Le Cercle

Le Cercle is a foreign policy think-tank specialising in international security. Set up after World War II, the group has members from twenty-five countries and meets at least bi-annually, in Washington, D.C., United States.

The group's current chairman is Norman Lamont, former British Chancellor of the Exchequer.

History

At some point in the 1950s, Le Cercle was established by former French prime minister Antoine Pinay and French intelligence agent Jean Violet under the name Cercle Pinay.

In later years, the British took over the chairmanship of Le Cercle. Leading members included the ex-MI6 officer Anthony Cavendish, the British Tory MP Julian Amery.^[1] and Brian Crozier.^[2]

Alan Clark the British Conservative MP and historian stated in his diaries that Le Cercle was funded by the CIA. ^[3]

Le Cercle has operated in anonymity since its creation, with only a handful of articles having been written about it. The Cercle was mentioned in the early 1980s by Der Spiegel in Germany as a result of the controversy surrounding Franz Josef Strauß, one of the regular attendants of the Cercle.^[2] In the late 1990s, the Cercle received some attention after a scandal had broken out involving Jonathan Aitken, at the time chairman of Le Cercle.^[4] Members that were contacted by newspapers refused to answer any questions.

References

External links

• Transcript of presentation to Le Cercle by Turki bin Faisal Al Saud (from www.globalsecurity.org)
• Aitken dropped by the Right's secret club by Chris Blackhurst (from www.independent.co.uk)
• First Cercle documents ever: Photocopies of membership lists by Joël van der Reijden (ISGP, October 26, 2011)