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| Center for a Secure Free Society | |
|---|---|
| Name | Center for a Secure Free Society |
| Abbreviation | CSFS |
| Formation | 2019 |
| Type | Think tank |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Leader title | Executive Director |
| Leader name | Jeffrey Gedmin |
Center for a Secure Free Society is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank focusing on policy issues related to national security, human rights, and democratic resilience. It operates in networks of policy institutes, academic centers, and advocacy groups across North America, Europe, and Asia, engaging with legislators and international organizations. The organization hosts conferences, publishes analyses, and provides expert testimony on matters intersecting with transatlantic relations, cyber policy, and strategic competition.
The organization was founded amid shifts in post-Cold War institutions and transatlantic partnerships, drawing on personnel and ideas from Atlantic Council, Hudson Institute, Heritage Foundation, Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Council on Foreign Relations, Stimson Center, RAND Corporation, and Institute for Strategic Studies. Its establishment involved figures associated with NATO, European Council on Foreign Relations, German Marshall Fund, Chatham House, Royal United Services Institute, Center for European Policy Analysis, Bipartisan Policy Center, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and American Enterprise Institute. Early programming referenced events such as the Crimea crisis (2014), the Syrian civil war, and policy debates following the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. Founders and advisors included scholars linked to Georgetown University, Harvard Kennedy School, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Princeton University, Yale University, and Columbia University.
The stated mission emphasizes strengthening alliances and defensive capabilities in the face of strategic challenges posed by states like Russian Federation, People's Republic of China, and non-state actors such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Al-Qaeda. Activities span strategic research, advocacy before bodies such as United States Congress, European Parliament, NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and briefings for agencies including United States Department of Defense, United States Department of State, European External Action Service, and NATO. The center produces publications, policy briefs, op-eds placed in outlets like The Washington Post, The New York Times, Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, and provides commentary for broadcasters like BBC, NPR, Voice of America, Al Jazeera, and CNN.
Leadership comprises an executive director, senior fellows, visiting scholars, and a board of advisors with ties to institutions such as Center for Strategic and International Studies, Foreign Policy Research Institute, International Republican Institute, National Democratic Institute, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Transparency International, and university departments including Stanford University and University of Oxford. The governance model follows non-profit practices similar to Smith Richardson Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and corporate oversight patterns found at Ford Foundation grantees. Operational divisions coordinate research, events, communications, and legal counsel, interacting with think tanks like Legatum Institute and policy shops including Hudson Institute and Atlantic Council.
Funding sources reportedly include private foundations, membership contributions, and grants from philanthropic entities parallel to Open Society Foundations, Rockefeller Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and corporate donors comparable to defense contractors that have engaged with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies, and Boeing. The center files financial disclosures consistent with Internal Revenue Service nonprofit requirements and adheres to transparency norms promoted by Global Witness and Publish What You Fund. Financial reporting has been compared to disclosure practices of Tax Policy Center and ProPublica investigations into nonprofit transparency.
Core programs address cyber resilience, information operations, energy security, and democratic integrity, partnering with academic programs at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, University of California, Berkeley, and King's College London. Initiative topics include sanctions policy coordination with actors involved in the Magnitsky Act debates, counter-disinformation projects referencing events such as the 2016 United States presidential election, and supply-chain security engagements connected to discussions about Rare-earth elements and trade tensions with People's Republic of China. The center convenes workshops with representatives from European Commission, Baltic Council of Ministers, Visegrád Group, and civil society networks including OpenNet Initiative and Access Now.
Critics have questioned potential conflicts of interest when policy prescriptions align with interests of defense industry actors and foreign policy donors, citing scrutiny similar to debates involving Heritage Foundation and Center for American Progress. Investigations and commentary in outlets such as The Intercept, The Guardian, and The New Yorker have examined nonprofit ties between think tanks and corporate funders, while academic critiques referencing scholars at Princeton and Oxford have debated methodological approaches to threat assessments. Debates have also engaged policymakers from United States Senate and House Committee on Foreign Affairs over advocacy tactics and transparency, echoing controversies that affected organizations like Project for the New American Century.
The center collaborates broadly with transatlantic partners including NATO, European Union External Action Service, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and bilateral dialogues with Embassy of the United States, Washington, D.C. and diplomatic missions from Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. Academic affiliations include cooperative projects with Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Harvard Belfer Center, Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Columbia SIPA, and technical partnerships with MITRE Corporation and Center for Internet Security. The organization participates in networks alongside Munich Security Conference, Davos Forum (World Economic Forum), Bucharest Nine, and policy coalitions like Counter Extremism Project and Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
Category:Think tanks based in the United States