In a report first published online in the NYT on Sunday, August 7, reporters Brooke Williams and Eric Lipton examine the unique status and influence that think tanks have in government policy debates. A version of this article appears in print on August 8, 2016, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: "Scholarship or Business? Think Tanks Blur the Line." Read the full story...
Transparify, a small group based in Tbilisi, Georgia, released a report today that rates think tanks around the world based on how much, if anything, they publicly disclose about who funds their work. Only 12 percent of think tanks surveyed—a total of two in the United States—received the highest, five-star rating. But even those two don’t publicly name all of their donors.... Read more about New Report Rates Think Tank Transparency
The September 18, 2013, Lab seminar was led by Lab Fellows Ken Silverstein and Brooke Williams on possible and proposed solutions for institutional corruption in think tanks. This is their second year of studying think tanks at the Edmond J. Safra Center Lab. While their Spring 2013 Lab seminar focused on the implications of their initial...
The November 28, 2012, Lab seminar was led by Edmond J. Safra Lab Fellow and investigative reporter Brooke Williams, who specializes in data-driven journalism and has focused on money and influence in politics. Throughout the course of her fellowship, Williams has spent her time investigating corporate-backed, American think tanks, exposing who is behind them, how they influence public policy, as well as exploring possible solutions. Williams opened the Lab seminar by...
Two blocks from the White House, a think tank, a Super PAC and a 501(c)(4) outside spending group share the fifth floor suite of an office building. A powerful trio, indeed. But new rules the Obama administration proposed could be a real buzz kill to their operation.
Think tanks in the United States have been under increasing scrutiny in the past few years, with reports of them shilling for corporate and foreign government donors and using cozy relationships with lobbyists and lawmakers to shape public policy—all without disclosing exactly who paid them how much to do it. But things are changing. Slowly.
"In Washington, it is difficult for a small country to gain access to powerful politicians, bureaucrats and experts. Funding powerful think tanks is one way to gain such access, and some think tanks in Washington are openly conveying that they can service only those foreign governments that provide funding."
What do banking giants Citigroup and Barclays have in common with the nonprofit Bipartisan Policy Center, a think tank in Washington, D.C.? It depends where you look.
In April, we asked 16 think tanks to voluntarily disclose the names of all corporate and foreign government donors. Some of the results are in, and they range from disheartening to promising.
In our recent story for The New Republic, Ken Silverstein and I examined think tank scholars who simultaneously work as registered lobbyists. We knew of situations worth examining: a resident think tank fellow also representing Polish oil interests, and the director of a homeland security program lobbying for defense contractors, to name a couple. But we wanted to go beyond the anecdotal and gain context. Was this part of a larger system in which registered lobbyists have access to think tanks from the inside?
