 The foundation's Logo | |
| Formation | 1984; 41 years ago (1984) |
|---|---|
| Founder | William W. Geimer |
| Type | 501(c)(3) organization |
| 36-3266722 | |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C., U.S. |
President | Peter Mattis |
| Website | jamestown |
TheJamestown Foundation is aWashington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policythink tank.[1] Founded in 1984 as a platform to supportSoviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which it regards as being of current strategic importance to the United States. Jamestown publications focus onChina,Russia,Eurasia, and globalterrorism.
The Jamestown Foundation was founded in 1984 afterArkady Shevchenko, the highest-rankingSoviet official ever to defect when he left his position asUnder-Secretary-General of the United Nations, defected in 1978.William Geimer, an American lawyer, had been working closely with Shevchenko, and established the foundation[2] as a vehicle to promote the writings of the former Soviet diplomat and those ofIon Pacepa, a former topRomanian intelligence officer; with the help of the foundation, both defectors published bestselling books.[3][4]
Central Intelligence Agency DirectorWilliam J. Casey helped back the formation of the Jamestown Foundation, agreeing with its complaints that the U.S. intelligence community did not provide sufficient funding for Soviet bloc defectors.[5][6] The foundation, initially also dedicated to supporting Soviet dissidents, also aided defecting intellectuals from theEastern Bloc in disseminating their ideas in the West.[7]
In the past, Jamestown's board of directors has includedZbigniew Brzezinski, formerNational Security Advisor toU.S. PresidentJimmy Carter.[8] Jamestown's current board includes Michael Carpenter, the managing director of thePenn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.[9] Carpenter previously served in the Pentagon as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and in the White House as a foreign policy advisor toJoe Biden (when Biden wasvice president underBarack Obama) as well as on theNational Security Council as Director for Russia. Jamestown's board also includesMichael G. Vickers, who previously served as theUnder Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and whose role at the Central Intelligence Agency during theSoviet–Afghan War was famously featured inGeorge Crile's 2003 bookCharlie Wilson's War.[10]
As of 2021, the foundation's current board includes GeneralMichael V. Hayden;Bruce Hoffman;Matthew Bryza;Robert Spalding, who acted as an architect of US-China strategy while serving on the National Security Council in theDonald Trump administration; Michelle Van Cleave;Arthur Waldron; andTimothy J. Keating,[11] while Jamestown's fellows includedVladimir Socor;[12]Janusz Bugajski;Paul Goble;Michael Scheuer (who claims to have been fired for criticizing the United States'relationship withIsrael),[13] Thomas Kent, the former president ofRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty;Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a Hong Kong–based China specialist; Jacob Zenn, a leading expert onBoko Haram; and Stephen Ulph,[14] a leading expert onJihadist ideology.
In September 2023, Peter Mattis was named Jamestown president, succeeding Glen E. Howard, who held the position for 20 years.[15]
Its primary focus is onChina,Eurasia,Russia, and globalterrorism. As of 2023, its main publications areChina Brief,[16]Eurasia Daily Monitor,[17]Terrorism Monitor, andMilitant Leadership Monitor.[18] Previous publications includedEurasia Security Trends,Fortnight in Review,North Korea Review,Russia and Eurasia Review,Russia's Week,Spotlight on Terror,North Caucasus Weekly, (formerlyChechnya Weekly)[19] andRecent From Turkey[20] andTerrorism Focus. Along with these publications, Jamestown produces occasional reports[21] and books.[22]
From 1995 to 1997, the Jamestown Foundation issuedPrism: A Monthly on the Post-Soviet States.[23]
The foundation hosted Russian artistNikolai Getman's paintings ofGulag camps. Getman was imprisoned for eight years by the Soviet regime for participating inanti-Soviet propaganda as a result of a caricature ofJoseph Stalin that one of his friends had drawn on a cigarette box. He survived, and for four decades he secretly labored at creating a visual record of the Gulag system.[24] In September 2009, the Jamestown Foundation transferred the Getman collection toThe Heritage Foundation.[25]
In 2007, theRussian government said the think tank was spreading anti-Russian propaganda by hosting a debate on violence in the Russian republic ofIngushetia. According to a statement by the Foreign Ministry of Russia: "Organisers again and again resorted to deliberately spreading slander about the situation in Chechnya and other republics of the RussianNorth Caucasus using the services of supporters of terrorists and pseudo-experts. Speakers were given carte blanche to spread extremist propaganda, incite ethnic and inter-religious discord."[26] In response, Jamestown Foundation president Glen Howard said that Russia was "intimidated by the power of the free word and this goes against the state manipulation of themedia in Russia".[26]
On 8 December 2011, AmbassadorDaniel Benjamin,State DepartmentCounterterrorism Coordinator for theObama administration, gave the keynote address at Jamestown's Fifth Annual Terrorism Conference where he praised Jamestown for its research and analysis of terrorism issues.[27]
The Jamestown Foundation was criticized by the Right Web project (now the "Militarist Monitor" project) based at theInstitute for Policy Studies for alleged links to the CIA and for advancing a right-wing,neoconservative agenda.[5][6]
In 2020, the office of theProsecutor-General of Russia said that Jamestown Foundation's publications sought to fanseparatism in some Russian regions and posed a security threat. It described the Foundation as an "undesirable organisation", which could result in the organization being banned in Russia under theRussian foreign agent law.[28]
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