Center for Strategic and International Studies
From Wikinfo
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a Washington, D.C.-based foreign policy think tank. Founded in 1964 originally as part of Georgetown University, CSIS conducts policy studies and strategic analyses on political, economic and security issues. Georgetown University President Timothy C. Healy severed the affiliation in 1986 because CSIS was not academically credible.
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Structure
CSIS is a formally "bipartisan", ideologically conservative think-tank guided by a 19-member board of trustees, chaired by Sam Nunn, the former Georgia Senator who was also the longtime chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. Other notable trustees include Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, R. James Woolsey and Brent Scowcroft. The current president and CEO is John Hamre, former Deputy Secretary of Defense. He has held the position since April 2000. CSIS employs approximately 190 staff members. Although faculty receive handsome salaries from CSIS to supplement their other sources of income, few are ever seen to enter classrooms. They are more likely to appear as "talking heads" on television.
Funding
CSIS recieved its seed money from the conservative Sarah Scaife Foundation and conservative contributor Justin Dart. For 2004, CSIS had an operating budget of $22 million, 85% of which is funded from corporate, foundation and individual contributions. Saudi Arabia's chief of intelligence and member of the royal family Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz is reputed to be a major contributor to CSIS. Prince Turki is linked to al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and the Pakistani military police organization Inter-Services Intelligence. Toyota Motor Corp. and the Ing. Olivetti and Co. are among the less controversial foreign contributors. The remainder of its revenues come from endowments, publication sales and government contracts. These sources of foreign and corporate funding may undermine claims that academic work product from CSIS is objective or independent in character.
Goals and description
A favorite of Republican administrations, CSIS generates conservative analyses of foreign and security policy, particularly by examining emerging trends and long-term effects of both global and regional issues. This includes developments within specific geographic areas, such as in the Middle East or Russia, as well as globally, such as terrorism, free trade and technology.
