Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Encyclopedia
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) describes itself as a non-profit, non-partisan policy institute "working to defend free nations against their enemies". It was founded shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks to address what it regards as the "threat facing America, Israel and the West". Its stated objectives are promoting human rights
, defending "free and democratic nations", and opposing terrorism
which it defines as "the deliberate use of violence against civilians to achieve political objectives".
. Its Leadership Council is composed of prominent thinkers and leaders from the defense, intelligence, and policy communities including Paula Dobriansky
, Steve Forbes
, Bill Kristol, Louis J. Freeh, Joseph Lieberman, Newt Gingrich
, Max Kampelman
, and Robert McFarlane
.
Its Board of Advisors include Gary Bauer
, Rep. Eric Cantor
, Gene Gately, General P.X. Kelley, Charles Krauthammer
, Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, Richard Perle
, Steven Pomerantz, Oliver "Buck" Revell, Bret Stephens
, and Francis J. "Bing" West.
Foundation fellows and senior staff are Jonathan Schanzer
, Vice President of Research, Khairi Abaza, Senior Fellow, Tony Badran, Research Fellow, Levant, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
, Director, Center for Study of Terrorist Radicalization, Reuel Marc Gerecht
, Senior Fellow. Dr. Sebastian Gorka
, Military Affairs Fellow, Thomas Joscelyn, Senior Fellow and Co-Chair, Center for Law and Counterterrorism, Jonathan Kay, Visiting Fellow, Dr. Michael Ledeen
, Freedom Scholar, Andrew C. McCarthy
, Co-Chair, Center for Law and Counterterrorism, Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi, Senior Fellow, Dr. J. Peter Pham, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, David B. Rivkin, Jr., Senior Fellow and Co-Chair, Center for Law and Counterterrorism
It engages in investigative reporting.
It will continue to monitor the Iranian energy sector for new entrants into the Iranian energy trade and any signs that companies which have reportedly left the market have resumed their trade.
The focus on energy sanctions has changed the debate in Washington. No longer a discussion over how to achieve a "grand bargain" with the Iranian regime, the debate now focuses on how to use sanctions to deter an aggressive regime dedicated to pursuing nuclear weapons, supporting terrorism, and repressing its own people.
As the foundation's Mark Dubowitz noted, "the push for broad-based sanctions targeting Iran's energy sector, including steps taken to make it more difficult for Iran to import gasoline, acquire key energy technology, and attract investment for its energy sector, has already had a major impact. Not only are Iran's gasoline suppliers exiting the market, but energy investors, banks, technology providers, and insurers now face growing pressure to decide between doing business with the Iranian regime and continuing their business relationships in the lucrative U.S. market ... President Obama needs to enforce U.S. law and put these companies to a choice."
leads a group of experts with a range of knowledge and skills that afford unparalleled insights.
is one of the nation’s leading experts on prosecuting the war against terrorists while protecting the civil liberties of Americans.
For 18 years, McCarthy was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. From 1993 to 1995, he led the successful prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 others in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. He also made major contributions to the prosecutions of the bombers of the U.S. embassies in Kenya
and Tanzania
as well as the Millennium plot
attack at Los Angeles International Airport
.
He joined the foundation as a senior fellow in 2004 to address the issue of protecting of civil liberties while fighting terrorism.
In 2006, the foundation stated that it tasked McCarthy with laying the groundwork for the Center for Law & Counterterrorism (CLC). This program examines the inevitable tension between civil liberties and national security. The CLC advisors McCarthy recruited include former Education Secretary William Bennett
, retired Chief Federal District Judge Michael B. Mukasey
, former Deputy Attorney General George J. Terwilliger III
, National Review
Editor Rich Lowry
, Columbia Law School
Professor Daniel C. Richman, and FDD Senior Fellow Victoria Toensing
, a former Justice Department official.
Television and al-Nour Radio, and Hamas
’ al-Aqsa TV—are used to promote hate, incite violence, recruit suicide bombers and other terrorists, and conduct operational surveillance. As a result, FDD founded the Coalition Against Terrorist Media
(CATM)—with a membership that includes Muslim
, Christian
, Jewish, and secular organizations in America and Europe—to fight on this front. It wages a campaign to remove such networks from the airwaves.
Before CATM launched its campaign against al-Manar, the station reached a daily worldwide audience of 10 to 15 million viewers with its 24/7 broadcasts.
As a direct result of CATM’s campaign, the foundation says that the following goals were achieved:
The campaign to shut down al-Manar broadcasts have raised concerns about censorship
from the American Civil Liberties Union
.
(CPD) calls itself a non-partisan organization that seeks to stiffen U.S. resolve to confront and defeat the ideologies that drive terrorism. In its efforts, CPD focuses on the threats that militant Islamism allegedly presents to the national security of the United States and its allies. The Committee also is highlighting what it considers to be threats to basic human rights—in particular, women’s rights, gay rights, and freedom of religion.
To help drive these efforts, the Committee appointed as vice president for policy one of its members, Lawrence Haas, former communications director for Democratic Vice President Al Gore
.
CPD has played a significant role in U.S. national security debates in the past. The Committee was formed in 1950 as a bipartisan advocacy organization for President Harry S Truman’s policy of containment
against what it believed to be Soviet expansionism. The CPD then re-emerged in 1976 when its original leaders and others — including U.S. Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson — believed that Americans’ will to win the Cold War
was flagging, and that the United States should pursue policies to bring that conflict to a successful conclusion.
Today, CPD’s membership includes more than 100 former U.S. Cabinet members and White House officials from Republican and Democratic administrations, ambassadors, academicians, writers, and other foreign policy experts. Its co-chairmen are George Shultz, Secretary of State under President Reagan, and R. James Woolsey, Jr.
, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) under President Bill Clinton
. U.S. Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Jon Kyl
(R-AZ) serve as honorary co-chairmen. CPD’s international co-chairmen are former Czech President Václav Havel
and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar
.
The organization is controversial for its hard-line stance. Paleoconservative Patrick Buchanan has criticized it for lacking consistency while simultaneously claiming to be in favor of "strategic clarity" in terms of its objectives. Tom Barry has criticized it as alarmist and militaristic in all its incarnations.
, the foundation's journalist-in-residence, has reported on the United Nations
, including the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal. She writes regularly for Commentary Magazine.
Insights gained from investigating the scandal led the foundation's reporter to other investigations in 2006, exposing more U.N. graft, misconduct, and abuse of public trust. Among the 35 articles published under Rosett’s byline in 2006 were claims that the United Nations indirectly helps advance North Korea's nuclear weapons program, and that its refugee agency sabotages the struggle of North Korean refugees seeking freedom.
Rosett also broke the story of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
accepting a $500,000 personal prize from the ruler of Dubai
, through a prize jury stacked with U.N. personnel. Her 2006 investigation set off a storm of press criticism that ultimately forced the U.N. leader to return the prize money.
Following up on some of the high-ranking U.N. officials implicated in corruption scandals exposed earlier by Rosett, she again scooped the world press in 2006 by interviewing the former head of the U.N. Oil-for-Food program, Benon Sevan
. Since fleeing the United States in 2005, Sevan had been living in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia
. He had refused to speak to the media or to congressional investigators. Rosett conducted an exclusive two-and-a-half hour interview, which was published in The Wall Street Journal
in April 2006.
.
The foundation says that this campaign raised global awareness of the threat from Iran and its terrorist proxies through more than 300 broadcast interviews of foundation staff in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East; nearly 100 newspaper and policy journal articles written by foundation staff; briefings to scores of policymakers in Washington and European capitals; 20 foundation publications; and polls the foundation released.
On college campuses, it sponsored speaking tours for Iranian dissident student leaders. In cooperation with the foundation's Arab and Muslim Speakers Bureau and FDD Undergraduate and Academic fellows at, among other schools, Harvard University
, Stanford University
, and the University of Chicago
, these Iranian student leaders spoke to students and faculty about the alleged threat Iran’s mullahs pose to democracy and human rights.
features a report on the foundation on its "Right Web" website, a program of the left-wing think tank Institute for Policy Studies
which, according to its mission statement, seeks to "check the militaristic drift of the country." The report states that "although the FDD is an ardent critic of terrorism, it has not criticized actions taken by Israel against Palestinians that arguably fall into this category." It terms the FDD a "prominent member of the web of neoconservative-aligned think tanks," including the American Enterprise Institute
, Hudson Institute
and Freedom House
. Left-wing writer Jim Lobe
, writing in the Asia Times
, referred to the FDD as a group "whose views largely mirror those of Israel's ruling Likud Party," and said that the FDD's board of advisors includes "prominent neo-cons and Iraq war boosters." The American Conservative published an article accusing it of being funded mainly by a small number of pro-Israel
hawks, as well as being engaged in "spin". It is listed as a "pro-war" organization by globalsecurity.org
with regard to its stance on Iran's nuclear program, and has been described as one of the "top neocon think tanks" by the Christian Science Monitor.
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, defending "free and democratic nations", and opposing terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
which it defines as "the deliberate use of violence against civilians to achieve political objectives".
Overview
It conducts "research and education on international terrorism—the most serious security threat to the United States and other free, democratic nations. It advocates United States military intervention in various muslim majority nations such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Pakistan, and Palestine.Board of Directors, advisors and fellows
FDD's chairman is James Woolsey. FDD's president is Clifford D. May and its executive director is Mark DubowitzMark Dubowitz
Mark Dubowitz is executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. His policy work focuses on Iran and Syria, sanctions, and on the use of technology to encourage democratic change....
. Its Leadership Council is composed of prominent thinkers and leaders from the defense, intelligence, and policy communities including Paula Dobriansky
Paula Dobriansky
Paula Jon Dobriansky is an American foreign policy expert who has served in key roles as a diplomat and policy maker in the administrations of five U.S. presidents, both Democrat and Republican. She is a specialist in the areas of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union as well as...
, Steve Forbes
Steve Forbes
Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes, Jr. is an American editor, publisher, and businessman. He is the editor-in-chief of business magazine Forbes as well as president and chief executive officer of its publisher, Forbes Inc. He was a Republican candidate in the U.S. Presidential primaries in 1996...
, Bill Kristol, Louis J. Freeh, Joseph Lieberman, Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
, Max Kampelman
Max Kampelman
Max Kampelman, born Max Kampelmacher , is former head of the American delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. He was born in New York...
, and Robert McFarlane
Robert McFarlane
Robert Carl "Bud" McFarlane was a National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan, serving from 1983 through 1985.After a career in the Marines, he became part of the Reagan administration, and was a leading architect of the Strategic Defense Initiative for defending the United States...
.
Its Board of Advisors include Gary Bauer
Gary Bauer
Gary Lee Bauer is an American politician notable for his ties to several evangelical Christian groups and campaigns.-Biography:...
, Rep. Eric Cantor
Eric Cantor
Eric Ivan Cantor is the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district, serving since 2001. A member of the Republican Party, he became House Majority Leader when the 112th Congress convened on January 3, 2011...
, Gene Gately, General P.X. Kelley, Charles Krauthammer
Charles Krauthammer
Charles Krauthammer, MD is an American Pulitzer Prize–winning syndicated columnist, political commentator, and physician. His weekly column appears in The Washington Post and is syndicated to more than 275 newspapers and media outlets. He is a contributing editor to the Weekly Standard and The New...
, Kathleen Troia "KT" McFarland, Richard Perle
Richard Perle
Richard Norman Perle is an American political advisor, consultant, and lobbyist who began his career in government, a senior staff member to Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson on the Senate Armed Services Committee in the 1970’s...
, Steven Pomerantz, Oliver "Buck" Revell, Bret Stephens
Bret Stephens
Bret Louis Stephens is the foreign-affairs columnist of the Wall Street Journal and deputy editorial page editor, responsible for the editorial pages of the Journals European and Asian editions...
, and Francis J. "Bing" West.
Foundation fellows and senior staff are Jonathan Schanzer
Jonathan Schanzer
Jonathan Schanzer is an American author & scholar in Middle Eastern studies, and vice president of research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.-Professional overview:...
, Vice President of Research, Khairi Abaza, Senior Fellow, Tony Badran, Research Fellow, Levant, Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is an American counter-terrorism expert and attorney living in Washington D.C. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank. He frequently consults on counter-terrorism...
, Director, Center for Study of Terrorist Radicalization, Reuel Marc Gerecht
Reuel Marc Gerecht
Reuel Marc Gerecht is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, focusing primarily on the Middle East, Islamic militancy, counterterrorism, and intelligence. He is a former director of the Project for the New American Century's Middle East Initiative and a former resident...
, Senior Fellow. Dr. Sebastian Gorka
Sebastian Gorka
Dr. Sebastian L.v. Gorka is an expert on counterinsurgency and counterterrorism and teaches irregular warfare in the War and Conflict Studies Department at the College of International Security Affairs at the National Defense University...
, Military Affairs Fellow, Thomas Joscelyn, Senior Fellow and Co-Chair, Center for Law and Counterterrorism, Jonathan Kay, Visiting Fellow, Dr. Michael Ledeen
Michael Ledeen
Michael Arthur Ledeen is an American specialist on foreign policy. His research areas have included state sponsors of terrorism, Iran, the Middle East, Europe , U.S.-China relations, intelligence, and Africa and is a leading neoconservative...
, Freedom Scholar, Andrew C. McCarthy
Andrew C. McCarthy
Andrew C. McCarthy III is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. A Republican, he is most notable for leading the 1995 terrorism prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others. The defendants were convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center...
, Co-Chair, Center for Law and Counterterrorism, Dr. Emanuele Ottolenghi, Senior Fellow, Dr. J. Peter Pham, Non-Resident Senior Fellow, David B. Rivkin, Jr., Senior Fellow and Co-Chair, Center for Law and Counterterrorism
Initiatives
The foundation has initiated the following centers, coalitions, committees and ongoing projects:- The Iran Energy Project
- The Center for The Study of Terrorist Radicalization
- The Center for Law & Counterterrorism
- The Coalition Against Terrorist MediaCoalition Against Terrorist MediaThe Coalition Against Terrorist Media wages a campaign to remove terrorist outlets from the airwaves. It states that it brings together a diverse group of organizations and individuals to oppose Hezbollah’s al-Manar television and other terrorist media outlets...
- The Committee on the Present DangerCommittee on the Present DangerThe Committee on the Present Danger is an American foreign policy interest group. Its current stated single goal is "to stiffen American resolve to confront the challenge presented by terrorism and the ideologies that drive it" through "education and advocacy"...
It engages in investigative reporting.
The Iran Energy Project
The foundation has promoted the utility of energy sanctions as part of a comprehensive economic warfare strategy against the Iranian regime. To this end, it provides leading research and analysis in support of strong, broad-based energy sanctions, including gasoline, natural gas, and oil sanctions, as part of a comprehensive strategy to end the Iranian regime's pursuit of nuclear weapons, support for terrorism, and abuse of human rights. The foundation also analyzes the prominent role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Iran's energy industry.It will continue to monitor the Iranian energy sector for new entrants into the Iranian energy trade and any signs that companies which have reportedly left the market have resumed their trade.
The focus on energy sanctions has changed the debate in Washington. No longer a discussion over how to achieve a "grand bargain" with the Iranian regime, the debate now focuses on how to use sanctions to deter an aggressive regime dedicated to pursuing nuclear weapons, supporting terrorism, and repressing its own people.
As the foundation's Mark Dubowitz noted, "the push for broad-based sanctions targeting Iran's energy sector, including steps taken to make it more difficult for Iran to import gasoline, acquire key energy technology, and attract investment for its energy sector, has already had a major impact. Not only are Iran's gasoline suppliers exiting the market, but energy investors, banks, technology providers, and insurers now face growing pressure to decide between doing business with the Iranian regime and continuing their business relationships in the lucrative U.S. market ... President Obama needs to enforce U.S. law and put these companies to a choice."
The Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization
The center comprises the core of the foundation's research and analysis on terrorist movements and ideologies. It is dedicated to identifying effective strategies and techniques to combat these threats. The center combines academic and policy research, training programs, strategic communications and investigative journalism to create cutting-edge analysis of what the U.S. military has dubbed the “long war.” Center director Daveed Gartenstein-RossDaveed Gartenstein-Ross
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross is an American counter-terrorism expert and attorney living in Washington D.C. He is the Director of the Center for the Study of Terrorist Radicalization at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank. He frequently consults on counter-terrorism...
leads a group of experts with a range of knowledge and skills that afford unparalleled insights.
Center for Law and Counterterrorism
The foundation believes that the war against terrorism cannot be won on the battlefield alone, and says that Senior Fellow Andrew C. McCarthyAndrew C. McCarthy
Andrew C. McCarthy III is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. A Republican, he is most notable for leading the 1995 terrorism prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and eleven others. The defendants were convicted of the 1993 World Trade Center...
is one of the nation’s leading experts on prosecuting the war against terrorists while protecting the civil liberties of Americans.
For 18 years, McCarthy was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York. From 1993 to 1995, he led the successful prosecution against Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 11 others in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing
1993 World Trade Center bombing
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower , bringing...
and a plot to bomb New York City landmarks. He also made major contributions to the prosecutions of the bombers of the U.S. embassies in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
as well as the Millennium plot
2000 millennium attack plots
The Year 2000 attack plots were terrorist attacks planned to occur on or near January 1, 2000: the bombing of four sites in Jordan, the bombing of Los Angeles International Airport , and the bombing of the USS The Sullivans. The first two plots were foiled by law enforcement agencies; the third was...
attack at Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
.
He joined the foundation as a senior fellow in 2004 to address the issue of protecting of civil liberties while fighting terrorism.
In 2006, the foundation stated that it tasked McCarthy with laying the groundwork for the Center for Law & Counterterrorism (CLC). This program examines the inevitable tension between civil liberties and national security. The CLC advisors McCarthy recruited include former Education Secretary William Bennett
William Bennett
William John "Bill" Bennett is an American conservative pundit, politician, and political theorist. He served as United States Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1988. He also held the post of Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under George H. W...
, retired Chief Federal District Judge Michael B. Mukasey
Michael B. Mukasey
Michael Bernard Mukasey is a lawyer and former judge who served as the 81st Attorney General of the United States. Mukasey, an American lawyer, was appointed following the resignation of Alberto Gonzales. Mukasey also served for 18 years as a judge of the United States District Court for the...
, former Deputy Attorney General George J. Terwilliger III
George J. Terwilliger III
George J. Terwilliger III is an American lawyer and politician. He is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of White & Case LLP and is a former United States Deputy Attorney General and acting United States Attorney General. Terwilliger, of Vermont, was nominated February 14, 1992, by...
, National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
Editor Rich Lowry
Rich Lowry
Richard A. Lowry is the editor of National Review, a conservative American news magazine, and a syndicated columnist.-Career:...
, Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...
Professor Daniel C. Richman, and FDD Senior Fellow Victoria Toensing
Victoria Toensing
Victoria Toensing is a lawyer and partner with her husband, Joseph DiGenova, in the Washington law firm, DiGenova and Toensing. Her practice specializes in white-collar criminal defense, regulatory inquiries, and legislative advocacy...
, a former Justice Department official.
Coalition Against Terrorist Media
The foundation claims to believe that what it considers to be terrorist controlled-and funded media—such as Hezbollah’s al-ManarAl-Manar
Al-Manar is a Lebanese satellite television station affiliated with Hezbollah, registered as Lebanese Media Group Company, broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon. It has an offering a "rich menu" of high production news, commentary, and entertainment. The self-proclaimed "Station of the Resistance" ,...
Television and al-Nour Radio, and Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
’ al-Aqsa TV—are used to promote hate, incite violence, recruit suicide bombers and other terrorists, and conduct operational surveillance. As a result, FDD founded the Coalition Against Terrorist Media
Coalition Against Terrorist Media
The Coalition Against Terrorist Media wages a campaign to remove terrorist outlets from the airwaves. It states that it brings together a diverse group of organizations and individuals to oppose Hezbollah’s al-Manar television and other terrorist media outlets...
(CATM)—with a membership that includes Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
, Jewish, and secular organizations in America and Europe—to fight on this front. It wages a campaign to remove such networks from the airwaves.
Before CATM launched its campaign against al-Manar, the station reached a daily worldwide audience of 10 to 15 million viewers with its 24/7 broadcasts.
As a direct result of CATM’s campaign, the foundation says that the following goals were achieved:
- The U.S. State Department in 2004 added Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV and al-NourAl-NourAl-Nour is a pro-Hezbollah radio station based in Beirut, Lebanon. The station was established on 9 May 1988.In July 2006 during the Israel-Lebanon crisis, Israel attacked Hezbollah's TV station Al-Manar and radio station Al-Nour in Haret Hreyk .-Objectives:Al Nour has stated its objectives...
Radio as well as their parent company, the Lebanese Media Group, to its Terrorism Exclusion List. This important first step allowed the U.S. government to deport or deny entry to any alien contributing to the ventures. - In 2005, the European Commission and the authorities responsible for regulating the communications industry of individual European countries agreed that al-Manar violated the governing European Union directive opposing hate broadcasting.
- Eight of the original 10 commercial and government-owned satellite companies (two French, Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Australian, Barbadian, and Brazilian) stopped their worldwide broadcasting of al-Manar.
- Al-Manar was taken off the air in the United States, Canada, Central America, South America, Asia, Australia, and parts of Africa.
- Multinational corporations withdrew more than $2 million in annual ad revenue for al-Manar.
- In 2006, the U.S. Treasury Department designated al-Manar, al-Nour, and the Lebanese Media Group as Specially Designated Global TerroristSpecially Designated Global TerroristSpecially Designated Global Terrorist is a designation authorized under U.S. Executive Order 13224 , among other executive orders, and Title 31, Parts 595, 596, and 597 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, among other U.S. laws and regulations. SDGT designations are administered and enforced...
entities.
The campaign to shut down al-Manar broadcasts have raised concerns about censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
from the American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
.
Committee on the Present Danger
The Committee on the Present DangerCommittee on the Present Danger
The Committee on the Present Danger is an American foreign policy interest group. Its current stated single goal is "to stiffen American resolve to confront the challenge presented by terrorism and the ideologies that drive it" through "education and advocacy"...
(CPD) calls itself a non-partisan organization that seeks to stiffen U.S. resolve to confront and defeat the ideologies that drive terrorism. In its efforts, CPD focuses on the threats that militant Islamism allegedly presents to the national security of the United States and its allies. The Committee also is highlighting what it considers to be threats to basic human rights—in particular, women’s rights, gay rights, and freedom of religion.
To help drive these efforts, the Committee appointed as vice president for policy one of its members, Lawrence Haas, former communications director for Democratic Vice President Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
.
CPD has played a significant role in U.S. national security debates in the past. The Committee was formed in 1950 as a bipartisan advocacy organization for President Harry S Truman’s policy of containment
Containment
Containment was a United States policy using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to stall the spread of communism, enhance America’s security and influence abroad, and prevent a "domino effect". A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet...
against what it believed to be Soviet expansionism. The CPD then re-emerged in 1976 when its original leaders and others — including U.S. Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson — believed that Americans’ will to win the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
was flagging, and that the United States should pursue policies to bring that conflict to a successful conclusion.
Today, CPD’s membership includes more than 100 former U.S. Cabinet members and White House officials from Republican and Democratic administrations, ambassadors, academicians, writers, and other foreign policy experts. Its co-chairmen are George Shultz, Secretary of State under President Reagan, and R. James Woolsey, Jr.
R. James Woolsey, Jr.
Robert James Woolsey Jr. is a foreign policy specialist and former Director of Central Intelligence and head of the Central Intelligence Agency .-Early life:...
, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) under President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. U.S. Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Jon Kyl
Jon Kyl
Jon Llewellyn Kyl is the junior U.S. Senator from Arizona and the Senate Minority Whip, the second-highest position in the Republican Senate leadership. In 2010 he was recognized by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his persuasive role in the Senate.The son...
(R-AZ) serve as honorary co-chairmen. CPD’s international co-chairmen are former Czech President Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
and former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
.
The organization is controversial for its hard-line stance. Paleoconservative Patrick Buchanan has criticized it for lacking consistency while simultaneously claiming to be in favor of "strategic clarity" in terms of its objectives. Tom Barry has criticized it as alarmist and militaristic in all its incarnations.
Investigative reporting
Claudia RosettClaudia Rosett
Claudia Rosett is an American writer and journalist. She is journalist-in-residence at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a policy institute based in Washington, D.C. A former staff writer for The Wall Street Journal, she writes a weekly column for Forbes, blogs for Pajamas Media, and...
, the foundation's journalist-in-residence, has reported on the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, including the U.N. Oil-for-Food scandal. She writes regularly for Commentary Magazine.
Insights gained from investigating the scandal led the foundation's reporter to other investigations in 2006, exposing more U.N. graft, misconduct, and abuse of public trust. Among the 35 articles published under Rosett’s byline in 2006 were claims that the United Nations indirectly helps advance North Korea's nuclear weapons program, and that its refugee agency sabotages the struggle of North Korean refugees seeking freedom.
Rosett also broke the story of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
accepting a $500,000 personal prize from the ruler of Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, through a prize jury stacked with U.N. personnel. Her 2006 investigation set off a storm of press criticism that ultimately forced the U.N. leader to return the prize money.
Following up on some of the high-ranking U.N. officials implicated in corruption scandals exposed earlier by Rosett, she again scooped the world press in 2006 by interviewing the former head of the U.N. Oil-for-Food program, Benon Sevan
Benon Sevan
Benon Vahe Sevan was the head of the United Nations' Oil-for-Food Programme, established in 1996 and charged with preventing Iraq's government from using the proceeds from oil exports for anything but food, medicine and other items to benefit the civilian population.Born into an Armenian-Cypriot...
. Since fleeing the United States in 2005, Sevan had been living in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia
Nicosia
Nicosia from , known locally as Lefkosia , is the capital and largest city in Cyprus, as well as its main business center. Nicosia is the only divided capital in the world, with the southern and the northern portions divided by a Green Line...
. He had refused to speak to the media or to congressional investigators. Rosett conducted an exclusive two-and-a-half hour interview, which was published in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
in April 2006.
Iranian Threat Campaign
The foundation's Iranian Threat Campaign called upon the Free World to defend itself against the escalating danger to democracy, freedom, and human rights posed by the "radical regime" ruling IranIran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
.
The foundation says that this campaign raised global awareness of the threat from Iran and its terrorist proxies through more than 300 broadcast interviews of foundation staff in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East; nearly 100 newspaper and policy journal articles written by foundation staff; briefings to scores of policymakers in Washington and European capitals; 20 foundation publications; and polls the foundation released.
On college campuses, it sponsored speaking tours for Iranian dissident student leaders. In cooperation with the foundation's Arab and Muslim Speakers Bureau and FDD Undergraduate and Academic fellows at, among other schools, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
, these Iranian student leaders spoke to students and faculty about the alleged threat Iran’s mullahs pose to democracy and human rights.
Criticism
The International Relations CenterInternational Relations Center
The International Relations Center is an American "policy studies institute" based in Silver City, New Mexico. It was founded in 1979 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, focusing initially on "The plight of undocumented Mexican workers and the impact of energy development on indigenous communities in the...
features a report on the foundation on its "Right Web" website, a program of the left-wing think tank Institute for Policy Studies
Institute for Policy Studies
Institute for Policy Studies is a left-wing think tank based in Washington, D.C..It has been directed by John Cavanagh since 1998- History :...
which, according to its mission statement, seeks to "check the militaristic drift of the country." The report states that "although the FDD is an ardent critic of terrorism, it has not criticized actions taken by Israel against Palestinians that arguably fall into this category." It terms the FDD a "prominent member of the web of neoconservative-aligned think tanks," including the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
, Hudson Institute
Hudson Institute
The Hudson Institute is an American think tank founded in 1961, in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation...
and Freedom House
Freedom House
Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
. Left-wing writer Jim Lobe
Jim Lobe
James R. Lobe is an American journalist and the Washington Bureau Chief of the international news agency Inter Press Service. He has also written for Foreign Policy In Focus, Oneworld.net, Alternet, TomPaine.com, Asia Times, and other internet news publications. Lobe is best known for his...
, writing in the Asia Times
Asia Times
Asia Times was a newspaper launched in Thailand by Thai tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul in 1995. The newspaper hired talent from around the world to produce a regional English-language newspaper....
, referred to the FDD as a group "whose views largely mirror those of Israel's ruling Likud Party," and said that the FDD's board of advisors includes "prominent neo-cons and Iraq war boosters." The American Conservative published an article accusing it of being funded mainly by a small number of pro-Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
hawks, as well as being engaged in "spin". It is listed as a "pro-war" organization by globalsecurity.org
GlobalSecurity.org
GlobalSecurity.org, launched in 2000, is a public policy organization focusing on the fields of defense, space exploration, intelligence, weapons of mass destruction and homeland security...
with regard to its stance on Iran's nuclear program, and has been described as one of the "top neocon think tanks" by the Christian Science Monitor.
External links
- defenddemocracy.org, the foundation's official website