Devon Cross

Devon Gaffney Cross is the sister of the neocon hawk Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy (CSP) and head of the Policy Forum. She has worked for a number of staunchly conservative foundations, including the Smith Richardson Foundation, and is associated with various rightwing outfits such as CSP and the Project for the New American Century. She is also a member of the Defense Policy Board, the Pentagon’s in-house think tank, which has been heavily criticized because of the potential conflicts of interests of many of its members and for its stilted ideological profile (nearly a third of the board members come from the staunchly conservative Hoover Institution).

Attack on Philanthropy

In an article on philanthropy’s role in shaping policy, which she co-wrote with her brother, Gaffney criticized various liberal-minded foundations such as Rockefeller and MacArthur for their “ironic vision of international orderliness,” which she said “must be contrasted with the world as it actually is.” The authors write: “And then there is private philanthropy, among the least recognized forces in the shaping of United States security policy. Specifically, the leading funders in international security programs at U.S. think-tanks, academic institutions, and grassroots groups are generously underwriting an ambitious and highly politicized agenda. Today, as in the past, arms control and other international legal endeavors are the organizing principle behind much of what the Rockefeller Brothers’ Fund calls the ‘One World Program.’ The operative premise has been described by syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer as ‘a world imagined [where] laws, treaties and binding international agreements can domesticate the international arena.’

Affiliations

• Policy Forum on International Security Affairs
• Center for Security Policy
• Lincoln Group
• Project for the New American Century - Collaborated on the PNAC’s “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” report
• Case for Freedom
• Defense Policy Board

Other Institutional Affiliations

• Gilder Foundation - Executive Director
• Donner Canadian Foundation
• Smith Richardson Foundation
• Washington Quarterly - Senior Associate Editor
• Donor's Forum on International Affairs - President
• School of Advanced International Studies - Alumna

Related Articles

• Rightweb Profile