Foreign agents are working eagerly to promote the causes of the nations that pay their salaries by reaching out to think tanks that have historically shaped conservative policymaking, Department of Justice filings show, even as the broader conservative movement has become increasingly skeptical of foreign entanglements following the GOP’s 2024 electoral victories.
The Hudson Institute, Heritage Foundation, and American Enterprise Institute have attracted considerable attention from foreign agents representing countries such as Ukraine, South Africa, Taiwan, Armenia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, South Korea, Somaliland, France, Switzerland, Togo, India, and Serbia. By contrast, well-established left-of-center think tanks like the Brookings Institution have attracted comparatively less attention from foreign influence operations than they did in prior years, falling behind conservative policy shops in Trump’s Washington.
Foreign agents — typically American lobbyists paid by foreign entities to advance their interests in the political sphere — disseminated information to the trio of conservative think tanks, invited their scholars to participate in events, held meetings with staffers, and sought to gain information about the American policy landscape from them.
Taiwan, likely owing to its precarious geopolitical position, was especially active in these regards. Lobbyists working for the Democratic Progressive Party and the Kuomintang, the island nation’s two primary political parties, have contacted Heritage employees, for instance, 30 times since Election Day 2024.
Some of these meetings have been fruitful for Taiwan.
On Sept. 12, for instance, Taiwanese Minister of Mainland Affairs Chiu Chui-cheng secured an invitation to speak to the Heritage Foundation about why “a free, secure, and prosperous Taiwan not only contributes to regional stability, but also makes America’s position stronger on the world stage.”
This rhetoric gels well with a recent well-publicized statement made by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, in which he said that the United States should cooperate with foreign powers like Israel when it aligns with American interests but should be more circumspect in other situations.
Taiwanese foreign agents have also worked to arrange a joint training workshop with Heritage staffers, as well as a number of other discussions and meetings this year.
Among all the foreign agents that reached the trio of conservative think tanks, those representing South Korea were primarily interested in trade, defense, shipbuilding, and deepened economic collaboration; Ukrainian agents were interested in discussing U.S. energy policy; and Emirati agents sought to discuss defense policy.
While Heritage and its conservative peers have received a fair amount of attention from foreign agents in recent months, it does appear that foreign agents have grown less interested in prominent left-of-center think tanks.
Foreign agents met or communicated with staff at Brookings 65 times between November 2023 and November 2024, according to DOJ records. Since November 2024, however, foreign agents have only reached out to staff at the think tank 30 times. The Center for American Progress and the New America Foundation, two other major left-of-center think tanks, have received only two and one communications from foreign agents, respectively, since November 2024.
“CAP has long had the policy to not take direction from outside entities or persons, whether foreign or U.S., and we make our policy clear with everyone that we work with,” a spokeswoman for the think tank told the Washington Examiner.
By contrast, foreign agents have reported 53 communications with Heritage, 54 with Hudson, and 35 with AEI since the 2024 elections.
“AEI does not accept funding from foreign governments, and our scholars and staff are diligent in adhering to the law when engaging with representatives of a foreign government,” a spokesman for the think tank told the Washington Examiner.
Lobbyists working for foreign entities may see influencing conservative think tanks as a more potent strategy now than it was in 2023, given that the 2024 election handed the GOP control of both the White House and Congress. Documents filed with the DOJ show that Qatari foreign agents increased their outreach to conservative media following the 2024 election, hinting at a possible trend.
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Despite assertions from some prominent online commentators regarding Israel’s influence over conservative policymaking, DOJ records show no Israeli foreign agents contacting any of the three conservative think tanks since November 2024. Contrary to what some critics of Heritage have implied, no Qatari foreign agents reported contacting Heritage staffers during that time frame either.
Given Attorney General Pam Bondi’s more lax enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, however, it is theoretically possible that Israeli or Qatari did occur but were not reported to the DOJ.
Heritage, Hudson, Brookings, and New America did not respond to requests for comment.
