http://rightweb.irc-online.org/groupwatch/csis.php.html

Background:

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a right-wing, neoconservative think tank which was founded in 1962. Ray S. Cline was a cofounder. (36) Until 1986, CSIS was affiliated with Georgetown University. (2) Its first fulltime staff member was Richard V. Allen, a conservative Republican who was President Reagan's first National Security Adviser. (2) CSIS describes itself as "an independent insitution for public policy research in the field of foreign and national security affairs." It focuses on "the issues and challenges that confront the United States in advancing its global interests and discharging its global responsibilities."(1) It claims to be anonpartisan institution of international, interdisciplinary scholars. (1)

However, Timothy S. Healy, president of Georgetown University, examined its affiliate and decided that CSIS was academically somewhat less credible than it claimed to be. Apparently, CSIS has no library, its faculty are seen more often on television than in the classroom (over 4,000 appearances in 1985), and its publications have a reputation (by academic standards) of being superficial. (2) CSIS has been called "a parking lot for former government big shots," and a "conservative propaganda machine," particularly for the policies of the Reagan administration. (2) Most CSIS senior fellows do not teach classes, but do draw handsome salaries (up to $70,000). (2)

The formal affiliation between Georgetown and CSIS ended on July 1, 1987. (1) An article in the London Tribune quotes a Washington Post article saying that Georgetown severed the relationship because of the strong identification CSIS had with the Reagan administration on arms control, Central America, and South Africa. The University was also disturbed because large contributions to CSIS come from some of the biggest defense contractors. (2)