Heartland Institute Hires "Anti-Greta" to Promote "Climate Realism"

American think tanks often offer positions to scholars from overseas, but now a US think tank has probably set the record for the youngest think tank hire ever.  So far, it also happens to be the most controversial think tank hire of 2020...

Here is more from the Washington Post:

For climate skeptics, it’s hard to compete with the youthful appeal of global phenomenon Greta Thunberg. But one U.S. think tank hopes it’s found an answer: the anti-Greta.

Naomi Seibt is a 19-year-old German who, like Greta, is blond, eloquent and European. But Naomi denounces “climate alarmism,” calls climate consciousness “a despicably anti-human ideology,” and has even deployed Greta’s now famous “How dare you?” line to take on the mainstream German media.

“She’s a fantastic voice for free markets and for climate realism,” said James Taylor, director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center for Climate and Environmental Policy at the Heartland Institute, an influential libertarian think tank in suburban Chicago that has the ear of the Trump administration.

In December, Heartland headlined Naomi at its forum at the UN climate conference in Madrid, where Taylor described her as “the star” of the show. Last month, Heartland hired Naomi as the young face of its campaign to question the scientific consensus that human activity is causing dangerous global warming.

Her path to Heartland began in November with a speech at EIKE, a Munich think tank whose vice president is a prominent AfD politician. By then, Naomi was already active on YouTube, producing videos on topics ranging from migration to feminism to climate change. In the audience was Heartland’s Taylor. He said he immediately recognized her potential and approached her about working with Heartland.

Here is more from Think Tank Watch about the Heartland Institute, which has been extremely influential within the Trump Administration.

Think Tank Quickies (#371)

• What makes a good (or bad) DC policy event?
• Think tanks face two challenges: Growing distrust of experts and the rise of China. 
• Chinese Embassy hires BLJ International to target US think tanks.
• ProPublica: A think tank that pushes the big Trump tax break accused of omissions.
• US think tanks play major role in South Korea arms acquisitions. 
• Experts from four think tanks share what to expect from the global economy in 2020.
• RAND Corp. trustee Paul Volcker dies.
• A "bogus" police think tank?
• Pic: DC think tanks now establishing colonial outposts in Southern Indian strip malls.
• Pic: Wonky lunch sign spotted at AEI.

Think Tanker Becomes Queen of the Antitrust Movement

Here is more from the New York Times:

Ms. [Sarah] Miller has been central in making the issue prominent. From her onetime seat as the deputy director of the Open Markets Institute, a research and advocacy group focused on antitrust, she spent three years as a thorn in Silicon Valley’s side, guiding a coalition of liberal groups that demanded federal officials break up Facebook.

Now there’s opportunity to ratchet up the pressure on policymakers even more, Ms. Miller said. So she left Open Markets at the beginning of this year to lead the American Economic Liberties Project, a new organization dedicated to pushing government to confront corporate concentration.

The organization is aiming to spend $3 million in its first year, funded by philanthropic organizations including the Omidyar Network, linked to eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.

Her political education began before the crisis, on Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. After Mrs. Clinton dropped out of the race, Ms. Miller was hired by John Podesta, the Democratic power broker who was leading the Center for American Progress, one of Washington’s most influential progressive groups.

There, she met her eventual husband, Faiz Shakir, who was running the organization’s blog, ThinkProgress. Mr. Podesta officiated at their wedding. Mr. Shakir now manages the Democratic presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Here is a link to the American Economic Liberties Project, which is currently hiring a director of government relations as well as a communications/program associate.  The new entity says it does not receive any corporate funding (although it appears to do so indirectly).

Atlantic Council Scholar Targeting Russian Bots & Disinformation

The New York Times recently wrote a piece on Ben Nimmo, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab).  Here are some teasers:

In August 2017, Ben Nimmo was declared dead by 13,000 Russian bots on Twitter.
“Our beloved friend and colleague Ben Nimmo passed away this morning,” read the epitaph, which was manipulated to look as if it were from a co-worker’s Twitter account. “Ben, we will never forget you.”

The message was immediately shared thousands of times by the network of automated accounts. Notes began pouring in from worried friends and colleagues — even though Mr. Nimmo was very much alive.

It didn’t take long for Mr. Nimmo, who helped pioneer investigations into online disinformation, to figure out what was going on: He had been targeted by a shadowy group after reporting, along with others, that American far-right groups had adopted pro-Kremlin messages on social media about Ukraine. His fake death notice was a sinister attempt at disinformation, which is the spreading of falsehoods with the deliberate intent to mislead.

For the last five years, Mr. Nimmo, a founder of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, has been a leader of a small but growing community of online sleuths. 

Here is a link to DFRLab, which says on its "Digital Sherlocks" page that it is "building the world's leading hub of digital forensic analysts tracking events in governance, technology, security, and where each intersect as they occur."

Nikki Haley Hires Chief of Heritage Foundation's Lobbying Arm

Here is more from Philip Wegmann at Real Clear Politics:

If personnel is indeed policy, as the Heritage Foundation likes to argue, an imminent staffing change at the think tank could have significant repercussions for the conservative movement and the future of Republican presidential politics.

As RealClearPolitics first reported, Tim Chapman, the executive director of Heritage Action, will soon join the team of Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a possible contender for the presidency post-Trump.

Chapman will serve as executive director of Stand for America, Haley’s conservative policy group. Details remain unknown, as Heritage, Heritage Action, and Stand for America did not return requests for comment.

Since its founding in 2010, Heritage Action has served as the lobbying arm of Heritage, pushing lawmakers to embrace their vision of conservative policy. Chapman was there since the beginning, marshalling a grassroots army from across the country to lobby Congress.

Here is more from Heritage's Daily Signal.

Think Tank Quickies (#370)

• World Bank official attacks CGD staffer at event.
• Pic: Defense Secretary Mark Esper meets think tank officials.
• Thinking foreign policy in Russia: think tanks and grand narratives.
• Heritage Foundation president invites Kanye West to her think tank.
• Still missing: The woman wonks.
• Orville Schell and Larry Diamond: China infiltrating think tanks.
• Samantha Power interned at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
• Pic: Denmark partners with Hudson Institute.
• Think Tank Diplomacy, via AIIA. 
• Founded by Chinese publishing entrepreneur: US-China New Perspectives Foundation (UCNPF).

Koch Giving $10 Million in New Grants to Several Think Tanks

Here is more from Politico:

Libertarian business tycoon Charles Koch is handing out $10 million in new grants to promote voices of military restraint at American think tanks, part of a growing effort by Koch to change the U.S. foreign policy conversation.

The grants, details of which were shared exclusively with POLITICO, are being split among four institutions: the Atlantic Council; the Center for the National Interest; the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; and the RAND Corporation.

Each institution is using the funds in different ways. But, broadly speaking, the money will pay for scholarly positions and activities that explore various aspects of U.S. foreign policy, with a focus on testing widely held assumptions about the use of U.S. military force.

Around $4.5 million will go to the Atlantic Council, which will use it to establish what it is calling the New American Engagement Initiative. The grant will support five scholars and activities related in part to how the U.S. balances its use of diplomacy, international alliances and the military. 

RAND is receiving $2.9 million over five years to support a new center focused on the concept of grand strategy. The initiative, called the Center for Analysis of U.S. Grand Strategy, will be led by scholar Miranda Priebe.

Koch, who helped co-found the libertarian Cato Institute, recently helped fund the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a new anti-war think tank based in Washington, DC.

New Conservative Think Tank Opens Shop in DC

Here is more from the Washington Post:

Oren Cass believes conservatives have blundered by outsourcing GOP economic policymaking to libertarian “fundamentalists” who see the free market as an end unto itself, rather than as a means for improving quality of life to strengthen families and communities. The former domestic policy director on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign quit his job as a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute to launch a new group called American Compass that aims to reorient the right. He previewed their plans in an exclusive interview on Monday afternoon.

Joining him on the board of directors will be Sen. Marco Rubio’s chief of staff Mike Needham, the former chief executive of Heritage Action for America; Julius Krein, the editor of American Affairs, a quarterly political journal; and David Azerrad, a Hillsdale College professor who was formerly a fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Wells King will be the research director. Until last week, the former McKinsey consultant was a policy adviser to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on the Joint Economic Committee.

Here is more from Oren Cass, who is the executive director on the new think tank.

Here is what Brad Polumbo of the Washington Examiner had to say about the new think tank.

Here is what the National Review says.

Chinese Think Tank Monitoring US Governors, Says Pompeo

Here is more from Politico:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a stark message for the governors gathered in Washington this weekend: The Chinese government is watching them, and other state government officials, more closely than they think.

Pompeo told some 44 governors at the National Governors Association winter meeting that they are being individually analyzed by at least one Chinese government-backed think-tank on how malleable they are, and how prone to cooperate with China. And he warned governors to be cautious on everything from business deals to pension funds to the D.C. metro system.

“They’ve labeled each of you friendly, hardline or ambiguous,” he said, describing a report put out by the think tank last year. “I’ll let you decide where you think you belong. Someone in China already has. Many of you indeed, in the report are referenced by name.”

The Chinese think tank that rated the governors was not named by Pompeo.

Update: Axios has just written a piece on how the Beijing-based policy shop, D&C Think Tank, has rated all the governors (report here).

Think Tank Quickies (#369)

• Judge rules against think tanker at CGD who lost her job over transgender tweets.
• Men praise their own research more than women.
• Washington think tanks: Legalized corruption and the exercise of power.
• Bruegel to host event on Jan. 30 on the future of think tanks and policy advice.
• Dr. Alina Polyakova named President and CEO of CEPA.
• France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs helping French think tanks. 
• French researchers from SciencesPo Center for International Studies held by Iran.
• "Wes Anderson should make a movie about China experts and think tanks."
• Calls for think tanks to boycott Qatar.
• Game to name US and UK think tanks.

New Study: Explosion of Foreign Funding at US Think Tanks

Foreign governments have given the top 50 US think tanks more than $174 million from 2014-2018, according to a new report by the Center for International Policy's (CIP) Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative (FITI).

The nearly 900 different donations to those 50 think tanks came from more than 80 different countries and international institutions.

According to the report, the top recipient of foreign funding was the World Resources Institute (WRI), with an eye-popping $63 million.  WRI was followed by the Center for Global Development (CGD), which received $37,580,000.  Next was the Brookings Institution, which received $27,350,000.

Here are the top 15 recipients of foreign funding:

1. WRI: $63,000,000
2. CGD: $37,580,000
3. Brookings: $27,350,000
4. Atlantic Council: $12,192,000
5. Aspen Institute: $8,418,574
6. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: $$7,025,000
7. German Marshall Fund: $6,249,998
8. New America: $2,804,058
9. Center for American Progress (CAP): $2,490,000
10. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS): $1,930,000 
11. Urban Institute: $1,060,000
12. Hudson Institute: $870,000
13. Center for Climate and Energy Solutions: $806,000
14. Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE): $725,000
15. Chicago Council on Global Affairs: $624,177

Here are the top 15 donor countries/institutions to US think tanks:

1. Norway: $27,681,856
2. United Kingdom: $27,123,775
3. United Arab Emirates: $15,406,016
4. Germany: $12,250,999
5. Sweden: $9,313,999
6. Australia: $9,231,000
7. The Netherlands: $9,200,050
8. Qatar: $8,500,600
9. Canada: $6,712,250
10. Denmark: $5,543,000
11. Japan: $4,856,774
12. United Nations: $4,720,500
13. World Bank: $3,485,700
14. Switzerland: $3,395,500
15. Taiwan: $3,250,000

Interestingly, it appears that many think tankers do not even know the funders of their own think tanks.

Think Tank Watch should note that many colleges and universities also receive significant amounts of funding from foreign governments and international institutions.  George Washington University, for example, has received $80 million in funding from foreign governments in recent years.

And the Wall Street Journal has just reported that the US Department of Education has opened an investigation into Harvard and Yale as part of a continuing review that it says has found US universities failed to report at least $6.5 billion in foreign funding.

Update: Here is what Dan Drezner of Tufts University thinks about FITI's new report.

Think Tank CAP to Create Foreign Policy "Master Plan" for 2021

Democratic think tanks are pulling out their pens and papers as they furiously try to write game plans for a possible Democratic president should Republican Donald Trump lose the 2020 election.

Here is more from Axios:

The Center for American Progress tomorrow (Jan. 14) will convene prominent Obama administration alumni to create a foreign-policy "master plan" for what they hope will be an incoming Democratic president in 2021.  CAP says the conference will feature Ambassador Samantha Power, Ambassador Susan Rice, Denis McDonough, Michèle Flournoy, Avril Haines, Jake Sullivan and more.

Democratic think tanks have largely been sidelined during the Trump presidency, and many scholars from the Obama era and Clinton era are housed within those policy shops.

Update: Here is a list of 11 advisers, including think tankers, shaping candidates' climate policies.

Think Tank Quickies (#368)

• The American Conservative (TAC) holds panel entitled "Think Tank Town: The Swampy Ecosystem Supporting Status Quo."
• Gender gaps at think tanks.
• Pic: Not sure why we need think tanks.
• How China cultivates Europe's policy think tanks.
• Pic: RAND Corp. releases 2020 calendar.
• Claremont Institute recognized by White House.
• Think tanks being challenged in many countries with fake news and alternative facts.
• OxyContin's delayed the reckoning for their role in the opioid crisis by funding think tanks.
• Bloomberg Law: Facebook, Google funding think tanks to shape federal policy debate.

Sen. Tom Cotton Attacks New Anti-War Think Tank

Here is more from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency:

Sen. Tom Cotton accused the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a new think tank funded by the billionaires George Soros and Charles Koch, of fostering anti-Semitism in speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday.

Cotton, R-Ark., referred to anti-Semitism as an “ancient hatred” and referenced recent attacks against Jews in Brooklyn and Monsey.

“[Anti-Semitism] festers in Washington think tanks like the Quincy Institute, an isolationist blame America first money pit for so-called ‘scholars’ who’ve written that American foreign policy could be fixed if only it were rid of the malign influence of Jewish money,” he said in remarks quoted prior to the speech by Jewish Insider.

The institute’s list of affiliated experts includes some figures who have at times been accused by mainstream Jewish groups of crossing from political commentary on Israel into anti-Semitism, such as political scientist John Mearsheimer, author of “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.” No evidence ties any of the experts affiliated with Quincy to the recent rise in anti-Semitic attacks.

More about the Quincy Institute can be found here.

North Korean Hackers Target Think Tanks

Here is more from Reuters:

Microsoft Corp said on Monday it has taken control of web domains which were used by a hacking group called “Thallium” to steal information.

Thallium is believed to be operating from North Korea, Microsoft said in a blog post, and the hackers targeted government employees, think tanks, university staff members and individuals working on nuclear proliferation issues, among others.

Most of the targets were based in the United States, as well as Japan and South Korea, the company said.

North Korea has been hacking into think tanks around the world for years.  Here is an example from 2013.  Another of other countries have also been accused of hacking into think tanks, including China and Russia.

Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Sharply Criticizes Heritage Foundation

Here is more from The Hill:

The conservative Heritage Foundation pushed back on Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Saturday after he sharply criticized the organization during a segment on tech policy.

Carlson blasted the foundation and other groups during his show Friday night, arguing that Beltway conservative organizations have "colluded with big tech to shield left-wing monopolies from any oversight."

In specifically going after Heritage, where Carlson used to work, the host asserted, "As an organization, Heritage no longer represents the interests of conservatives, at least on the question of tech."

In response to Carlson, Heritage issued a statement saying that the Fox News host "made several false, outrageous, and unfounded accusations" against the think tank.

Here is the Washington Examiner's reporting on the incident.  Newsweek says that the rebuke of Heritage drew more than three million viewers.

Wikipedia notes that Carlson began his journalism career as a fact-checker for Policy Review, a national conservative journal then published by the Heritage Foundation and eventually acquired by the Hoover Institution.  Its final issue date was in 2013.

Update: Heritage Foundation President Kay Coles James received criticism from Carlson in early June 2020, saying that she wrote a "long screed denouncing America as an irredeemably racist nation" in her response to George Floyd's death.

Heritage Foundation's VP of Communications, Rob Bluey, defended her, and noted that Carlson took $25,000 from Heritage two years ago and praised the think tank.  [This is likely referring to the Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship that he won from Heritage in 2018.]

Think Tank Quickies (#367)

• A mealtime guide to DC think tanks.
• The think tank dedicated to keeping the US in Syria.
• Large police presence at Heritage Foundation for Andy Ngo speech.
• Roosevelt Institute at Cornell University joins UK student think tank to tackle global issues.
• CGTN think tank launches in Beijing.
• Florida State University now home to one of the US's only student-run think tanks.
• Economic Innovation Groups spars with ProPublica over Opportunity Zones.
• What is a think tank? A French perspective.
• Huge pro-India fake news network includes Canadian sites, links to Canadian think tanks.
• "DC think tank report or Bachelor's-level international relations paper" is a fun game to play.
• Tip for people designing webpages for think tanks (hint: make it simple!).

Liberty University Launches Its Own Think Tank

Here is more from The News & Advance:

Liberty University has added a new institution to its ever-expanding campus: a think tank.

The school announced Saturday the launch of the Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty, which aims to shape government policies, national institutions and American culture around Judeo-Christian principles.

The center is the brainchild of Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. and Charlie Kirk, the founder and executive director of Turning Point USA, a conservative youth organization with close ties to U.S. President Donald Trump.

The nonprofit Falkirk Center, which is named after its co-founders, will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty University and will be based in Lynchburg. The center is funded by the university, which boasts an endowment of nearly $1.5 billion, according to a financial audit released by the school. A director has not yet been named.

Erika Lane Frantzve, a former Miss Arizona USA winner; Josh Allen Murray, a former contestant on “The Bachelorette;” Antonia Okafor Cover, the spokesperson for Gun Owners of America; David J. Harris Jr., a conservative author; and Jaco Booyens, a conservative filmmaker, have all been named as the center’s first fellows.

In addition to the fellows, more than 60 “ambassadors” have joined the project to educate high school and college-age students about the “inseparable intersection of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and American first freedoms and liberties” through social media, Kirk said in an interview Tuesday.

A number of think tanks in the US are housed within colleges and universities, although only a handful advocate for policies from a conservative religious position.

Think Tank Quickies (#366)

• Spotted at the Hudson Institute's annual Herman Kahn Award dinner: Rupert Murdoch, Jerry Hall, Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle, Chris Wallace, and many others.
• Heather Nauert is joining the Hudson Institute as a senior fellow focusing on foreign policy.
• 133 foreign policy officials, including think tankers, endorse Joe Biden.
• More than 650 Clinton campaign and administration alum came together at their 4th reunion at USIP.
• Nearly 200 FBI investigations into stolen research by Chinese underway at major academic centers in US.
• Meet a think tank: The Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS).
• Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS): A think tank focused on public policy advocacy for Baltimore's black residents. 
• Joseph Overton created his legacy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy: the "Overton Window."
• Gustav Gressel at ECFR published a report on how Germany ignored the interests of its EU neighbors and Ukraine to force through the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline deal with Russia.  Within hours, Miguel Berger at the German foreign ministry took to Twitter demanding an apology. 
• Will Tanner, director of the center-right Onward think tank, made a contribution to the British political lexicon: "Workington Man."

Think Tank Scholar Being Sued by Huawei

Here is more from Bloomberg:

Huawei Technologies Co. is suing critics in France who alleged it has ties to the Chinese state.

In an unprecedented move, the technology giant filed three defamation claims in Paris over comments made during television programs by a French researcher, a broadcast journalist and a telecommunications sector expert.

Valerie Niquet, a researcher at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research that specializes in China and Japan, is a regular guest on French radio and television. Huawei filed the lawsuit after her comments in two television programs in February in which she said the company had ties to the state.

Niquet was informed of the claims in September and then in November when the police reached out to her to confirm her comments, according to copies of the authorities’ emails seen by Bloomberg.

This is the first case that Think Tank Watch is aware of where a think tanker has been sued by a corporation for commentary.

A think tank teamed up with a scholar recently found that around 100 Huawei employees had education or work experience linked to Chinese military or intelligence agencies.

Last year, it was reported that Huawei paid the Brookings Institution to write favorable reports.

Think Tank FDD Starts Sister Lobbying Arm

Here is more from Politico:

Tyler Stapleton, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ deputy director of congressional relations, has registered to lobby through FDD Action. It’s the first time the think tank has had a registered lobbyist. Stapleton will lobby on a variety of bills involving Turkey and Iran — of which the think tank has been sharply critical — and Israel, which the think tank has defended.

Here is more on the announcement from Al-Monitor.

Iran recently sanctioned FDD, a think tank that may have contributed to the destruction of the Iran nuclear deal.

A number of other Washington think tanks have sister lobbying arms, including the conservative Heritage Foundation and the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP).

Here is a Think Tank Watch piece on a new strategy that lobbyists have on increasing their outreach to think tanks in 2020.

New 2020 Lobbying Strategy: Deeper Outreach to Think Tanks

Here is more from Roll Call:

It’s hard to imagine a more bonkers, unpredictable and politically toxic backdrop for K Street operators than the current one. But just wait until 2020 actually arrives. 

The presidential election year will hit lobbyists with potential risks all around. Candidates up and down the ballot will press proposals to remake the influence industry and to overhaul the nation’s campaign finance system. More candidates will reject K Street and business donations. The approaching elections, along with an expected impeachment trial early on, will turn Capitol Hill into an even bigger political mess.

Still, lobbyists say they have no plans to zip up their campaign checkbooks, hide under their desks or decamp from the capital.

Instead, they’re brewing alternative strategies, workarounds that include deeper outreach to think tanks, academia and other institutions that can lend policy gravitas to shape major discussions over health care, immigration, trade, taxes and other matters that will feature prominently on the campaign trail and beyond.

Lobbyists and lobbying firms have ramped up outreach to think tanks over the years, making thousands of contacts at Washington, DC-area think tanks large and small each year.  In turn, think tanks often lobby the executive and legislative branches.

Foreign governments have also been hiring lobbying firms for help with outreach to think tanks.

New White Paper: Russia's Use of Pseudo-Think Tanks

The Stanford Internet Observatory has just published a new white paper on the online operations of the GRU, the main military foreign-intelligence service of Russia, highlighting pseudo-think tanks and personas.

Here is a clip from the report:

The GRU narrative strategy also involved the creation of think tanks and “alternative news” sites to serve as initial content drops, from which the content was syndicated or republished on other sites. These think tanks and media sites relied on personas —fake online identities that persist over time, or across multiple platforms, and attempt to create a perception that the person behind the identity is real—who served as both bylined authors for the GRU’s own fabricated media properties and “freelancers” who could inject the narrative into other publications under the guise of contributing authors. The content-creator personas served as both authors and amplifiers, often cross-promoting each other’s articles. In addition, we found a network of highly suspicious, likely fabricated accounts who were involved in the distribution of the content on other social platforms, including Twitter and Reddit.

Here is a recent Think Tank Watch post about a new think tank helping Russia gain influence in Africa.

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch piece on the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS), a think tank that has been accused of trying to sway the 2016 US presidential election.

Here is a piece on deepfake think tank scholars.

Think Tank Quickies (#365)

• Why we should stop treating peer review as the gold standard of research.
• More scientific papers should be retracted; prank jabs at academic papers; broken system lets doctors omit industry ties in journals.
• Kiron Skinner, who recently took leave as a researcher at the Hoover Institution to serve in the Trump Administration, forced out as State Department's director of policy planning.
• Can you publish virtually anything in scientific journals? Predatory publisher fined $50 million. 
• Let policy wonks proliferate: Xi Jinping is encouraging a boom in "independent" Chinese think tanks.
• North Korea Strategy Center (NKSC): a Seoul-based think tank founded by a North Korean defector.
• DC bucket lists overflow with think tank desires?
• Brookings scholars Carol O'Cleireacain and Alice Rivlin had pushed for DC population growth.
• Wealthy businessmen such as textile magnate Roger Milliken funded anti-globalization studies and think tanks; former Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca funded Clyde Prestowitz's Economic Strategy Institute.

"Gold-Spoon" Favoritism and South Korean Think Tanks

Here is more from the New York Times:

In South Korea, white-collar workers’ salaries and job titles in their 60s can often be predicted by which university they attended. The jostling for position starts in kindergarten, with some rich parents spending thousands of dollars a month on private tutoring to help their children secure spots in elite prep schools and top universities.

Well-connected families often resort to dubious tactics to get their children into the best universities, such as helping them land coveted internships at big corporations, research think tanks and university labs, which offer opportunities to get credit on research papers.

The Education Ministry’s audits of universities since 2017 have uncovered 794 research papers where middle school or high school students were listed as co-authors, including at least 11 where professors named their own children as co-authors. When economists from Seoul National University compared two boroughs of Seoul in 2014, they found that children from the wealthier borough were 20 times more likely to enter the university, the country’s most coveted, than children from the other.

According to the University of Pennsylvania, there are 60 think tanks in South Korea.  According to UPenn, the country's top-ranked think tank is Korea Development Institute (KDI), ranked 20th in the world.

World Bank Worked With Chinese Think Tank on Policy Blueprint

Here is more from the Economist:

In a new report the World Bank has made its own contribution to Chinese numerology, introducing the “three Ds”. These, it says, refer to what China must do to become more productive and innovative: remove economic distortions, diffuse technology and foster discovery.

The World Bank has more experience than most in this, having loaned cash (more than $60bn) and expertise to China over nearly four decades. Its report, “Innovative China”, published on September 17th, reflects a slightly different approach. It is the third time since 2012 that it has jointly written a policy blueprint with the Development Research Centre, a think-tank under the State Council. It is, in theory, a way to put recommendations into the prime minister’s hands, and perhaps into the next five-year plan.

This report came with more controversy than the previous two.  In March the Washington Post reported that it had been ready for a year, but that Chinese authorities had blocked its release because they objected to some of its contents, notably a section on reforming state-owned enterprises.

Here is a link to the above-mentioned Washington Post story, and here is a link to the new report jointly written by the World Bank and China's Development Research Center (DRC).

New Think Tank Helping Russia Gain Influence in Africa

Here is more from the New York Times:

Mr. [Jose] Matemulane runs a think tank called Afric, which describes itself on its website as “funded by donors with a common passion to foster Africa’s development,” without mentioning Russia. In an interview, though, Mr. Matemulane said the group was launched last year with support from a St. Petersburg businessman he declined to name.

Afric received prominent billing at a summit for dozens of African leaders hosted by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at the Black Sea resort of Sochi last week, and announced it would partner with a Russian propaganda specialist who had previously focused on the United States.

It also drew the notice of Mamadou Koulibaly, a candidate for president of Ivory Coast in elections next year.

“I will ask them if they can introduce me to people with money who will help me,” Mr. Koulibaly said of Afric. “This is important. A campaign needs money.”

Afric — an acronym for Association for Free Research and International Cooperation — is building ties with African politicians and commentators while publishing articles that extol the benefits of cooperating with Russia. It has also invested heavily in election monitoring missions that mirror Russia’s approach in its own elections: bringing in sympathetic foreigners who praise the votes’ fairness and transparency, even as established Western organizations criticize them.

The article goes on to note that investigative journalists have reported that Afric is funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was indicted by the US for running the "troll farm" that sought to sway the 2016 US presidential election.  Afric employees deny any connection.

In July, a Russian think tank with links to an infamous troll farm said two of its employees were detained in Libya.

Here is a 2017 report on Russian think tanks and soft power from the Swedish Defense Research Agency.

Think Tank Quickies (#364)

• Mike Pence delivers major China speech at Wilson Center's inaugural Frederic M. Malek Public Service Leadership Lecture; SecState Mike Pompeo slams China at Hudson speech.
• Atlantic Council's Global 2035 report featured in top spot on Axios AM; says era of American dominance is "definitely over."
• MapLight: Facebook, Google, and Amazon pour money into think tanks.
• Economic Innovation Group: A Washington think tank that studies regional inequality and pushes for policies that combat it. 
• Video: Lee Fang asks Heartland Institute president about past smoking claims. 
• Working at a think tank to relax: "Jonathan Wong worked 80-hour weeks in management consulting...it was hard to take a break so he moved to a job at the RAND Corp. and took a 30 percent pay cut."
• New Consensus: A think tank with ties to progressive lawmakers.
• Newish think tank: Washington Institute for Business, Government and Society.  Its founder/CEO is James Moore Jr., a former assistant secretary of Commerce.  It has partnerships with BDO, Oxford Analytica, Wall Street Journal's CEO Council, and WP Live, among others.
• Perks at R Street Institute: unlimited PTO, can work from wherever they need, $1,200/yr. for wellness, $3,000/yr. for student loan repayments, $400 towards a new phone, and $40/mo. toward cell phone service.
• Colorado's think tanks put ideas into action.

Think Tank CEI Lobbying to Weaken Dishwasher Regulations

Who knew that think tanks have become dishwasher lobbyists?

Here is more from the New York Times:

The Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, a group that disputes that climate change is a problem, has promoted the effort to roll back dishwasher regulations, filing a petition that directly prompted the dishwasher review. As a nonprofit organization, the Competitive Enterprise Institute isn’t required to disclose its donors, though a recent gala organized by the institute showed that the institute counts among its donors groups that have long been aligned with fossil fuel interests.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) has deep ties to the Trump Administration and has been extremely influential the past couple of years in helping roll back various US regulations.

Here is a recent Think Tank Watch post about Google defending its funding of the think tank. Here is more about CEI's donors.

Paul Ryan Launches New Think Tank

Here is more from The Hill:

Former Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Monday launched a nonprofit organization that will focus on his legislative priorities during his two decades in Congress: fighting poverty, boosting economic opportunity and promoting “evidence-based” reforms on issues like welfare, foster care and criminal justice.

The American Idea Foundation, which will have offices in his hometown of Janesville, Wis., will partner with community organizations, academics and lawmakers. Ryan will serve as president of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

Here is a link to the American Idea Foundation website.

Roll Call notes that Ryan has funded his new think tank largely through his political action committee (PAC).

The Washington Examiner notes that the think tank plans to partner with other think tanks to address poverty, drug addiction, education, upward mobility, and other reforms Ryan worked on in Washington.

In September, Ryan joined the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow.