Foundation for Defense of Democracies

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a neoconservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., which was founded two days after the September 11th attack in 2001.FDD Website, About Us, Accessed 01-April-2009Daniel McCarthy, The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies goes on offense., The American Conservative, 17 November 2003 In its own words, it “uniquely combines policy research, democracy training, strategic communications, and investigative journalism. We focus our efforts where opinions are formed and, ultimately, where the war of ideas will be won or lost: in the media, on college campuses, and in the policy community, at home and abroad.”DefendDemocracy.Com, About Us, Accessed 01-April-2009 
In 2004, FDD reincarnated the Cold War relic Committee on the Present Danger in support of the so-called 'war on terror'. George W. Bush used FDD as a platform for the launch of his National Security Strategy 2006Jim Lobe, Bush Reaffirms Ties With Leading Neocons, IPS News, 15 March 2006.
==Selling the Iraq War==
In April 2002, in a seemingly coordinated move the Center for Security Policy and FDD ran television adds identifying Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Osama bin Laden and the former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as part of a common threat in a bid, according to journalist Jim Lobe 'to advance their seven-month-old campaign to make Arafat a target of the President George W. Bush's war on terrorism.' The ads tried to explicitly link Israel with the US as a common victim of global terrorism. 
:The FDD script opens with its title, 'The Suicide Strategy' in bold letters and continues, 'It was used by terrorists against America on September 11. It's being used by terrorists against Israel day after day,' as the video flashes to a hellish scene immediately after a suicide bombing.
:'If we let the suicide strategy succeed anywhere in the world, it will succeed everywhere,' the narrator continues as the video shows Palestinian children dressed up as suicide bombers at a Hamas demonstration.
:'The suicide strategy threatens al of us - all those who are hated as 'infidels',' the voice continues as the camera shows Saddam Hussein addressing a crowd.
:'If we appease terrorism, we'll get more terrorism. Our way of life is threatened,' it goes on, as the video depicts the burning of a U.S. flag and then fades to a written imperative: 'Never Appease Terrorism.'Jim Lobe, Pro-Israel Hawks Take to the Airwaves, IPS News, 26 April 2002
==Democrats Defect==
Like all other think tanks enjoying 501 (c) 3 charitable status, FDD also claims that it is non-partisan. Initially it even garnered the support of prominent pro-Israel Democrats. However, several defected the think tank accusing it of 'fear mongering for political purposes' and 'scare tactics'. Democratic Party consultant Donna Brazile, who is listed as a founding member wrote: 'I am deeply disappointed they would use my name since no one has consulted me about the activities of the group in years.' She added that FDD had turned into 'a radical right wing organization that is doing the dirty work for the Bush administration and Congressional Republicans'.Jim Lobe, Donna Catches on to FDD, Lobelog.com, 29 February 2008 Brazile was followed Eliot Engel and Chuck Schumer.Jim Lobe, More Democrats Flee FDD , IPS News, 27 February 2008 Shortly afterwards, the name of Marc Ginsberg also disappeared from board of directors.Jim Lobe, "Some Of FDD’s Bigger Donors And Another Defection", Lobelog.com, 29 February 2008
However, investigative journalist Jim Lobe notes that this belated recognition of FDD's tactics is odd considering that 'fear-mongering is exactly FDD’s stock in trade, as it has been from the very beginning.' It has, he adds, 'acted primarily as a front for the Likudist founders of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC)...Cliff May, FDD’s president since its founding Sep 13, 2001, served previously as RJC’s vice chair.' He adds:
:Of course, these Democrats are leaving primarily because FDD has become increasingly partisan in its attacks on specific Democratic lawmakers and leadership, not because of its steady drumbeat of Arabo- and Islamo-phobia that has dominated its work since its inception more than six years ago.
The departures prompted FDD to hastily reorganize its corporate structure, giving birth to a new organization, [Defense of Democracies] — to preserve its 501(c)3 status.
==George W. Bush speech==
In George W. Bush’s 2006 speech he congratulated the FDD for helping fight terrorism and spread democracy across the Middle East. He said:
:You have trained Iraqi women and Iranian students in the principles and practice of democracy, you've translated ‘democracy readers' into Arabic for distribution across the broader Middle East, you've helped activists across the region organize effective political movements—so they can help bring about democratic change and ensure the survival of liberty in new democracies. By promoting democratic ideals, and training a new generation of democratic leaders in the Middle East, you are helping us to bring victory in the war on terror—and I thank you for your hard work in freedom's cause.George Bush, President Bush’s speech on Iraq, The Washington Post, 13-March-2006, Accessed 01-April-2009
==Terrorology Summer School==
In its first five years, FDD has established numerous programs that have extended its influence and reach. Three of these programs focus increasing attention on the issue of terrorism in universities: 
Summer Workshop on Teaching about Terrorism (SWOTT)
According to FDD, SWOTT is a “unique, U.S.-based effort to provide college professors with the tools they need to teach about the threat of terrorism and the methods used to combat it … and includes classes that encompass all facets of terrorism studies and field trips to military and other national security-related installations.”FDD Website,Campus Programs, Accessed 01-April-2009Swott, Summer Workshop, Accessed 01-April-2009
Undergraduate Fellowship on Terrorism
FDD fellowships and terrorism education programs routinely involve study trips to Israel. There they meet with Israeli, American, Turkish, Jordanian, and Indian officials to learn about each country's experience fighting terrorism. The fellows often form FDD-affiliated student groups on their respective campuses. FDD-affiliated student groups can now be found at nearly all major American undergraduate institutions. Many FDD Undergraduate Fellows have gone on to work in the intelligence and defense communities. FDD Website, Programs, Accessed, 01-April-2009
Academic Fellowship on Terrorism
The Academic Fellowship program uses Israel as a case study to teach “an intensive, 10-day course on terrorism and the threat it poses to democratic societies”. “The goal of the program is to offer information to teaching professionals about the latest trends in terrorists' ideologies, motives, and operations, and how democracies can fight them”.FDD Website, Academic Fellowships, Accessed 07-April-2009
==Media, Campaigns & Conferences==
*Three FDD programs focus on communications and the media: radio programming, investigative reporting, and strategic communication campaigns. FDD includes among its most important communications campaigns the creation, in partnership with the European Foundation for DemocracyFDD Website,European Foundation For Democracy (EFD) Applaud's Germany’s Ban of Hezbollah’s Al- Manar TV, 26-November-2008, Accessed 07-April-2009 of the Coalition Against Terrorist Media (CATM), which organized a global campaign against Hezbollah's al-Manar televisionRightweb, Foundation for Defence of Democracies, Accessed 01-April-2009.
*In May 2003, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies were co-sponsors (along with the American Enterprise Institute and the Hudson Institute) of an all-day conference on Iran. The speakers are reported to have all been strongly pro-Israel, with many of them calling for the US to replace the Iranian regime with a democracyMearsheimer, J. & Walt, S. (2006) The Israel Lobby, London Review of Books, Accessed 8th July 2008.
*FDD have also campaigned against the UN court hearings on “Israel's Anti-Terrorism Fence”. They have also sponsored the Iraq-America Freedom Alliance (which is giving “voice to Iraqis who are grateful for their newfound freedom and working to secure democracy”)Rightweb, Foundation for Defence of Democracies, Accessed 01-April-2009. 
*Every Sunday night at 9pm, FDD's Ambassador Richard Carlson hosts the WMAL radio show the Danger Zone. Danger Zone features discussions involving leading figures from the worlds of intelligence, security, military and academia.FDD Website, Amb. Richard Carlson, Acessed 07-April-2009.
*Using grant money from the United States Department of State, the FDD held an Iraqi Women's Leadership Conference, bringing together Iraqi women in order to study the principles of democracy, learn how they can participate in their nation's new government and electoral process, and help Iraqi women to take an active role in their country's civic life.FDD Website, Programs, Accessed 01-April-2009
*FDD campaigned for Women for a Free Iraq and in coordination with the American Islamic Congress and the Independent Women's Forum, the FDD created the Iraqi Women's Education Institute, which has similar goals to the Iraqi Women's Leadership Conference. FDD Website, Programs, Accessed 01-April-2009
==Oil for Food Scandal ==
The FDD's journalist-in-residence, Claudia Rosett, was the first reporter to break the U.N.'s Oil for Food scandal.FDD Website,Investigative Reporting Project, Accessed 07-April-2009
As U.S. News and World Report senior writer Michael Barone explained: "The U.N. Oil for Food program, we learn from the reporting of Claudia Rosett in The Wall Street Journal, was a rip-off on the order of $21 billion -- with money intended for hungry Iraqis going instead to Saddam Hussein and his henchmen, to bribed French and Russian businesses and, evidently, to the U.N.'s own man in charge, Benon Savan."FDD Website, What They’re Saying About FDD’s Claudia Rossett and the Oil-For-Food-Scandal, Accessed 07-April-2009 
For this reporting, Ms. Rosett received the Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion JournalismGary Shapiro, Rosett wins Breindel Laurel, New York Sun, 3-June-2005, Accessed 07-April-2009 
As a result of her work, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed an internal commission to investigate. The U.S. Senate and House also began their own reviews and invited her to testify at their hearings United States House of Representatives Statement of Claudia Rosett, 04-October-2007, 07-April-2009.
==The Iran Energy Project==
FDD's Iran Energy Project is led by Mark Dubowitz and Jonathan Schanzer. It is dedicated to strengthening the Israel lobby-orchestrated sanctions against Iran's energy sector. FDD claims that it has "promoted the utility of energy sanctions as part of a comprehensive economic warfare strategy against the Iranian regime [providing] leading research and analysis in support of strong, broad-based energy sanctions." Going further it states:
:The Wall Street Journal credits FDD for having "brought the idea of gasoline sanctions to political attention." ...Informed by FDD research and analysis, the House and Senate have both passed legislation to curtail Iran's ability to import gasoline. [...] Nine of Iran's major gasoline suppliers – BP, Vitol, Trafigura, Glencore, Total, Shell, Reliance, Lukoil and Petronas – reportedly ended their gasoline supplies to Iran after calculating that the political risk from continued trade was too high. Most Western banks have stopped underwriting gasoline shipments to Iran. Three major insurance companies, Lloyd's of London, Munich Re and Allianz, announced that they would stop underwriting the gasoline trade.The Iran Energy Project (About), Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, accessed 23 October 2010
The project's efforts have been given legislative muscle by fellow neoconservative Stuart Levey, presently a US Treasury undersecretary, who reportedly liaises with FDD and previously employed its current vice president Jonathan Schanzer as a researcher.Ron Kampeas, Stuart Levey: The man trying to make anti-Iran sanctions work, JTA, 29 June 2010 The lobby group now liaises directly with the European Israel lobby through Emanuele Ottolenghi, based in Brussels.
==Funding==
Journalist Jim Lobe has revealed that according to publicly available tax records the following individuals and institutions contributed $100,000 or more — sometimes much more — to the group between 2002 and 2005: In 2010 Laura Rozen of Politico revealed that in 2005 former board member Joyce ChernickOneSource, "Joyce Chernick", OneSource, accessed on 29 October 2010 and multimillionaire husband Aubrey Chernick had contributed USD $120k to FDD in 2005.Laura Rozen, "The Park51 money trail", Politico, 4 September 2010
*Abramson Family Foundation
*Leonard Abramson
*Annenberg Foundation
*Barrack Foundation
*Newton and Rochelle Becker Family Foundation
*Newton Becker
*Marcus Bernard
*Russell Berrie Foundation
*Samuel Bronfman Foundation
*Andrea and Charles Bronfman Fund at Brandeis
*Charles Bronfman
*Edgar Bronfman
*James and Patricia Cayne
*Dalck Feith Revocable Trust	
*David Cutler
*Tony Gelbart
*Gerome Goodman
*Sanford J. Grossman Charitable Trust
*Hyperion Partners
*Lewis Ranieri
*Roland Arnall, Ameriquest Capital Corp.
*The Sarah Scaife Foundation
*Charles and Lynn Schustermann Foundation
*Judy and Michael Steinhardt Foundation
*Steinhardt Partners
*Michael Steinhardt
*Sweetfeet Foundation
*Marcus Foundation
*Joseph and Felicia Weber
===Other funders===
*Klarman Family Foundation
===2010===
*Abstraction Fund: $10,000 Abstraction Fund, 990 Form, 2010 
*Bialkin Family Foundation: $10,000 Bialkin Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Edgerly Foundation: $100,000 Edgerly Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Fairbrook Foundation: $188,333 Fairbrook Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Hertog Foundation: $50,000 Hertog Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Hochberg Family Foundation: $75,000 Hochberg Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Jewish Communal Fund: $88,600 Jewish Communal Fund, 990 Form, 2012. accessed 26 October 2016. 
*Klarman Family Foundation: $100,000 Klarman Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2010
*Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $75,000 Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 990 Form, 2010
*Marcus Foundation: $2,000,000 Marcus Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation: $300,000 Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Rita & Irwin Hochberg Family Foundation: $2,500 Rita & Irwin Hochberg Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Sarah Scaife Foundation: $200,000 Sarah Scaife Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Snider Foundation: $5,000 Snider Foundation, 990 Form, 2010 
*Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund: $111,500 Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund, 990 Form, 2010 
===2011===
*Abstraction Fund: $20,000 Abstraction Fund, 990 Form, 2011 
*Bialkin Family Foundation: $10,000 Bialkin Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Edgerly Foundation: $50,000 Edgerly Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Fairbrook Foundation: $8,500 Fairbrook Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Hochberg Family Foundation: $30,000 Hochberg Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Jewish Communal Fund: $128,600 Jewish Communal Fund, 990 Form, 2011. accessed 26 October 2016. 
*Klarman Family Foundation: $250,000 Klarman Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Koret Foundation: $50,000 Koret Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $127,150 Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 990 Form, 2011
*Marcus Foundation: $2,180,000 Marcus Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Nathan Seter Foundation: $25,000 Nathan Seter Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation: $375,000 Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Sarah Scaife Foundation: $100,000 Sarah Scaife Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Snider Foundation: $10,000 Snider Foundation, 990 Form, 2011 
*Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund: $375,000 Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund, 990 Form, 2011 
*William Rosenwald Family Fund: $25,000 William Rosenwald Family Fund, 990 Form, 2011 
===2012===
*Edgerly Foundation: $10,000 Edgerly Foundation, 990 Form, 2012 
*Emerson Family Foundation: $20,000 Emerson Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2012 
*Jewish Communal Fund: $72,800 Jewish Communal Fund, 990 Form, 2012 
*Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego: $10,000 Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, 990 Form, 2012 
*Hochberg Family Foundation: $52,500 Hochberg Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2012 
*Klarman Family Foundation: $250,000 Klarman Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2012 
*Koret Foundation: $25,000 Koret Foundation, 990 Form, 2012 
*Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $130,000 Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 990 Form, 2012
*Marcus Foundation: $2,100,000 Marcus Foundation, 990 Form, 2012 
*Newton and Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust: $65,000 Newton and Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust, 990 Form, 2012 
*Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation: $300,000 Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation, 990 Form, 2012 
*Shillman Foundation: $5,000 Shillman Foundation, 990 Form, 2012 
*Snider Foundation: $25,000 Snider Foundation, 990 Form, 2012 
*Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund: $20,500 Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund, 990 Form, 2012 
===2013===
*Abstraction Fund: $20,000 Abstraction Fund, 990 Form, 2013 
*Bialkin Family Foundation: $15,000 Bialkin Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2013 
*Edgerly Foundation: $10,000 Edgerly Foundation, 990 Form, 2013 
*Emerson Family Foundation: $50,000 Emerson Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2013 
*Jacobson Family Foundation Trust: $100,000 Jacobson Family Foundation Trust, 990 Form, 2013 
*Jewish Communal Fund: $234,800 Jewish Communal Fund, 990 Form, 2013 
*Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego: $25,000 Jewish Community Foundation of San Diego, 990 Form, 2013 
*Klarman Family Foundation: $300,000 Klarman Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2013 
*Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $75,000 Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 990 Form, 2013 
*Marcus Foundation: $2,530,000 Marcus Foundation, 990 Form, 2013 
*Nathan Seter Foundation: $25,000 Nathan Seter Foundation, 990 Form, 2013 
*Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation: $125,000 Newton and Rochelle Becker Foundation, 990 Form, 2013 
*Snider Foundation: $25,000 Snider Foundation, 990 Form, 2013 
*Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund: $50,000 Vanguard Charitable Endowment Fund, 990 Form, 2013 
===2014===
*Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston: $10,000 Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, 990 Form, 2014 
*Edgerly Foundation: $5,000 Edgerly Foundation, 990 Form, 2014 
*Jacobson Family Foundation Trust: $1,000,000 Jacobson Family Foundation Trust, 990 Form, 2014 
*Jewish Communal Fund: $385,600 Jewish Communal Fund, 990 Form, 2014 
*Klarman Family Foundation: $300,000 Klarman Family Foundation, 990 Form, 2014 
*Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $100,000 Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, 990 Form, 2014
*Marcus Foundation: $2,039,000 Marcus Foundation, 990 Form, 2014 
*Smith Richardson Foundation: $7,500 Smith Richardson Foundation, 990 Form, 2014
==Principals==
===Founding Members===
Steve Forbes | Jack Kemp | Jeane Kirkpatrick | Newt Gingrich | James Woolsey | Frank Lautenberg | Charles Schumer | Joseph Lieberman | Donna Brazile.FDD Website, Our Team, Leadership Council, Accessed 01-April-2009
===Board of Directors===
Steve Forbes, CEO Forbes Magazine - Board Member | Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Fmr. Ambassador to the UN - Board Member Jack Kemp, Fmr. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development – Chairman | Clifford D. May, Frm. Republican National Committee Director of Communications - President
===Distinguished Advisors===
Louis J. Freeh - Fmr. Director of the FBI |R. James Woolsey, Fmr. Director of the CIA | Newt Gingrich, Fmr. Speaker of the House | Joe Lieberman - US Senator
===Board of Advisors===
Gary Bauer, American Values - President | Charles Krauthammer, Syndicated Columnist | Donna Brazile, Campaign Manager Gore 2000 | Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard Editor | Eric Cantor (R-VA), Task Force on Terrorism Chairman Richard D. Lamm, Fmr. Colorado Governor | Eliot Engel (D-NY), U.S. House of Representatives | Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), U.S. Senate | Mark Foley (R-FL), U.S. House of Representatives | Jim Marshall (D-GA), U.S. House of Representatives | Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy President | Zell Miller, Fmr. US Senator | Marc Ginsberg, Fmr. Ambassador Morroco | Richard Perle, Former Chair of the Defense Policy Board and FDD Advisor | J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), U.S. House of Representatives | Charles E. Schumer (D-NY), U.S. Senate | Charles Jacobs, American Anti-Slavery Group President
Some original board members affiliated with the Democratic party defected after FDD launched a partisan campaign against Democratic candidates. These include: Donna Brazile | Eliot Engel | Charles E. Schumer
===Senior Fellows===
Khairi Abaza | Daveed Gartenstein-Ross | Avi Jorisch | Samer Libdeh | Mario Loyola | Andrew C. McCarthy
Barbara Newman | Walid Phares | Victoria Toensing | Youssef M. Ibrahim
===Adjunct Fellows===
Jonathan Adelman, University of Denver Professor | Mohammed Akacem, Metropolitan State College of Denver Professor
Richard Z. Chesnoff, Journalist | Paul Crespo, Former Marine Corps Officer and Military Attaché
Tanya Gilly | Orde Kittrie, Arizona State University Law Professor | Agota Kuperman, U.S. Foreign Service (ret.)
Joel Mowbray | J. Peter Pham | Jess Sadick, U.S. government Terrorism Specialist | Frederic Smoler, Sarah Lawrence College Professor | Jan Ting, Temple University Law Professor | Asaf Romirowsky, former IDF liaison to Jordan.
===Staff===
Richard W. Carlson, Vice Chairman | Audra Ozols, Campus Programs Coordinator | Mark Dubowitz, Chief Operating Officer | Cara Rosenthal, Donor Relations Senior Manager | Tanya Gilly, Democracy Programs Director | Claudia Rosett, Journalist-in-Residence | Eleana Gordon, Senior Vice-President | David Silverstein, Campus Education & Grassroots Programs Vice-President | Sara H. Levy, Communications Manager | Jonathan L. Snow, Research Manager
Clifford D. May, President | Jean Thurman, Operations Manager | Bill McCarthy, Communications Vice-President
Caitlyn Walters, Project Coordinator |Andrew Apostolou
FDD Website, Our Team, Accessed 07-April-2009
==Related Organizations==
American Enterprise Institute | Americans for Victory Over Terrorism | Center for Security Policy | Coalition Against Terrorist Media | Committee on the Present Danger | Empower America | European Foundation for Democracy
International Republican Institute | National Endowment for Democracy | Project for the New American Century |Spirit of America
==Government Links==
Defense Policy Board
==External links==
=== Official Sites ===
*Foundation for Defense of Democracies
*FDD Official Blog
*The Iraq-America Freedom Alliance
*The Human Cost of Terrorism
*The Coalition Against Terrorist Media
==External Resources==
*Sidney Blumenthal, The neocons' last stand, Guardian, 16 November 2006.
*Jim Lobe, Neo-Cons Driving Iran Divestment Campaign, InterPress Service, 11 May 2007.
*Rightweb, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
*Sourcewatch Foundation for Defense of Democracies
==Notes==
category:Israel Lobby
Category:Terrorism Industry
Category:Neocons
Category:Think Tanks
Category:Target Iran