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Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Foundation for Defense of Democracies
AbbreviationFDD
Formation2001; 23 years ago (2001)
Type501(c)(3) organization
13-4174402
Headquarters1800 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036
Location
President
Clifford May
CEO
Mark Dubowitz
Websitewww.fdd.org Edit this at Wikidata

The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a non-profit neoconservative[1][2][3] think tank and (since 2019) a registered lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C., United States.[4][5] It has also been described as a pro-Israel, anti-Iran lobby group due to its focus on Iran and opposition to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.[6][7][8]

FDD publishes research on foreign policy and security issues, focusing on subjects such as nuclear-non proliferation, cyber threats, sanctions, illicit finance, and policy surrounding Israel, North Korea, Iran, Russia, and the war in Afghanistan.[9][10]

History and mission

FDD was founded in 2001 as "Emet" – Hebrew for "Truth".[11][12] In the initial documents filed for tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service, FDD's stated mission was to "provide education to enhance Israel's image in North America and the public's understanding of issues affecting Israeli-Arab relations".[12] Its mission broadened after the September 11 attacks in 2001.[12] Later documents described its mission as "to conduct research and provide education on international terrorism and related issues".[13]

On its website, FDD describes itself as "a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy" that "conducts in-depth research, produces accurate and timely analyses, identifies illicit activities, and provides policy options – all with the aim of strengthening U.S. national security and reducing or eliminating threats posed by adversaries and enemies of the United States and other free nations."[14]

John Mearsheimer in 2007, Muhammad Idrees Ahmad in 2014, and Ofira Sekiktar in 2018 have described FDD as part of the Israel lobby in the United States.[15][16][17] Sima Vaknin-Gil, director general of Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs, had stated that the FDD works in conjunction with the Israeli government including the ministry.[18]

FDD opposed the nuclear agreement with Iran during the Barack Obama administration.[12][19] It advised the first Donald Trump administration on ways to subvert Iran.[20] Iran announced sanctions against FDD and its CEO in 2019.[19] According to a 2019 article in The Atlantic, "no place else has made an institutional specialty of recommending hard-line Iran policies and offering detailed proposals for how to implement them the way the FDD has done".[19]

On 15 November 2019 a sister company FDD Action officially registered as a lobby under the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995.[7]

Funding

2001–04

Money contributed to the FDD during first decade of its activity, based on calculations made by Christopher Bail, expanded by 442%.[21]

In 2011, news website ThinkProgress published FDD's Form 990 documents[22] that revealed the source of FDD's funds between 2001 and 2004. Top donors included:

Other notable donors:

2008–11

FDD's Schedule A documents filed by the end of the 2011 tax year, indicates that the organization from 2008 to 2011 was funded more than $20,000,000,[24] and the top three donors were:

2017

In 2018, AP reported that the United Arab Emirates has wired $2,500,000 to the FDD through Elliott Broidy and George Nader, to host a conference amidst Qatar diplomatic crisis about the country's role as a state-sponsor of terrorism.[25] FDD stated that it does not accept money from foreign governments, adding that "[a]s is our funding policy, we asked if his funding was connected to any foreign governments or if he had business contracts in the Gulf. He assured us that he did not".[25]

Adam Hanieh states that the FDD high-profile conference of 23 May 2017 was in line with UAE's policy at the time, which officially alleged that Qatar finances Islamist groups, adding that emails leaked shortly after show that UAE's Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba had a "cosy relationship" with the FDD, and had reviewed the remarks made by Robert Gates at the convention.[26] The leaked emails revealed a extent of a backchannel cooperation built between FDD and the UAE.[27] Qatar appeared to be in compliance with the terms of the agreement for countering terrorism and not supporting extremists from its territory according to the report published by The Washington Post in February 2021. According to documents obtained by Al Arabiya published on July 10, 2017, Qatar had agreed to stop providing support to the Muslim Brotherhood, expelled non-citizen Brothers from Qatar, and would not shelter any persons from GCC countries to avoid undermining relations with the Persian Gulf.[28]

Others

Additionally, as of 2016, FDD had received donations from the following institutions:

Activities

The Iran Project

FDD and its CEO, Mark Dubowitz, have been sanctioned by Iran for advocating sanctions against Iran and working to end the Iranian nuclear deal.[33][34][35]

FDD's Iran Program is led by CEO Mark Dubowitz.[36][37][38]

In 2008, FDD founded the Iran Energy Project which "conducts extensive research on ways to deny the Iranian regime the profits of its energy sector".[39][third-party source needed] The Wall Street Journal credited FDD with bringing "the idea of gasoline sanctions to political attention."[40] The organization pushed for sanctions against the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its use of Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) to perform transactions.[citation needed]

The Syria Project

For years, Syria has been a focus of FDD's research because of its alignment with Iran and support for organizations such as Hezbollah.[41] In 2012, as the Arab Spring spread to Syria, FDD launched "The Syria Project" to support “secular, liberal elements within the Syrian opposition and dissident communities” and “to analyze the changing situation and operational environment, and to identify the optimum policy options.”[42][third-party source needed] In that effort, FDD facilitated a Skype call between dissidents and U.S. journalists in 2012.[43]

Long War Journal

The Long War Journal is an FDD project dedicated to reporting the "War on Terrorism" launched by the United States and its allies following the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Under the direction of FDD senior fellows Bill Roggio and Thomas Joscelyn, this website covers stories about countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Iraq and follows the actions of al Qaeda and its affiliates.[44][third-party source needed] According to the Columbia Journalism Review, "Roggio's greatest service, then, may be the way he picks up where the mainstream press leaves off, giving readers a simultaneously more specific and holistic understanding of the battlefield", but "...there have been times when Roggio has done himself a disservice by aligning with bloggers who are more about pushing a conservative agenda."[45]

When it was announced in October 2021 that President Joe Biden's top diplomat for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, was stepping down, Bill Roggio of the FDD said, "It is about time he stopped stealing money from the US government. He shoulders a large amount of the blame for shilling for the Taliban."[46]

European Foundation for Democracy

Main article: European Foundation for Democracy § Ties to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Crowdsourcing Iran regime change

In 2024, the FFD opened up regime change in Iran to the general public, as CEO Mark Dubowitz, posting on X, solicited "actionable ideas on how to topple the regime in Iran", promising that "as many of the good ones as possible will be put into action."[47]

Personnel

Clifford May, FDD's founder and current president

Executives

Former staff include:

  • Nir Boms (President)[12]

Board of directors

Steve Forbes

As of 2005, members of FDD's board of directors were:

Advisors

The following people served as advisors to FDD as of 2005:

Fellows

Jonathan Conricus

Criticism

The American political blog ThinkProgress criticized FDD for what it called "alarmist rhetoric and fear mongering",[23] for example in April 2002 when they aired a 30-second television ad campaign called "Suicide Strategy" that was described by some critics as "conflating" Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat with the likes of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. As FDD explained it: "a militant Islamic terrorist who 'martyrs' himself by hijacking a plane and flying it into the World Trade Center"—referring to the September 11 attacks—"is no different from a militant Islamic terrorist who 'martyrs' himself by strapping explosives to his body and walking into a hotel"—i.e., Palestinian suicide attacks.

In 2017, journalist Bari Weiss of The New York Times reported on dissent within the organization over the pro-Trump orientation it adopted following the 2016 elections, which included at least two employees leaving.[52]

In 2018, Lawrence Wilkerson, a retired US Army colonel who has been highly critical of Israel and accused by detractors of holding antisemitic views,[53] criticized FDD saying it was "pushing falsehood" in support of waging wars.[54] In 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran designated the Foundation for Defense of Democracies a terrorist organization.[55][56] Farid Hafez, researcher at Universität Salzburg, asserted in 2019 that FDD was one of the key organizations peddling Islamophobia in a transatlantic network.[57]

The International Relations Center features a report on the foundation on its "Right Web" website, a program of the think tank Institute for Policy Studies[58] 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".[59]

In 2023, FDD, along with other US-based think tanks, was alleged to be coordinating a pressure campaign against the regional rivals of the UAE, including Iran, Qatar, and Turkey.[60][61]

Islamophobia accusations

Christopher A. Bail, professor of sociology, public policy and data science at Duke University, describes FDD as an "anti-Muslim fringe organization" that has tried to establish itself as a legitimate authority on Islam and terrorism by tactically using "ethnic experts" —i.e. pundits with Middle Eastern background who were not Muslim— because they advocate views contrary to the mainstream perspective of the Muslim community in the United States, but look like and talk like Muslims.[62] Sarah Marusek, research fellow at University of Johannesburg, argues that FDD is one of the "key organizations peddling Islamophobia" in a "transatlantic network".[63] Farid Hafez, researcher at Universität Salzburg, asserts the same.[64]

References

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