Think tanks that shape national defense policy are awash in donations from Pentagon contractors like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, according to a new resource from the nonprofit Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
From 2019-2023, Pentagon contractors have contributed more than $34.7 million to think tanks whose experts have hands in the defense policy-making process, the new report from the Quincy Institute found—a tally that only includes donations to those think tanks that disclose their donors. Out of the 50 think tanks analyzed in the report, 18 of them were opaque, with no transparency into their funding sources.
The Think Tank Funding Tracker also details donations to a set of the top 50 think tanks that came from foreign governments like the United Arab Emirates, U.S. government arms led by the Department of Defense, and defense contractors’ consulting firms like Accenture. According to the report, the think tanks received more than $110 million from foreign governments during the period.
