UAE Embassy Paid CAP 700K for Favorable Think Tank Report?

Another day and another pay-for-play scheme at a Washington think tank.  The most recent example comes from LobeLog, a blog named after longtime journalist Jim Lobe.  Here are some excerpts:

...Now it turns out that the foreign ministry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) may well have helped draft the latest Middle East report by the “liberal” Center for American Progress (CAP). (The hyper-interventionist and highly confusing Washington Post has since endorsed the report in its lead editorial Sunday.)

Eli [Clifton] made a startling discovery in plain view within the report itself. One of its co-authors, Muath Al Wari, currently a “Senior Policy Analyst with the National Security and International Policy Team” at CAP, served in the UAE Embassy in Washington from 2009 and 2011 and, more recently, at “the Supreme National Security Council of the United Arab Emirates, where he focused on regional security in the aftermath of the Arab uprisings.”

Al Wari, who incidentally authored two reports about the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) since joining CAP, helped develop the Emirates’ strategy on the Arab Spring, a movement that CAP and Katulis generally welcomed as offering an unprecedented opportunity for democratization, liberalization, and accountability throughout the region.

Tom Caiazza, associate director of media relations at CAP, told LobeLog that “The Embassy of the UAE in DC contributed $699,000 to CAP in 2016 with no contributions coming in 2015.” That contribution wasn’t disclosed in the report as posing a potential conflict of interest.

The piece, which was co-written by reporter Eli Clifton, goes on to say that the revelations raise serious questions about how much financial and other contributions by certain countries are influencing think tanks.

Needless to say, the UAE and numerous other countries have collectively donated millions of dollars to Washington's most powerful think tanks over the years and have strong relations with top think tank chiefs.

The above-mentioned CAP report was released just as think tanks have begun to ramp up production of policy papers meant to influence the new administration.

One thing is clear: The media needs to do a better job in citing and referencing think tanks and think tank scholars.

More on the CAP report can be found from The Intercept's Zaid Jilani in a piece entitled "At Hillary Clinton's Favorite Think Tank, a Doubling Down on Anti-Iran, Pro-Saudi Policy."  Jim Lobe also wrote a previous piece entitled "For the Middle East, It's the Center for American Regress."

More on the funding of think tanks by Gulf countries can be found here (via Quorum Centre).  More on the rampant pay-for-play culture at think tanks can be found here.

NYT Rips Into Think Tanks for Pay-to-Play Schemes

A new expose entitled "Researchers or Corporate Allies?  Think Tanks Blur the Lines," rips into think tanks, including the world's #1 think tank Brookings Institution, for essentially being the mouthpieces of corporations.

It was written by Eric Lipton of The New York Times (NYT) and Brooke Williams, a reporter at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting (NECIR) - a small nonprofit outlet that equally collaborated with NYT for the series.

They were the same duo (along with Nicholas Confessore) who wrote the hugely popular 2014 piece entitled "Foreign Powers Buy Influence at Think Tanks."

The piece was written based, among other things, on more than 2,600 documents secretly obtained from Brookings Institution's internal files.

The second part of the so-called "Think Tanks Inc." series was released the afternoon of August 8.  That piece is entitled "Think Tank Scholar or Corporate Consultant?  It Depends on the Day."

In that piece, NYT/NECIR note that the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) has recently fired three scholars for violations of its conflicts-of-interest policy.

Reaction so far:

• Jeffrey Sachs says: "As I have said months ago, Brookings has sold its name, and not only to corporations but to foreign governments. 
• Robert Reich says: "Always, always follow the money. When expert think tanks issue reports, find out who funds the reports and be..."
• Ezra Klein says: "This is tremendous, unnerving reporting by the NYT on pay-for-play within the think tank world."
• Nick Confessore says: "If you doubt what you're seeing, ask yourself why companies don't just publish their own reports."
• Michael Tracey, a VICE columnist, says: "Very good look into the scam of taxpayer-subsidized think tanks like Brookings acting as de facto lobbying orgs."
• Elizabeth Joh says: "This investigation into corporate influence at think tanks = huge warning for academics relying on their research." 
• Scott Shane of NYT says: "Reminder to journalists seeking unbiased expertise: Be careful of think tanks!" 
• Michael Tackett of NYT says: "Some think tank scholars wear a second hat: registered lobbyist."
• Timothy Noah of Politico says: "I wonder whether Brookings understands how devastating a blow this story is to its hard-won credibility. 
• Graham Brown-Martin's piece on Medium: "Brookings, Seriously?" 
• Ryan Evans has 14-point tweetstorm on NYT piece. 
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) weighs in.
• Here is some reaction from Gawker. 
• Mic says: "A Major DC Think Tank Has Sold Out to Corporations."
• Observer has an opinion piece entitled "Think Tank Smells Like Corporate Money for Clinton." 
• Politico's Morning Energy covers the energy angle from the NYT piece. 
• Forbes: Why think tanks now have a credibility problem. 
• CorpWatch on General Dynamics funding of think tanks mentioned in NYT piece. 
• Inside Philanthropy: The Fall of the Think Tank - Policy Wonks and the Hard Realities of Interested Monies. 
• TPM: Deep Lobbying. 
• SFGate: "Warning: Dangerous Think Tanks Ahead." 
• Daily Caller: "Defense scholars caught lobbying for contractors." 
• Daily Caller: "Net Neutrality Policy Analysts Caught Red-Handed on Big Tech's Payroll."

In response to the NYT/NECIR piece, the conservative think tank Hudson Institute has issued a statement in an attempt to clarify some of its corporate funding.

And Brookings has now weighed in, issuing its own rebuttal to the NYT/NECIR piece in Medium.  Brookings said the article "fundamentally misrepresents" its mission and distorts how it operates.  Brookings says that the article "cherry-picked" information and "ignored a large body of evidence" made available to the reporters.  Here is an updated rebuttal with testimonials included.

Brookings says that in the coming days it will provide a point-by-point rebuttal of the allegations made in the article.

In February 2016 Brookings chief Strobe Talbott and Kimberly Churches, Managing Director at Brookings, wrote a piece entitled "Safeguarding Independence in an Era of Restricted Giving."

Middle East Forum (MEF) has also issued a statement saying it accepts no pay-to-play funds from businesses. 

More will be coming soon, including further reaction and our favorite excerpts from the piece...