| Founder(s) | Herman Kahn |
|---|---|
| Type | Think tank |
| Founded | 1961 |
| Location | 1015 Fifteenth Street, NW Washington, D.C., USA |
| Origins | RAND Corporation |
| Key people | Charles Blahous, Zeyno Baran, Herbert London, Kenneth R. Weinstein, Richard Weitz |
| Area served | United States of America |
| Revenue | $10,000,000+[1] |
| Employees | 70+ |
| Motto | "Celebrating a half century of forging ideas that promote security, prosperity, and freedom." |
| Website | www.hudson.org |
The Hudson Institute is a conservative[2][3] think tank founded in 1961, in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist, military strategist, and systems theorist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation.[4] It moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1984 and to Washington, D.C., in 2004.[5]
The Institute promotes public policy change in accordance with its stated values of a "commitment to free markets and individual responsibility, confidence in the power of technology to assist progress, respect for the importance of culture and religion in human affairs, and determination to preserve America's national security."[4]
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".[6]
In March 2011, Kenneth R. Weinstein was appointed president and CEO of the institute.[4]
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According to its mission statement, the Hudson Institute "challenges conventional thinking and helps manage strategic transitions to the future through interdisciplinary and collaborative studies in defense, international relations, economics, culture, science, technology, and law. Through publications, conferences and policy recommendations, we seek to guide global leaders in government and business."[4]
The Hudson Institute mission statement continues "In the 1970s, Hudson's scholars advocated a turn away from the 'no-growth' policies of the Club of Rome; in the early 1990s, it advised the newly independent Baltic nations on becoming market economies; it assisted in drafting the Wisconsin welfare reform law."[4]
The Institute has taken positions critical of environmentalism.[7] Dennis Avery, as Director of the Hudson's Center for Global Food Issues, has written in opposition to those who favor the adoption of organic agricultural methods.[8]
It was described by US foreign policy scholars John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt as “closely associated with neoconservatives”.[9]
The Hudson Institute is supported by donations from companies and individuals. Corporate contributors listed in a publication from 2001 included Eli Lilly and Company, Monsanto Company, DuPont, Dow-Elanco, Sandoz, Ciba-Geigy, ConAgra, Cargill, and Procter & Gamble.[10]
Fundraising efforts use testimonials from what the Institute calls its "family of generous supporters and friends", among them, Henry Kissinger, who provides a testimonial: "Hudson Institute is today one of America's foremost policy research centers, in the forefront of study and debate on important domestic and international policy issues, known and respected around the globe, a leader in innovative thinking and creative solutions to the challenges of the present and the future."[11]
Critics question the institute's position on many issues, such as their negative campaigning against organic farming, since they receive large sums of money from conventional food companies. The New York Times commented on Dennis Avery's attacks on organic farming: "The attack on organic food by a well-financed research organization suggests that, though organic food accounts for only 1 percent of food sales in the United States, the conventional food industry is worried."[8]
In a May 18, 2003, BBC broadcast entitled, "The War Party", Meyrav Wurmser, wife of AEI member David Wurmser and member of The Hudson Institute, candidly admitted that “many of us are Jewish” and that “all of us, in fact, are pro-Israel, some of us more fiercely so that others.
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 totaling $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.)
In 2002, Hudson received a grant of $173,484 from the Department of Commerce.
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. Although several of the organizations listed below no longer exist, some of the funding sources listed in the institute's 2002 annual report include:
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 and President Kenneth R. Weinstein told BusinessWeek that he was uncertain if the payment should have been disclosed. "That's a good question, period," he said.[12]
Source: [13]
In 1990, fellow Bruce Chapman founded another think tank, the Discovery Institute.
Politicians who have been affiliated with Hudson include former U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle and Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels who served as Hudson's President and CEO from 1987 to 1990.[15]
Other members have included: