Sunday, November 20, 2005
Where many of your thoughts on foreign events come from
On Friday I put up a brief post concerning a graphic that had appeared in the Times of London. The graphic and another article in the Times appearing the same day were based on publications of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Intrigued by the findings, I decided to look them up. Glad I did. You can't visit their website without getting the impression that they are the above-ground wing of the defense establishment—and believe me, we're not talking about a bevy of liberals.
Former Senator Sam Nunn is Chairman of the Board and the president is John J. Hamre. I knew the group was serious when I noted that Mr. Hamre had attended Harvard Divinity School. For some reason that I have not yet fathomed, people who make their living in military think-tanks not infrequently have degrees in theology.
Members of CSIS appear to be called upon whenever the House Armed Services Committee or the Senate Foreign Relations Committee need to be told what is going on—or at least whenever they need some testimony in the record. But that's just the way the Congress and the defense establishment scratch each other's back.
What stunned me was their presence in the media. Here's a list of their recent inputs into the national media, as their website proclaimed it today—
11/18/2005
CSIS Senior Fellow Sarah E. Mendelson was interviewed by the Washington Post, "Bush to Query Putin on Kremlin Controls."11/18/2005
CSIS Senior Fellow Daniel Benjamin published an Op-Ed, "A breeding ground in Iraq," in the Boston Globe.11/17/2005
Anthony Cordesman was interviewed by the Washington Post, "Among Insurgents in Iraq, Few Foreigners Are Found."11/17/2005
Inside The Pentagon featured CSIS in "CSIS Team Aims to Define National Guard’s Role in Disaster Relief Work."11/16/2005
Derek Mitchell was interviewed by the Financial Times, "Bush eager to talk up health of US-Japan links."11/16/2005
Devin Stewart published an Op-Ed in the Asia Times, "China-Japan oil rivalry spills into Africa."11/15/2005
Derek Mitchell was interviewed by CNN regarding President Bush's trip to Asia.11/14/2005
CSIS Senior Vice President Kurt Campbell was interviewed by the Boston Globe, "Tensions stir ahead of Bush's China visit."11/14/2005
CSIS Senior Adviser Ambassador Richard McCormack was interviewed by the Financial Times regarding President Bush's trip to Asia.11/10/2005
CSIS Senior Adviser and Director of the Transnational Threats Project Arnaud de Borchgrave1 published a commentary in The Washington Times, "Weapons of Mass Attraction."
And that's just 89 days' worth.
11/21/05 - 12:49 am
Recalling where I first noticed CSIS I realized that the list above had to be incomplete. CSIS is far too modest. First, there was the Times article—
11/18/05
A CSIS report was quoted in Times of London in "Bin Laden’s ruthless rival spreads tentacles of jihad across region."
Then a simple Google search of the news turns up this for the same period—
Change the spelling of "Center" to "Centre" and you pick up 8 more."Twisted Logic and Iraq"
Cornell Daily Sun, NY - Nov 17, 2005... worst-case scenarios. During a Nov. 7 speech sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Lt. Gen. David Petraeus ..."Twin suicide bombs kill 77 in Iraqi mosques"
Daily Star - Lebanon, Lebanon - Nov 18, 2005... They are followed by Syrians, Yemenis, Sudanese, Egyptians and Saudis, said Anthony Cordesman, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ..."No Steady Hand In Iraq"
Hartford Courant, United States - Nov 17, 2005... In an appearance last week at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, Petraeus defended the rotation policy, saying the military was ...News Roundup
Monsters and Critics.com, UK - Nov 17, 2005... Iraqi resentment in the insurgency,' said Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington ..."War talk dogs Bush on Asia trip"
Newsday, NY - Nov 17, 2005... Mr. President, we need a plan,'" said Michele Flournoy, an international security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. ..."Space.com China's Space Aims Strong Despite Lunar Challenges, Expert Says"
Space.com - Nov 17, 2005... Lewis, a senior fellow and director of technology policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China’s lack of a sufficient heavy-lift ..."Slaughter of Sunni foes is inevitable"
Newsday, NY - Nov 16, 2005... In the words of Edward Luttwak, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC, "Ironically, Americans troops are now ...Open Forum - "Iraq's Elections: Prelude to Dissolution or Last ..."
PR Newswire (press release), NY - Nov 14, 2005... To examine these critical dynamics, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Open Society Institute (OSI) will convene a roundtable discussion ..."Congress growing impatient for further rise in yuan value"
MarketWatch - Nov 14, 2005... that," said Richard McCormack, former undersecretary of state for economic affairs and now an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ..."Putin Visits Turkey for Pipeline Ceremony"
Guardian Unlimited, UK - Nov 17, 2005... and Brussels that Turkey has other options,'' said Bulent Aliriza, an analyst with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. ..."An ally, an agenda for Bush in Asia"
Dallas Morning News (subscription), TX - Nov 14, 2005... agenda to our interests," said Derek Mitchell, a senior fellow in international security at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies ..."Role of Iraq's foreign insurgents disputed"
Webindia123, India - Nov 17, 2005... Iraqi resentment in the insurgency, said Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. ..."Terrorists massacre Shiites in Iraq"
Tehran Times, Iran - Nov 18, 2005... Cordesman, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said US sources have put the number of the foreign fighters under Jordanian ..."Less of an axis to grind"
Newsday, NY - Nov 17, 2005... to change their preferences on North Korea," said Jon Wolfsthal, a nuclear security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington ...
Related post
Graphic of the Day: Foreign fighters in Iraq (11/18/05)
Footnote
1 De Borchgrave is an especially fine fellow. This is from his Wikipedia entry—
William Preston and Ellen Ray wrote a history of disinformation in the U.S., and observed:The greatest assistance in disinformation – especially during the current Administration – is always forthcoming from the Reader's Digest. In 1977 the Times exposed Digest editor John Barron as having worked hand in glove with the CIA on a book about the KGB. Other fraudulent journalists like Robert Moss, Arnaud de Borchgrave, Daniel James, Claire Sterling, and Michael Ledeen, among others, seem to pick up disinformation themes almost automatically. In fact, coordination between the development of propaganda and disinformation themes by the covert media assets, the overt propaganda machine, and the bevy of puppet journalists is quite calculated. A theme which is floated on one level – a feature item on VOA about Cuba for example – will appear within record time as a lead article in Reader's Digest, or a feature in a Heritage Foundation report, or a series of "exposes" by Moss and de Borchgrave or Daniel James in some reactionary tabloid like Human Events or the Washington Times or Inquirer.
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