Madeleine Albright and Richard Armitage work side by side in this go to think tank for national security ideas, formed in 2007 and funded by just about every corporation that receives federal contracts, a host of private equity firms, and all branches of the military. Strange bedfellows? Yes, but just co-directors of this bi-partisan think tank.
In light of the latest NSA revelations, as well as the 2007 launch of this organization, I ask this question:
How much influence does this group have on the Obama Administration's national security policies in general, and the over reach of NSA in particular?
You can click here to read about the Center for NEW American Security
here. This is
the link to CNAS's website.
These are Muckety Maps that show relationships; however, these are just screen shots and are not interactive. I take some time to rearrange Muckety Maps so the relationships are easier to see. Also, to see LARGER, LEGIBLE version, just double click to open these maps up.
If you are interested in playing around with the INTERACTIVE MAPS for the Center for New American Security, you can go to this link,then click on the solid and dotted lines to see the relationships for each corporation and person showing on the following charts.
To see the 13 current directors, click here. The CNAS website provides biographies for the directors here.
I wanted to see if Armitage and Albright connected in other ways, so I expanded them both to make this map:
As you can see, they are both also connected to the Atlantic Council of the United States as well.
So Richard and Madeleine are both respected contributors to national issues.
So who funded this think tank's launch? Here's the link to the Interactive Map. Just click on the "98 Contributors" box. There are so many, that the map is difficult to read.
I took the time to rearrange the map. Here's a readable version that is not interactive. Double click to see the larger version.
CNAS also provides a list of supporters (contributors) here.
Muckety Maps are not perfect, but the benefit of the ability to see the inter-relatedness of those on the maps is priceless.
Here is the list of CNAS's funders in no particular order in case Muckety Maps missed one:
Accuron Technologies Limited
Hart, Molly Butler and Michael D. Griffin
Rolls-Royce North America Inc.
Activision | Blizzard
Health Net Federal Services LLC
Sandler Family Foundation
Advanced Rotorcraft Training Services
Height Analytics
Sapphire Energy, Inc.
Aegis Defense Services LLC
Heinrich Boell Foundation, North America
Sasakawa Peace Foundation
Aerospace Industries Association
Henes, COL Chris, AUS (Ret.)
Schwartz, Bernard L.
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Hillen, The Honorable Dr. John
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC)
Allen and Co. LLC
Hills Family Fund
Sembcorp-Sabine Shipyards, Inc.
American International Group (AIG)
Hines Investments
SERCO Inc.
American Natural Gas Alliance
HL Capital Inc.
Sheehan, Kevin
American President Lines
Honeywell International Inc.
Ship and Ocean Foundation
Ashe, Ambassador Victor
Hunt Consolidated, Inc.
Smith Richardson Foundation
Aspen Strategy Group
IF Hummingbird FD, Inc.
Soliman, Moshira and R. Leslie Deak
AT&T Services
Import of Santa Monica
SRA International
Avenue Capital Management II, LP
International Business Machines (IBM)
Starr Foundation
BAE Systems - North America
Itochu Aviation, Inc.
Stechler, Akiva
BAE Systems Plc - United Kingdom
Itochu International, Inc.
Stettler, John
Bank of America
ITT Defense & Information Solutions
Stone Key Partners
Bavarian Nordic Inc.
John Templeton Foundation
Stone Point Capital
Bechtel National, Inc.
Jorge Scientific Corporation
Strake Foundation
Berico Technologies
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
STT Communications
Bessemer Venture Partners
KBR, Inc.
Sumitomo Corporation
BGR
Keppel Corporation Limited
Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US
BioLogue
Korea Foundation
Temasek Corporation
Bloomberg Government
L-3 MPRI
Textron Charitable Trust
BLS Investments
Lee Foundation
The Albright Group
Bovin Family Foundation
Levin Capital Strategies, LP
The Alliance for Climate Protection
Brenner West Capital Advisors
Lockheed Martin Corporation
The Blackstone Group
Brown Advisory
Lotus Asset Management
The Boeing Company
Caterpillar Inc.
Macquarie Capital (USA) Inc.
The Carson Family Charitable Trust
CH2M HILL, Inc.
Mannheim LLC
The Connect U.S. Fund
Charles River Ventures
ManTech International
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Chertoff Group, LLC
Markle Foundation
The John P. White and Elizabeth M. White Family Foundation
Chevron Products Company
McKinsey & Co.
The Potomac Foundation
Clear Brook Advisors
Mission Essential Personnel, LLC
The Rockefeller Foundation
Cross-Strait Interflow Prospect Foundation
Mitsubishi Corporation
The Russell Foundation
Curtin, Jeremy
Morgan Stanley
The Tauri Group
David Berger Foundation
Navistar, Inc.
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Deloitte Consulting LLP
New Century Consulting
Tiber Creek Partners, LLC
Dunlap, Maj Gen Charles, USAF (Ret.)
News Corporation
Tides Foundation
Dynamic Strategies Asia, LC
Northrop Grumman Corporation
Topth, Inc.
DynCorp International LLC
Nuclear Threat Initiative
Two Sigma Investments, LLC
EADS North America
Occidental Petroleum Corporation
United Overseas Bank Limited
Emergent BioSolutions Inc.
Palantir Technologies Inc.
United Parcel Service (UPS)
Energy Foundation
Parsons Corporation
United States Air Force
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
Perry Living Trust
United States Army
FHC Health Systems
Pershing Square Capital Management
United States Coast Guard
Finelli, Frank
Peter and Devon Briger Foundation
United States Department of Defense (Office of the Secretary of Defense, Office of Net Assessment)
Finmeccanica, North America Inc.
Pew Charitable Trusts
United States Institute of Peace
Fluor Enterprises, Inc.
PharmAthene, Inc.
United States Marine Corps
Foley Hoag LLP
Pioneer Natural Resources USA, Inc.
United States National Intelligence Council
Ford Motor Company
Ploughshares Fund
United States Navy
Four Seasons Ventures, LLC
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Voltaix (c/o Roxiticus Foundation)
Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Foundation
Prudential Financial
VT Systems
Friedman Family Foundation
Quang X. Pham Foundation
Wasserman Foundation
Gallagher, Tommy
Raytheon Company
Webster, Chris
GE Foundation
RBC Capital Markets, LLC
WILL Interactive, Inc.
General Dynamics Corporation
Red Lion Foundation
Williams, Anthony
General Electric Aviation
Renaissance Strategic Advisors
Zak Family Charitable Trust
Google Inc.
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Zeit Stiftung
Haley, LCDR Ronald J., USNR (Ret.)
What seems obvious to me is that the Center for New American Security is where politicians, military brass, corporations, and non-profit organizations come together to develop the national security strategies for the United States.
CNAS is very busy. One of their main projects is grooming, because we must have a new generation of technocrats to take over our national security:
NEXT GENERATION NATIONAL SECURITY LEADERS PROGRAM
Click here to see the last class of chosen ones.
What I also found interesting is how many of the same people are also on the Council for Foreign Relations.
There is one more organization where, if you dig through the Muckety Map links, you will find many of the same people coming together.
The Center for the Study of the Presidency. Click here for the Muckety map link, then click on the different boxes to see the relationships. It would take another diary to cover this group. Clickhereto read the Board of Trustees.
IN CONCLUSION:
We understand the need for national security; however, it would be nice for "the people" to have an actual seat at the table with some of these think tanks.
We have been wondering how these groups seem to coordinate efforts to frustrate the voice of the people. I believe the think tanks are where this happens. The think tanks and groups like The Aspen Group is where the power brokers meet and plan what ends up being our destiny.
It is also clear that military brass have a bright future when they retire as they are invited onto boards of multi-national corporations, banks, and even private equity firms in addition to becoming directors of these powerful think tanks.
What is frustrating is that, we the people, don't have access to these thought processes; however, one can only imagine that there is a chain of information dissemination that could easily find its way to the lobbyists who will grease Congress to pass laws in the favor of corporations and interest groups, but not necessarily in our best interest.
Lastly, I wonder how to interpret the use of the word NEW? Is it NEW AMERICAN? or NEW SECURITY?
What do you think?
America is definitely looking new to me, and not in a good way.
I could be wrong. I hope I am wrong.