This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2011) |
Established | 1998 |
---|---|
Key people | James Courter Merrick Carey Loren Thompson Daniel Goure Paul Steidler Sarah White Ethan Shapiro |
Budget | Revenue: $2,136,371 Expenses: $2,066,977 (FYE December 2015) [1] |
Location | 1600 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, Virginia |
Website | www |
The Lexington Institute is a center-right think tank headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, United States. It focuses mainly on defense and security policy. [2]
The Lexington Institute was founded in 1998 by former U.S. Representative James Courter (R-NJ), former congressional aide Merrick "Mac" Carey, and former Georgetown University professor Loren B. Thompson, who are the chairman, chief executive officer and chief operating officer of the Institute, respectively. [2]
The think tank is based in Arlington, Virginia [3] and focuses on defense, regulatory policy and logistics. [4] It is sometimes described as conservative. [5]
The Lexington Institute is funded in large part by military contractors and other corporations. [6] The institute has gradually moved away from advocating for education reform while retaining its focus on national defense, particularly with regard to technology investment.
The Institute has been criticized for its financial relationship with the defense industry; Harper's Magazine called the organization the industry's "pay-to-play ad agency" based on its usually favorable assessments of military weapons programs. [7] Loren Thompson is also a consultant to military contractors. [8]
In 2011, Thompson said that the current rate of U.S. defense spending was not sustainable. [9] He has also called for a shift in American defense spending towards items such as the Littoral Combat Ship and the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II that can be exported to allies. [6]
Thompson wrote that in 2011 that most of the candidates for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination were "unsuited to high office." [10]
The Lexington Institute also researches electricity policy and the US electricity grid, including on issues such as electric grid security, resiliency, the effect of electric vehicles, and distributed generation incentives, and issues relating to data privacy and cyber threat information-sharing. [11]
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within government, and some are associated with particular political parties, businesses or the military. Think tanks are often funded by individual donations, with many also accepting government grants.
The expression military–industrial complex (MIC) describes the relationship between a country's military and the defense industry that supplies it, seen together as a vested interest which influences public policy. A driving factor behind the relationship between the military and the defense-minded corporations is that both sides benefit—one side from obtaining weapons, and the other from being paid to supply them. The term is most often used in reference to the system behind the armed forces of the United States, where the relationship is most prevalent due to close links among defense contractors, the Pentagon, and politicians. The expression gained popularity after a warning of the relationship's detrimental effects, in the farewell address of U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower on January 17, 1961.
Arlington Hall is a historic building in Arlington, Virginia, originally a girls' school and later the headquarters of the United States Army's Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) cryptography effort during World War II. The site presently houses the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center, and the Army National Guard's Herbert R. Temple, Jr. Readiness Center. It is located on Arlington Boulevard between S. Glebe Road and S. George Mason Drive.
Hudson Institute is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. From its founding in 1962 until 1987, it was an affiliate of Georgetown University, initially named the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University. The center conducts policy studies and strategic analyses of political, economic and security issues throughout the world, with a focus on issues concerning international relations, trade, technology, finance, energy and geostrategy.
Atlas Network, formerly known as Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking, and grants for libertarian, free-market, and conservative groups around the world.
The Washington Institute for Near East Policy is a pro-Israel American think tank based in Washington, D.C., focused on the foreign policy of the United States in the Near East.
The Leadership Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Arlington, Virginia that teaches "political technology." The institute was founded in 1979 by conservative activist Morton Blackwell. Its mission is to "increase the number and effectiveness of conservative activists" and to "identify, train, recruit and place conservatives in politics, government, and media."
The Washington metropolitan area, also referred to as the DC area, Greater Washington, the National Capital Region, or locally as the DMV, is the metropolitan area centered around Washington, D.C., the federal capital of the United States. The metropolitan area includes all of Washington, D.C. and parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. It is part of the larger Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area, which is the third-largest combined statistical area in the country.
The Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI) is an independent, non-partisan research institute based in Calgary with offices in Ottawa. Incorporated as a charitable organization in 2000, the institute seeks to focus the national debate and understanding of Canada's international policies, with the ultimate aim of ensuring a more globally engaged Canada.
The Hmong and Lao Memorial, or Lao Veterans of America Monument, is a granite monument, bronze plaque and living memorial in Arlington National Cemetery in the US. Dedicated in May 1997, it is located in Section 2 on Grant Avenue between the path to the JFK memorial and the Tomb of the Unknowns, in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. The Laos–Hmong memorial commemorates the veterans of the "Secret War" in Laos who fought against invading Soviet Union-backed North Vietnam Army forces of the People's Army of Vietnam and communist Pathet Lao guerrillas. Approved by the U.S. Department of Defense, Arlington National Cemetery, and the U.S. Department of the Army, but designed and paid for privately by the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the Lao Veterans of America Institute, and The Centre for Public Policy Analysis, the memorial stands as a tribute to the Hmong, Lao, other ethnic groups, and American clandestine and military advisers who made up the Secret War effort during the Vietnam War. The Lao Veterans of America, Inc. is the nation's largest ethnic Laotian- and Hmong-American veterans organization.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is a defence and strategic policy think tank based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, founded by the Australian government, and funded by the Australian Department of Defence along with overseas governments, and defence and technology companies.
The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA), New Delhi, is India's foremost think tank for advanced research in international relations, especially defence, strategic and security issues, and providing training to civilian, military and paramilitary officers of the Indian government. It is funded by the Indian Ministry of Defence but operates as a non-partisan and autonomous body. It aims to promote national and international security by carrying out research on defence and security-related issues and disseminating the knowledge among the policy-makers and wider public.
The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) is a trade association for the United States government and defense industrial base. It is an 501(c)(3) educational organization. Its headquarters are in Arlington, Virginia. NDIA was established in 1919 as a result of the inability of the defense industry to scale up the war effort during World War I.
The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is a think tank in Washington, D.C. specializing in United States national security issues, including terrorism, irregular warfare, the future of the U.S. military, the emergence of Asia as a global power center, war games pitting the U.S. against the People's Republic of China, and the national security implications of natural resource consumption, among others.
The economy of the Commonwealth of Virginia is well balanced with diverse sources of income. From the Hampton Roads area to Richmond and down to Lee County in the southwest includes military installations, cattle, tobacco and peanut farming in Southside Virginia. Tomatoes recently surpassed soy as the most profitable crop in Virginia. Tobacco, peanuts and hay are also important agricultural products from the commonwealth. Wineries and vineyards in the Northern Neck and along the Blue Ridge Mountains also have become increasingly popular. Northern Virginia hosts software, communications, consulting, defense contracting, diplomats, and considerable components of the professional government sector. As of the 2000 census, Virginia had the highest number of counties and independent cities (15) in the top 100 wealthiest jurisdictions in the United States based upon median income, in addition, Virginia tied with Colorado as having the most counties (10) in the top 100 based on per capita income. Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia have the highest and second highest median household income, respectively, of all counties in the United States as of 2017.
The State Policy Network (SPN) is a nonprofit organization that serves as a network for conservative and libertarian think tanks focusing on state-level policy in the United States. The network serves as a public policy clearinghouse and advises its member think tanks on fundraising, running a nonprofit, and communicating ideas. Founded in 1992, it is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with member groups located in all fifty states.
The military-digital complex (MDC) is the militarization of cyber operations by governments and corporations, often through monetary relationships between computer programmers in private companies and the military to combat the threat of cyber terrorism and warfare. Cyber operations since 2000 have increased dramatically, with the recent branch of the US Strategic Command the United States Cyber Command. Cyber operations has been defined by the Washington Post as,
The defense industry of Taiwan is a strategically important sector and a significant employer. They primarily supply weapons and platforms to the Republic of China Armed Forces with few major weapons systems exported abroad. With foreign assistance the Taiwanese defense industry has produced fighter aircraft, missile systems, surface ships, radars, rocket artillery, armored vehicles, and small arms.
The Project 2049 Institute, also known as Project 2049, is a non-partisan think tank based in Arlington, Virginia focusing on United States foreign policy and security issues in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly those related to China and Taiwan. It receives "grants and contracts from the U.S. government, like-minded governments, charitable foundations, major corporations, and individual donors."