The president and chief executive of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) recently invited two foreign ambassadors—whose governments donate to his think tank—to a closed-door Defense Department event, the Washington Post reports.
John Hamre is head of CSIS and chairman of the Defense Policy Board, a group that advises Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Ambassadors from the United Arab Emirates and Britain, representing governments that donate to CSIS, were invited to the two-day meeting of the board last week on U.S. policy in Iraq.
The Post noted that it was "unusual for such meetings to be arranged on an official basis by the head of a think tank that has received donations from those countries":
In recent years, foreign countries have played an increasingly important role in underwriting the activities of institutions such as CSIS. The donations, described in a recent New York Times article, raised concern about whether foreign governments are attempting to buy influence in Washington by shaping think-tank analysis and policy recommendations.
Think tanks are generally not required to disclose their sources of revenue, although CSIS publicly lists Britain and the UAE as donors on its Web site.
Outside the Pentagon, Hamre was reluctant to answer questions about the board, which he has led since 2007. He angrily jabbed his finger at a reporter, saying: "You’re acting like a little journalist. It’s time for you to be a real journalist."
Later, he e-mailed a formal statement, saying it was "preposterous" to suggest that the UAE ambassador, Yousef al-Otaiba, was invited to the closed meeting because his country donates to CSIS. But he acknowledged that the participants’ overlapping roles could make for uncomfortable appearances.
"I put CSIS’s standing at risk by inviting Ambassador Otaiba to appear before a government body," Hamre wrote. "He was asked to discuss highly sensitive and critical matters. It could have been a difficult session for him, and it would not have reflected well on CSIS. But he is by far the most knowledgeable person I could find who understands the policy thrusts in the region and the role that UAE and other states are playing in Iraq."
Concerns have also been raised about the influence of other Persian Gulf states on Washington-based think tanks.