https://sputnikglobe.com/20230516/biden-quietly-ends-trump-era-policy-blocking-foreign-gov-funding-of-us-think-tanks-1110408708.html
Biden Quietly Ends Trump-Era Policy Blocking Foreign Gov Funding of US Think Tanks
Biden Quietly Ends Trump-Era Policy Blocking Foreign Gov Funding of US Think Tanks
Sputnik International
The State Department under the Biden Administration has reversed a Trump-era policy that required think tanks to disclose foreign contributions.
2023-05-16T23:59+0000
2023-05-16T23:59+0000
2023-05-17T01:00+0000
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The change, first reported on by Casey Michel in The New Republic, has been ignored by US mainstream media, despite it opening the US government to clandestine foreign influence campaigns from nations, including dictatorial and sometimes adversarial countries.Think tanks play an influential role in American politics, particularly regarding foreign policy. When the Mike Pompeo-run State Department clamped down on the funds in 2020, he specifically called out their role in foreign policy as justification for the rule. “The unique role of think tanks in the conduct of foreign affairs makes transparency regarding foreign funding more important than ever,” he said.Unlike foreign lobbyists, think tank members are not subject to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which makes them an attractive target for foreign entities that intend to influence US policy without exposure.The Trump-era rule brought a small amount of clarity to the shadowy world of think tanks, but without explanation or announcement, the State Department under Antony Blinken has rescinded the policy, once again allowing foreign entities to fund powerful think tanks in the United States without a modicum of transparency.“What we are seeing is this lack of transparency allows for dark money from some of the governments that might not want to be exposed for what they are doing and why they are funding,” independent investigative journalist Christopher Helali told Radio Sputnik’s Political Misfits on Monday. It is worth noting the think tank named after President Joe Biden, the Penn Biden Center, was accused of taking donations from China after it was determined millions of dollars in funding was gifted to the Penn State University after the think tank's formation was announced. The DC office of the Penn Biden Center was where classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president were discovered last year.According to Michel, governments with concerning or inarguably bad records on human rights have been funding American think tanks, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).The UAE in particular has been active and, thanks to the short-lived requirement of disclosures, it was revealed the Emirati government is the largest single foreign contributor to think tanks in the US, beating out democratic allies Sweden and the United Kingdom.The UAE, which ranks 153 out of 165 countries in personal freedom according to the Global Human Freedom Index, has donated millions on an annual basis to prominent think tanks including the Atlantic Council, the Aspen Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Center for American Progress and the Middle East Institute.In the case of the Atlantic Council, the UAE was at least the second-largest foreign donor. While it has not revealed how much the country has donated, it was enough to land it on its highest ranks of donors, one of only two foreign nations to reach that number, the other being the UK.Bahaa Hariri, the billionaire businessman son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, is also listed as a top donor.That funding paid off earlier this year when Atlantic Council President Frederick Kempe published an article in a major US media outlet that praised UAE’s selection to host the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference later this year. The connection between the Atlantic Council and the UAE was not disclosed at the time of publication. The outlet later added an editor’s note disclosing it, noting that Kempe had not initially disclosed the connection to them.But dozens of articles by Atlantic Council fellows and members of other think tanks are published by major media outlets every year. They often advocate for foreign policy actions by the US government, including on the issue of Ukraine, Afghanistan, Iraq, and China, among others. The op-eds are carried by both nominally liberal and conservative outlets and their connection to their think tanks are rarely disclosed and funding disclosures of said think tanks in the article are rarer still.The Atlantic Council was also tapped by Facebook* to help “fight election propaganda.”The State Department and the White House have not commented on the canceled policy.*Facebook and its parent company Meta are banned in Russia over extremist activities.
https://sputnikglobe.com/20230118/us-lawmakers-to-probe-millions-of-dollars-in-china-donations-to-penn-biden-center-1106469430.html
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foreign influence, think tank funding, biden reverses trump policy, how do foreign governments influence the united states, foreign lobbying, lobbying rules
foreign influence, think tank funding, biden reverses trump policy, how do foreign governments influence the united states, foreign lobbying, lobbying rules
Biden Quietly Ends Trump-Era Policy Blocking Foreign Gov Funding of US Think Tanks
23:59 GMT 16.05.2023 (Updated: 01:00 GMT 17.05.2023) The US State Department under the Biden administration has quietly ended a Trump-era policy that required think tanks to disclose donations from foreign governments and organizations owned by foreign governments.
The change, first reported on by Casey Michel in
The New Republic, has been ignored by US mainstream media, despite it opening the US government to clandestine foreign influence campaigns from nations, including dictatorial and sometimes adversarial countries.
Think tanks play an influential role in American politics, particularly regarding foreign policy. When the Mike Pompeo-run State Department clamped down on the funds in 2020, he specifically called out their role in foreign policy as justification for the rule. “The unique role of think tanks in the conduct of foreign affairs makes transparency regarding foreign funding more important than ever,” he said.
Unlike foreign lobbyists, think tank members are not subject to the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which makes them an attractive target for foreign entities that intend to influence US policy without exposure.
The Trump-era rule brought a small amount of clarity to the shadowy world of think tanks, but without explanation or announcement, the State Department under Antony Blinken has rescinded the policy, once again allowing foreign entities to fund powerful think tanks in the United States without a modicum of transparency.
“What we are seeing is this lack of transparency allows for dark money from some of the governments that might not want to be exposed for what they are doing and why they are funding,” independent investigative journalist Christopher Helali told Radio Sputnik’s Political Misfits on Monday.
“These think tanks serve an important role in shaping the discourse. So if you can safely conceal where that money is coming from, you don’t have to answer to anybody. Neither do governments have to answer why they are giving money, where this money is coming from, if this government has human rights violations."
It is worth noting the think tank named after President Joe Biden, the Penn Biden Center, was accused of taking donations from China after it was determined millions of dollars in funding was gifted to the Penn State University after the think tank's formation was announced. The DC office of the Penn Biden Center was where classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president were discovered last year.
18 January 2023, 16:46 GMT
According to Michel, governments with concerning or inarguably bad records on human rights have been funding American think tanks, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The UAE in particular has been active and, thanks to the short-lived requirement of disclosures, it was revealed the Emirati government is the largest single foreign contributor to think tanks in the US, beating out democratic allies Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The UAE, which ranks 153 out of 165 countries in personal freedom according to the Global Human Freedom Index, has donated millions on an annual basis to prominent think tanks including the Atlantic Council, the Aspen Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Center for American Progress and the Middle East Institute.
In the case of the Atlantic Council, the UAE was at least the second-largest foreign donor. While it has not revealed how much the country has donated, it was enough to land it on its highest ranks of donors, one of only two foreign nations to reach that number, the other being the UK.
Bahaa Hariri, the billionaire businessman son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, is also listed as a top donor.
“Of course,” Helali told Sputnik, “they were funding for influence and their own position.”
That funding paid off earlier this year when Atlantic Council President Frederick Kempe published an article in a major US media outlet that praised UAE’s selection to host the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference later this year. The connection between the Atlantic Council and the UAE was not disclosed at the time of publication. The outlet later added an editor’s note disclosing it, noting that Kempe had not initially disclosed the connection to them.
But dozens of articles by Atlantic Council fellows and members of other think tanks are published by major media outlets every year. They often advocate for foreign policy actions by the US government, including on the issue of
Ukraine,
Afghanistan,
Iraq, and
China, among others. The op-eds are carried by both nominally liberal and conservative outlets and their connection to their think tanks are rarely disclosed and funding disclosures of said think tanks in the article are rarer still.
The Atlantic Council was also tapped by Facebook* to help “fight election propaganda.”
“It is a very dark day when you lose transparency and you end up not realizing what is going on behind the scenes,” says Helali. “This was one of the only progressive things the Trump administration did and sadly we’ve lost it.”
The State Department and the White House have not commented on the canceled policy.
*Facebook and its parent company Meta are banned in Russia over extremist activities.
