Think Tank Quickies #78

• Third Way makes a mixtape for the summer of 2013.
• Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to speak at Minnesota think tank Center of the American Experiment.
• Catham House's Patricia Lewis tips Syria United Nations (UN) team; IISS says that though Assad lacks power, he has quite an artillery.
• 66 former US government officials and think tanks experts sign letter urging President Obama to respond to Assad's chemical weapons attack.
• The 16th class of Visiting Fellows joins Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies (CNAPS) at Brookings.
• William McCants, a former Senior Advisor at the State Department, joins Brookings as a fellow in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy and as Director of the Project on US Relations with the Islamic World.
• Former US Ambassador to China and presidential candidate Jon Huntsman joins CEIP board.
• Ganesh Sitaraman, former Policy Director and Senior Counsel to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), named CAP Senior Fellow.
• BPC to host screening of "Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve" on September 9 to mark the US Federal Reserve System's 100th anniversary. 
• Arthur Brooks on CNBC: "AEI scholars prefer Janet Yellen over Larry Summers for top Fed post."

Hillary Clinton Wins Chatham House Prize 2013

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who many think will run for president in 2016, has just won the Chatham House Prize 2013, beating out the other two nominees for the prize: Zimbabwe Finance Minister Tendai Laxton Biti and President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos.

Ms. Clinton will be presented with a crystal award and scroll, signed by Her Majesty the Queen, patron of the Chatham House, at a ceremony in London in the fall.

She was selected for the prize in recognition of her "personal leadership in driving a new era of US diplomatic engagement and for her promotion of education and rights for women and girls."

Here is more about the prize:

The annual Chatham House Prize is awarded to the statesperson who is deemed by Chatham House members to have made the most significant contribution to the improvement of international relations in the previous year.

The selection process draws on the expertise of Chatham House's research teams and three presidents, who nominate candidates. Our members are then invited to vote for the winner in a ballot.

The winner is presented with a crystal award and a scroll signed by our patron, Her Majesty The Queen. The award is presented at a ceremony and dinner at a central London venue with keynote speeches by leading figures in international affairs. The recipient of the prize will also often address a members event at Chatham House on or around the day of the award.

The Chatham House Prize was conceived in 2004, under the directorship of Professor Victor Bulmer-Thomas. The concept and crucial early support came from Raj Loomba, founder of the Loomba Trust and a Chatham House council member. Together they supervised the first award in 2005, presented to Victor Yushchenko, and set the template that has ensured its ongoing success.

Here is a press release with some more details.  Previous recipients include Myanmar politician/activist Aung San Suu Kyi (2011), and former President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2009).

Chatham House was recently ranked as the 2nd best think tank in the world, and was ranked as the top non-US think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  The think tank is considered the 2nd best think tank in the world for security and international affairs, after the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

New Head at Wilson Center's Kissinger Institute

The Wilson Center announced this week the Robert Daly has been appointed to head the think tank's Kissinger Institute on China and the United States.  Mr. Daly is the new Director effective August 26, 2013.

Amb. J. Stapleton Roy, the Founding Director of the Institute will still remain with the Wilson Center as a Distinguished Scholar on US-China relations and Senior Advisor to the Kissinger Institute.

Here is more about Mr. Daly from a Wilson Center press release:

Before coming to the Wilson Center, Daly was director of the Maryland China Initiative at the University of Maryland, a position he held since 2007. From 2001 to 2007 he was American Director of the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies, in Nanjing, China. He began work in U.S.-China relations as a diplomat with the United States Information Agency from 1989 to 1991, after which he taught Chinese at Cornell.

From 1992 to 1999 he worked on television projects in China as a host, actor, and writer, and helped to produce Chinese-language versions of Sesame Street and other Children's Television Workshop programs. During that same period he directed the Syracuse University China seminar and served as a commentator on U.S.-China relations and Chinese affairs for several U.S. and Chinese media outlets. In 2000 and 2001 he served as American Director of the U.S.-China Housing Initiative.  He is a regular commentator on current affairs for the Chinese service of the Voice of America.

The Wilson Center was recently ranked as the 11th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was also ranked as the 6th best think tank in the United States.

Atlantic Council Opens Brand New Headquarters

The Atlantic Council of the United States (ACUS) has recently announced the opening of its new headquarters.

The new address of ACUS is 1030 15th St., NW, Washington, DC, in a building called The Executive Building.  The think tank used to be located just up the block, at 1101 15th St., NW.

Here is how the Lincoln Property Company describes the building:

With exquisite materials and classic detailing, The Executive Building is refined and welcoming. The 332,000 square-foot building's high-performance facade of energy-efficient metal panels and low-E glass projects confidence and sophistication, and its limestone and black granite portals create a human scale at the street–level elevation. In the evening, spotlighting dramatically highlights the building’s contemporary architecture, including its exceptional corner balconies on the top two floors. Structural glass canopies signal the major points of entry at 15th Street and L Street, and graciously welcome tenants and visitors into the stunning main lobby.

According to a presentation on the move, ACUS moved at the end of July and is located on the 12th floor of the building.  By the end of 2013, ACUS plans to expand to the 10th floor.

In December 2011, the Executive Committee of ACUS adopted "Growing Better," a new strategic plan that concluded the think tank required infrastructure and investments, including the office move, in order to be ambitious about impact, according to the presentation.

The new headquarters apparently has the capacity to host more than four simultaneous events.  Think Tank Watch will not miss the cramped event space at the old headquarters...

ACUS is not the only think tank on the move.  The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is preparing to move to its new headquarters next month, and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) will be moving to think tank row in the future.  The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) recently moved to its new headquarters at 1152 15th Street, NW.  It has previously been at 1301 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.

As seen by these recent and upcoming moves, many think tanks have been able to save and/or raise significant amounts of money to secure fancier headquarters, despite the economic downturn in the US and other countries.

ACUS was recently ranked as the 17th best think tank in the US by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.

Think Tank Quickies #77

• Tax deductions under the think tank microscope.
• On Think Tanks to publish new weekly blog series focusing on key issues for think tanks.
• Brookings questions US LNG exports. 
• Think tank challenge: Surviving the competition.
• When did the Heritage Foundation stop functioning as a think tank?
• Vietnam develops math think tank - The Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM).
• On the future of think tanks in Latin America.
• The future of think tank communications in Peru.
• Williams Institute, a think tank on sexual orientation and gender identity, suggests nearly 700,000 transgender individuals live in the US.
• Brookings Global's Think Tank 20 consortium reports on changes in central banks and monetary policy in the run-up to the G-20.

Petraeus Joins British Think Tank RUSI

David Petraeus, the former Central Intelligence (CIA) Director, has just been named as Senior Vice President of the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies (RUSI).  The British think tank says that his new position is an "honorary role."  Here is more from a RUSI press release:

This honorary role was created by RUSI's trustees and advisory council in recognition of General Petraeus' long association with the Institute and his distinguished contribution to the study and development of defence and international security concepts, as well as his implementation of those concepts in operations in the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Earlier this year, General Petraeus was conferred RUSI's Chesney Gold Medal for his lifetime service to the field of security studies and operations.

As the press release says, Petraeus was awarded RUSI's Chesney Gold Medal on June 10, 2013.  In late 2012 the think tank had postponed the presentation of the award after he was involved in a sex scandal.

In May 2013, it was announced that Petraeus would head KKR & Co. LP's new global investment think tank - the KKR Global Institute.

Here is a Muckety map of Petraeus and his various connections.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on how Petraeus has been "cozy" with a variety of think tanks.  Petraeus's former lover, Paula Broadwell, also had a connection to think tanks.

Last month, RUSI announced that former MI5 chief Sir Jonathan Evans would be a Senior Associate Fellow at the think tank.

RUSI was founded in 1831 by the Duke of Wellington.  It is a British institution but has satellite offices in Doha, Tokyo, and Washington, DC.  Her Majesty the Queen is a Patron of RUSI.  His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent is the President of RUSI.

RUSI was recently ranked as the 42nd best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was also ranked as the 23rd best non-US think tank.  RUSI was ranked as the 17th best security and international affairs think tank in the world.  The think tank was also ranked as the 4th best government-affiliated think tank in the world (after the World Bank Institute, United States Institute for Peace, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences).

USIP Tapped by Defense Dept. for 2014 QDR

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has been asked by the US Department of Defense to facilitate the work of the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) National Defense Panel (NDP).  USIP previously facilitated the work of the 2010 QDR Independent review panel.

USIP's coordination of the NDP will be directed by Paul Hughes, a retired US Army colonel currently serving ac the Acting Vice President of USIP's Center for Conflict Management.  Hughes also directed the 2010 QDR Independent Review Panel.

Here is what USIP says about the QDR:

Required by Congress, the QDR is a review of Department of Defense (DoD) strategy and priorities and sets a long-term course for DoD as it assesses the threats and challenges faced by the U.S.  In turn, Congress directed that members of the National Defense Panel review the QDR, assess the assumptions, strategy, findings, and risks in the report, conduct an independent assessment of a variety of possible force structures, review the resource requirements, and provide recommendations to Congress and the secretary of Defense.

USIP President and CEO Jim Marshall, a former Member of Congress, and board member Eric Edelman were appointed earlier to serve as members of the NDP.   Edelman is currently a Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessment (CSBA), and a Senior Associate of the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.

Stephen Hadley, a Senior Advisor for International Affairs and a Member of the Board of Directors at USIP, was a co-chair of the 2010 QDR Independent Review Panel.

USIP was recently ranked as the 18th best think tank in the US by the University of Pennsylvania annual think tank rankings.

Think Tank Quickies #76

• A cheat sheet for UK think tanks.
• Chart: Political leanings of selected UK think tanks.
• Justin Wolfers re-joins Brookings as a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies; he will co-edit the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (BPEA); his appointment lasts 13 months.
• CSIS and CSBA hold joint press briefing on SCMR options.
• Richard Lindzen, MIT professor and prominent climate scientist, joins Cato Institute as a Distinguished Senior Fellow.
• Fact: Two Distinguished Senior Fellows at Cato (the think tank's most prestigious appointment) have been awarded Nobel Prizes while affiliated with Cato.
• NAF's Sascha Meinrath meets with Senior White House officials on US surveillance activities.
• Former Bush security advisor Stephen Hadley joins USIP Board of Directors for 2nd term.
• USIP fills Asia-Pacific and Economies positions with Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt and Ethan Kapstein.
• USIP tapped to facilitate Congressionally-mandated national defense panel.

Heritage's New $550K "Defund Obamacare" Campaign

Today Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation think tank, announced a $550,000 "Defund Obamacare" ad campaign.

The online campaign, which will run in 100 Republican-controlled districts, will encourage House Republicans to support conservative efforts to stop Obamacare by defunding the entire law.

The launch of the ad campaign coincides with Heritage Action's Defund Obamacare Townhall Tour.  Last week, Heritage Action released a poll showing a move to defund Obamacare would not jeapardize the Republicans' House majority.

The Heritage Foundation was recently ranked as the 18th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was rated the 9th best think tank in the US.  It was also rated as the #1 think tank in the world in terms of best use of social media and the Internet.  Heritage was also rated as the 10th best think tank in the world in terms of most significant impact on public policy.

Critics Question Impartiality of BPC

Here is what the is being reported by the Washington Post's Wonkblog:

As the self-proclaimed “only Washington, DC-based think tank that actively promotes bipartisanship,” it says it “drives principled solutions through rigorous analysis, reasoned negotiation and respectful dialogue.”

Over the past month, the center faced attacks for perhaps being not nearly so principled as it claims. The Nation magazine dinged the center for its role in shepherding a plan for major U.S. retailers to improve conditions at Bangladeshi garment factories, when it had received funding from Walmart and several of its affiliated scholars had worked or lobbied for some of the other companies involved. Investigative journalist Ken Silverstein, in a piece for Harvard’s Safra Center for Ethics, outlined how the BPC takes money from oil and gas interests while promoting expanded drilling in a report overseen by a lobbyist who’d done work for ExxonMobil.

This week, the BPC is the subject of a scathing report from Ralph Nader’s consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen. The authors charge that, soon after receiving funding from the American Banking Association and Citigroup, the center convened a project on financial regulatory reform stacked with industry advocates meant to examine what could be improved in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act as implementation got underway.

Public Citizen’s worries were bolstered by the resignation of John Coffee, a Columbia University law professor who was among the few on the task force who was not affiliated with industry.

Here is a link to Public Citizen's full report on BPC which is titled "Made in the Shade: An Examination of Whether the Bipartisan Policy Center is Truly Neutral."

BPC, which formally launched in 2007, was founded by four former Senate Majority Leaders: Howard Baker (R-TN), Tom Daschle (D-SD), Bob Dole (R-KS), and George Mitchell (D-ME).

Think Tank Quickies #75

• Why think tanks should focus on people as much as policy.
• Report says BBC has a bias towards left-wing think tanks.  Full Centre for Policy Studies report.
• Why think tanks will become ever more important.
• Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) targeting Cato Institute and Goldwater Institute?
• On think tanks' executive directors.
• Brookings's partnership with think tanks in Africa.
• Chart of advocacy spending for a handful of DC think tanks.
• John Locke Foundation President John Hood analyzing think tank influence.
• Montreal Economic Institute President/CEO Michael Kelly-Gagnon on the role of think tanks.
• Chinese think tank CASS criticizes labor camps as outdated.

The Rapper of Libertarian Think Tank Land

Comedian Remy Munasifi is the new face of the libertarian think tank scene.

The Washington Post recently noted that he has teamed with Reason TV, linked to the libertarian think tank Reason Foundation, to create short rap parody videos.

Says the Washington Post:

He has lampooned the “Occupy Wall Street” movement, the debt ceiling, Jay Z and Beyoncé’s Cuban vacation, and, most recently, Anthony Weiner’s sexting scandal. One of his catchier spoofs, “Tap It: The NSA Slow Jam,” satirizes the National Security Agency’s electronic-surveillance program.

Here is the debt ceiling rap video mentioned in the article above, and here is the one on Anthony Weiner.  Here is one called the TSA Pokey Pokey.  Here is one called Why They Fought.  Here is one called The Equality Song.  Here is the one called Jay-Z's Cuba State of Mind.

The Reason Foundation, based in Los Angeles, California, publishes the magazine Reason.  That magazine was first published in 1968, and the Reason Foundation was created in 1978.  The think tank also has an office in Washington, DC.

David Nott has served as Reason Foundation's President since 2001.   Previous presidents of the think tank include Reason founder Robert Poole, now director of transportation studies, and Lynn Scarlett, who left Reason in 2001 and served as Assistant Secretary of Policy, Management and Budget at the Department of the Interior for the George W. Bush Administration.

Wilson Center President Leaving for France?

The Washington Post's Al Kamen is reporting that former Congresswomen Jane Harman (D-CA), who is now the Director, President, and CEO of the Wilson Center, could be tapped by President Obama to be the next US Ambassador to France.

Harman is the first female Director, President, and CEO of the think tank.  Here is the Wilson Center's section on France.

In late 2012, there was speculation that Harman could become the next head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).  John Brennan was eventually selected for that position.

The Wilson Center was recently ranked as the 11th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was also ranked as the 6th best think tank in the United States.

Fresh Hacker Assault on Unnamed Think Tank

Here is what is being reported on Raw Story via Agence France-Presse:

The hackers who penetrated the computer network of The New York Times last year have resurfaced with an attack on “an organization involved in shaping economic policy,” experts warned Monday.

The security firm FireEye said the original perpetrators “appear to be mounting fresh assaults that leverage new and improved versions of malware.”

FireEye said it had detected “a retooling of what security researchers believe is a massive spying operation based in China.”

“The new campaigns mark the first significant stirrings from the group since it went silent in January in the wake of a detailed expose of the group and its exploits,” FireEye researchers Ned Moran and Nart Villeneuve said in a blog post.

FireEye said its researchers “spotted the malware when analyzing a recent attempted attack on an organization involved in shaping economic policy.”

The name of the organization was not disclosed.

Here is a link to the FireEye blog post that is referenced in the story.  It gives fairly detailed information about the new cyber attacks.

"An organization involved in shaping economic policy" describes any number of think tanks, such as the Brookings Institution, Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), and the Center for American Progress (CAP), to name a few.

Of course, hacker attacks on think tanks is nothing new.  Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on think tanks being targeted by Chinese cyber spies.  Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post detailing a hack attack against the Aspen Institute.  Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post noting that China's 100,000 person cyber army has shifted its focus to think tanks.

Jennifer Rubin: The "Once Great" Heritage Foundation

The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin, a neoconservative, has just written a piece titled "Where Did The Think Tank Go?," in which she calls the Heritage Foundation a "once great" think tank.  Here is more of what Ms. Rubin says:

There is nothing approaching the conservative thought or scholarship one would expect of a think tank. It’s pure politics, and the sort of amateur, unthinking brand that has gotten Republicans in trouble both in office and in campaigns. [Heritage President Jim] DeMint is hawking a series of town hall meetings, which I am sure will generate additions to the group’s e-mail list and hence to its funding base.

Heritage folks will announce that this is all under the guise of Heritage Action, a political entity, not the think tank per se. But who is kidding whom? DeMint speaks on behalf of both, and the latter has been entirely subsumed by the hard-knuckle political screeching for which Heritage Action is famous.

In sum, DeMint isn’t really trying to run a think tank. He’s running a political racket that takes the most extreme right-wing positions imaginable, decries those who won’t go along, wails when the stances they advocate fail and then uses the burning resentment it has stoked to generate headlines and donations. When do you suppose conservatives will realize they are being fleeced by this operation?

The Heritage Foundation was recently ranked as the 18th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was rated the 9th best think tank in the US.  It was also rated as the #1 think tank in the world in terms of best use of social media and the Internet.  Heritage was also rated as the 10th best think tank in the world in terms of most significant impact on public policy.

Think Tanks: Power, Policy, and Plagiarism

A new working paper was just published by the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University titled "Think Tanks' Dirty Little Secret: Power, Public Policy, and Plagiarism."  The paper was written by Dr. J.H. Snider, President of iSolon.org and Non-residential Fellow at Harvard University's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.

Here is an abstract of the paper:

In academics, idea plagiarism is a sin of the first magnitude, whereas in business and politics, it is considered, well, academic - of no practical significance. Where do think tanks fit on that spectrum? Are they fish or fowl, or neither?

Compared to academic scholars, think tank scholars have a greater incentive to plagiarize ideas. The pressure to claim credit in both scholarly communities is great, but the pressure to give credit is relatively weak in think tanks. One reason is that the problem-solution structure of think tank work doesn’t include a contribution-to-literature section. Another reason is that think tanks don’t publish their work in peer-reviewed publications, which are well-designed for cost-effectively weeding out idea plagiarism.

Think tanks may claim to respect original work as much as universities. But that doesn’t mean it’s in their self-interest to act in accordance with those values. This paper provides eight case studies related to such behavior. The paper assumes that if think tank scholars, like academic scholars, claim to provide original work, then they should be held accountable for proving that they in fact do so. The author hopes that others will investigate the limitations of such an assumption.

Unfortunately, the two traditional approaches to discouraging idea theft, passing intellectual property law (primarily used in commerce) and relying on private institutions to cultivate social sanctions (primarily used in academics) are not well suited for think tanks. An alternative approach is a hybrid policy where law is used to strengthen social sanctions. For example, libel and transparency laws pertaining to think tanks could be reformed to encourage a more robust market in evaluations of public policy credit claims.

The paper includes case studies from think tanks such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), New America Foundation (NAF), and the Cato Institute.

Dr. Snider has commented on think tanks in a variety of other publications, including:

• Washington's Evolving Think Tanks. (Politico)
• Strengthen Think Tank Accountability. (Politico)
• The Quest to Protect Creative Policy Ideas. (Chronicle of Philanthropy)
• Think Tanks. (Voice of America; video interview)

From 2001 to 2007 Dr. Snider was a Markle Fellow, Senior Research Fellow, and Research Director at the New America Foundation (NAF).

The Influence of CSIS

The Boston Globe has just outlined the "new era of partisanship" at many think tanks and the role that money plays in those institutions.

The piece highlights the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) as a particularly influential think tank.  Here is what was said about CSIS:

An example of the hidden reach of such [think tank] sponsorships arose in June, when [Defense Secretary Chuck] Hagel arrived in Singapore’s plush Shangri-La Hotel for one of his first major policy addresses to a large gathering of defense ministers and generals from across Asia. He outlined plans for a long-term — and costly — US security umbrella requiring a greater commitment of forces, warships, training, and foreign weapons sales.

Undisclosed to Hagel’s audience — or the public, for that matter — was the fact that his remarks were crafted with help from scholars at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, one of the most respected of Washington think tanks.

National security agencies increasingly rely on the center to help formulate strategy, even as the think tank receives its biggest share of tax-deductible contributions for research from arms manufacturers, energy companies, and other major corporations seeking to shape policy — nearly a third of its $33 million in revenues last year, according to think tank officials and public records.

Roughly 4 percent of annual revenue is raised from foreign governments, including the Canadian province of Alberta; Norway; and several Persian Gulf emirates.

CSIS is building a new 15,000-square foot, $100 million headquarters in Washington with money raised by a high-powered collection of former senior government officials and titans of industry representing defense giants Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon, along with pharmaceutical conglomerate Procter & Gamble, oil giant Chevron, and a top adviser to the Sultan of Oman, according to CSIS officers and documents.

CSIS maintains that it has rigorous internal procedures to prevent donors’ interests from infecting scholarship or its large volume of advice to the government.

“We have 130 projects right now, and I keep close track of them. I know who is funding each of them,” said John Hamre, a former deputy defense secretary who has been president of CSIS since 2000.

Its full-time researchers, meanwhile, must annually disclose any outside business clients to an internal management committee, he said. That applies to at least one member of the team whose assistance was sought by senior Pentagon officials on Hagel’s Asia speech: Ernest Bower, a leading Asia scholar at CSIS who also runs a large business consulting firm, Bower Group Asia, with offices in nine Asian countries.

Bower told the Globe he discloses all of his business clients to CSIS, but he says he cannot reveal their identities publicly, due to contractual agreements.

“We listened to ideas from experts at several think tanks,” said Pentagon press secretary George Little. He would not identify the think tanks, however.

“It’s perfectly appropriate for government officials to listen to ideas from nongovernment sources, including think tank experts,” he said. “This is America, after all, where compelling ideas don’t always originate inside government agencies and departments.’’

But Hagel's office acknowledged that it was not aware when it sought Bower's independent advice that he is also a paid consultant for unidentified companies with interests in Asia. It declined to respond to questions about whether Hagel or his aides believe they should have been made aware.

CSIS was recently ranked as the best think tank in the world for security and international affairs by the University of Pennsylvania annual think tank rankings.  It was also ranked as the 5th best think tank in the world.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on CSIS's new headquarters.

The New "Think Tank Industrial Complex"

Bryan Bender of The Boston Globe has a new piece titled "Many D.C. Think Tanks Now Players in Partisan Wars," which says we have arrived in the era of the "think tank industrial complex."  He essentially says that these days think tanks are more concerned with money rather than good ideas.

Here are some highlights:

• It now is difficult to tell the difference between truly objective advice and high-priced advocacy for political or private profit, according to a Globe review of public and internal documents and interviews with dozens of current and former think tank scholars, management staff, and donors.
•  “They [think tanks] have evolved into what looks like a business,” said Alan Dye, a Washington attorney who has represented think tanks, including Heritage, for three decades. “A brain trust for sale.”
• The aggressive politicking is making even some of the think tank’s own scholars uncomfortable, according to a number of insiders who declined to be identified for fear of reprisal.
• The study found that the newer think tanks are increasingly specialized and “focused on a single issue or area of policy.” A greater share of their funding is also tightly targeted. 
• Heritage’s lobbying efforts this year have been focused on defeating proposals in Congress backed by think tanks like CAP, such as the extension of unemployment benefits and immigration reform. It has also lobbied against Obama’s nominations for federal judgeships.
• Some think tanks are resisting the trend, trying to navigate a course through the growing thicket of partisanship and corporate influence. They are finding it hard going.

Think Tank Quickies #74

• The role of think tanks in New Hampshire politics.
• China's State Councillor Yang Jeichi attends 2nd Forum of Interchange between China, Latin America, and Caribbean think tanks, co-hosted by China Foundation for International Studies and Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs.
• Defense One issues 1st edition of "In the Tank" - a weekly roundup of think tank reports related to defense, technology, national security, foreign policy, and management issues.
• How think tanks are pushing government to better leverage data. 
• Two disciplines most think tanks lack: designers and philosophers? 
• Think tank in Bolivia: An analysis. 
• CFR President Richard Haass to chair All-Party talks in Northern Ireland; former OECD Ambassador Karen Kornbluh joins CFR as a Senior Fellow for Digital Policy.
• CAP & US Chamber of Commerce team up to host discussion on early childhood education.
• CAP recommends US natural gas use must peak by 2030.
• Meet the elite think tank community doing its best to "control the world."

Larry Summers Using CAP to Win Fed Nomination?

Last week the liberal think tank Center for American Progress (CAP) announced that former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers is co-chairing a new CAP group called the Commission on Inclusive Prosperity, focused on developing solutions to spur middle class growth.

Summers, a Distinguished Senior Fellow at CAP, is reportedly very eager to become the next Chairman of the US Federal Reserve.  Summers is also a Member of the Board of Directors of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE).

The Commission plans to meet a few times during the next year.  Its first meeting was held on July 24, 2013 in Washington, DC.

CAP, which has extremely deep ties to the Obama Administration, says the new group is tasked to produce a "robust set of policy proposals to establish sustainable and inclusive prosperity over the long term in developed economies, with a specific focus on creating good middle-class jobs."

Members of the Inclusive Prosperity Commission include:

• Larry Summers, Co-Chair – Former Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton administration and President Obama’s Director of the National Economic Council from 2009 to 2011. He is currently the Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University.

• Ed Balls, Co-Chair – First elected in 2005, Ed Balls currently serves as the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and as a Labour Member of Parliament for Morley and Outwood. He previously served as chief economic adviser to the HM Treasury from 1997 to 2004. Ed has been a teaching fellow in the Department of Economics at Harvard University and a columnist for the Financial Times, Guardian, New Statesman, and Tribune.

• E.J. Dionne, Jr. – E.J. Dionne is a Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution and a Washington Post columnist. At Brookings, he researches and writes on a range of issues that include elections; polling; the role of media in politics; and the role of religion in public life. His most recent book is titled, Our Divided Political Heart: The Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent.

• Ezekiel (Zeke) J. Emanuel – Ezekiel J. Emanuel is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and the vice provost for global initiatives, the Diane S. Levy and Robert M. Levy University Professor, and chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

• Jennifer M. Granholm – Jennifer Granholm served as Governor of Michigan from 2002 to 2008. As Governor, she worked to diversify the state’s economy, strengthen its auto industry, preserve the manufacturing sector and focus on clean energy. She is currently a Distinguished Practitioner of Law and Public Policy at UC Berkeley’s School of Law and Goldman School of Public Policy.

• Mary Kay Henry – Mary Kay Henry serves as International President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the fastest-growing union in North America, with 2.1 million workers in healthcare, public and property services. She was unanimously elected President in 2010 and became the first woman to lead SEIU.

• Glenn Hutchins – Glenn Hutchins is co-founder of Silver Lake, which is one of the world’s largest firms investing in technology and technology-enabled businesses. Hutchins served President Clinton in both the transition and the White House as a special advisor on economic and health-care policy. He is also a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Vice Chairman of the Brookings Institution.

• Lawrence F. Katz – Lawrence Katz is the Elisabeth Allison Professor of Economics at Harvard University and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on issues in labor economics and the economics of social problems.

• Chris Keates – Chris Keates is general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT). Chris held a number of elected offices within the NASUWT prior to joining the staff of the Union in 1998 when she was appointed an Assistant Secretary with responsibility for coordinating the development and implementation of Union policy. NASUWT is the largest teachers’ union in the UK and is one of the ten largest affiliated to the TUC.

• Edward Montgomery – Edward Montgomery has served as the Dean of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute (GPPI) since 2010. Prior to joining GPPI he served on President Obama’s Auto Task Force as Executive Director of the White House Council for Auto Communities and Workers. From 2003 to 2008 he served as the Dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland where he had been on the Economics Department faculty since 1990. He also worked in the Clinton administration as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.

• Pär Nuder – Pär Nuder served as the Minister of Finance of Sweden from 2004-2006. Prior to that he served as Minister of Culture, Minister for Policy Coordination and served as State Secretary and Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Göran Persson. He is currently a Senior Director of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, where he advises clients on global financial trends and provides strategic advice to clients entering the European market.

• John Podesta – John Podesta is Chair of the Center for American Progress and the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Prior to founding the Center in 2003, Podesta served as White House chief of staff to President Clinton. Podesta also served as co-chair of President Barack Obama’s transition.

• Steve Rattner – Steve Rattner is Chairman of Willett Advisors LLC, the investment arm for New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s personal and philanthropic assets. Previously, he served as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury and led the Obama Administration’s successful effort to restructure the automobile industry. He was a co-founding principal of the Quadrangle Group, a global private equity firm specializing in the media and communications industries. Mr. Rattner spent two decades as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Lazard Freres & Co., where he became Deputy Chairman and Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

• Judith Rodin – Judith Rodin is the President of the Rockefeller Foundation. She previously served as president of the University of Pennsylvania and provost of Yale University. Dr. Rodin serves as a member of the board for several leading corporations and non-profits including Citigroup, AMR Corporation, Comcast, and the White House Council for Community Solutions.

• David Sainsbury – David Sainsbury is the Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, a Labour Party Member of the House of Lords, and the author of Progressive Capitalism: How to Achieve Economic Growth, Liberty, and Social Justice. He has served as the Chairman of Sainsbury’s and was the UK Minister for Science and Innovation from 1998 to 2006.

• Olaf Scholz – Olaf Scholz has served as Mayor of Hamburg, Germany since March 2011. Scholz is a long-time Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician and from 2002 to 2004, he served as General Secretary of the SPD during the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

• Neera Tanden – Neera Tanden is the President of the Center for American Progress and Counselor to the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Tanden has served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden campaign, and policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

• John Van Reenen – John Van Reenen is a Professor in the Department of Economics at the London School of Economics and serves as Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. John also serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Industrial Economics.

Here is what The Guardian is writing about the new Commission.  Here is what co-chair Ed Balls wrote for the Huffington Post about the Commission.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on how a former Brookings Institution scholar could choose the next Federal Reserve Chairman.

Center for American Progress (CAP) was recently ranked as the 30th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was ranked as the 11th best think tank in the US.  It was also ranked as the 2nd best think tank in the world in terms of best use of the Internet or social media.

Venezuela Sets Up Think Tank to Study Chavez's Ideas

Here is what the Wall Street Journal is reporting:

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, still smarting from the death of his predecessor and mentor Hugo Chávez this year, is taking the latter's "Bolivarian Revolution" to a new level, setting up an institute for advanced study of the ideas of the nation's late socialist firebrand.

Mr. Maduro, who has called himself the political "son" of Mr. Chávez and claimed that his mentor's spirit appeared to him in the form of a bird, signed a decree creating the "institute for the advanced studies of the thinking of the Supreme Commander Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias," according to the government's daily legislative review published Tuesday.

Such a long think tank name will create the tricky challenge of creating a cool acronym.  Any ideas?  Taking just the first letter of each word, the acronym for the Institute for the Advanced Studies of the Thinking of the Supreme Commander Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias would be IFTASOTTOTSCHRCF.  By dropping some of the minor words it can be shortened to IASTSCHRCF.

They are going to need a think tank just to study how to create a short acronym for the think tank.

Of the 6,603 think tanks in the world, there are 721 think tanks in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the latest rankings by the University of Pennsylvania.  That report also says that Venezuela has 17 think tanks.

Brookings Scholar Named Middle East Peace Envoy

Martin Indyk, Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, has been named by Secretary of State John Kerry as Middle East Peace Envoy.  Indyk is the former US Ambassador to Israel.

Amb. Indyk was the Founding Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Peace Policy at Brookings.  Tamara Cofman Wittnes is the current Director of that Center, which was launched in May 2002.

Amb. Indyk is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).  He was previously Founding Executive Director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP).

Much of Indyk's writing and research at Brookings can be found here.

Here is a press release from Brookings about Amb. Indyk being named US Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations.  It says that Indyk will assume his new post effective immediately and will be taking a leave of absence from Brookings.

Ted Piccone, currently Deputy Director of the Foreign Policy Program, will serve as Acting Vice President and Director in the interim.

The Brookings Institution was recently ranked as the best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.

Fmr. Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson Joins BPC

The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) announced this week that former Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and former Governor of Wisconsin Tommy Thompson is joining the think tank as a Senior Fellow.

According to a BPC press release, he will join BPC's Health Project with former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and Bill Frist, former Senator Pete V. Domenici, and former CBO and OMB Director Dr. Alice Rivlin.

In that same press release, BPC says that its Health Project issued a report in April on health care cost containment, and Gov. Thompson will work closely with the co-chairs and report authors to implement its recommendations.

Gov. Thompson, a Republican, was briefly a candidate for the US presidential election in 2008, withdrawing from the race before the primaries.

BPC, which formally launched in 2007, was founded by four former Senate Majority Leaders: Howard Baker (R-TN), Tom Daschle (D-SD), Bob Dole (R-KS), and George Mitchell (D-ME).

Think Tank Quickies #73

• Brookings announces new trustees, including Obama's former "car czar" Steven Rattner.
• Leadership challenges at think tanks.
• Chinese think tank says Japan trying to become a major military power. 
• Joint CSIS-McAfee study: Cybercrime costs estimated at $100 billion.
• Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI) makes an appearance at PIIE for the 4th time.
• A "real" think tank?  The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. 
• FFF/UNDP: Arab think tank directory. 
• US think tanks meet to scuttle polls in Zimbabwe?
• CSIS hosts Vietnam's President Truong Tan Sang.
• Former Treasury official and China expert David Dollar heads to Brookings.

Heritage Becomes "Handful" for GOP

Here is what The Wall Street Journal is reporting:

For four decades, the Heritage Foundation was a stately think tank that sought to define conservative thinking for Republicans.

Now, in one of the more significant transformations in the capital's intellectual firmament, it has become an activist political operation trying to alter the course of conservative thinking. It now challenges establishment Republican leaders as much as it informs them, making waves in the process.

Here is what the article says about the think tank's lobbying arm, Heritage Action:

Heritage Action says it has 61,000 donors but doesn't disclose sources of its funding. It raised $5.9 million in 2012, according to figures provided by the group, a significant uptick from 2011 but still a sliver of the $82 million its parent organization raised. A number of prominent conservatives sit on the Heritage Foundation board, including billionaires Steve Forbes and Richard Mellon Scaife.

Unlike Club for Growth, a small-government advocacy group that built its reputation by wading into GOP primaries to knock off incumbent Republicans it sees as insufficiently conservative, Heritage Action seeks primarily to influence legislation. The group has recruited 5,000 local activists, known as "sentinels," in 160 key congressional districts and claims an email list of 400,000 supporters. Hundreds of those activists dial in to weekly Monday night conference calls run from the fourth floor of the foundation's headquarters, where they are often warned about coming legislation frequently authored by House Republicans.

Aides rank each member of Congress based on his or her votes on key measures, alerting supporters about each important roll-call vote.

The Heritage Foundation was recently ranked as the 18th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was rated the 9th best think tank in the US.  It was also rated as the #1 think tank in the world in terms of best use of social media and the Internet.  Heritage was also rated as the 10th best think tank in the world in terms of most significant impact on public policy.

Treasury's #2 to Join Think Tank

Neal Wolin, the Deputy Treasury Secretary, reportedly will step down next month and is planning to take a post with a "not-yet determined think tank" as he "mulls other options" outside government, according to the Washington Post.

Will he follow in his former boss's footsteps and join the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)?  In February 2013 former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner joined CFR as a Distinguished Fellow.  Stay tuned...

Think Tank Quickies #72

• NAF's Open Technology Institute (OTI) launches "Drone U."
• Saudis, Qataris, and Kuwaitis have a headlock on much of the foreign policy coming out of think tanks?
• CAP rebrands youth outreach program; Campus Progress to be renamed Generation Progress.
• Henry Kissinger "brought down the house" when he alluded to Hillary Clinton's future presidential possibilities at Atlantic Council's black-tie gala in May 2013.
• Guide to libertarian movies from Cato's David Boaz. 
• How think tanks work: analyzing budgets. 
• AEI's Arthur Books and James Pethokoukis involved in the "makings of a Republican equivalent of the DLC." 
• CAP hosts Vice President Joe Biden on July 18 to discuss US policy towards Asia-Pacific region.
• Wilson Center's Ross Johnson on US-sponsored broadcasts to other countries.

CAP's Larry Summers Lobbying to be Next Fed Chair

Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary under the Clinton Administration and White House economic advisor under President Obama, is reportedly very eager to become the next Federal Reserve Chairman.

On December 17, 2012, Summers was named as a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress (CAP).

Summers is also a Member of the Board of Directors at the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE).

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post titled "Will the Next Fed Chair Come From Think Tank Land?"

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post titled "Fmr. Brookings Scholar to Pick the Next Fed Chair?"

This Free Beacon article notes that CAP has a history of attacking Larry Summers.

Center for American Progress (CAP) was recently ranked as the 30th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.  It was ranked as the 11th best think tank in the US.  It was also ranked as the 2nd best think tank in the world in terms of best use of the Internet or social media.

Think Tank Offers Cash Prize for EU Exit Plan

Here is what AFP is reporting:

A British think-tank on Tuesday launched a competition for the best plan to leave the EU -- offering a prize of 100,000 euros ($131,000) instead of in pounds. 

The right-leaning Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) said it wanted to find a credible blueprint in case voters backed a so-called "Brexit" in a referendum. 

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the European Union and then hold a referendum in 2017. 

Judges for the competition include former British finance minister Nigel Lawson and David Starkey, the historian and television broadcaster.

 Philip Booth, editorial and programme director of the IEA, said the aim of the competition was to find a "serious and credible plan (or alternative plans) for Britain to leave the EU should that be the chosen option at the referendum." 

The prize is open to individuals, groups or institutions. 

The first prize is 100,000 euros, with second and third prizes of 10,000 euros and 5,000 euros. 

There is also a special prize of 5,000 euros for the best entry from an individual aged 30 or under. 

Britain is not a member of the 17-nation European single currency but the think-tank said it had decided to offer the prize in euros.

Here is a link to IEA's website.  Here is a link to the think tank's "Brexit Prize."

IEA was founded in 1955 and calls itself "UK's original free-market think tank."  IEA was recently ranked as the 49th best think tank in the world by the annual University of Pennsylvania think tank rankings.

Prospect Magazine Praises Work of US Think Tanks

More information is being published about Prospect magazine's annual think tank awards, which Think Tank Watch has previously written about.

In a blog post, Prospect magazine highlights several US think tanks, including the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), Brookings Institution, and Third Way, which won the North American think tank of the year award:

In the US, the Peterson Institute was considered immensely impressive, with extensive access and influence on US policy. However, one judge suggested that, now the first signs of economic recovery are appearing in the US, it is not certain that the Peterson has lifted its gaze from the financial crisis to questions of growth.

The Brookings Institution report, “The Thistle and the Drone,” explored the relations between central governments and tribal societies on their periphery—germane now that the Afghan and US governments have decided to negotiate with the Taliban. For this and other work, the judges felt that Brookings was the  runner-up in the category.

But the winner of this year’s North American Think Tank Award was Third Way. A newcomer to the US think tank scene, founded in 2005 and still small, Third Way has had influence on the Obama team and was quick to home in on the plight of low to middle-income families and the difficulties they face in times of economic stagnation. The judges credited Third Way with making a real impact on debate in the centre ground of American politics, an arena which has seemed vanishingly small in recent years. They felt it was an organisation charged with a sense of urgency; one described their output as “really sexy,” while another commented: “I like the bottom-up approach, and signs of innovation in a crowded and very rich think tank scene.”

Prospect magazine had this to say about publications by think tanks not based in the UK:

This award covers publications by think tanks not based in the UK. The US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace was commended by judges for its report, “Iran’s Nuclear Odyssey: Costs and Risks.” This was described as “original and interesting” for its suggestion that the only possible solution is a peaceful diplomatic settlement with Iran. The international community, the report noted, might do well to offer Iran advanced solar technology—its potential solar capacity is 13-times greater than its total domestic need.

The Cato Institute, also based in the US, caught the eye of the judges for its recent book on the legalisation of drugs, The Fire Next Door. The book maintains that the US’s prohibition of narcotics has empowered the drug cartels in Mexico with disastrous effects. The only solution now, it argued, is to legalise drugs. The judges were impressed by the book’s thoroughness and the intellectual flexibility that it suggested.

However, the International Publication of the Year category was won by Carnegie Europe, the European arm of the Carnegie Endowment, for its report “Press Freedom in Turkey.” This was a thorough and prescient examination of the control exerted on journalists by Ankara. The report was impressive and timely, given the demonstrations in Gezi Park and Taksim Square.

The Prospect think tank awards are now in their 13th year.

The judges of this year's think tank awards were: Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty and Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University; Bill Emmott, former Editor of the Economist; Richard Lambert, Chancellor of Warwick University, former Editor of the Financial Times and member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee; David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham; Bronwen Maddox, Editor of Prospect; and David Willetts, Conservative MP for Havant and Minister of State for Universities and Science.