New Report Documents UAE's Deep Ties to Think Tanks

The Center for International Policy's (CIP) Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative (FITI) has published a new report showing the United Arab Emirates' (UAE) deep connection to US think tanks.

Among other things, the report found that UAE foreign agents had contacted 200 congressional offices, 18 think tanks, and most mainstream media outlets in 2018. Those 18 think tanks were contacted a total of 85 different times last year (and that is just contacts that were reported).

The top five think tanks most contacted by UAE foreign agents were:

1. Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP): 18
2. Middle East Institute (MEI): 14
3. Center for American Progress (CAP): 11
4. American Enterprise Institute (AEI): 10
5. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS): 5

The report says that UAE foreign agents "directed their efforts towards some of the most prominent and influential think tanks in D.C. and towards experts at think tanks the UAE was directly or indirectly funding."  In turn, the report added, "UAE foreign agents often help to distribute the work of these experts at think tanks the UAE is funding."

Over the past year, there has also been a significant effort to track Saudi influence at US think tanks.

Mueller Probe Witness Linked to Shady Think Tank Payments

Foreign money flowing to think tanks is alive and well.  While some US think tanks have policies of refusing to accept foreign funds, that overseas money often ends up at the think tank anyway via secretive shell companies and other tactics.

Here is more from the New York Times, showing how a top fundraiser for President Donald Trump received millions of dollars from a political adviser to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to push an anti-Qatar agenda, in part by using think tanks:

Mr. [George] Nader did, however, provide a $2.7 million payment to Mr. [Elliott] Broidy for "consulting, marketing and other advisory services rendered," apparently to help pay for the cost of conferences at two Washington think tanks, the Hudson Institute and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, that featured heavy criticism of Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hudson Institute policies prohibit donations from foreign governments that are not democracies, and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies bars donations from all foreign governments, so Mr. Nader's role as an adviser to the U.A.E. may have raised concerns had he donated directly.

Documents show Mr. Nader's payment was made by an Emirati-based company he controlled, GS Investments, to an obscure firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia, controlled by Mr. Broidy, Xieman International.  A person close to Mr. Broidy said the money was passed through the Canadian company at Mr. Nader's request, and the reason for its circuitous path could not be determined.

Here is a link to the above-mentioned Hudson event, which took place on October 23, 2017.  Here is a link to the May 23, 2017 FDD event, co-hosted by Hudson and George Washington University's Center for Cyber & Homeland Security.

These latest revelations come on the heels of a new poll which shows that only 20 percent of Americans trust think tanks.