Difference between revisions of "Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies"

From Powerbase
Jump to: navigation, search
(→‎The "New Authoritarians")
(→‎Resources: removed dead link)
 
(47 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
[[Image:Kennard 1.gif||right|Peter Kennard's 'Defended to Death' Photomontage]]
 
[[Image:Kennard 1.gif||right|Peter Kennard's 'Defended to Death' Photomontage]]
−
The Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies (IEDSS) was set up in London in 1979 to study political change in Europe and to assess its impact on strategic and defence issues.  It was particularly concerned with those developments which affected the Western Alliance.  It was founded by Peter Blaker MP (now [[Lord Blaker]]), [[Ray Whitney]] MP and [[Stephen Haseler]].  According to Tom Easton the Institute had a marked anti-left tendency:<ref>Tom Easton [http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/articles/l31whowh.htm Who were they traveling with?] - SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party Ivor Crewe and Anthony King Oxford University Press, 1995, £25, Lobster 31</ref>:
+
The '''Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies''' ('''IEDSS''') was set up in London in 1979 to study political change in Europe and to assess its impact on strategic and defence issues.  It was particularly concerned with those developments which affected the Western Alliance.  It was founded by [[Peter Blaker]] MP (subsequently created Lord Blaker), [[Ray Whitney]] MP and [[Stephen Haseler]].  According to Tom Easton, the Institute had a marked anti-left tendency:
  
−
:"Haseler was not only a member of the SDP, but a founding member of the [[Social Democratic Alliance]] which preceded it. An academic who, as a London councillor, had become a vociferous critic of changes within the [[Labour Party]] in the Seventies, Haseler had spent some time at the third big Washington think-tank, the [[Heritage Foundation]]. With its money he had helped set up in London the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, a forceful and well-resourced foe of both the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] and the Labour Party in the Eighties."  
+
:Haseler was not only a member of the SDP, but a founding member of the [[Social Democratic Alliance]] which preceded it. An academic who, as a London councillor, had become a vociferous critic of changes within the [[Labour Party]] in the Seventies, Haseler had spent some time at the third big Washington think-tank, the [[Heritage Foundation]]. With its money he had helped set up in London the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, a forceful and well-resourced foe of both the [[Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament]] and the Labour Party in the Eighties.<ref>Tom Easton, "[http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/articles/l31whowh.htm Who were they traveling with?]", Review of ''SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party'', by Ivor Crewe and Anthony King, Oxford University Press, 1995, in ''Lobster'', 31, June 1996.</ref>
  
−
IEDSS was the subject of a profile in City Limits (14 August 1986). Commenting on this Robin Ramsay stated:
+
IEDSS was the subject of a profile in ''City Limits'' (14 August 1986). Commenting on the profile, Robin Ramsay stated:
  
−
:"Formed in 1979, apparently as part of the response to the British peace movement [...] Feulner is Heritage Foundation, Haseler is rumoured to be straight CIA these days, and Allen was NSC advisor to Reagan until he got caught (or set up) taking a bribe. IEDSS appears to be run by Gerald Frost whose perambulations around the British Right go back to the early 1970s when he was in the Thatcher/Joseph Centre for Policy Studies. Groups like the [[Institute for the Study of Terrorism]] and IEDSS are current examples of the endless, self-reproducing groups on the Right: the same small group of people, many of them probably intelligence agents of one kind or another, play musical chairs."<ref>Robin Ramsay (1987) Groupings on the British Right, ''Lobster'' 13.</ref>
+
:Formed in 1979, apparently as part of the response to the British peace movement ... [Edwin J.] [[Edwin J. Feulner|Feulner]] is Heritage Foundation, [[Stephen Haseler|Haseler]] is rumoured to be straight CIA these days, and Allen was NSC advisor to Reagan until he got caught (or set up) taking a bribe. IEDSS appears to be run by [[Gerald Frost]] whose perambulations around the British Right go back to the early 1970s when he was in the Thatcher/Joseph [[Centre for Policy Studies]]. Groups like the [[Institute for the Study of Terrorism]] and IEDSS are current examples of the endless, self-reproducing groups on the Right: the same small group of people, many of them probably intelligence agents of one kind or another, play musical chairs.<ref>Robin Ramsay (1987), "Groupings on the British Right", ''Lobster'', 13, 1987.</ref>
  
 
==European Heritage?==
 
==European Heritage?==
−
This early skepticism of the Institute's stated aims was confirmed by a 1987 investigation by the Nation that stated that: "Since 1982 the [[Heritage Foundation]], the most influential conservative think tank in the United States, has channeled as much as $1 million to right-wing organizations in Britain and other Western European countries, with the aim of influencing domestic political affairs."<ref>InterNation (1987) the Heritage Foundation goes abroad, The Nation, June 6.</ref>
+
This early scepticism of the Institute's stated aims was confirmed by a 1987 investigation by ''The Nation'' that stated:  
 +
:Since 1982 the [[Heritage Foundation]], the most influential conservative think tank in the United States, has channeled as much as $1 million to right-wing organizations in Britain and other Western European countries, with the aim of influencing domestic political affairs.<ref>InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", ''The Nation'', 6 June 1987.</ref>
  
−
The article states that the British groups financed by Heritage were closely linked to senior figures in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party. In the case of the IEDSS (the Heritage Foundation provided start-up capital and the overwhelming bulk of continued financial support) the result is "a virtual Heritage satellite".  It reports that [[Jeffrey Gayner]], Heritage's counsel for international relations, their  "ambassador to the world,' says Heritage has led the effort to shape a "common international agenda" for the right, developing "a cooperative relationship" with more than "200 foreign groups and individuals, including political parties, think tanks, academics and media. Programs include information exchanges and visits, Heritage's periodic appointment of non-Americans to specific assignments and fellowships."<ref>InterNation (1987) the Heritage Foundation goes abroad, The Nation, June 6.</ref>
+
''The Nation'''s article states that the British groups financed by Heritage were closely linked to senior figures in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party. In the case of the IEDSS (the Heritage Foundation provided start-up capital and the overwhelming bulk of continued financial support) the result is "a virtual Heritage satellite".  It reports that [[Jeffrey Gayner]], Heritage's counsel for international relations, their  "ambassador to the world", says Heritage has led the effort to shape a "common international agenda" for the right, developing "a cooperative relationship" with more than "200 foreign groups and individuals, including political parties, think tanks, academics and media. Programs include information exchanges and visits, Heritage's periodic appointment of non-Americans to specific assignments and fellowships."<ref>InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", ''The Nation'', 6 June 1987.</ref>
  
−
The Institute's relation to these wider efforts to shape and influence opinion are indicated by the involvement of [[Edwin Feulner Jr.]], chair of the [[U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy]] and responsible for evaluating programs of the [[U.S. Information Agency]], including [[Voice of America]], [[Radio Marti]], [[Fulbright scholarships]] and the [[National Endowment for Democracy]].  Feulner had previously attended the [[London School of Economics]] and the [[University of Edinburgh]] and was familiar with the British scene. As was [[John O'Sullivan]], editor of the Heritage Foundation's journal, Policy Review (from 1979 to 1983) and a policy adviser to Thatcher. He wrote key sections of the 1987 Conservative Party's election manifesto, ''The Next Moves Forward''.  The Nation article states that Heritage funding of British projects was evident as early as 1979, and became more systematic in 1982, when U.S. and British conservatives were alarmed by the growing influence of the peace movement:
+
The Institute's relationship to these wider efforts to shape and influence opinion is indicated by the involvement of [[Edwin J. Feulner]], chair of the [[U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy]] and responsible for evaluating programs of the [[U.S. Information Agency]], including [[Voice of America]], [[Radio Marti]], [[Fulbright scholarships]] and the [[National Endowment for Democracy]].  Feulner had previously attended the [[London School of Economics]] and the University of Edinburgh and was familiar with the British scene. As was [[John O’Sullivan]], editor of the Heritage Foundation's journal, ''Policy Review'' (from 1979 to 1983) and a policy adviser to Thatcher. He wrote key sections of the 1987 Conservative Party's election manifesto, ''The Next Moves Forward''.  ''The Nation'''s article states that Heritage funding of British projects was evident as early as 1979, and became more systematic in 1982, when U.S. and British conservatives were alarmed by the growing influence of the peace movement:
  
−
:"That May, Heritage disseminated a so-called backgrounder titled "Moscow and the Peace Offensive," in which it called on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and "its affiliated public support organizations" to spread "information concerning the links . . . between known Communist front groups and the "independent' peace groups." The campaign to prevent the deployment of cruisemissiles on British soil was accompanied by a steady acceleration of Heritage funding. According to the I.R.S.'s schedules, the foundation's donations to a range of British institutions rose from $106,000 in 1982 to $254,000 in 1985. Although 1986 figures are not yet available, total Heritage contributions over a five-year period appear to be in the neighborhood of $1 million. During the three years for which records could be obtained, Britain was the target of more than 95 percent of Heritage's international funding operations."<ref>InterNation ibid.</ref>
+
:That May, Heritage disseminated a so-called backgrounder titled "Moscow and the Peace Offensive," in which it called on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and "its affiliated public support organizations" to spread "information concerning the links . . . between known Communist front groups and the 'independent' peace groups." The campaign to prevent the deployment of cruise missiles on British soil was accompanied by a steady acceleration of Heritage funding. According to the I.R.S.'s schedules, the foundation's donations to a range of British institutions rose from $106,000 in 1982 to $254,000 in 1985. Although 1986 figures are not yet available, total Heritage contributions over a five-year period appear to be in the neighborhood of $1 million. During the three years for which records could be obtained, Britain was the target of more than 95 percent of Heritage's international funding operations.<ref>InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", ''The Nation'', 6 June 1987.</ref>
  
−
The main recipients identified for 1982-1985 are the IEDSS., which received a total of $427,809, more than any other group, U.S. or foreign; the [[International Freedom Fund Establishment]] (I.F.F.E.), which took in $140,000 (and was the semi-private fund run by Brian Crozier); the [[Coalition for Peace through Security]] (CPS), which accepted a $10,000 grant in 1982 and, according to BBC television's untransmitted Secret Society series<ref>see Christopher Hitchens, 'New Statesman Downed by Law,' The Nation, February 21</ref> (which obtained a letter from the CPS thanking Heritage) a further grant of $50,000 in October 1982.  Three other British groups were given token amounts: the [[Social Affairs Unit]], the [[International Symposium of the Open Society]] and an organization listed simply as [[Aneks]].
+
The main recipients identified for 1982-1985 are the IEDSS, which received a total of $427,809, more than any other group, U.S. or foreign; the [[International Freedom Fund Establishment]] (I.F.F.E.), which took in $140,000 (and was the semi-private fund run by [[Brian Crozier]]); the [[Coalition for Peace through Security]] (CPS), which accepted a $10,000 grant in 1982 and, according to BBC television's untransmitted ''Secret Society'' series<ref>See Christopher Hitchens, "New Statesman Downed by Law", ''The Nation'', February 1987</ref> (which obtained a letter from the CPS thanking Heritage) a further grant of $50,000 in October 1982.  Three other British groups were given token amounts: the [[Social Affairs Unit]], the [[International Symposium of the Open Society]] and an organization listed simply as [[Aneks]].
  
 
Before moving to the IEDSS, Frost was secretary of the [[Centre for Policy Studies]], which was founded in 1974 by, among others, Margaret Thatcher, who served as its first president.
 
Before moving to the IEDSS, Frost was secretary of the [[Centre for Policy Studies]], which was founded in 1974 by, among others, Margaret Thatcher, who served as its first president.
 
[[Image:Gone13.jpg|right]]   
 
[[Image:Gone13.jpg|right]]   
 +
 
Founded in 1979, the year Thatcher came to power, the IEDSS stated its goals thus:  
 
Founded in 1979, the year Thatcher came to power, the IEDSS stated its goals thus:  
  
−
:"To assess the impact of political change in Europe and North America on defense and strategic issues. In particular, to study the domestic political situation in NATO countries and how this affects the NATO posture."<ref>InterNation ibid.</ref>
+
:To assess the impact of political change in Europe and North America on defense and strategic issues. In particular, to study the domestic political situation in NATO countries and how this affects the NATO posture.<ref>InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", ''The Nation'', 6 June 1987.</ref>
  
−
In an interview in the Nation, Gayner denied that there was any formal connection between Heritage and the institute, although the IEDSS was, in fact, set up with foundation funds and that Heritage president Feulner chairs the institute's board; Richard V. Allen, Reagan's first national security adviser, a Heritage distinguished fellow and head of the foundation's Asian Studies Center advisory council, is also a board member; Frank Shakespeare, chair of the foundation's board of trustees and the Reagan Administration's Ambassador to the Vatican, was a founding member of the IEDSS's advisory council.<ref>InterNation ibid.</ref>
+
In an interview with ''The Nation'', the Heritage Foundation's [[Jeffrey Gayner]] denied that there was any formal connection between Heritage and the institute, although the IEDSS was, in fact, set up with foundation funds and Heritage president Feulner chairs the institute's board; Richard V. Allen, Reagan's first national security adviser, a Heritage distinguished fellow and head of the foundation's Asian Studies Center advisory council, is also a board member; [[Frank Shakespeare]], chair of the foundation's board of trustees and the Reagan Administration's Ambassador to the Vatican, was a founding member of the IEDSS's advisory council.<ref>InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", ''The Nation'', 6 June 1987.</ref>
  
−
Frost also credits Stephen Haseler with the idea for the Institute. One of the earliest prominent defectors to Britain's [[Social Democratic Party]], which broke away from the Labor Party in 1981, Haseler was also a Heritage scholar and a member of the editorial board of Policy Review. According to Frost, Sir [[Peter Blaker]], a senior Tory: "saw the implications of an upsurge in peace movement activity, which was a movement of concern to him." In 1983 Blaker headed a secret ministerial group on Nuclear Weapons and Public Opinion, which generated films and literature against Britain's CND along with Ray Whitney, who served on the institute's board from 1979 to 1984 (and was also a junior minister in the Thatcher government and preceded Blaker as chair of the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Committee) in Parliament. Whitney headed the [[Information Research Department]], which conducted covert propaganda activities, including some directed against British leftists. The Nation article states that Whitney:
+
Frost also credits Stephen Haseler with the idea for the Institute. One of the earliest prominent defectors to Britain's [[Social Democratic Party]], which broke away from the Labour Party in 1981, Haseler was also a Heritage scholar and a member of the editorial board of ''Policy Review''. According to Frost, Sir [[Peter Blaker]], a senior Tory, "saw the implications of an upsurge in peace movement activity, which was a movement of concern to him." In 1983 Blaker headed a secret ministerial group on Nuclear Weapons and Public Opinion, which generated films and literature against Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) along with Ray Whitney, who served on the institute's board from 1979 to 1984 (and was also a junior minister in the Thatcher government and preceded Blaker as chair of the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Committee) in Parliament. Whitney headed the [[Information Research Department]], which conducted covert propaganda activities, including some directed against British leftists. ''The Nation'' article states that Whitney:
  
−
:"... appears to have taken a more direct role than Blaker in the smear campaign against the peace movement. In April 1983, as preparations began for a general election, Tory Defense Minister [[Michael Heseltine]] released a letter purporting to prove communist domination of the C.N.D. and of the Labor Party. One of Heseltine's chief sources was Whitney. "Our colleague Ray Whitney," he commented at the time, "has added a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the political motivations of C.N.D." I.E.D.S.S. publications also regularly attacked the C.N.D. Its first monograph, ''Protest and Perish'', an assault on E.P. Thompson's Protest and Survive, accused Thompson of "furthering the arms race' by destabilizing NATO and the bloc system."<ref>InterNation ibid.</ref>
+
:appears to have taken a more direct role than Blaker in the smear campaign against the peace movement. In April 1983, as preparations began for a general election, Tory Defense Minister [[Michael Heseltine]] released a letter purporting to prove communist domination of the C.N.D. and of the Labour Party. One of Heseltine's chief sources was Whitney. "Our colleague Ray Whitney," he commented at the time, "has added a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the political motivations of C.N.D." I.E.D.S.S. publications also regularly attacked the C.N.D. Its first monograph, ''Protest and Perish'', an assault on E.P. Thompson's ''Protest and Survive'', accused Thompson of "furthering the arms race' by destabilizing NATO and the bloc system.<ref>InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", ''The Nation'', 6 June 1987.</ref>
 
[[Image:Protest survive.jpg|thumb|left]]
 
[[Image:Protest survive.jpg|thumb|left]]
  
−
Other propaganda also made possible by grants from the Heritage Foundation included: ''Great Britain and NATO: A Parting of the Ways?'', also published in 1982, which argued that Britain could face civil war if a Labour government took office, and warned that NATO could not entrust secrets to a governing party under the sway of a "pro-Soviet faction," meaning the Labour Party. Other publications attacked the presence of the churches in the peace movement and the teaching of peace studies in British universities. Co-author of the last of those was [[Caroline Cox]], another former director of the [[Centre for Policy Studies]]. Links between the CP. and the IEDSS are close. Sir Peter Blaker is involved with both groups, and the two co-operated in the publication and distribution of 'Protest and Perish'.
+
Other propaganda also made possible by grants from the Heritage Foundation included David Carlton's book, ''Great Britain and NATO: A Parting of the Ways?'', published by the IEDSS in 1982, which argued that Britain could face civil war if a Labour government took office, and warned that NATO could not entrust secrets to a governing party under the sway of a "pro-Soviet faction", meaning the Labour Party. Other publications attacked the presence of the churches in the peace movement and the teaching of peace studies in British universities. Co-author of the last of those was [[Caroline Cox]], another former director of the [[Centre for Policy Studies]] (CPS). Links between the CPS and the IEDSS are close. Sir [[Peter Blaker]] is involved with both groups, and the two co-operated in the publication and distribution of ''Protest and Perish''.  
−
 
 
−
The Coalition for Peace through Security was also created via Heritage funding, with the declared intention of making:
 
−
 
 
−
: "one-sided disarmament a millstone around the neck of any politician advocating such a course of action for Britain."
 
−
 
 
−
The nation article also states that The [[International Freedom Fund Establishment]], which is not registered in Britain either as a company or a charity sent at least $140,000 to [[Brian Crozier]], the former head of the [[Institute for the Study of Conflict]]:
 
−
 
 
−
:"In 1981 an aide to Scaife reported that the institute had set up solid working relationships with the Heritage Foundation and that its "research into political and psychological warfare, revolutionary activities, insurgency operations and terrorism is consistently used by the Thatcher government." More recently Crozier has taken up the cause of the Nicaraguan contras. Last December he shared a platform in London with contra leader [[Arturo Cruz]] and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations [[Charles M. Lichenstein]], who is also a Heritage senior fellow.  There are no public records of the ultimate recipients of the money Heritage sent to Crozier."<ref>InterNation ibid.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
The Institute, initially shared premises in Golden Square with the US-funded organisation, the [[Institute for the Study of Conflict]] run by [[Brian Crozier]]. The IEDSS then moved to its own premises two doors away.<ref>Richard Norton-Taylor (1985) Where detente is a dirty word / The Heritage Foundation in Britain, The Guardian, November 26.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==Campaign For Defence and Multilateral Disarmament==
 
−
 
 
−
The [[Coalition For Peace Through Security]] (CPTS) was formed in the autumn of 1981, its main activists being [[ Julian Lewis]], its 'Research Director', a Conservative who spent a brief time in the Labour Party defending the IEDSS's [[Reg Prentice]] in his dispute with the Newham Northeast Constituency; [[Edward Leigh]] MP, who was principal correspondence secretary for Mrs Thatcher when she was leader of the opposition; and [[Francis Holihan]], an American roller-skate businessman. The CPTS had close relations with the [[Institute for the Study of Conflict]] (ISC), (which had a Defence Study Group with a secret and high-powered membership, and a group studying the direction and control of British foreign policy) and with the [[Institute of Economic Affairs]] and the [[Centre for Policy Studies]]. The CPS's most important link is to the [[Campaign For Defence and Multilateral Disarmament]] (CDMD) which was run and funded by Tory Central Office, and helped distribute CPS literature. <ref>Steven Dorril (1984) American Friends: the Anti-CND Groups, Lobster No.3</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
According to Steven Dorril:
 
−
 
 
−
:"In reality both committees are fronts with little or no membership. They are both conveniently 'private', which allows the Conservative Government to keep at arms length the 'dirty tricks' of the CPS and the smear tactics of MP Winston Churchill in CDMD. CDMD is actually a tightly organised group of the Conservative Party hierarchy. It includes [[Winston Churchill]], who chaired the co-ordinating (anti-CND groups) [[Committee For Peace With Freedom]] (CPF); [[John Selwyn Gummer]], Party Chairman, and the man responsible for the anti-unilateralist campaign in the Churches, Peter Blaker, Minister of State for Defence; Ray Whitney, MOD spokesman and formerly of the Cold War propaganda unit IRD (and also of the Institute for European and Strategic Studies (IESS) and the Council for Arms Control; Michael Heseltine  Secretary of State for Defence and Head of the Defence Secretariat 19, and, finally, [[Cecil Parkinson]], ex Party Chairman and member of CPS. Shortly after the March 1982 meeting the CPS obtained the list of Conservative Party agents from Cecil Parkinson and access to the new ICL computer at Central Office, which provided the mail-out facilities that they required. Churchill was appointed by the Prime Minister as co-ordinator of the Government's campaign against CND (Guardian 14th Feb,1983), the loose grouping CPF meeting at his London flat. The CPS joined the CPF and attended the monthly meetings. Its members specifically discussed anti-CND tactics with Churchill and Blaker. It was Blaker who arranged the informal meetings - sometimes with the Prime Minister, sometimes with civil servants, sometimes with Tory politicians - to prepare and co-ordinate policy against the anti-nuclear movement."<ref>Steven Dorril (1984)American Friends: the Anti-CND Groups, ''Lobster'' No.3</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
When the Nation story came to light (it was also published in the New Statesman) Labour MP [[Bryan Gould]], said: 'We have always known of the links between the US right and the conservative lunatic fringe in groups like the [[Federation of Conservative Students]]. But the involvement of ministers of the Crown - Sir Peter Blaker and Ray Whitney - in spending rightwing American money to discredit the British left is astonishing."<ref>Richard Norton-Taylor (1987)Think tank 'funding UK organizations,' May 29, The Guardian.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
Arguably it's propaganda role was predictable and indicated by the line-up of the organisation and what it produced such as [[William McGurn]], whose 1987 IEDSS pamphlet ""Terrorist or Freedom Fighter," asserted it was "inconstestable that groups such as the Provisional IRA and the PLO are terrorist", but the Mujahedin resistance in Afghanistan and other groups supported by President Reagan, are not, McGurn argues:
 
−
 
 
−
:"They cannot easily be categorised as terrorists, because they have generally demonstrated discrimination in their choice of targets and their conduct of operations. [...] Even in the case of the Contras, hard evidence is thin and often indistinguishable from the profusion of Sandinista propaganda. By contrast, the duplicity of the Sandinista government; its own attacks on innocent civilians, and the use of its soil as a base for Salvadorean rebels are well documented."<ref>Peter Murtagh (1987) West charged with hypocrisy on terror, April 21,The Guardian</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
McGurn is now a part of George W. Bush's speechwriting team after previously serving as an executive in the Office of the Chairman at [[News Corporation]].  He recently wrote:
 
−
 
 
−
:My children always want to know, "Is this the good guy?" or "Is that man the bad guy?" As they get older and come to look back on the atrocity of September 11, the one thing I would like them always to retain is the understanding that what hit their schoolmates was evil itself, even in the most explicit sense of nothingness: the nothingness that Osama bin Laden and his henchmen put in place of the flesh-and-blood fathers of children they go to school with.<ref>William McGurn (2001)[http://www.crisismagazine.com/november2001/feature2.htm Aftershock: Something Out of Nothing, Reflections on September 11, 2001]], Crisis Magazine. Crisis magazine's advisory board: Advisory Board: [[Richard V. Allen]], [[William J. Bennett]], Daniel L. Casey, Edwin J. Feulner Jr., Alexander M. Haig, [[Paul Johnson]], [[Peggy Noonan]], Vin Weber, Paul Weyrich, [[James Q. Wilson]] is not unlike the IEDSS</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==Into the 90s==
 
  
−
As the 80s drew to close the Institute seemed reluctant to loosen its rigid cold war stance, even as it came to an end. The Institute moved to 14-17 [[Wells Street]], W1, in the 90s but it did not move with the times.  Col [[Michael Hickey]]'s 'study', carried out for the IEDSS,<ref>Col Michael Hickey (1987) The Spetsnaz Threat: Can Britain Be Defended?, Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies.</ref> warned that "at a time of tension, Spetsnaz troops could carry out selective assassinations, attack key strategic targets, and cause havoc." It also argued that demonstrations and protests by peace movements, coupled with well-organised industrial disruption, would be "an ideal cover for those with far more sinister intentions."<ref>Financial Times (1986) Soviet Spetsnaz 'Threat To UK', December 29</ref> Hickey criticized the Government's failure to set up a nationwide volunteer defence force — but the plan suffered from comparisons with the anachronistic 'Dad's Army' of the BBC comedy series.
+
The Coalition for Peace through Security was also created via Heritage funding, with the declared intention of making "one-sided disarmament a millstone around the neck of any politician advocating such a course of action for Britain". <ref>'An International Story - The Heritage Foundation Goes Abroad', ''The Nation'', 6 June 1987</ref>
  
−
Hickey (former member of the Ministry of Defense's General Staff) maintained that Soviet commandos posing as tourists or seamen regularly infiltrate Britain on training missions to practice how they would paralyze the nation before a war: ''During their visits, they practice their linguistic skills, even acquiring regional inflections.'' Hickey conceded that hard intelligence on the subject was ''hard to come by'' but that ''much useful work'' has been done in surveying official Soviet military publications and magazines.  Apart from their Cockney or Liverpudlian accents how would we recognise them?  Simple: demonstrations and protests by peace movements, coupled with well-organised industrial disruption, would be "an ideal cover for those with far more sinister intentions."<ref>Financial Times (1986) Soviet Spetsnaz 'Threat To UK', December 29</ref>
+
''The Nation'''s article also states that the [[International Freedom Fund Establishment]], which is not registered in Britain either as a company or a charity, sent at least $140,000 to [[Brian Crozier]], the former head of the [[Institute for the Study of Conflict]]:
  
−
On a wider level it argued that Gorbachev's openess to change in calling for a nuclear-free zone and a reduction in naval activity in the Baltic and Norwegian seas was no more than public propaganda statements, unmatched by any lessening of the Soviet threat in the region.<ref>Micheal Evans (1989) Soviet Union considers scrapping ballistic missile, May 1,The Times.</ref>
+
:In 1981 an aide to Scaife reported that the institute had set up solid working relationships with the Heritage Foundation and that its "research into political and psychological warfare, revolutionary activities, insurgency operations and terrorism is consistently used by the Thatcher government." More recently Crozier has taken up the cause of the Nicaraguan contras. Last December he shared a platform in London with contra leader [[Arturo Cruz]] and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations [[Charles M. Lichenstein]], who is also a Heritage senior fellow.  There are no public records of the ultimate recipients of the money Heritage sent to Crozier.<ref>InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", ''The Nation'', 6 June 1987.</ref>
  
−
[[Michael Mates]], then chairman of the Commons select committee on defence, argued in a 1989 IEDSS publication<ref>Michael Mates & Ray Whitney (1989) The Secret Services: Is There a Case for Greater Openness? Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies.</ref> that "selected Soviet spy operations in Britain should be exposed by the Government in order to increase popular sympathy for the security services."  Mates quotes a contractor used by MI6 to bug the Soviet trade mission in London, who claimed that KGB agents at the London School of Economics scan students for "pro-Soviet sympathies and weaknesses which might be exploited in later life."  The pamphlet which acknowledged that Britain's secret services are subject to 'the most cursory political control' rejected parliamentary scrutiny of SIS activities, along the lines of US congressional committees, as being vulnerable to leaks that would jeopardise intelligence cooperation with Britain's allies. Mates suggested reviving the Foreign Office [[Information Research Department]]; the IEDSS member and former head of the IRD, [[Ray Whitney]], collaborated on the pamphlet — there are a number of connections between IRD (and the related [[Congress on Cultural Freedom]]) and the IEDSS.  In a review <ref>See also Richard Norton-Taylor (1989) The Day in Politics: Exposing spies makes good publicity, says MP, The Guardian, July 25.</ref> Mates is quoted as stating that, "for groups like CND, it is easier to infiltrate them rather than to penetrate the Kremlin."
+
The Institute initially shared premises in Golden Square with the US-funded organisation, the [[Institute for the Study of Conflict]] run by [[Brian Crozier]]. The IEDSS then moved to its own premises two doors away.<ref>Richard Norton-Taylor, "Where detente is a dirty word: the Heritage Foundation in Britain", ''The Guardian'', November 26, 1985.</ref>
−
 
 
−
The IEDSS functioned as a hub for a whole network of activists beyond those formally working there.  Ther connections with previous organisations such as the Institute for the Study of conflict]] have been mentioned, but it is also clear that a number of other associated terrorism and intelligence connected organisations were linked to IEDSS.  some of those with such connections who wrote for IEDSS included [[Jillian Becker]] [[Alun Chalfont]] [[Stephen Haseler]] [[Stephan Kux]] [[Caroline Cox]] [[Roger Scruton]] [[Jeane Kirkpatrick]] [[Donald Marsland]] [[Roger Scruton]] [[Geoffrey Lee Williams]][[George Bailey]] [[Lewis A. Dunn]] [[John Gray]] [[Mark Almond]] [[Philip Towle]] [[Anthony Hartley]] [[Keith B. Payne]] and [[David Pryce-Jones]]
 
−
 
 
−
[[Christopher Cviic]], [[Noel Malcolm]], [[Keith Miles]], [[Norman Stone]] were signatories (care of IEDSS) of a The Times April 21, 1995, letter on President Gligorov of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia's non-invitation to VE-Day celebrations.  More insidious allegations emerged when the IEDSS were named in 1995 in connection with a damaging leak that provided selective details of an Anglo-Irish framework document proposing a joint North-South Irish authority to run some aspects of life in Ulster.
 
−
 
 
−
:"Interestingly, the leak, published by The Times, was written, not by one of the paper's political reporters or Ulster staff, but by an editorial writer with strong links to the unionist cause. [[Matthew D'Ancona]], who has close ties with unionist politicians, and co-wrote a report by the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, arguing that the IRA ceasefire "may actually have destablilised Ulster", denies accusations he set out to torpedo the peace talks. "I emphatically deny it was designed to wreck the peace process," said Mr D'Ancona, 26, a fellow of All Souls, Oxford."<ref>Peter Ellingsen (1995) A malevolent leak threatens to sink Ulster peace talks;
 
−
Foreign Report, The Age (Melbourne, Australia) February 6.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
An earlier report by the Mail on Sunday <ref>Adrian Lithgow (1995) How Ulster Leak Plotters Beat Security To Protect Secret Source Of Leak, Mail on Sunday, February 5.</ref> argued that the:
 
−
 
 
−
:"conspirators wore surgical gloves.  The document they were handling was so politically explosive they dared not leave a single smudged fingerprint or speck of grease to show it had been touched."
 
−
 
 
−
This states that D'Ancona, then a 26-year-old assistant editor at The Times, was not even allowed to photocopy it and that:
 
−
 
 
−
: "The paper was believed to be in ink containing a secret masking agent preventing duplication and was imprinted with an identifying code. That code would have shown which of the 25 copies circulating at the highest Government levels had been leaked. Last night it was becoming clear that a caucus of fervent Loyalists under the umbrella of a Unionist study group is closely associated with the leaker. It is made up of PR man [[David Burnside]], D'Ancona himself; [[Dean Godson]], a Daily Telegraph staff reporter; [[Paul Goodman]], Northern Ireland correspondent on the Sunday Telegraph; [[Noel Malcolm]], a historian and Daily Telegraph political columnist; [[Andrew McHallam]], executive director of the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies; [[Charles Moore]], editor of the Sunday Telegraph; [[Simon Pearce]], a Conservative election candidate; company director [[Justin Shaw]] and historian [[Andrew Roberts]]."<ref>Adrian Lithgow (1995) How Ulster Leak Plotters Beat Security To Protect Secret Source Of Leak, Mail on Sunday, February 5.</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
In 1990 the Sunday Times <ref>Bryan Appleyard (1990) Socialism's fiery apostle fans the cooling embers,The Sunday Times, May 13.</ref> reported that the IEDSS organised a conference at the London School of Economics entitled ''What's Left?'', "it had rightwingers like [Roger] Scruton, Sir Keith Joseph and [[Kenneth Minogue]] ready to argue with the left. Out of 55 invitations sent, only one leftwinger agreed to appear and the conference was cancelled."  The article promotes the work of [[Martin Jacques]] then editor of Marxism Today, as:
 
−
 
 
−
: "the man at the centre of the attempts at redefiniton. He is dismissed as yuppie left by the old hardliners, but he is undoubtedly saying something with enough clarity to match the argument of the high-quality intellectual backers of the right [...] he is engaged in serious analysis of what went wrong. Marxism, he believes, survives as a powerful tool for understanding capitalism and its influence as the single most universal and coherent materialist system is far wider than most realise. But its predictive powers have proved all but useless and the party that claimed Marx as its God has perished. [...] For Jacques, therefore, the economic policy of a future Labour government can only be highly conservative and conducted within the confines of the existing international order."
 
−
 
 
−
In some respects the IEDSS' work is familiar. Stephen Haseler, was the author of a 1986 strongly pro-American study that stated: "attitudes toward the U.S. are on the verge of defining a new political divide in the nation," which resembles the arguments on 'anti-Americanism' advanced in the UK press by former leftists such as [[John Lloyd]] or [[Nick Cohen]] today.
 
−
 
 
−
===The "New Authoritarians" ===
 
−
 
 
−
In 1991, the Institute strayed outside its normal field to attack the environmental movement in a report called the "New Authoritarians". Author [[Andrew McHallam]] warned of the growing threat of "eco-terrorism" who had a fundamentally "anti-capitalist and anti-societal outlook". Jonathan Porritt, a leading environmental commentator, dismissed the report as "dizzingly unstructured, ill-informed and facile."<ref> Andrew Rowell (1996) ''Green Backlash - Global Subversion of the Environment Movement'', Routledge, p327 quoting Andrew McHallam (1991) ''The New Authoritarians: Reflections on the Greens, Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies'', Occasional Paper 51, p19,45,58; Jonathan Porritt (1991) "Eco-Terrors and the Illiberal Tendency", ''The Guardian'', November 29 </ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==Funding==
 
−
 
 
−
[[Image:Logobluebg.jpg|thumb|right]]
 
−
Apart from the Heritage Foundation funders included  the right wing US foundations The [[Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation]], Inc.
 
−
and the [[John M. Olin Foundation]], Inc. <ref> Media Transparency [http://www.mediatransparency.org/recipientgrants.php?recipientID=597 RECIPIENT GRANTS Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies] London, W1P 3FP, accessed 18 September 2007</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
==Soviet view==
 
−
 
 
−
The institute was denounced as a propaganda body by the Soviet Moscow Home service in 1987:
 
−
 
 
−
:It is not only the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence that are engaged in fostering an aggressive image of the Soviet Union in the minds of the British people. Academic bodies have also taken up this unseemly task on the orders of the British Conservative Government. Amongst them is the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies.<ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, November 18, 1987, Wednesday 'BRITISH EXERCISES ''THEATRE OF THE ABSURD'' OVER SPETSNAZ TROOPS' SOURCE: Moscow home service 0348 gmt 15 Nov 87 Text of commentary by [[Viktor Borozdin]]</ref>
 
−
 
 
−
No doubt this is just the kind of criticism that the Institute wanted.  what is more interesting is that it should be reported as an 'academic' body.  In fact it was chock full of cold warriors with intelligence connections.
 
  
 
==People==
 
==People==
Line 123: Line 56:
 
===1985 Advisory Council===
 
===1985 Advisory Council===
  
−
Dr. Robert Conquest | [[Brian Key]] MEP | [[Leopold Labedz]] | Melvin J. Lasky | Rt. Hon [[Reginald Prentice]] MP | Hon [[Frank Shakespeare]] | Dr. [[Philip Towle]] | Dr. [[G. R. Urban]]
+
Dr. [[Robert Conquest]] | [[Brian Key]] MEP | [[Leopold Labedz]] | Melvin J. Lasky | Rt. Hon [[Reginald Prentice]] MP | Hon [[Frank Shakespeare]] | Dr. [[Philip Towle]] | Dr. [[G. R. Urban]]
  
 
===1985 Board of Management===
 
===1985 Board of Management===
Line 134: Line 67:
 
===1990 Advisory Council===
 
===1990 Advisory Council===
  
−
Prof. [[Jean-Marie Benoist]] | Dr. [[Christopher Coker]] :[[BAP]] steering group 1996, [[RUSI]], [[Chatham House]] and [[Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies]] | Dr. [[Robert Conquest]] | [[Baroness Cox]] | [[Leopold Labedz]] | [[Melvin J. Lasky]] | [[John O'Sullivan]] | [[Pedro Schwartz]] | Hon. [[Frank Shakespeare]] | Dr. Philip Towle | Dr. [[George Urban|G. R. Urban]] | [[Alan Lee Williams]] | Prof. Albert Wohlstetter
+
Prof. [[Jean-Marie Benoist]] | Dr. [[Christopher Coker]] :[[BAP]] steering group 1996, [[RUSI]], [[Chatham House]] and [[Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies]] | Dr. [[Robert Conquest]] | [[Baroness Cox]] | [[Leopold Labedz]] | [[Melvin J. Lasky]] | [[John O’Sullivan]] | [[Pedro Schwartz]] | Hon. [[Frank Shakespeare]] | Dr. Philip Towle | Dr. [[George R. Urban]] | [[Alan Lee Williams]] | Prof. [[Albert Wohlstetter]]
  
 
===Members===
 
===Members===
Line 140: Line 73:
 
*[[Jimmy James]]<ref>Press Association, April 11, 1996, Thursday, 'TRUE TORY BLUE BLOOD' BYLINE: Eileen Murphy, PA News</ref> | [[Mark Almond]] is Fellow of the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, and a lecturer in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford. | [[Andrew McHallam]] | Professor [[Norman Cigar]] | [[Michael Dewar]], Deputy Director
 
*[[Jimmy James]]<ref>Press Association, April 11, 1996, Thursday, 'TRUE TORY BLUE BLOOD' BYLINE: Eileen Murphy, PA News</ref> | [[Mark Almond]] is Fellow of the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, and a lecturer in modern history at Oriel College, Oxford. | [[Andrew McHallam]] | Professor [[Norman Cigar]] | [[Michael Dewar]], Deputy Director
  
−
==Contact, publications, notes==
+
==Contact, resources, notes==
 
===Contact===
 
===Contact===
 
The IEDSS operated out of 13/14 [[Golden Square]] while 12a was used by [[Brian Crozier]]’s [[Institute for the Study of Conflict]].  Round the corner from [[Poland Street]] London, W1P 3FP
 
The IEDSS operated out of 13/14 [[Golden Square]] while 12a was used by [[Brian Crozier]]’s [[Institute for the Study of Conflict]].  Round the corner from [[Poland Street]] London, W1P 3FP
−
 
−
===Publications - date order===
 
−
[[Image:TOM.jpeg|thumb|left]]
 
−
 
−
*PROTEST AND PERISH: A CRITIQUE OF UNILATERALISM, by Philip Towle and others, 1982.
 
−
*EUROPE WITHOUT AMERICA: COULD WE DEFEND OURSELVES? by [[Philip Towle]].  London, Alliance Publishers, 1983.  43 pp.  (Occasional Papers, 5.)
 
−
*BRITAIN'S UNDEFENDED FRONTIER: A POLICY FOR ULSTER; THE REPORT OF AN INDEPENDENT STUDY GROUP, 1984, (European Security Studies, 2.) 
 
−
*Occasional paper No 7: 'Peace studies: a critical survey' by [[Caroline Cox]] and [[Roger Scruton]], 1984.
 
−
*Occasional paper No 9: 'Idealism, Realism and the Myth of Appeasement' by [[Jeane Kirkpatrick]], 1984.
 
−
*Occasional paper No 13: 'The Soviet connection': 'State sponsorship of terrorism' by [[Jillian Becker]] 1985.
 
−
*Occasional paper No 14: 'Neglect and betrayal: war and violence in modern sociology' by [[Donald Marsland]] 1985.
 
−
*Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies press release: 'Sociology courses infected with anti-NATO bias, says report' 7 October 1985.
 
−
*Occasional paper No 15: 'World studies: education or indoctrination?' by [[Roger Scruton]] 1985.
 
−
*Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies press release: "Curriculum activists" waging propaganda war in schools' 11 December 1985. <ref>This list is mostly drawn from the listing of the paper of Air Vice Marchal [[Stewart Menaul]], MENAUL 9/1-145 Papers and publications produced and issued by organisations with which Menaul was associated http://www.umds.ac.uk/lhcma/cats/menaul/mn09.shtml</ref>
 
−
*SDI: THE CASE FOR THE DEFENCE, by [[Alun Chalfont]],  London, Alliance Publishers Ltd., 1985.
 
−
*ANTI-AMERICANISM: STEPS ON A DANGEROUS PATH, by [[Stephen Haseler]], 1986.
 
−
*EUROPE'S NEUTRAL STATES: PARTNERS OR PROFITEERS IN WESTERN SECURITY? by Stephan Kux, 1986.
 
−
*[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cO8dAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Dean+Godson%22&dq=%22Dean+Godson%22&lr=&ei=lLmkR63wKoyyiQHlqZSECA&pgis=1 MPs and Defence: A Survey of Parliamentary Knowledge and Opinion], By Philip Towle, 1988, available on Google Books<ref>[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=cO8dAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Dean+Godson%22&dq=%22Dean+Godson%22&lr=&ei=lLmkR63wKoyyiQHlqZSECA&pgis=1 MPs and Defence: A Survey of Parliamentary Knowledge and Opinion], By Philip Towle, available on Google Books</ref>
 
−
*[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=oHUdAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Institute+for+European+Defence+and+Strategic+Studies%22&dq=%22Institute+for+European+Defence+and+Strategic+Studies%22&ei=Ht-kR7W-D5n2iwHl0NyeCg&pgis=1 Bonn and Moscow: A Partnership in Progress?] - by Robbin Frederick Laird Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, 1988.
 
−
*Mark Almond, ''Decline without fall: Romania under Ceausescu'' 1988 (London) Alliance Publishers, for the Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies,  ISBN 0-907967-96-5
 
−
*COMING IN FROM THE COLD: THE EVOLUTION OF FRENCH DEFENCE POLICY, by [[Geoffrey Lee Williams]].  London, Alliance Publishers Ltd., 1989.
 
−
*COMMUNISM: WHY PROLONG ITS DEATH THROES?  by [[Brian Crozier]],  London, Alliance Publishers, 1990.
 
−
*THE PERCEPTION MONGERS: REFLECTIONS ON SOVIET PROPAGANDA, by George Bailey.  London, Alliance Publishers Ltd., 1990.
 
−
*Options Foreclosed. The Cost of Avoiding a Strategic Review, by Alun Chalfont.
 
−
*CONTAINING NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION, by Lewis A. Dunn.  Riverside, NJ, Brassey's, 1991.  75 pp.  (Adelphi Papers, 263.)
 
−
*THE STRANGE DEATH OF PERESTROIKA: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF THE SOVIET COUP, by John Gray.  London, Alliance Publishers Ltd. , 1191.  36 pp.  (European Security Studies, 13.)
 
−
*Countering Proliferation: New Criteria for European Security by Dr Keith Payne is published today by Alliance Publishers.
 
−
*NATIONAL PACIFISM: GERMANY'S NEW TEMPTATION, by Mark Almond.  London, Alliance Publishers Ltd., 1991. 29 pp. (European Security Studies, 12.)
 
−
*PUNDITS AND PATRIOTS: LESSONS FROM THE GULF WAR, by Philip Towle.  London, Alliance Pub-lichers Ltd. (for the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies), 1991.
 
−
*THE IRRELEVANCE OF MAASTRICHT: REDEFINING THE ATLANTIC COMMUNITY, by Anthony Hartley,  London, Alliance Publishers Ltd., 1992. 
 
−
*NEW CRITERIA FOR EUROPEAN SECURITY, by Keith B. Payne.  London, Alliance Publishers Ltd., 1992.  74 pp.  (Occasional Papers, 52.)
 
−
*[[David Pryce-Jones|Pryce-Jones, David]]. At war with modernity: Islam's challenge to the West. London: Alliance Publishers for the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, 1992. Series title: Occasional paper, Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies; 54.<ref>http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/Islam/historyB.html</ref>
 
−
*AFTER THE SOVIET COLLAPSE: NEW REALITIES, OLD ILLUSIONS.  London, Alliance Publishers Ltd., 1992.  n. p. (The Report of a Study Group.)
 
−
*Options Foreclosed. The Cost of Avoiding a Strategic Review,  [[Alun Chalfont]], Alliance Publishers 1992.
 
−
*Kuzio, T., Ukraine. Back From the Brink. European Security Studies 23 (London: Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, 1995) Alliance Publishers Ltd.
 
−
 
−
[[Category:Terrorism Industry]]
 
  
 
===References===
 
===References===
  
 
<References/>
 
<References/>
 +
[[Category: Think Tanks]]
 +
[[Category:Terrorism Industry]]
 +
[[Category:Anti-CND campaign]]

Latest revision as of 19:52, 17 February 2011

Peter Kennard's 'Defended to Death' Photomontage

The Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies (IEDSS) was set up in London in 1979 to study political change in Europe and to assess its impact on strategic and defence issues. It was particularly concerned with those developments which affected the Western Alliance. It was founded by Peter Blaker MP (subsequently created Lord Blaker), Ray Whitney MP and Stephen Haseler. According to Tom Easton, the Institute had a marked anti-left tendency:

Haseler was not only a member of the SDP, but a founding member of the Social Democratic Alliance which preceded it. An academic who, as a London councillor, had become a vociferous critic of changes within the Labour Party in the Seventies, Haseler had spent some time at the third big Washington think-tank, the Heritage Foundation. With its money he had helped set up in London the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies, a forceful and well-resourced foe of both the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Labour Party in the Eighties.[1]

IEDSS was the subject of a profile in City Limits (14 August 1986). Commenting on the profile, Robin Ramsay stated:

Formed in 1979, apparently as part of the response to the British peace movement ... [Edwin J.] Feulner is Heritage Foundation, Haseler is rumoured to be straight CIA these days, and Allen was NSC advisor to Reagan until he got caught (or set up) taking a bribe. IEDSS appears to be run by Gerald Frost whose perambulations around the British Right go back to the early 1970s when he was in the Thatcher/Joseph Centre for Policy Studies. Groups like the Institute for the Study of Terrorism and IEDSS are current examples of the endless, self-reproducing groups on the Right: the same small group of people, many of them probably intelligence agents of one kind or another, play musical chairs.[2]

European Heritage?

This early scepticism of the Institute's stated aims was confirmed by a 1987 investigation by The Nation that stated:

Since 1982 the Heritage Foundation, the most influential conservative think tank in the United States, has channeled as much as $1 million to right-wing organizations in Britain and other Western European countries, with the aim of influencing domestic political affairs.[3]

The Nation's article states that the British groups financed by Heritage were closely linked to senior figures in Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party. In the case of the IEDSS (the Heritage Foundation provided start-up capital and the overwhelming bulk of continued financial support) the result is "a virtual Heritage satellite". It reports that Jeffrey Gayner, Heritage's counsel for international relations, their "ambassador to the world", says Heritage has led the effort to shape a "common international agenda" for the right, developing "a cooperative relationship" with more than "200 foreign groups and individuals, including political parties, think tanks, academics and media. Programs include information exchanges and visits, Heritage's periodic appointment of non-Americans to specific assignments and fellowships."[4]

The Institute's relationship to these wider efforts to shape and influence opinion is indicated by the involvement of Edwin J. Feulner, chair of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy and responsible for evaluating programs of the U.S. Information Agency, including Voice of America, Radio Marti, Fulbright scholarships and the National Endowment for Democracy. Feulner had previously attended the London School of Economics and the University of Edinburgh and was familiar with the British scene. As was John O’Sullivan, editor of the Heritage Foundation's journal, Policy Review (from 1979 to 1983) and a policy adviser to Thatcher. He wrote key sections of the 1987 Conservative Party's election manifesto, The Next Moves Forward. The Nation's article states that Heritage funding of British projects was evident as early as 1979, and became more systematic in 1982, when U.S. and British conservatives were alarmed by the growing influence of the peace movement:

That May, Heritage disseminated a so-called backgrounder titled "Moscow and the Peace Offensive," in which it called on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and "its affiliated public support organizations" to spread "information concerning the links . . . between known Communist front groups and the 'independent' peace groups." The campaign to prevent the deployment of cruise missiles on British soil was accompanied by a steady acceleration of Heritage funding. According to the I.R.S.'s schedules, the foundation's donations to a range of British institutions rose from $106,000 in 1982 to $254,000 in 1985. Although 1986 figures are not yet available, total Heritage contributions over a five-year period appear to be in the neighborhood of $1 million. During the three years for which records could be obtained, Britain was the target of more than 95 percent of Heritage's international funding operations.[5]

The main recipients identified for 1982-1985 are the IEDSS, which received a total of $427,809, more than any other group, U.S. or foreign; the International Freedom Fund Establishment (I.F.F.E.), which took in $140,000 (and was the semi-private fund run by Brian Crozier); the Coalition for Peace through Security (CPS), which accepted a $10,000 grant in 1982 and, according to BBC television's untransmitted Secret Society series[6] (which obtained a letter from the CPS thanking Heritage) a further grant of $50,000 in October 1982. Three other British groups were given token amounts: the Social Affairs Unit, the International Symposium of the Open Society and an organization listed simply as Aneks.

Before moving to the IEDSS, Frost was secretary of the Centre for Policy Studies, which was founded in 1974 by, among others, Margaret Thatcher, who served as its first president.

Gone13.jpg

Founded in 1979, the year Thatcher came to power, the IEDSS stated its goals thus:

To assess the impact of political change in Europe and North America on defense and strategic issues. In particular, to study the domestic political situation in NATO countries and how this affects the NATO posture.[7]

In an interview with The Nation, the Heritage Foundation's Jeffrey Gayner denied that there was any formal connection between Heritage and the institute, although the IEDSS was, in fact, set up with foundation funds and Heritage president Feulner chairs the institute's board; Richard V. Allen, Reagan's first national security adviser, a Heritage distinguished fellow and head of the foundation's Asian Studies Center advisory council, is also a board member; Frank Shakespeare, chair of the foundation's board of trustees and the Reagan Administration's Ambassador to the Vatican, was a founding member of the IEDSS's advisory council.[8]

Frost also credits Stephen Haseler with the idea for the Institute. One of the earliest prominent defectors to Britain's Social Democratic Party, which broke away from the Labour Party in 1981, Haseler was also a Heritage scholar and a member of the editorial board of Policy Review. According to Frost, Sir Peter Blaker, a senior Tory, "saw the implications of an upsurge in peace movement activity, which was a movement of concern to him." In 1983 Blaker headed a secret ministerial group on Nuclear Weapons and Public Opinion, which generated films and literature against Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) along with Ray Whitney, who served on the institute's board from 1979 to 1984 (and was also a junior minister in the Thatcher government and preceded Blaker as chair of the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Committee) in Parliament. Whitney headed the Information Research Department, which conducted covert propaganda activities, including some directed against British leftists. The Nation article states that Whitney:

appears to have taken a more direct role than Blaker in the smear campaign against the peace movement. In April 1983, as preparations began for a general election, Tory Defense Minister Michael Heseltine released a letter purporting to prove communist domination of the C.N.D. and of the Labour Party. One of Heseltine's chief sources was Whitney. "Our colleague Ray Whitney," he commented at the time, "has added a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the political motivations of C.N.D." I.E.D.S.S. publications also regularly attacked the C.N.D. Its first monograph, Protest and Perish, an assault on E.P. Thompson's Protest and Survive, accused Thompson of "furthering the arms race' by destabilizing NATO and the bloc system.[9]
Protest survive.jpg

Other propaganda also made possible by grants from the Heritage Foundation included David Carlton's book, Great Britain and NATO: A Parting of the Ways?, published by the IEDSS in 1982, which argued that Britain could face civil war if a Labour government took office, and warned that NATO could not entrust secrets to a governing party under the sway of a "pro-Soviet faction", meaning the Labour Party. Other publications attacked the presence of the churches in the peace movement and the teaching of peace studies in British universities. Co-author of the last of those was Caroline Cox, another former director of the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS). Links between the CPS and the IEDSS are close. Sir Peter Blaker is involved with both groups, and the two co-operated in the publication and distribution of Protest and Perish.

The Coalition for Peace through Security was also created via Heritage funding, with the declared intention of making "one-sided disarmament a millstone around the neck of any politician advocating such a course of action for Britain". [10]

The Nation's article also states that the International Freedom Fund Establishment, which is not registered in Britain either as a company or a charity, sent at least $140,000 to Brian Crozier, the former head of the Institute for the Study of Conflict:

In 1981 an aide to Scaife reported that the institute had set up solid working relationships with the Heritage Foundation and that its "research into political and psychological warfare, revolutionary activities, insurgency operations and terrorism is consistently used by the Thatcher government." More recently Crozier has taken up the cause of the Nicaraguan contras. Last December he shared a platform in London with contra leader Arturo Cruz and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Charles M. Lichenstein, who is also a Heritage senior fellow. There are no public records of the ultimate recipients of the money Heritage sent to Crozier.[11]

The Institute initially shared premises in Golden Square with the US-funded organisation, the Institute for the Study of Conflict run by Brian Crozier. The IEDSS then moved to its own premises two doors away.[12]

People

1982 Advisory Council

Richard V. Allen (US National Security Council (NSC), appointed to the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board (DPB) Advisory Committee November 2001; Senior Fellow Hoover Institution 1983-present; Center for Strategic and International Studies Advisory Board; Project for the New American Century; Member Heritage Foundation; Council on Foreign Relations; The Nixon Center Advisory Council, International Crisis Group) | Luigi Barzini | Dr. Robert Conquest | Rt. Hon Lord George Brown | Brian Key MEP | Melvin J. Lasky: Ex-editor of Encounter | Leonard Schapiro | Pedro Schwartz | Frank Shakespeare | Dr. George R. Urban Former director of Radio Free Europe and director of the Centre for Policy Studies.

1982 Board of Management

Dr. Edwin J. Feulner jr. (Chairman) president of the Heritage Foundation, Treasurer and trustee of the Mont Pelerin Society, member of the scientific committee of the Center for Applied Economic Research in Rome, trustee of the Lehrman Institute in New York, trustee of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and a director of the American Council on Germany. He was nominated by President Reagan and was confirmed by the Senate as chairman of the US Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy. | Dr. Stephen Haseler (Sec) | Congressman David R. Bowen | Peter R. Durrant | Douglas Eden | Prof. Antonio Martino | Ray Whitney Information Research Department (IRD) | Gerald Frost (Ex. Dir.) | George Miller (research officer)

1985 Advisory Council

Dr. Robert Conquest | Brian Key MEP | Leopold Labedz | Melvin J. Lasky | Rt. Hon Reginald Prentice MP | Hon Frank Shakespeare | Dr. Philip Towle | Dr. G. R. Urban

1985 Board of Management

Richard V. Allen | Rt. Hon Sir Peter Blaker KCMG MP | Dr. Iain Elliot | Dr. Edwin J. Feulner Jr. | Dr. Stephen Haseler | Prof. Antonio Martino | Gerald Frost (Ex. Dir.) | Jonathan Luxmoore (Editor)

1988 Staff

Jonathan Luxmoore, Editor | Dean Godson, Research Fellow[13]

1990 Advisory Council

Prof. Jean-Marie Benoist | Dr. Christopher Coker :BAP steering group 1996, RUSI, Chatham House and Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies | Dr. Robert Conquest | Baroness Cox | Leopold Labedz | Melvin J. Lasky | John O’Sullivan | Pedro Schwartz | Hon. Frank Shakespeare | Dr. Philip Towle | Dr. George R. Urban | Alan Lee Williams | Prof. Albert Wohlstetter

Members

1996

Contact, resources, notes

Contact

The IEDSS operated out of 13/14 Golden Square while 12a was used by Brian Crozier’s Institute for the Study of Conflict. Round the corner from Poland Street London, W1P 3FP

References

  1. ↑ Tom Easton, "Who were they traveling with?", Review of SDP: The Birth, Life and Death of the Social Democratic Party, by Ivor Crewe and Anthony King, Oxford University Press, 1995, in Lobster, 31, June 1996.
  2. ↑ Robin Ramsay (1987), "Groupings on the British Right", Lobster, 13, 1987.
  3. ↑ InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", The Nation, 6 June 1987.
  4. ↑ InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", The Nation, 6 June 1987.
  5. ↑ InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", The Nation, 6 June 1987.
  6. ↑ See Christopher Hitchens, "New Statesman Downed by Law", The Nation, February 1987
  7. ↑ InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", The Nation, 6 June 1987.
  8. ↑ InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", The Nation, 6 June 1987.
  9. ↑ InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", The Nation, 6 June 1987.
  10. ↑ 'An International Story - The Heritage Foundation Goes Abroad', The Nation, 6 June 1987
  11. ↑ InterNation, "The Heritage Foundation goes abroad", The Nation, 6 June 1987.
  12. ↑ Richard Norton-Taylor, "Where detente is a dirty word: the Heritage Foundation in Britain", The Guardian, November 26, 1985.
  13. ↑ MPs and Defence: A Survey of Parliamentary Knowledge and Opinion, By Philip Towle, available on Google Books
  14. ↑ Press Association, April 11, 1996, Thursday, 'TRUE TORY BLUE BLOOD' BYLINE: Eileen Murphy, PA News
Retrieved from "https://powerbase.info/index.php?title=Institute_for_European_Defence_and_Strategic_Studies&oldid=148853"