Atlantic Council Ends Ties with $4.5 Million Koch Initiative

Here is more from Politico:

The Atlantic Council is parting ways with a Charles Koch-funded foreign policy strategy initiative after staff at the Washington think tank raised concerns about the arrangement and the initiative’s position on U.S. policy toward Russia.

Koch, who is a major funder of conservative, libertarian and philanthropic initiatives, provided the Council with a $4.5 million grant in 2020. The money was designed to set up the New American Engagement Initiative, a national security effort that planned to use the funds to support scholars and their efforts, which was housed under the Council’s Scowcroft Center for Security and Strategy.

In March 2021, the initiative co-director, Mathew Burrows, and Emma Ashford, a senior fellow with the effort, penned an article that argued the U.S. should not center its approach to Russia around human rights. Nearly two dozen Atlantic Council staffers, including several former ambassadors, responded in a letter disassociating themselves with the article. At the time, some Atlantic Council experts suggested to POLITICO that Ashford and initiative co-director Chris Preble — two alumni of the Koch-funded Cato Institute — were brought on because of Koch money.

 

The initiative is now moving to the Stimson Center, another Washington, DC-based think tank which has taken Koch money in the past.  In 2021, it received $112,180 from the Charles Koch Institute.

As part of the New American Engagement Initiative, another $10 million in Koch grants was given to Center for the National Interest, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and RAND Corporation.

Here is a Vox piece on the significance of the Atlantic Council/Stimson move.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch piece on the uproar that the Koch money brought to the Atlantic Council.

Think Tank Quickies (#448)

• Stacey Abrams paid over $700k by liberal think tank (Roosevelt Institute) seeking to "center race in every policy decision."
  
• ProPublica: "Right-wing think tank Family Research Council in now a church in the eyes of the IRS."
• Ory Rinat, who directed digital strategy at the Heritage Foundation, launched Urban Legend to help run influencer campaigns.
• Roshan Patel: "Lord give me the confidence of someone who takes a Harvard online class and adds it to their LinkedIn education section."
• Matthew Yglesias: "In America of course we only have two parties that need to be biggish tents, but we should reorganize our think tank sector to have flagship institutes for each of these."
  
• Think tanks and advocacy groups called on Congress to reconsider a $6 billion plan to make new engines for the F-35 fighter jet.
• "Did you know that there are library think tanks designed to convince Big Publishers that libraries are profitable and they should let libraries buy their books?"
• Charles Gasparino: "I'm launching a new think tank...the Paulie Walnuts Institute."
  
• Milena Rodban: "Super predictable formula...someone who spent a couple years at a think tank moves to a consulting firm, publishes book (heavily leaning on think tank creds) advocating for the need for something the consulting firm wants clients to buy, then spends a year talking that up."

Trump-Aligned Think Tanks Gaining in Power

When a number of former Trump Administration officials left the White House and various executive branch agencies, they quietly formed and joined several think tanks that have operated largely under-the-radar.

But with talk of the 2024 elections, including a possible Trump announcement ramping up, many are starting to play a more influential role in shaping the policy debate.

Here is more from Axios:

The advocacy groups who have effectively become extensions of the Trump infrastructure include the Center for Renewing America (CRA), the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), and the Conservative Partnership Institute (CPI).

Other groups — while not formally connected to Trump’s operation — have hired key lieutenants and are effectively serving his ends. The Heritage Foundation, the legacy conservative group, has moved closer to Trump under its new president, Kevin Roberts, and is building links to other parts of the “America First” movement.

During the Trump administration, many conservatives perceived the group as sliding into irrelevance as they were detached from Trump and his movement. Recently though, some former Heritage allies watched in horror when the group broke with GOP hawks and opposed Congress’ $40 billion aid package to Ukraine for its fight against Russia.

Roberts has developed a closer personal relationship with Trump than his predecessor did. Trump even visited Amelia Island in Florida to speak to Heritage’s annual leadership conference in April. In addition to courting Trump, Roberts has also opened his door to the “New Right” — individuals and organizations whose views differ dramatically from many of the Bush era conservative policies Heritage has traditionally supported.

Roberts said in an interview to Axios he plans to spend at least $10 million collaborating with at least 15 conservative groups to build a database of personnel for the next Republican administration. He was careful to say the list is intended to support whoever is the GOP nominee, but he has appointed a former top Trump personnel official, Paul Dans, to run the operation, and a glance down the list of allied organizations shows it is heavy on stalwart Trump allies.

Tellingly, the Conservative Partnership Institute has signed onto the Heritage effort.  The Trump-blessed think tank America First Policy Institute did not sign onto the Heritage initiative, preferring instead to promote its standalone personnel project. This, too, will have a strong Trumpian flavor.

AFPI is run by Trump’s former Domestic Policy Council director Brooke Rollins. More than half a dozen Trump Cabinet officials are affiliated with AFPI and Trump loyalists fill the group from top to bottom.

Rollins brought in Michael Rigas to lead AFPI’s 2025 personnel project. Rigas ran Trump’s Office of Personnel Management — the federal government’s HR department.  [Earlier this summer, AFPI launched the “American Leadership Initiative,” led by Rigas, to identify positions to cut or fill ahead of any new right-leaning administration.]

 

Axios notes that James Sherk, a former Heritage Foundation staffer who worked in Trump's Domestic Policy Council, helped prepare what became known as the "Schedule F" order which would potentially make it easier to fire tens of thousands of US federal employees.  Sherk is now at AFPI and published a lenghty report called "Tales from the Swamp" recounting ways that federal bureaucrats resisted implementing Trump policies.

Axios notes that CPI is a "who's-who" of Trump's former administration and the "America First" movement and has become the "hub of the hard right" in Washington.  It was founded by former Sen. Jim DeMint, the former head of the Heritage Foundation.  Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows joined CPI in 2021.

Here is a bit more on CPI from Axios:

The group’s senior staff includes Edward Corrigan, who worked on the Trump transition team’s personnel operation; Wesley Denton, who served in Trump’s Office of Management and Budget; Rachel Bovard, one of the conservative movement’s sharpest parliamentary tacticians; and attorney Cleta Mitchell, who was a key player in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The group runs its operations out of a brownstone a short walk from the Capitol building and the Supreme Court. They recruit, train and promote ideologically vetted staff for GOP offices on Capitol Hill and the next Republican administration. The ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus meets at CPI headquarters.

CPI's goal is to have at least 300 fully vetted "America First" staffers to supply GOP congressional offices after the midterms.  These new staffers would theoretically gain valuable experience to use on Capitol Hill but also incubate for a Trump administration in 2025.

  

Among other things, Axios notes that Russ Vought, the former head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) who founded CRA, could get a significant role in any future Trump Administration. 

In the final week of the Trump Administration, Vought met with Trump and shared his plans to start CRA and Trump gave Vought his blessing.  The CRA team now includes Kash Patel, Mark Paoletta, Ken Cuccinelli, and Jeffrey Clark, whom Trump attempted to install as Attorney General to help him remain in office

Beginning this year, Vought plans to release a series of policy papers detailing plans to dismantle the "administrative state," according to Axios.

On July 26, former President Donald Trump will return to Washington, DC - his first time since leaving office - to deliver the keynote address for AFPI's America First Agenda Summit.  AFPI is often described as "the White House in waiting."

Here is more on AFPI from Politico:

Under the Vision 2025 framework, Rollins and her team grew AFPI into a think tank with more than 150 employees, including 17 former senior White House staffers who include former Cabinet members like Small Business Administrator Administrator Linda McMahon and acting Homeland Security chief Chad Wolf, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry. It also includes past senior administration officials like [Larry] Kudlow and even football coach-turned-Trump ally Lou Holtz. In all, there are 22 policy centers within AFPI focused on issues like “The Center for Election Integrity,” and the “Center for Media Accountability.”

The group has filed lawsuits against “big tech” and vaccine mandates. And in a sign of its fundraising power, it has an operating budget of $25 million, although funding sources for the nonprofit are publicly unknown, as those disclosure forms have not yet been released.

A newly published organizational agenda, provided to POLITICO in advance by AFPI, outlines the nonprofit’s focus in 10 areas, among them: “Make the Greatest Economy in the World Work for All Americans;” “Give Parents More Control over Their Children’s Education;” “Finish the Wall, End Human Trafficking, and Defeat the Drug Cartels;” “Make It Easy to Vote and Hard to Cheat;” “Provide Safe and Secure Communities so All Americans Can Live Their Lives in Peace;” and “Fight Government Corruption by Draining the Swamp.”

Trump has been supportive of the organization. He hosted a black tie gala fundraiser for AFPI at Mar-a-Lago last November and his PAC, Save America, donated $1 million. Some of the names on the organization’s roster — including Conway, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and pastor Paula Cain-White — remain in Trump’s orbit.

 

Politico notes that CPI and the Heritage Foundation "recently shored up their own plans" for the next conservative-led administration, with the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. 

Meanwhile, this evening, Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, will deliver remarks on his proposed conservative agenda at the Heritage Foundation.  

In a piece entitled "Trumpism's New Washington Army," The Economist writes that "like-minded wonks and former Trump Administration officials are busy building think tanks and advocacy organization to provide the policies and, crucially, the personnel for a new Republican right." 

It notes that American Compass is among the "new think tanks that have sprung up" to translate ideas into policy.  It also knows that America First Legal, founded by former Trump aide Stephen Miller, is challenging the Biden Administration in court, mostly over any loosening of immigration rules.

The Economist also notes that Trump has helped raise money for CRA, which reportedly has been busy developing many of the policy and administrative plans that would likely form the foundation for a second-term Trump Administration.

It adds that two Silicon Valley-based philanthropies, the Hewlett Foundation and the Omidyar Network, have earmarked millions of dollars for organizations to develop alternatives to market-friendly policies.  American Affairs, American Compass, and American Moment have secured some of these grants.

In other related think tanks news, here is a new Washington Post piece on how Trump helped "revolutionize" the Claremont Institute from a "minor academic outfit to to a key Washington player" that is now facing blowback for standing by lawyer John Eastman after he counseled Trump over overturning the 2020 election.

Update: Former Trump aide Peter Navarro is asking Trump not to speak at the AFPI event on July 26 because he believes the think tank is insufficiently devoted to Trumpism.

Think Tankers Attend Private Meeting on North Korea Hosted by US Strategic Command

Here is more from the Wall Street Journal:

In late May, dozens of U.S. intelligence officials, military officers and security analysts gathered in Omaha, Neb., to assess the escalating nuclear threat from North Korea as the regime develops new tactical nuclear weapons.

The previously unreported event was the first at the headquarters of U.S. Strategic Command, the arm of the Pentagon charged with deterring America’s rivals, to focus solely on North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program, according to a spokesman for the organization.

The North Korea meeting on May 23-24 was coordinated by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which advises the president on national security, and the Defense Intelligence Agency, which provides information on foreign militaries to the U.S. military. 

 

Those that attended include Markus Garlauskas, a former national intelligence officer for North Korea at the ODNI, who is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Another attendee was Ankit Panda, a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Chief of Tax Foundation to Take New Role at Think Tank

Here is more from Bloomberg Tax:

Scott Hodge, the longtime president and CEO of the Tax Foundation, is stepping down to take a new role at the Washington, D.C.-based think tank, the group said Monday.

Hodge has served in the top job for 22 years, growing the nonprofit from a six-person shop to an organization with nearly three dozen tax policy professionals. He has spearheaded initiatives such the taxes and growth dynamic tax modeling program and the state business tax climate index, the foundation said.

Hodge will transition to a new position as president emeritus and senior policy adviser. The Tax Foundation has launched a search for a new president and CEO and has posted information about the role on its website.

The Tax Foundation, founded in 1937, has an annual operating budget of $6.3 million.  In 2020, Mr. Hodge made $347,300 for running the think tank.

Think Tank Quickies (#447)

• In the lead-up to the war last year, Ukraine's lobbyists made 10,000+ contracts with Congress, think tanks, and journalists.  "Think tanks have basically become lobbyists but with nonprofit status."
  
• Is Brookings a liberal think tank or a big-money lobbyist?
• Former President Donald Trump is returning to Washington for the first time since he left office to give a speech at the America First Policy Institute, which is led by senior Trump officials. 
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) slams foreign influence at Brookings.
  
• Manhattan Institute serves as a haven for "cancelled" scholars.
  
• Tom Donilon, chair of BlackRocks's think tank, to co-chair State Departments' Foreign Affairs Policy Board.
• Asia Times: Neocon think tanks are driving Biden's Ukraine policy.
  
• Daniel Bessner: "I spent the spring reading what many think tanks in DC have been saying about the future of US foreign policy and US-China relations."
• CNAS report highlighting key insights from a strategic-operational wargame examining a US-China conflict over Taiwan in 2027.
  
• Alex Kisling, former director of strategic communications at Atlantic Council, will be VP of comms at CSIS.
  

In Rare Move, Left-Leaning Scholar Moves to Conservative AEI

Here is more from Politico:

Ruy Teixeira is one of Washington’s most prominent left-leaning think-tank scholars, a fixture at the Center for American Progress since the liberal organization’s founding in 2003. But as of August 1, he’ll have a new professional home: The American Enterprise Institute, the longtime conservative redoubt that over the years has employed the likes of Newt Gingrich, Dinesh D’Souza, and Robert Bork.

Teixeira, whose role in the Beltway scrum often involved arguing against calls to move right on economic issues, insists his own policy views haven’t changed — but says the current cultural milieu of progressive organizations “sends me running screaming from the left.”

To hear Teixeira tell it, CAP, and the rest of Washington’s institution-based left, stopped being a place where he could do the work he wanted. The reason, he says, is that the relentless focus on race, gender, and identity in historically liberal foundations and think tanks has made it hard to do work that looks at society through other prisms. It also makes people nervous about projects that could be accused of giving short shrift to anti-racism efforts.

 

The article notes that AEI has become known as a "safe-space" for anti-Trump conservatives, and has been taking in scholars who have "run afoul of institutional shibboleths elsewhere."  Politico notes a few examples:

Recent additions include former Princeton classics professor Joshua Katz, who was stripped of tenure and fired this year for a long-ago sexual relationship with an undergrad, something he contends is actually about him being a conservative who slammed anti-racist campus protests; Chris Stirewalt, the Fox News analyst who infuriated Trump by calling Arizona for Joe Biden and subsequently lost his job; Thomas Chatterton Williams, the cultural critic who drafted the controversial 2020 “Harper’s Letter” criticizing purported hostility to free speech on the left; and Klon Kitchen, a former Heritage Foundation fellow who published a sharp criticism of his former employer over its stance on Ukraine. They’ve also lured a couple veterans of the historically liberal Brookings Institution.

 

The group of new AEI scholars, as well as others the think tank has hired, are likened to "an island of misfit toys." 

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board, which notes that Teixeira thinks CAP is "being warped by a junior staff for whom identity politics is everything," says that the incident shows signs of "political and cultural sickness," and says that AEI bringing Teixeira on board is a sign of "conservative vigor."

Uber Hoped to Influence 1,850 Stakeholders, Including Think Tank Experts

Here is more from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ):

Now, a new leak of records reveal the inside story of how [Uber] executives muscled into new markets, then managed the fallout, spending gobs of cash on a global influence machine deployed to win favors from politicians, regulators and other leaders, who were often eager to lend a hand.

The records, the Uber Files, were obtained by The Guardian newspaper and shared with ICIJ and 42 other media partners. The cache includes emails, text messages, company presentations and other documents from 2013 to 2017, when Uber was barging into cities in defiance of local laws and regulations, dodging taxes and seeking to grind into submission the taxi industry, most prominently, but also labor activists.

To spread its message, Uber and an advisory firm compiled lists of more than 1,850 “stakeholders” — sitting and former public officials, think tanks and citizens groups — it hoped to influence in 29 countries and the European Union, the documents show.

 

While the majority of those targeted were politicians and public officials, reporting reveals that 91 officers, executives, or board members at think tanks, consumer groups, interest groups, and trade associations were targeted by Uber. 

Here is more from The Guardian which provides one specific example:

In Germany, where authorities were clamping down on Uber’s breaches of regulations in 2014, Prof Justus Haucap, a leading economist at Düsseldorf University’s Institute for Competition Economics (DICE), agreed to produce a study on “consumer benefits from a liberalisation of the German taxi market”.

The study was conducted in collaboration with a consultancy arm of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW), described by Uber executives in internal emails as “the thinktank that has greatest sway with the current [German] government”, for what the leak suggested was a fee of €48,000 plus VAT.

 

Also, Axios just noted that Uber paid $100,000 for a paper written by an economist at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Uber is certainly no stranger to think tanks.  Several years ago, for example, Uber leadership engaged with the Urban Institute and other groups to develop a "research-informed categorization system to classify users’ reports of incidents of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and sexual assault to better inform them of the nature and scope of these experiences on their platform and how to address them."

Uber donated between $50,000 and $100,000 to Urban Institute in each of the following years: 2016, 2017, and 2019.  In 2020 it donated between $100,000 and $250,000.

Australian Think Tank Opens Branch in Washington, DC

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a think tank established in 2001 by the Australian government and partially funded by the country's Department of Defense, officially opened a Washington, DC office on July 13.

In 2021, on ASPI's 20th year of operation, it had announced it was going to open its first international office in Washington.  Last year was also the 70th anniversary of the US-Australia alliance, and the two countries have been working on closer defense and security ties.

Here is more about what ASPI had to say about the new DC office:

ASPI will further strengthen our relationship by becoming a more active participant in the lively Washington DC think tank debate about defence and national security. A feature of the Washington think tank environment is that it houses individuals who have held and will go on to hold senior policy positions in Presidential administrations. The think tanks are often the source of new policy ideas and are designed to be able to experiment, develop and explain policy to promote innovation in Government.

The Washington DC office will operate as a branch and be an integral part of ASPI in Canberra; as such, the business model will mirror ASPI’s which has been successfully developed over twenty years. This has been built on empirically grounded original research, a capacity for policy innovation and an ability to shape real-world policy outcomes. It will operate under the existing ASPI Charter and governance framework, adopting in country compliance practices where applicable.

 

ASPI already has connections with other think tanks in the US.  One example is the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which gave ASPI $9,000 in 2020 for work on a joint Executive Program on International Security.

US-Australia think tank ties have been ramping up recently, with a number of Australian scholars coming to the US and US scholars going to think tanks in Australia.

ASPI has published many reports that are critical of the Chinese government, and the Chinese have even threatened to sue the think tank.

Here is a piece from China's CGTN entitled "Understanding ASPI - the Anti-China 'Think Tank."

Corporations that have funded ASPI include Amazon Web Services Australia, Google Australia, Facebook, Microsoft, and Oracle Corp. Australia.

Recent funders from the defense industry include: BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, Boeing Australia, Lockheed Martin Australia, QinetiQ Australia, Rafael Australia, and Thales Australia.

The US Department of Defense and US Department of State are also major funders of ASPI.  Other governments that have given to the think tank include: Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Think Tankers Involved in New Group to Help Stabilize US-China Relations

A new group has formed to help stabilize the US-China relationship, and several think tankers are involved in its founding.

Founder of the group, Maurice Greenberg, who is chairman of CEO of C.V. Starr & Co. Inc., is a board member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and serves as honorary vice chairman.  The think tank's Maurice R. Greenberg Chair in China Studies was established in 1997.

Dr. John Hamre, President and CEO of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is one of the founding members of the new group.

Ms. Francis Townsend, President of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), is also a founding member.  Townsend is a trustee on the Board of the Atlantic Council, CSIS, and McCain Institute.  She is also on the Board of CFR and is a member of Aspen Strategy Group, a program of the Aspen Institute.

Founding members, Carla Hills and William Cohen are both Counselors and Trustees at CSIS.  And yet another founding member, Kenneth Langone, is a Trustee at CSIS.

Amb. J. Stapleton Roy, another founding member, was a Distinguished Fellow at the Wilson Center's Kissinger Institute on China and the United States from Aug. 2013 to March 2022.

China Report Launch at Quincy Inst. Makes Waves Among China Hawks

Here is more from National Review:

A current State Department official said that it is “dangerous” for Washington to attempt to maintain its military dominance in East Asia as a means of deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan. That official, Rachel Esplin Odell, accused the U.S. of making war with China more likely and instead advocated a cooperative approach to dealing with Beijing on issues such as climate change, during a webinar hosted by her former employer, the controversial Quincy Institute think tank. 

Critics complain that Quincy is soft on the Chinese Communist Party’s malign behavior and generally unsympathetic to human-rights concerns resulting from the Uyghur genocide and the quashing of freedom in Hong Kong.  During her tenure there, Odell led a letter writing campaign to urge that congressional China-focused legislation be watered down.

Although she specified that she was speaking in a personal capacity and not on behalf of the Department [of State] her comments and the new report make for a remarkable public repudiation of long-standing US policy and some tenants of the Biden Administration's own approach.

 

The topic during the above-mentioned July 6 event was a new Quincy Institute (QI) paper entitled "Active Denial: A Roadmap to a More Effective, Stabilizing, and Sustainable US Defense Strategy in Asia," the culmination of a multi-year study by three members of QI's East Asia Program and seven external partners.

The study was spearheaded by Odell, when she was formerly a research fellow at QI.  She has been a foreign affairs analyst at the US State Department since Aug. 2021.

The other authors of the report include:

• Eric Heginbotham, Principal Research Scientist at MIT
• John Culver, a former National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, and retired CIA senior analyst
• Eric Gomez, Director of Defense Policy at the Cato Institute 
• Brian Killough, Major General, U.S. Air Force (ret.); Former Deputy Commander, Pacific Air Forces 
• Steven Kosiak, Budget, former Associate Director for Defense and International Affairs, Office of Management and Budget
•  Jessica Lee, Senior Research Fellow at QI
• Brad Martin, Senior Policy Research at RAND Corporation
• Mike Mochizuki, Professor at George Washington University
• Michale Swaine, Director of the East Asia Program at QI

 

In related QI news, a national security expert announced this week that he has resigned from the think tank over its stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch report on the 2019 founding of QI.

NatSec Expert Resigns From Quincy Institute Over Ukraine

National security expert Joe Cirincione has resigned as a Distinguished Non-Resident Fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft over what he says is the think tank's views on the Russia-Ukraine war.

In a follow-up interview, Cirincione said, “You cannot find a word on the website or in the analysis about the horrors and crimes that Russia is doing. If the US were doing this, there would be a river of posts denouncing that behavior.”

Most think tanks do not have take a single position on an issue, but rather house scholars and experts who generally take similar positions on an issue.  

While there does not appear to be an explicit institutional position on Ukraine that the think tank advocates for on its website, it did sign its name to a March letter to President Joe Biden urging him to "maximize" efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Among other things, the letter calls for a rejection of steps that would lead to a direct clash between Russia and the US and NATO militaries, such as a no-fly zone.  It also says the US should signal its willingness to ease or lift sanctions in exchange for a diplomatic solution that is acceptable to Ukraine.  

It also called for the US to be prepared for direct talks with Russia and be prepared for a range of new security arrangements.

In April, President and Chairman of the Board of the think tank, Andrew Bacevich, wrote a piece entitled "The Ukraine War is Ballooning America's Military Industrial Complex."

In a March 25 piece, several Quincy Institute scholars wrote that a protracted war in Ukraine is highly undesirable, and the US and its allies should try to support the Ukrainian government to achieve a diplomatic settlement.

The report added that the US should not adopt "maximalist" objectives, such as regime change in Moscow or the "complete and decisive" defeat of Russia.  The report also calls for sanctions to build up Ukraine's negotiating leverage.

In June, another Quincy Institute scholar, William Hartung, noted that the US expanding its goal in the conflict from helping Ukraine defend itself to "weakening Russia" is a "dangerous escalation."  Hartung co-wrote a piece in April entitled "How Pentagon Contractors Are Cashing in on the Ukraine Crisis."

In March, Quincy researcher Taylor Giorno wrote a piece entitled "Risk of Weapons Vanishing As Over 20 Countries Send Arms to Russia."  And in May, board member Katrina vanden Heuvel wrote a piece denouncing any type of long proxy war with Russia.

Cirincione previously served more than 12 years as the president of the Ploughshares Fund, a grant-making foundation focused on nuclear nonproliferation and conflict resolution.

He has also previously served as vice president for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress (CAP), as well as director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Cirincione's resignation reminds Think Tank Watch of last year's internal debate within Atlantic Council that spilled out into the open.  That debate also involved US-Russia relations.

Update: Cirincione told Politico that for months he had tried to change the think tank's position, which he argued "cast blame on the US and NATO for a war driven entirely by Russian President Vladimir Putin."

Retired Major Gen. Paul Eaton announced his resignation in June from Quincy Institute's board.

Politico also notes that Quincy CEO Lora Lumpe said that organization regrets Cirincione's decision to resign but that its staff have not argued that Putin does not bear responsibility for the war.

“Joe has made it clear that he disagrees with the priority that our staff experts have put on reaching a diplomatic resolution to end this war; we have heard Joe’s concerns, but believe that any US policy that risks significant escalation, including bringing the United States into the war with a nuclear-armed Russia, should be avoided,” Lumpe said.

Update: Quincy has now publicly responded to Cirincione leaving the think tank. 

And Mother Jones has a new piece on the incident entitled "America's Top Anti-War Think Tank is Fracturing Over Ukraine."

Amy Liu Tapped as Interim President of Brookings to Help Stabilize Think Tank

Ms. Amy Liu, the current Vice President and Director of Brookings Metro and the Adeline M. and Alfred I. Johnson Chair in Urban and Metropolitan Policy, will become Interim President of the Brookings Institution effective July 7.

The announcement comes as the think tank took another major reputational hit after former Brookings president John Allen resigned amid an FBI foreign lobbying probe. 

After Allen's departure, Ted Gayer became the acting president of Brookings, but he is leaving after 13 years to run the Niskanen Center.

Meanwhile, Alan Berube, senior fellow and deputy director of Brookings Metro, will serve as interim vice president and director of Brookings Metro.

In a statement, Brookings said that as interim president, Liu, who has been with the think tank for more than 25 years, will "focus on ensuring organization stability as the search for a permanent president gets underway."

Trump A.G. Bill Barr Joins Hudson Institute

Bill Barr, an Attorney General in the Trump Administration, has joined the Hudson Institute as a distinguished fellow, where he will focus on several policy issues, including violent crime, transnational criminal and drug organizations, international terrorism, separation of powers, and other constitutional principles.

Hudson houses a number of former Trump officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (a distinguished fellow), former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao (a distinguished fellow), and former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster (Japan Chair).

Russia Increasing Pace of Cyberattacks on Think Tanks

Microsoft Corp. has issued a new report saying that Russian intelligence agencies have increased the pace of cyberattacks against countries that have provided aid to Ukraine, and targets include think tanks.

Here is more from Microsoft:

Russian targeting has prioritized governments, especially among NATO members. But the list of targets has also included think tanks, humanitarian organizations, IT companies, and energy and other critical infrastructure suppliers. Since the start of the war, the Russian targeting we’ve identified has been successful 29 percent of the time. A quarter of these successful intrusions has led to confirmed exfiltration of an organization’s data, although as explained in the report, this likely understates the degree of Russian success. 

 

Microsoft notes that Russia, which has been targeting think tanks around the world for years, has mainly been targeting think tanks that advise on foreign policy.

Here is a new piece entitled "Why Think Tanks Are Such Juicy Targets for Cyberspies."

Think Tank Quickies (#446)

• Why Brookings has such a problematic voice on China.
  
• What is the Institute for the Study of War and why does the media trust it?
• Jake Sullivan caught on hot mic at CNAS admitting taxpayers are paying to "upkeep" seized Russian yachts.  Did Sullivan also get COVID at the event?
• Sarah Lee of Capital Research Center: Think tanks are taking millions in foreign donations, and Biden has "no interest in imposing transparency."
  
• GMF's Jonathan Katz organizes letter from experts urging EU candidate status for Ukraine.
• Facebook-funded American Edge backed conservative think tanks to create the appearance of grassroots opposition to antitrust regulation. 
• Video clip: Go inside Meet the Press's exclusive war game with CNAS.
  
• Ilya Shapiro lands at Manhattan Institute in quite the circuitous route.
• Pic: Did Macron promise Zelesnky a think tank?
  

New Bill Compels Think Tanks to Disclose Foreign Donations

Amid reports that former Brookings Institution president John Allen may have illegally lobbied on behalf of Qatar, lawmakers in the US House of Representatives have introduced a new bill requiring think tanks to disclose their foreign donations.

Here is more from the Washington Post:

A House bill introduced Thursday seeks to curb foreign influence in U.S. democracy by imposing a lifetime ban on members of Congress, senior military leaders and senior executive branch officials from lobbying for a foreign government or political party, among other measures.

The legislation would also compel tax-exempt groups, including think tanks, to disclose high-dollar donations and gifts from foreign powers and require political campaigns to verify that donors have a valid U.S. address, using the three-digit CVV code on the back of credit cards.

The legislation addresses issues brought to light more recently by the federal probe into whether retired four-star Marine Gen. John R. Allen, who resigned over the weekend as president of the Brookings Institution, lobbied on Qatar’s behalf without disclosing his activities as required under federal law. And the proposals come amid stepped-up enforcement by the Justice Department of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, including the decision last month to sue Steve Wynn, a developer and Republican megadonor, to compel him to register as an agent of China.

The bill’s sponsors also point to a 2020 study from the D.C.-based Center for International Policy that found that the nation’s premier think tanks received at least $174 million in funding from foreign powers between 2014 and 2018. Among those receiving the most foreign funding, according to the analysis, was Brookings.

 

The lead sponsor of the bill, which is being called the Fighting Foreign Influence Act, is Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME).  Co-sponsors include Reps. Lance Gooden (R-TX), Katie Porter (D-CA), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ).  Among other things, the bill would require a think tank to disclose gifts and donations from foreign powers greater than $50,000 in a given year.

The text of the bill can be found here.  Similar bills have been introduced in Congress in the past but have all stalled.  With limited calendar space amid a midterm election year, it is unlikely this bill will pass either.

As Think Tank Watch previously reported, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) is pushing for an investigation into Brookings.

Update: Here is Politico's angle on the whole Allen/Brookings incident.

Brookings Takes Major Reputational Hit as President John Allen Resigns

The Brookings Institution, already facing years of reputational damage from its funding sources, is facing another huge hit as the think tank's president, John Allen, announced on Sunday that he is resigning amid an FBI foreign lobbying probe. 

Allen's resignation letter can be read here.  The news comes six days after a court filing revealed evidence that Allen had secretly lobbied on behalf of Qatar, a country that has donated millions of dollars to Brookings over the years.

Here is more from the Washington Post:

Allen met with senior Qatari leaders in 2017, when he was a part-time senior fellow at Brookings. According to law enforcement, Allen used his Brookings email address to communicate with Trump administration officials, including Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, who was White House national security adviser at the time.

Allen offered a “false version of events” when describing the nature of his work in Qatar while talking with law enforcement officials in 2020, the FBI said. When subpoenaed by a grand jury, law enforcement officials added, Allen did not produce email messages that were relevant to the case.

 

Ted Gayer remains as acting president of Brookings, although he is scheduled to leave this summer to run the Niskanen Center.  Thus, Brookings will need to find a new president or acting president in the coming weeks.  Allen had been making around $1 million a year as president of the think tank.

The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft notes that Allen's alleged use of Brookings' resources to conduct his work for Qatar "raises questions about Brookings' lucrative relationship with Qatar and the ethical implications of maintaining close ties to a foreign government."

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) is pushing for an investigation into Brookings.

Here is a new Vox explainer about the whole scandal.  It notes that the small changes that Brookings undertook the past few years regarding foreign donors after being called out multiple times in the media are "[accomplishments that] will now likely be lost to this unfolding investigation."

Joe Cirincione, a prolific think tanker, said the Brookings debacle "is just a small part of the general corruption and degrading of DC think tanks."  He added: "Once proud, independent academic institutions, they are now dominated by corporations and government, issuing mediocre reports that serve their interests."

Here is a piece from Eli Clifton and Benjamin Freeman entitled "The Government's Investigation Into a Brookings Ex-President Should Worry Think Tanks."

Jason Matheny Named as New President of RAND Corp.

Here is more from a RAND Corporation press release:

Jason Matheny, an economist, technologist, national security expert, and longtime civil servant, has been named president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit and nonpartisan RAND Corporation, according to Michael Leiter, chair of the RAND Board of Trustees.

Effective July 5, Matheny will become the sixth president and CEO of RAND, a research institution based in Santa Monica, Calif. He succeeds Michael D. Rich, who has led RAND since 2011.

Matheny recently led White House policy on technology and national security at the National Security Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Previously, he was founding director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown University and director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), where he was responsible for developing advanced technologies for the U.S. intelligence community. Before IARPA, he worked for Oxford University, the World Bank, the Applied Physics Laboratory, the Center for Biosecurity, and Princeton University.

 

According to the think tank, Matheny was chosen from nearly 200 potential candidates.

Brookings President Implicated in Secret Lobbying Campaign on Behalf of Qatar

Here is more from the Washington Post:

A former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges in connection with a secret lobbying campaign on behalf of Qatar to influence the Trump White House and Congress in 2017, after implicating a retired four-star American general in the effort.

Richard G. Olson, a 34-year career Foreign Service officer who served as the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2015 until 2016, admitted to lying in ethics paperwork and violating revolving-door laws by lobbying for Qatar within a year of retiring from federal service.

In pre-plea proceedings in federal court in Washington, Olson’s defense counsel said he admitted to the misdemeanor charges — each punishable by up to one year in prison at his sentencing Sept. 13 — and cooperated with federal prosecutors on the understanding that they were also investigating and pursuing criminal charges against retired four-star Marine Gen. John G. Allen. The latter commanded U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan before retiring in 2013. He was tapped in late 2017 as president of Washington’s influential Brookings Institution, to which Qatar agreed in 2013 to donate $14.8 million over four years.

 

Allen reportedly has denied ever working as a Qatari agent and said his efforts on Qatar in 2017 were motivated to prevent a war from breaking out in the Gulf that would put US troops at risk.  Allen has "voluntarily cooperated" with the government's investigation.

Update: It was reported on June 8 that the FBI has seized Allen's data related to Qatar lobbying.

Here is more from the New York Times of Brookings' affiliation with Qatar:

Brookings once had a large campus in Doha. The campus was established years before General Allen became president of the think tank. In September, according to its website, Brookings ended its affiliation with the Doha institute, which is now called the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.

 Allen became president of the think tank in November of 2017. 

Update II: John Allen has been placed on administrative leave, and EVP Ted Gayer is now serving as acting president of Brookings.

Last week it was announced that Gayer is leaving Brookings to head the Niskanen Center, effective August 2022.

What Do Nearly All Think Tank Reports Have in Common?

Can you remember the last meaningful think tank report you've read?  If you answered "no," you're in good company.

Reports have become so prosaic and mundane that Mr. Brian Katulis, a senior fellow and vice president of policy at the Middle East Institute (MEI), recently tweeted the "recipe" for a foreign policy report at a US think tank:

 

Recipe for foreign policy report by U.S. think tank:

• 3 action verbs for title

• 8 basic facts gleaned from news

• 4 vague recs not far from what’s already being done

• 3 recs that can’t actually be done by USG due to capacity

• 1 hearty exhortation on values

— Brian Katulis (@Katulis) June 1, 2022

Katulis, who was formerly a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), added that for extra credit you can a) throw in the word "strategic" or some variation of it, b) add a list of advisors or reviewers, preferably a transpartisan group, and c) organize a panel with a former distinguished official, where the report is "treated like tablets Moses brought down from the mountains."

It often feels as if think tank reports can be generated by an algorithm, and in the future they certainly will be.  Coupled with this think tank name, logo, and mission statement generator, it should be pretty easy running your very own AI-run think tank in the not-too-distant future.

Think Tank Watch can't help but wonder if the future will be filled with an army of liberal, conservative, centrist, and libertarian think tanks fueled by artificial intelligence all competing for your attention.

Heritage Foundation Co-Hosts Retreat With Hill Aides to Plot Biden Probes

Here is more from Politico:

“Top Republican congressional aides huddled this month with conservative think-tank leaders on Maryland's Eastern Shore to hone tactics and messaging for Biden administration probes,” reports Axios’ Lachlan Markay.

— “If the GOP wins control in the midterms, leaders want to kick off high-profile investigations as soon as the new Congress is seated. Republicans plan to draw on investigative power from allies across Washington. The retreat was hosted by the Heritage Foundation, the Conservative Partnership Institute and the American Accountability Foundation, a nonprofit run by Trump administration alumni that's dogged Biden nominees with independent investigative work.”

— “Over two days, congressional aides at the retreat got briefings from prominent conservative activists and organizations on a host of investigative tactics,” while the event itself “provides a glimpse of where Republicans see potentially fruitful oversight avenues.”

 

Over the years, the Heritage Foundation has hosted numerous retreats for congressional conservatives.  For example, it held a retreat for Republican lawmakers at the Salamander Resort and Spa in Virginia in 2015.  It held a similar retreat in Baltimore in 2013.  The think tank has also held retreats in Simi Valley, California, and at the Four Seasons hotel in Philadelphia, among other places.

Brookings EVP to Become President of Niskanen Center

Dr. Ted Gayer, executive vice president of the Brookings Institution and a senior fellow in Economic Studies, will become the next president of the think tank Niskanen Center.

Here is more from a press release: 

The Niskanen Center’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce that it has named Ted Gayer as its new President, effective August 2022.

Gayer has served as executive vice president of the Brookings Institution since 2018, after five years as vice president and director of the Economic Studies program. His background includes extensive experience in academia, government, and public policy organizations. Before joining Brookings in 2009, he was an associate professor of public policy at Georgetown University. From 2007 to 2008, he was deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Department of the Treasury. He has also served as a senior economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.

 

Jerry Taylor, co-founder of Niskanen and former president, resigned last year after being charged with violently attacking his wife. 

Joseph Coon, a co-founder of Niskanen, is currently serving the interim president of the think tank.

Has Heritage Foundation Become a Pacifist Think Tank?

Here is more from the New York Times, in a piece entitled "Why the Once-Hawkish Heritage Foundation Opposed Aid to Ukraine":

Hours before the House voted this month to approve $40 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine, lobbyists affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, the prominent conservative think tank, were privately pressing Republicans to oppose the measure.

For years, the group advocated a hawkish foreign policy, enthusiastically backing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, more recently, criticizing President Barack Obama for “always” seeking “to find the absolute minimum level of military power he can get away with.”

But more recently, its lobbying arm has embraced the anti-interventionist fervor that defined President Donald J. Trump’s foreign policy and has swept the Republican Party.

 

In a tweet, E.J. Fagan, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois, said "I might have read more Heritage Foundation reports than any person who hasn't worked there...It's hard to overstate what a seismic change Heritage becoming pro-Russian is.  They've ditched Ronald Reagan and fully bought into Donald Trump." 

In another tweet, Joseph Collins, Director of the Center for Complex Operations at the National Defense University (NDU), said that "returning to the GOP's isolationist roots, the Heritage Fndtn follows the MAGA mob...Glad to have quit them 2 yrs ago."

Think Tank's Lobbying Arm Helped Coin Term "Ultra-MAGA"

Here is more from the Washington Post:

Biden’s attempt to appropriate the “MAGA” brand as a political attack was hardly accidental. It arose from a six-month research project to find the best way to target Republicans, helmed by Biden adviser Anita Dunn and by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, a liberal group.

The polling and focus group research by Hart Research and the Global Strategy Group found that “MAGA” was already viewed negatively by voters — more negatively than other phrases like “Trump Republicans.”

 

The Center for American Progress Action Found (CAPAF) is the sister lobbying arm of the think tank Center for American Progress (CAP).

Coinbase Launches an In-House Crypto Think Tank

Here is more from The Block:

Crypto exchange Coinbase is launching a new crypto-focused, in-house think tank. 

The think tank will work with academic institutions and other think tanks to conduct research. The first partnership of this kind is with the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center, which conducts surveys for the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Defense.

The first survey in partnership with Coinbase will focus on the "adoption of and sentiments toward crypto" in U.S. households. The think tank will also work with crypto leaders and policymakers, starting with its first project on crypto and the climate.

Launching today is also the first Monthly Insights Report, which focuses on providing real-time analysis of market movements in crypto and traditional finance. 

Named the "Coinbase Institute," the think tank consists of an in-house team led by Hermine Wong and Dr. Cesare Fracassi.

 

Coinbase Institute, which officially launched on May 18, describes itself as a "global crypto-native think tank ground in evidence-based research." 

Its advisory board currently consists of five members: Christian Catalini of MIT, Marco Di Maggio of Harvard, Manju Puri of Duke, Nagpurnanand Prabhala of Johns Hopkins, and Vikramaditya Khanna of the University of Michigan.

In 2021, Coinbase reportedly was the biggest-spending lobbying blockchain company, with expenses over $1.3 million.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post on cryptocurrency think tanks gaining influence in Washington.

Mike Pompeo to Join Hudson Institute's New China Center

Here is more from the Hudson Institute:

Hudson Institute launched its new China Center, which will be dedicated to crafting policy responses to keep America’s strategic focus on China and foster a national and global dialogue rooted in the values of freedom and democracy.

Under the leadership of Hudson Senior Fellow Dr. Miles Yu, who previously served as the senior China policy and planning advisor at the State Department, this policy initiative will bring together leading China experts, policy makers, and national leaders to solidify and extend the non-partisan national consensus on America’s approach to China.

Hudson Distinguished Fellow and former Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo will serve as the chair of the Center’s advisory board.

 

Hudson already has a number of other policy centers, including the Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, the Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, the Center for the Economics of the Internet, the Center for Religious Freedom, and the Center for Substance Abuse Policy Research.  In 2019 Hudson founded a Japan Chair. 

Besides Miles Yu and Michael Pompeo, four others are currently listed as "experts" within the China Center: David Asher, John Lee, Nadia Schadlow, and Nury Turkel.

New AV Startup Leans on Atlantic Council

Here is more from Politico:

Applied Intuition, which specializes in software for autonomous vehicles, is building out its footprint in D.C. 

The company is also set to hold a one-day symposium tomorrow with the Atlantic Council that is expected to draw a number of high-profile guests, including incoming CIA chief technology officer Nand Mulchandani, former Pentagon policy chief Michèle Flournoy, venture capitalist and Applied Intuition investor Marc Andreessen and Rep. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.), who chairs the House Armed Services cyber subcommittee.

Applied Intuition is part of a team led by General Dynamics competing to replace the Army’s M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, and earlier this year was selected for a blanket purchase agreement from the Pentagon’s Joint Artificial Intelligence Center to provide AI and autonomy test and evaluation services.

 

Here is a link to the May 17 symposium, which was entitled Nexus 22.

In related Atlantic Council news, the think tank recently held its annual awards ceremony in Washington, DC, featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, former secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton, and Ukrainian Eurovision winner Jamala.

Update: Politico has some additional reporting about the Atlantic Council's award ceremony: BRAND MANAGEMENT MESS: The Atlantic Council last week awarded Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Italian energy giant Eni, a "distinguished leadership" award at a black-tie gala, for "leading an example-setting effort to wean Italy off Russian gas." Fast-forward a week and Eni, which is 32 percent owned by the Italian state, has opened a second rubles account for Russian gas payments. After the European Commission said Tuesday that opening the account "goes beyond what we said was allowed," the executive’s Economy Commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, an Italian, said the account “does not constitute a violation of sanctions.”

Think Tank Quickies (#445)

• Thomas Wright of Brookings joins the NSC.
• Amanda Howe, most recently a nominee to be an assistant EPA administrator, will be COO at CAP.
  
• Max Bergmann has left CAP to join CSIS as its new director of the Europe program.
• Dr. Sue Mi Terry becomes new Director of the Wilson Center's Asia Program.
• Heather Hurlburt, formerly at New America, will be the chief of staff to USTR Katherine Tai.
  
• Nina Jankowicz, a scholar on disinformation at the Wilson Center, is joining DHS's new Disinformation Governance Board.
• Kevin Whitaker, a former US ambassador to Colombia, is joining Atlantic Council as a nonresident senior fellow.
• Paul Ray is the new director of the Heritage Foundation's Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies.
• Ashley Towshend is joining Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as a senior fellow for Indo-Pacific security.  He's currently the director of foreign policy and defense at the United States Studies Center (USSC) in Sydney, Australia.
  

Biden Team Conducting Hour-Long Phone Meetings on Russia with Think Tanks

Here is more from Politico:

Another sign that the Blob is regrouping comes in the form of the regular hour-long phone meetings on Ukraine and Russia that the Biden administration has been conducting since February with leading Washington think-tanks, including the Brookings Institution, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Atlantic Council, the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), and the German Marshall Fund. The briefers from the administration have included National Security Council official Eric Green and Defense Department official Laura K. Cooper.

What’s the aim of these sessions? According to one participant, it’s possible to ask pointed questions, but “the whole point is to carry water for the administration. They’re buttering up the think-tank community. They want it to defend them publicly. They send follow up emails that reinforce the cycle of affirmation.”

NSC official Amanda Mansour is responsible for email blasts to the participants that contain what is called “notable commentary” relating to Ukraine and Russia that fortifies the administration’s stances. These Washington think-tanks — in particular the Atlantic Council and CEPA — play a role in both influencing administration policy and the public perception of it.

 

The White House often holds private meetings and phone calls with the think tank community on a wide variety of issues, including foreign policy, defense, economics, taxes, labor, and technology.