Russia Targeting Think Tanks in Coronavirus Vaccine Hacks

Here is more from the Wall Street Journal:

U.S. and U.K. government officials said a prominent state-backed Russian hacking group is responsible for ongoing cyber espionage against organizations involved in the development of coronavirus vaccines and other healthcare-related work, showing escalating security risks at a crucial time in the global response to the pandemic.

The National Cyber Security Centre, part of the U.K.’s GCHQ electronic-intelligence agency, and backed by U.S. and Canadian security officials, said Thursday they jointly assessed the source of the persistent hacking activity in several countries. The targets, officials said, include governments, think tanks, universities, private companies and other organizations working on vaccine research and testing globally.

They identified the hacking group as Russia-supported APT29, which is also known as Cozy Bear. 

APT29 has reportedly been involved in past hacking of US and other think tanks, and apparently targeted US think tanks in a post-election hacking campaign in 2016.

Think Tanks Could Get Boost from Pledge by Top Foundations

While many think tanks have lost significant funding revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent economic downturn, some policy shops may actually benefit from a move by several major foundations to redouble efforts to fund nonprofits.

Here is more from the New York Times:

The Ford Foundation plans to announce on Thursday that it will borrow $1 billion so that it can substantially increase the amount of money it distributes. To raise the money, the foundation — one of the country’s most well-known and oldest charitable organizations — is preparing to issue a combination of 30- and 50-year bonds, a financial maneuver common among governments and companies but extremely rare among nonprofit groups.

Four other leading charitable foundations will pledge on Thursday that they will join with Ford and increase their giving by at least $725 million.

The decision by the five influential foundations — major sponsors of social justice organizations, museums and the arts and environmental causes — could shatter the charitable world’s deeply entrenched tradition of fiscal restraint during periods of economic hardship. That conservatism has provoked anger that foundations, which benefit from generous federal tax breaks, are hoarding billions of dollars during a national emergency, more interested in safeguarding their endowments than in helping those in need.

The four other foundations are among America’s most storied: the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The MacArthur and Doris Duke foundations plan to issue bonds. Mellon and Kellogg are still working out their financing plans.

All five of those foundations contribute generously to think tanks.  For example, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has recently given grants to the Aspen Institute, East-West Center, and World Resources Institute (WRI).

The MacArthur Foundation has given to nearly every major US think tank, including the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Aspen Institute, Atlantic Council, Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Cato Institute, Center for American Progress (CAP), Center for Global Development (CGD), Center for National Policy (CNP), Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA), Center for a New American Security (CNAS), Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Hudson Institute, Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), Middle East Institute (MEI), Migration Policy Institute (MPI), New America, R Street Institute, Resources for the Future (RFF), Stimson Center, Truman Center for National Policy, US Institute of Peace (USIP), Urban Institute, Wilson Center, and World Resources Institute (WRI).

Think Tank Watch should also point at that think tanks are starting to consider raiding their endowments at a faster pace.

The End of In-Person Think Tank Events?

The era of in-person think tank events may be over, or at least paused for a very long time.  That lovely shrimp buffet at American Enterprise Institute (AEI) or swanky cocktail reception at the Brookings Institution?  Sorry, not happening anytime soon.

Every major US think tank has halted public, in-person think tank events, which often draw dozens and sometimes even hundreds of people.  Instead, think tanks have moved events almost entirely online, leaving those who depend on think tank lunches for sustenance in a very dire place.

Right now, think tanks are drawing up plans for how they can eventually return to normal, but it is still too early for most think tanks to even begin to plan when they'll hold their next public event.  Instead, most think tanks continue to grapple with how and when to bring their own employees back to work.

In the meantime, think tanks are struggling with how to attract and maintain audiences.  With everyone doing online conferences (corporations, universities, consulting firms, trade associations, embassies, think tanks, etc.), supply may be outpacing demand.  Moreover, "Zoom fatigue" appears to be another problem facing think tank events, as the relative novelty of online video conferencing fades with the increased use of such tools and services.

It is one thing to attend a think tank event in person and meet the speakers and guests and network (and dine on filet mignon and crab cakes), but it is another to sit inside your house and watch speakers drone on for hours and hours, particularly now that the competition for content and interesting speakers is so robust.

The new normal raises a number of questions.  Have think tanks become less important or influential in the coronavirus-era?  Will the crowds that once thronged think tank conference rooms ever return to their pre-coronavirus levels?  Does it make sense for think tanks to even have a physical presence, or can they exist solely online? Will any major think tank collapse due to the global economic crisis?  Will any think tanks think outside the box and do some type of unique pivot to become a dominant force?

While Think Tank Watch continues to ponder these questions and many others, we really are only sure of one thing right now: that lovely lobster dinner on Think Tank Row will instead be taking place in pajamas on a sofa for the foreseeable future.