The 'It' Think Tank - Carlos Lozada, Washington Post.
It was no accident that former vice president Dick Cheney chose the American Enterprise Institute as the venue for his full-throated defense last month of the Bush administration's national security policies. In the Bush years, AEI wielded significant influence and helped develop major initiatives on national security, including the surge in Iraq.
In the era of Obama, however, the Center for a New American Security may emerge as Washington's go-to think tank on military affairs. Founded in 2007, CNAS has already filled key posts in the new administration (such as former CNAS president Michele Flournoy, who is now undersecretary of defense for policy), and its top people include John Nagl, who helped draft the Army's counterinsurgency manual, and David Kilcullen, a former adviser to Gen. David H. Petraeus. Now CNAS has completed a 31-page report on Afghanistan and Pakistan, advising Team Obama on how to best meet its goal to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda in its safe haven in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future."
More at The Washington Post.
Comments
We all see numerous studies and recommendations generated by various think tanks. Both AEI and CNAS in the article above claim to be non-partisan.
Assuming that any study on the think tanks was probably done by a think tank I'm hesitant to ask this question, but are there any "non-bias" studies out there on the numerous think tanks that potentially influence U.S. policy?
Very much interested in:
The origins of the think tanks (why did they form, who funded them, etc.)?
What policy decisions have they actually influenced throughout history?
Degree of bias toward the left or right or to a special interest group for each group and how that was assessed.