Hudson Institute

The Hudson Institute is a non-profit think tank headquartered in Washington D.C.

In 2006, Scooter Libby, former Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, joined Hudson Institute as a senior advisor. Libby, who was convicted as part of the federal investigation into the Valerie PlameGate affair, became a vice president of the Institute Later, in 2009, the Institute advocated for a presidential pardon for Scooter Libby.

While describing itself as "non-partisan" and preferring to portray itself as independently "contrarian" rather than as a conservative think tank, the Hudson Institute gains financial support from many of the foundations and corporations that have bankrolled the conservative movement. The Capital Research Center, a conservative group that seeks to rank non-profits and documents their funding, allocates Hudson as a 7 on its ideological spectrum with 8 being "Free Market Right" and 1 "Radical Left." [1]

Hudson has traditionally had a strong focus on U.S. domestic policies such as national defense, education, crime, immigration, welfare, pesticides and biotechnology. However, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks it has substantially boosted its focus on international issues such as the Middle East, Latin America and Islam.

History

The Institute was founded in 1961 by the late Herman Kahn and his colleagues Max Singer and Oscar Ruebhausen from the RAND Corporation. Initially its policy focus, while right-wing, was dictated by Kahn's own interests (such as domestic and military uses of nuclear power, the future of the US workplace, and the science of "futurology"). Following his death in 1983, the Institute expanded its staff and took on a more overtly conservative stance.

Hudson states in its 2002 annual report that its guiding principles continue "Kahn's optimism about the future, his commitment to free markets and individual responsibility, his belief in the connection between the advance of technology and economic progress, a respect for the importance of religion and culture in human affairs, and his understanding that the prosperity and security of the United States are vital to the prosperity and security of the world." [2]

Hudson insists that its policy positions are not influenced by either its funding sources or ideology. "Whether in domestic policy, national security, or international events, the institute guards its intellectual integrity. Neither dollars nor ideology will sway our opinions. At Hudson Institute, we always strive for the betterment of our world," Walter P. Stern and Herb London wrote in an introductory message in the think tanks 2002 annual report. [3]

Involvement in atrazine issue

For more than a decade, the Hudson Institute has helped fight any additional review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the safety of the popular herbicide atrazine.

On June 30, 1999, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) published an article titled "Into the Mouths of Babes: Bottle-fed Infants at Risk from Atrazine in Tap Water." Shortly after, the Hudson Institute published an article defending atrazine, manufactured by Syngenta. The article, written by Alex Avery, Director of Research for the Institute, was titled "Is Atrazine Killing Kids - Or Saving Humanity," and it attacked the Environmental Working Group (EWG) for pointing out the lack of consideration given by regulatory agencies to atrazine's endocrine effects.

In 2006, when the Natural Resources Defense Council grew concerned about the ramifications for wildlife of low levels of atrazine in drinking water and in open surface water systems, Alex Avery responded, saying: "The witch-hunt against atrazine has been perpetrated for more than a decade by the Natural Resources Defense Council and they will not take no for an answer."

On November 9, 2009, Hudson published another article by Avery supportive of atrazine and taking issue with further safety reviews of the herbicide. This article was titled "Extreme Activists Take the Reins at EPA," and it attacked EPA for its decision to further review the safety of atrazine, and attacked the NRDC for advocating the review.

In 2002, University of California Berkeley professor Dr. Tyrone Hayes published the results of several studies on atrazine in the environment and its effect on amphibians. One of the studies, titled "Atrazine-Induced Hermaphroditism at 0.1 ppb in American Leopard Frogs (Rana pipiens): Laboratory and Field Evidence," alleged that atrazine had contaminated waterways and was causing hermaphroditism in frogs. A second article, titled Hermaphroditic, demasculinized frogs after exposure to the herbicide atrazine at low ecologically relevant doses, concluded that atrazine in the environment could be affecting the sexual development of male frogs. Hayes and his research team hypothesized that atrazine in the environment was causing the frogs' testosterone to convert to estrogen. Dr. Hayes' credibility as a researcher subsequently came under attack, and Dr. Hayes linked these attacks to the manufacturer of atrazine, Syngenta.

On March 1, 2010, during a time when multiple lawsuits against atrazine were winding their way through the courts, the Hudson Institute helped attack and discredit Hayes. The Institute issued a press release titled "No New Findings in Atrazine Study Promoted by Discredited Researcher, According to the Hudson Institute Center for Global Food Issues."

The Hudson Institute maintains a webpage dedicated to attacking Dr. Hayes and his credibility. The site, called "Atrazine Facts," is hosted on the Institutes' Center for Global Food Issues" website. The website says, in part,

Dr. Tyrone Hayes has spent more than a decade allied with eco-activists peddling scare stories due to alleged health effects from atrazine. Yet despite his decade-long search and after more than 50 years of widespread use of this herbicide by farmers to minimize soil erosion while combating weeds, Hayes can offer no compelling real-world evidence that atrazine poses any appreciable risk to amphibian populations anywhere. “Aside from his own often-conflicting lab studies, other researchers have not seen the effects Hayes claims to have found. Replication is the gold-standard of science and Hayes’ work has failed this test miserably. It should also be noted that Dr. Hayes is an admitted anti-atrazine activist and has aligned himself closely with organizations including Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), organizations with a clear track record of campaigns against popular herbicides, large scale farm production and effective tools that have revolutionized agriculture today.

Programs

The Institute now operates a number of programs - each of which are dubbed as a "center" or "project" - including:

• Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal - William A. Schambra, Director
• Center for American Common Culture- John Fonte, Director
• Center for Employment Policy - Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Director
• Center for Future Security Strategies - S. Enders Wimbush, Director
• Center for Global Food Issues - Dennis Avery, Director
• Center for Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World - Hillel Fradkin, Director
• Center for Latin American Studies - Jaime Daremblum, Director
• Center for Middle East Policy - Meyrav Wurmser, Director
• Economic Policy Studies (formerly the Regulatory Studies Center) Irwin Stelzer, Director
• Islam and Democracy Project - Husain Haqqani, Co-Chair;
• Project on Campaign and Election Laws - Amy Kaufman
• Center for Religious Freedom - Paul Marshall

The Hudson Institute also works on medicines issues, arguing for positions very close to those of the large patent-holding drug companies. In particular, one of its Senior Fellows, Carol Adelman, has authored a number of articles attacking the World Health Organization, and NGOs, for approving the use of generic versions of antiretroviral AIDS drugs.

Funding

Between 1987 and 2006, the Institute received 273 grants totaling $17,722,643 (unadjusted for inflation) from a range of foundations including:[4]

• Castle Rock Foundation
• Earhart Foundation
• F.M. Kirby Foundation
• John M. Olin Foundation, Inc.
• JM Foundation
• Koch Family Foundations (David H. Koch Foundation)
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
• Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation
• Scaife Foundations (Scaife Family, Sarah Mellon Scaife, Carthage)
• Shelby Cullom Davis Foundation
• Smith Richardson Foundation
• Walton Family Foundation
• William H. Donner Foundation

While many conservative think tanks eschew government funding, Hudson happily takes government contracts. The Capital Research Center (CRC) database lists Hudson as having received six grants between 1996 and 2002 totalling $731,914 (unadjusted for inflation). Five of the six grants were from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs. (Neither the CRC database or Hudson's annual report for those years provide details on what the grants were specifically for). [5]

In 2002 Hudson received a grant of $173,484 from the Department of Commerce. (Rather bizarrely, CRC assigns the Department of Commerce an "ideological ranking" of 1 - "Radical Left").

The Hudson Institute's IRS Form 990 for the financial year ending on September 30, 2003 showed total revenue of $9.34 million, including over $146,000 in government grants. Other known funders listed in the institute's 2002 annual report include:

• Ag Processing Inc
• American Crop Protection Association
• American Cyanamid
• Archer Daniels Midland
• Cargill
• Ciba-Geigy
• ConAgra Foods
• Conrad Black
• CropLife International
• DowElanco
• DuPont
• Eli Lilly and Company
• Exxon Mobil
• Fannie Mae
• General Electric Fund
• Heinz
• IBM
• Lilly Endowment
• McDonald's
• Merck
• Microsoft
• Monsanto
• National Agricultural Chemical Association
• Nichols-Dezenhall Communications Management Group
• Novartis
• PayPal
• PhRMA
• PriceWaterhouseCoopers
• Procter & Gamble
• Sunkist Growers
• Syngenta Crop Protection
• United Agri Products
• Westfield Corporation

After it was revealed that Michael Fumento received funding from Monsanto for his 1999 book Bio-Evolution, company spokesman Chris Horner confirmed that it continues to fund the think tank. "It's our practice, that if we're dealing with an organization like this, that any funds we're giving should be unrestricted," Horner told Businessweek. Hudson's CEO Kenneth R. Weinstein told Businessweek that he was uncertain if the payment should have been disclosed. "That's a good question, period," he said. [6]

Between 2001 and 2010, the Institute received $7 million from the Bradley Foundation

Personnel

As at October 2005 key Hudson Institute personnel, with pay data from the 2000-2003 IRS return, include:

Executive Management

• Herb London, President ($195,000)
• Kenneth R. Weinstein, Chief Executive Officer ($131,005)
• Deborah L. Hoopes,Vice President & Chief Financial Officer ($68,961)

Other Members of the Executive Commitee

• Linden S. Blue
• Joseph M. Giglio
• Marie-Josee Kravis
• Robert H. McKinney
• Wallace O. Sellers
• Walter P. Stern
• Allan R. Tessler

Board of Trustees

The Hudson Institute also has 32 trustees including:

• Conrad Black
• Roy Innis
• Richard Perle

The Hudson Institute also has "Trustee Emeriti" including:

• Craig Fuller, who led the PR firm Hill & Knowlton's Gulf War front group, Citizens for a Free Kuwait
• Kenneth M. Duberstein, who runs a top DC lobby firm with a host of corporate clients
• Alexander M. Haig

Staff

According to the Institute's 2002-2003 IRS return, the five highest paid employees, other than officers, and their total financial compensation, were:

• Norman Podhoretz, senior fellow, $163,626
• Michael Horowitz, senior fellow, $189,007, directs Hudson's Project for Civil Justice Reform (which promotes tort reform) and Project for International Religious Liberty
• Graham Toft $117,350
• William Schambra $141,531
• Constantine Menges $117,333

Selected other staff and Fellows

• Carol Adelman, Senior Fellow
• Alex A. Avery, Director of Research and Education, Center for Global Food Issues;
• Robert Bork, Distinguished Fellow
• Michael Fumento, Senior Fellow
• Ron Dworkin, Senior Fellow
• Francis Fukuyama Adjunct Fellow
• Charles Horner, Senior Fellow
• Frank Luntz, Adjunct Fellow
• Paul Marshall, Senior Fellow
• Joel Schwartz, Senior Adjunct Fellow
• Max Singer
• Lt. General William Odom, who was director of Hudson's Center for National Security Studies in 2001 is now a Senior Fellow
• I. Lewis Scooter Libby (Senior Advisor)

Former personnel

Former board directors include James H. Dowling from the multinational PR firm Burson-Marsteller. Former staff, listed in 2001 IRS return, include include John Curtis Smith, vice president; Patricia Hasselblad, secretary; and Gary Geipel, COO; Betsy Ross, senior fellow; and Edwin S. Rubinstein, senior fellow. Other former staff include: Phyllis Busansky, Welfare Policy Center; David Dodenhoff, Welfare Policy Center; Joshua Kaufmann, Welfare Policy Center; Kay Crawford, restorative justice coordinator of the Crime Control Policy Center; Natalie Hipple, research director at Hudson's Crime Control Policy Center; John Clark, director of Hudson's Center for Central European and Eurasian Studies; Donald K. Jonas, director of Hudson's Center for Workplace Development; Michael Garber, director of Hudson's Education Policy Center; Diana Etindi, director of Hudson's Phoenix Center on Human Relations and Community Affairs; Marshall Wittmann, director of the Project for Conservative Reform; Amy Sherman, director of the Welfare Policy Center.

Contact details

1015 15th Street, N.W. (the Examiner Building (Washington DC), home to numerous conservative organizations)
6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: (202) 974-2400
Fax: (202) 974-2410
Email: info AT hudson.org
Web: http://www.hudson.org

Articles and resources

Related SourceWatch articles

• Hudson Institute's Promotion of Social Security Privatization
• Think tanks
• Trashing organic foods
• Jan Henrik Jebsen - board member

External resources

• Hudson RSS feed

External articles

• "Hudson Institute, Inc.", Media Transparency, accessed October 2005.
• Search of Media Transparency website for Hudson Institute results;
• People for the American Way, Buying a Movement: Right-Wing Foundations and American Politics, 1996.
• Phil Wilayto, "Don't look to Wisconsin as model for welfare reform", Media Transparency, July 1, 2000.
• Bryan G. Pfeifer, "Wisconsin Works doesn't work: Report confirms failure of Wisconsin welfare reform known as W-2", Media Transparency, January 13, 2002.
• "Salon.com, Roll Call: Republican pollster canned at MSNBC", Media Matters for America, September 30, 2004.
• Bill Berkowitz, "At 60, the United Nations is still taking fire: The Hudson Institute's new 'EYE On The UN' website aims to make sure the UN is transparent, accountable and doing what the US wants", Media Transparency, September 28, 2005.
• Eamon Javers, "A Columnist Backed by Monsanto: Michael Fumento's failure to disclose payments to him in 1999 from the agribusiness giant have now caused Scripps Howard to sever its ties to him," BusinessWeek Online, January 13, 2006.
• Bill Berkowitz, "Hudson Institute: Home of the indicted and the exposed: After hiring Scooter Libby, "Senior Fellow" Michael Fumento admits taking Monsanto money and not disclosing it, and is fired by Scripps Howard News Service", Media Transparency, January 18, 2006.

Emma Schwartz, "Kazakhstan Pays for Academic Reports: Johns Hopkins Institute Says It Had Complete Independence," ABC News, September 29, 2008.

References