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

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The Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies (IEDSS) was set up in London in 1979 to study poitical 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 <ref>Tom Easton's [http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/articles/l31whowh.htm Who were they travelling with?] - full ref needed</ref>:
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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 <ref>Tom Easton's [http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/articles/l31whowh.htm Who were they traveling with?] - full ref needed</ref>:
  
 
:"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."  
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This is confirmed by an 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 is confirmed by an 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>
  
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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 one case, that of the IEDSS, where the foundation provided start-up capital and the overwhelming bulk of continued financial support, the result is a virtual Heritage satellite.
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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 one case, that of the IEDSS, where the foundation provided start-up capital and the overwhelming bulk of continued financial support, the result is a virtual Heritage satellite. [[Jeffrey Gayner]], Heritage's counsel for international relations, described as 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>
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Edwin Feulner Jr., was 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]] and had previously attended the London School of Economics and the University of Edinburgh.
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[[ John O'Sullivan]], editor of the Heritage Foundation's journal, Policy Review, from 1979 to 1983 and a policy adviser to Thatcher, 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:
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:"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>
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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]] (C.P.S.), 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> obtained a letter from the C.P.S. thanking Heritage for a further grant of $50,000 in October 1982.vThree other British groups were given token amounts: theSocial Affairs Unit, the International Symposium of the Open Society and an organization listed simply as Aneks.
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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.
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==Funding==
 
==Funding==

Revision as of 12:57, 5 October 2007

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 [1]:

"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."

IEDSS was the subject of a profile in City Limits (14 August 1986). According to Robin Ramsay [2], it was formed as part of the response to the British peace movement; Ramsay also suggests that Haseler has CIA connections[3], and Richard V. Allen was NSC advisor to Reagan until he got caught (or set up) taking a bribe. IEDSS appeared to be run by Gerald Frost who was in the Thatcher/Joseph Centre for Policy Studies.

This is confirmed by an 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."[4]

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 one case, that of the IEDSS, where the foundation provided start-up capital and the overwhelming bulk of continued financial support, the result is a virtual Heritage satellite. Jeffrey Gayner, Heritage's counsel for international relations, described as 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."[5]

Edwin Feulner Jr., was 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 and had previously attended the London School of Economics and the University of Edinburgh.

John O'Sullivan, editor of the Heritage Foundation's journal, Policy Review, from 1979 to 1983 and a policy adviser to Thatcher, 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:

"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."[6]

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 (C.P.S.), which accepted a $10,000 grant in 1982 and, according to BBC television's untransmitted Secret Society series[7] obtained a letter from the C.P.S. thanking Heritage for a further grant of $50,000 in October 1982.vThree other British groups were given token amounts: theSocial 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.


Funding

Funders included the right wing US foundations The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Inc. and the John M. Olin Foundation, Inc. [8]

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.[9]

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

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. G. R. Urban

1982 Board of Management

Dr. Edwin J. Feulner Jr. (Chairman) president of the Heritage Foundation | 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 Luxmore (Editor)

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. G. R. Urban | Alan Lee Williams | Prof. Albert Wohlstetter

Members

1996

Contact, publications, 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

Publications

  • Kuzio, T. (1995) "Back from the Brink", Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies. London: Alliance Publishers Ltd.
  • 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. [11]

References

  1. ↑ Tom Easton's Who were they traveling with? - full ref needed
  2. ↑ in Lobster 13, 1987 - full reference needed
  3. ↑ Source needed
  4. ↑ InterNation (1987) the Heritage Foundation goes abroad, The Nation, June 6.
  5. ↑ InterNation (1987) the Heritage Foundation goes abroad, The Nation, June 6.
  6. ↑ InterNation ibid.
  7. ↑ see Christopher Hitchens, "New Statesman Downed by Law,' The Nation, February 21
  8. ↑ Media Transparency RECIPIENT GRANTS Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies London, W1P 3FP, accessed 18 September 2007
  9. ↑ 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
  10. ↑ Press Association, April 11, 1996, Thursday, 'TRUE TORY BLUE BLOOD' BYLINE: Eileen Murphy, PA News
  11. ↑ 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
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