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The business model of the think tanks is to sell political influence:<\/p>\n\n\n\nKey take aways <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The business model of the think tanks is to sell political influence:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
– Buy the “experts” who produce the information for political decision-makers and the media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The think tanks are also a waiting room for officials who are waiting to get back into office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington\u2019s think-tank industry, which sets the terms of debate for so much of American policymaking, is floating on a sea of foreign-government and Pentagon-contractor dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s the conclusion of a brand-new report [see attached file] out this morning and shared with me by a pair of scholars at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think tank that officially eschews foreign-government money \u2014 and delights in tweaking the Beltway foreign-affairs establishment\u00b2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the paper says that the top 50 think tanks took in some $110 million over the past five years from foreign governments and related entities, including nearly $17 million from the United Arab Emirates, the largest single foreign donor. Leading Pentagon contractors, meanwhile, kicked in nearly $35 million over the same period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Atlantic Council and the Brookings Institution topped the list of foreign-government beneficiaries, taking in nearly $21 million and over $17 million, respectively. All in all, 54 different governments contributed to the industry, a list largely made up of pro-western democracies but also including fantastically wealthy authoritarian regimes like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[the report makes clear that the numbers it cites may only be partial]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
[More than a third of the top foreign policy think tanks in the US don\u2019t disclose any donor information,\u201d said Freeman. The category encompasses 18 of the 50 biggest think tanks, including highly-regarded Beltway stalwarts like the American Enterprise Institute or the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. \u201cWe really have no clue whatsoever who is funding them. We call these organizations dark money think tanks.\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Freeman and Cleveland-Stout, the typical think tank in 2024 looks a lot more like an advocacy group than a university.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. By Michael Schaffer<\/p>\n\n\n\n 03\/01\/2025 05:00 AM<\/strong> EST <\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Schaffer is a senior editor and columnist at POLITICO Magazine. He has covered national and local politics for over 20 years and spent seven years as editor-in-chief of the Washingtonian. His Capital City column chronicles the inside conversations and big trends shaping Washington politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. About the Authors<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ben Freeman is director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy<\/p>\n\n\n\n Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He investigates money in politics, defense<\/p>\n\n\n\n spending, and foreign influence in America. He is the author of The Foreign Policy<\/p>\n\n\n\n Auction, which was the first book to systematically analyze the foreign influence<\/p>\n\n\n\n industry in the United States. Before joining the Quincy Institute, Ben founded the<\/p>\n\n\n\n Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, served as<\/p>\n\n\n\n deputy director of the National Security program at Third Way, and was a National<\/p>\n\n\n\n Security Fellow at the Project On Government Oversight. At the latter, he spearheaded<\/p>\n\n\n\n creation of the \u201cForeign Influence Database,\u201d a repository of propaganda distributed by<\/p>\n\n\n\n foreign agents that was previously unavailable online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ben earned a PhD from Texas A&M University, where he taught in the Department of<\/p>\n\n\n\n Political Science at the Bush School of Government and Public Service. He is currently a<\/p>\n\n\n\n faculty member at the Institute for Defense and Business, where he teaches seminars<\/p>\n\n\n\n on the defense budget process and the foreign influence industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His work has appeared in numerous media outlets, including The New York Times, The<\/p>\n\n\n\n Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Politico. Ben has<\/p>\n\n\n\n appeared on CNN, BBC, NPR, Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and numerous other media<\/p>\n\n\n\n outlets. He has also testified before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nick Cleveland-Stout is a junior research fellow in the Democratizing Foreign Policy<\/p>\n\n\n\n program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Previously, he conducted<\/p>\n\n\n\n research on U.S.\u2013Brazil relations as a 2023 Fulbright Fellow at the Federal University of<\/p>\n\n\n\n Santa Catarina, with a particular focus on the influence of American think tanks in<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brazil. Nick is also a former Marcellus Policy Fellow with the John Quincy Adams<\/p>\n\n\n\n Society, where he authored \u201cThe Case for a \u2018Green BRAC.\u2019\u201d His work has appeared in<\/p>\n\n\n\n Responsible Statecraft, The Nation, The Intercept, The Brazilian Report, Inkstick, <\/p>\n\n\n\n Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks at the Brookings Institution in March 2016. The Atlantic Council and the Brookings Institution topped the list of foreign-government beneficiaries, taking in nearly $21 million and over $17 million, respectively. | Drew Angerer\/Getty Images <\/p>\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2025\/01\/03\/foreign-money-think-tanks-00196252\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n____________<\/p>\n\n\n\n