those reports.

Another dark horse candidate for Secretary of State is Richard Haass, the President of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

Haass was among several think tank heads who had a private briefing with Mr. Trump during the presidential campaign, and Trump has shown affection for Haass.

Another think tanker that has been considered for the Secretary of State position is John Bolton, a Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

Mr. Trump has already hired and nominated a number of think tankers for his transition team and Cabinet, including a number of scholars and experts from the Heritage Foundation, Hoover Institution, and Hudson Institute.

Trump's SecDef "Mad Dog" Mattis Hails From Think Tank Land

President-elect Donald Trump continues to choose people for his transition team and Cabinet with extremely deep ties to powerful US think tanks.

Gen. Jim Mattis, who has just been selected by Mr. Trump to be his Secretary of Defense, is the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank at Stanford University.

Before that, he was the Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Hoover.

He is also a member of the think tank's Military History/Contemporary Conflict Working Group.

A number of think tankers seem to hold Gen. Mattis in high regard.  Heather Hurlburt, Director of the New Models of Policy Change initiative at New America, said "Mattis is respected by people I respect."

Max Boot, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), said that Mattis is a "great choice" for Defense Secretary.

Mattis has also praised think tanks, such as the defense-oriented Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).  In an April 22, 2016 speech at that think tank, he said that he is "routinely copying things down from CSIS," and noting that "CSIS doesn't just make assertions...It also includes discussions where you actually come out with something that is perhaps a little better each time you go through a cycle."

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with extremely close ties to Mr. Trump, has a new piece on the "four things you need to know" about Mattis.  That think tank says Mattis faces challenges of rebuilding the US military and American credibility.

Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, the Director of the Heritage Foundation's Center for National Defense, said Gen. Mattis will bring a "solid perspective" to the job.  Think Tank Watch should note that in May 2015 Mattis spoke at Heritage on "the state of the world."

Gen. Mattis recently co-edited a book with Kori Schake, a Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution, entitled "Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military."

In related Cabinet-think tank news, Mr. Trump chose Elaine Chao, who has strong ties to the Heritage Foundation and the Hudson Institute, to be his Transportation Secretary.

We should also note that Trump's pick for Education Secretary, Betsy Devos, whose fortune derives from Amway, has funded through various foundations American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute.