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14
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative.md
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@ -12,8 +12,16 @@ tags:
- JaanTallinn
summary: "The Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative is the nonprofit founded in 2017 by Andrew Critch that provides free operational support and grants to university research groups working on existential risk, funded chiefly by Jaan Tallinn and Open Philanthropy."
location: "Berkeley, California"
relations:
- type: participant_in
with: "[[Claire Zabel]]"
reverse: true
start: 2020-01
end: 2021-03
role: "grant investigator on the January 2020 general support grant and the March 2021 SERI summer fellowship stipend grant"
fn: 7
created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-10-08
---
The Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative (BERI) is an American nonprofit founded in 2017 that supports academic research groups studying risks to the long-term survival of humanity. Its distinctive method is to supply university centers with services and staff that universities are slow to provide, hiring contractors, engineers, and assistants and handling logistics on behalf of researchers, and it also makes grants to such groups. BERI is funded chiefly by the [[Skype]] cofounder [[Jaan Tallinn]] and by [[Open Philanthropy]], and it has served as an operational and grantmaking intermediary in the existential-risk and AI-safety field, including for Tallinn's [[Survival and Flourishing Fund]].[^1][^2]
@ -36,6 +44,8 @@ BERI is funded by the same small set of donors that supports much of the existen
BERI announced its first grants program in September 2017, and its early grantmaking, funded by Tallinn, was one of the channels through which his existential-risk giving flowed before he formalized the Survival and Flourishing Fund and its S-process in 2019; BERI has continued to act as a grantmaking and fiscal intermediary that distributes some of the funds the S-process recommends. The concentration of its support among a handful of donors, principally Tallinn and Open Philanthropy, mirrors the funding structure of the wider field it serves.[^2][^6]
Open Philanthropy's grant pages record two grants to BERI with [[Claire Zabel]] as grant investigator. In January 2020 the foundation recommended 150,000 dollars in general support, intended to help BERI establish new collaborations; the page describes it as following the foundation's January 2019 support.[^7] In March 2021 it recommended 210,000 dollars to provide stipends for the [[Stanford Existential Risks Initiative]] summer research fellowship program.[^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Info," Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative, on the mission to improve civilization's long-term prospects, the collaboration-with-university-groups strategy, the free-services model, the 2017 founding by Andrew Critch, and the leadership of Sawyer Bernath since 2020. https://www.beri.org/
@ -44,3 +54,5 @@ BERI announced its first grants program in September 2017, and its early grantma
[^4]: "Collaborations," Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative, on the partnership with the Center for Human-Compatible AI under Stuart Russell at UC Berkeley and other research groups. https://www.beri.org/collaborations
[^5]: "March 2017: Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative," Effective Altruism Funds, on early grant support to BERI. https://funds.effectivealtruism.org/payouts/march-2017-berkeley-existential-risk-initiative-beri
[^6]: "Announcing BERI's first grants program," Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative, September 25, 2017, on the first grants program funded by Jaan Tallinn. https://existence.org/2017/09/25/announcing-beris-first-grants-program.html
[^7]: Open Philanthropy, "Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative: General Support," award date January 2020, amount 150,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/berkeley-existential-risk-initiative-general-support/
[^8]: Open Philanthropy, "Berkeley Existential Risk Initiative: SERI Summer Fellowships," award date March 2021, amount 210,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/?p=7033

30
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Center for Applied Rationality.md
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@ -11,30 +11,40 @@ tags:
- EffectiveAltruism
summary: "The Center for Applied Rationality is a Berkeley nonprofit spun off from the Machine Intelligence Research Institute in 2012 to teach rationality techniques through residential workshops, which served as a recruitment funnel for AI-safety work and whose 2019 alumni reunion was protested by the group that became the Zizians."
location: "Berkeley, California"
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]"
reverse: true
start: 2020-02
role: "375,000 dollar general support grant"
fn: 5
created: 2026-06-19
updated: 2026-06-19
updated: 2026-10-08
---
The Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR) is a nonprofit founded in 2012 in [[Berkeley]], [[California]], as a spin-off of the [[Machine Intelligence Research Institute]] (MIRI), created to teach the reasoning techniques developed in the [[Rationalist Community]] through paid residential workshops. Its founders came from the MIRI orbit and included [[Anna Salamon]] and [[Julia Galef]]. CFAR shared personnel, premises, and an [[Effective Altruism]] donor base with MIRI, and its workshops functioned as a recruitment funnel that drew talented young people toward artificial-intelligence-safety work and the broader rationalist milieu.[^1][^2]
### Workshops and the AI-Safety Funnel
CFAR ran multi-day workshops teaching "applied rationality," a curriculum of decision-making, debiasing, and emotional-processing techniques. The founding instructor group, beyond Salamon and Galef, included [[Valentine Smith]] and the AI-safety researcher [[Andrew Critch]], and the organization began offering classes in 2012. A standard residential workshop ran four and a half days at a fee of 3,900 dollars, with scholarships and a free preliminary consultation; Galef served as president until 2016, when Salamon, who had come from MIRI, succeeded her. CFAR and MIRI shared offices in Berkeley.[^6][^7]
CFAR ran multi-day workshops teaching "applied rationality," a curriculum of decision-making, debiasing, and emotional-processing techniques. The founding instructor group, beyond Salamon and Galef, included [[Valentine Smith]] and the AI-safety researcher [[Andrew Critch]], and the organization began offering classes in 2012. A standard residential workshop ran four and a half days at a fee of 3,900 dollars, with scholarships and a free preliminary consultation; Galef served as president until 2016, when Salamon, who had come from MIRI, succeeded her. CFAR and MIRI shared offices in Berkeley.[^3][^4]
The organization openly oriented its later programming toward AI-risk recruitment, holding specialized workshops, including dedicated "AI Risk for Computer Scientists" sessions run jointly with MIRI, to identify and route promising participants toward existential-risk work. The workshops, the group houses, and the annual alumni reunions formed the in-person spine of the Bay Area rationalist community during the 2010s. The curriculum borrowed from cognitive-behavioral therapy, debiasing research, and the community's own techniques such as "double crux" and "internal double crux," and the residential format placed instructors and participants in extended close contact that several later first-person accounts identified as a vector for the high-control dynamics that developed in the milieu.[^2][^6]
The organization openly oriented its later programming toward AI-risk recruitment, holding specialized workshops, including dedicated "AI Risk for Computer Scientists" sessions run jointly with MIRI, to identify and route promising participants toward existential-risk work. The workshops, the group houses, and the annual alumni reunions formed the in-person spine of the Bay Area rationalist community during the 2010s. The curriculum borrowed from cognitive-behavioral therapy, debiasing research, and the community's own techniques such as "double crux" and "internal double crux," and the residential format placed instructors and participants in extended close contact that several later first-person accounts identified as a vector for the high-control dynamics that developed in the milieu.[^2][^3]
In February 2020 [[Open Philanthropy]] recommended 375,000 dollars to CFAR for general support, with [[Claire Zabel]] as grant investigator. The grant page says the foundation's primary interest in the workshops is that they introduce people to, or strengthen their connections with, the effective altruism community and way of thinking.[^5]
### The Zizian Protest and the Abuse Accounts
In November 2019 the group around [[Jack LaSota]] that became the [[The Zizians|Zizians]] protested a CFAR alumni reunion in [[Sonoma County]], appearing in masks and robes, blocking the entrances, and accusing the organization of covering up misconduct. Four protesters were arrested.[^3]
In November 2019 the group around [[Jack LaSota]] that became the [[The Zizians|Zizians]] protested a CFAR alumni reunion in [[Sonoma County]], appearing in masks and robes, blocking the entrances, and accusing the organization of covering up misconduct. Four protesters were arrested.[^6]
In 2021 a first-person account titled "My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR" circulated on [[LessWrong]] alongside [[Zoe Curzi]]'s parallel writeup of [[Leverage Research]], describing psychological harm, high-control dynamics, and breakdowns in the MIRI and CFAR environment. A 2023 *Bloomberg* investigation gathered further accounts of abuse and coercion across the rationalist organizations. CFAR wound down its regular public workshop schedule around the start of the 2020s.[^4][^5]
In 2021 a first-person account titled "My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR" circulated on [[LessWrong]] alongside [[Zoe Curzi]]'s parallel writeup of [[Leverage Research]], describing psychological harm, high-control dynamics, and breakdowns in the MIRI and CFAR environment. A 2023 *Bloomberg* investigation gathered further accounts of abuse and coercion across the rationalist organizations. CFAR wound down its regular public workshop schedule around the start of the 2020s.[^7][^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Center for Applied Rationality, founding 2012 as a spin-off of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute; cross-referenced against the MIRI organizational timeline at timelines.issarice.com.
[^2]: Yudkowsky, Eliezer, and the rationalist community record on CFAR workshops and the AI-safety recruitment orientation; see *Rationality: From AI to Zombies.* Machine Intelligence Research Institute, 2015.
[^3]: "How a Vermont border agent's death exposed violence linked to the cultlike Zizian group," *CBS News,* 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vermont-border-agent-death-exposed-violence-linked-cultlike-zizian-group/
[^4]: "My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi's writeup of experiences at Leverage)," LessWrong, October 2021; first-person disclosure-side account. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MnFqyPLqbiKL8nSR7/my-experience-at-and-around-miri-and-cfar-inspired-by-zoe
[^5]: "Abuse in LessWrong and rationalist communities in Bloomberg News," on the 2023 *Bloomberg* investigation; discussion archived on the EA Forum. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7b9ZDTAYQY9k6FZHS/abuse-in-lesswrong-and-rationalist-communities-in-bloomberg
[^6]: "The 'Rationality' Workshop That Teaches People to Think More Like Computers," *Vice,* on the CFAR curriculum, the founders Salamon, Galef, Smith, and Critch, the 3,900 dollar fee, and the residential format. https://www.vice.com/en/article/center-for-applied-rationality/
[^7]: Critch, Andrew, "The Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR)," acritch.com, on the founding group, the shared Berkeley offices with MIRI, and the Galef-to-Salamon presidential succession in 2016. https://acritch.com/cfar/
[^3]: "The 'Rationality' Workshop That Teaches People to Think More Like Computers," *Vice,* on the CFAR curriculum, the founders Salamon, Galef, Smith, and Critch, the 3,900 dollar fee, and the residential format. https://www.vice.com/en/article/center-for-applied-rationality/
[^4]: Critch, Andrew, "The Center for Applied Rationality (CFAR)," acritch.com, on the founding group, the shared Berkeley offices with MIRI, and the Galef-to-Salamon presidential succession in 2016. https://acritch.com/cfar/
[^5]: Open Philanthropy, "Center for Applied Rationality: General Support (2020)," award date February 2020, amount 375,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel, Wayback Machine capture of 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/center-for-applied-rationality-general-support-2020/
[^6]: "How a Vermont border agent's death exposed violence linked to the cultlike Zizian group," *CBS News,* 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vermont-border-agent-death-exposed-violence-linked-cultlike-zizian-group/
[^7]: "My experience at and around MIRI and CFAR (inspired by Zoe Curzi's writeup of experiences at Leverage)," LessWrong, October 2021; first-person disclosure-side account. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/MnFqyPLqbiKL8nSR7/my-experience-at-and-around-miri-and-cfar-inspired-by-zoe
[^8]: "Abuse in LessWrong and rationalist communities in Bloomberg News," on the 2023 *Bloomberg* investigation; discussion archived on the EA Forum. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7b9ZDTAYQY9k6FZHS/abuse-in-lesswrong-and-rationalist-communities-in-bloomberg

33
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Centre for Effective Altruism.md
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@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ relations:
role: "statutory inquiry under section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 into the UK charity"
fn: 7
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-08
---
The Centre for [[Effective Altruism]] (CEA) was the name of two affiliated charities and, later, of a project hosted by them. The English company now registered as Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), number 07962181, was incorporated as the Centre for Effective Altruism on 23 February 2012, took the name [[Effective Ventures|Effective Ventures Foundation]] on 25 August 2022 and became Effective Ventures Foundation (UK) on 27 February 2023.[^1] [[William MacAskill]], [[Toby Ord]] and [[Nick Beckstead]] were each appointed directors on the day of incorporation.[^2] [[Charlotte Alter]] of [[Time|TIME]] described MacAskill as having "co-founded the Centre for Effective Altruism."[^3] The American charity filed its tax returns for 2013 to 2021 as Centre for Effective Altruism USA Inc (EIN 47-1988398, [[San Francisco]], tax-exempt from February 2015) and has since been renamed Effective Ventures Foundation USA.[^4] After the 2022 renaming, CEA continued as one of the projects fiscally sponsored by the two charities, alongside [[80,000 Hours]], [[Giving What We Can]], EA Funds, the [[Forethought Foundation]], the [[Centre for the Governance of AI]] and [[Longview Philanthropy]].[^5][^6]
@ -197,7 +197,9 @@ Grants recommended by a "Committee for Effective Altruism Support" followed: 2,7
Later recommendations to CEA and its successors included 500,000 dollars for the Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund (October 2021); two grants totaling 26,000,000 dollars for general support (March 2022); 77,000 dollars for a research assistant to [[Jonas Sandbrink]], a biosecurity researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute (May 2022); 5,318,000 dollars over three years for a coworking space in Boston for biosecurity teams "including [[Kevin Esvelt]]'s lab" (August 2022); 8,875,000 dollars for a five-year lease on an office in Harvard Square and 250,000 dollars for a one-year office for the Harvard AI Safety Team (August 2022); 4,929,000 dollars for Infrastructure Fund regranting (September 2022); two grants totaling 11,425,000 dollars to Effective Ventures Foundation, "formerly known as the Centre for Effective Altruism," and 1,500,000 pounds for office space for the Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford (December 2022); 4,700,000 dollars (January 2023) and 2,360,192 dollars (June 2023) to the American charity; 7,644,021 dollars for the Harvard Square space (April 2023); 11,000,000 dollars (June 2023); 288,000 dollars for an "AI Safety Communications Centre" that "connects journalists to AI safety experts and resources" (August 2023); 3,342,238 dollars and 3,543,240 dollars in simultaneous grants to the English and American charities (November 2023); and 14,201,781 dollars for CEA (May 2024).[^18] In January and March 2023 Open Philanthropy also granted 37,128 dollars and 75,617 dollars to reimburse student group organizers who bought copies of MacAskill's What We Owe the Future; the English charity earned 119,614 pounds in royalties on that book in the year to June 2023.[^18][^19]
The English charity's accounts for the year to June 2023 state that Zabel "is employed as a program director at Open Philanthropy, our largest funder," and that "Claire has significant influence over some of the funding decisions made by Open Philanthropy in relation to several of the charity's projects." The same note records grant income from Open Philanthropy of 39,037,949 pounds (38,285,688 pounds in the year to June 2022), and a liability of 3,352,129 pounds for grants to be returned to it.[^19] Open Philanthropy's biography of Zabel states that she joined in August 2015 and "went on to lead our Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building team"; its biography of Rose gives his title as program officer for the same program, the one under which its later CEA and 80,000 Hours grants are classed.[^20] The note for the year to June 2025 records that Rose, a current trustee, and Zabel are employed at Open Philanthropy with "significant influence" over its funding of the charity's projects, and that grant income from Open Philanthropy was 14,393,034 pounds in the year to June 2024 and 7,076,993 pounds in the year to June 2025, making 98,793,664 pounds over the four years. The trustees' report for that year describes the charity as "dependent on one major donor, Open Philanthropy" for a majority of its funding. The same note records grants of 425,508 pounds to Effective Altruism Germany, of which Gruban was formerly co-director, and states that he took no part in approving them.[^6] The 2022 and 2023 accounts describe a restricted fund named "Open Philanthropy" as "Income and expenses associated with projects supported by Good Ventures Foundation," a reference to [[Good Ventures]].[^11][^19]
In March 2022 Open Philanthropy recommended 5,000,000 dollars to the [[Atlas Fellowship]], via the Centre for Effective Altruism, to support a summer program and scholarship funding for talented high school students, with Zabel as grant investigator. A further 1,800,000 dollar general support grant to the Fellowship followed in December 2022.[^20]
The English charity's accounts for the year to June 2023 state that Zabel "is employed as a program director at Open Philanthropy, our largest funder," and that "Claire has significant influence over some of the funding decisions made by Open Philanthropy in relation to several of the charity's projects." The same note records grant income from Open Philanthropy of 39,037,949 pounds (38,285,688 pounds in the year to June 2022), and a liability of 3,352,129 pounds for grants to be returned to it.[^19] Open Philanthropy's biography of Zabel states that she joined in August 2015 and "went on to lead our Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building team"; its biography of Rose gives his title as program officer for the same program, the one under which its later CEA and 80,000 Hours grants are classed.[^21] The note for the year to June 2025 records that Rose, a current trustee, and Zabel are employed at Open Philanthropy with "significant influence" over its funding of the charity's projects, and that grant income from Open Philanthropy was 14,393,034 pounds in the year to June 2024 and 7,076,993 pounds in the year to June 2025, making 98,793,664 pounds over the four years. The trustees' report for that year describes the charity as "dependent on one major donor, Open Philanthropy" for a majority of its funding. The same note records grants of 425,508 pounds to Effective Altruism Germany, of which Gruban was formerly co-director, and states that he took no part in approving them.[^6] The 2022 and 2023 accounts describe a restricted fund named "Open Philanthropy" as "Income and expenses associated with projects supported by Good Ventures Foundation," a reference to [[Good Ventures]].[^11][^19]
### Oxford Institutes and Projects
@ -207,13 +209,13 @@ The charity's projects in the 2022 accounts included Longview Philanthropy, a jo
### Wytham Abbey
In December 2021 Open Philanthropy recommended two grants totaling 17,324,697 pounds (about 23,212,677 dollars) to Effective Ventures Foundation "to support the purchase, renovation, and operation of [[Wytham Abbey]]," a venue near Oxford "modeled on similar venues funded by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] and the Brocher Foundation." The page states that if the venue proved less cost-effective than alternatives, "proceeds from a sale will be used to support EVF's ongoing operations," and that the amount was updated in October 2024.[^21] The accounts record the purchase on 1 April 2022.[^11]
In December 2021 Open Philanthropy recommended two grants totaling 17,324,697 pounds (about 23,212,677 dollars) to Effective Ventures Foundation "to support the purchase, renovation, and operation of [[Wytham Abbey]]," a venue near Oxford "modeled on similar venues funded by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]] and the Brocher Foundation." The page states that if the venue proved less cost-effective than alternatives, "proceeds from a sale will be used to support EVF's ongoing operations," and that the amount was updated in October 2024.[^22] The accounts record the purchase on 1 April 2022.[^11]
In the year to June 2025 the trustees recorded an impairment of 8,593,798 pounds against a freehold cost of 16,536,782 pounds. They state that the property was marketed in summer 2024 "at the original purchase price," that valuers then advised a change of strategy "given significant reductions in market sentiment," and that "After the year ended, the Charity entered into a sales agreement and completed the sale of Wytham Abbey for £6m in November 2025." During the year 279,816 pounds were transferred from central funds to meet the running costs. The 2024 accounts record that Lakeside, an Oxford accommodation property carried at about 1.4 million pounds, was sold after the year end for about 1.2 million pounds.[^6][^22]
In the year to June 2025 the trustees recorded an impairment of 8,593,798 pounds against a freehold cost of 16,536,782 pounds. They state that the property was marketed in summer 2024 "at the original purchase price," that valuers then advised a change of strategy "given significant reductions in market sentiment," and that "After the year ended, the Charity entered into a sales agreement and completed the sale of Wytham Abbey for £6m in November 2025." During the year 279,816 pounds were transferred from central funds to meet the running costs. The 2024 accounts record that Lakeside, an Oxford accommodation property carried at about 1.4 million pounds, was sold after the year end for about 1.2 million pounds.[^6][^23]
### FTX Foundation Funds and the Charity Commission Inquiry
The announcement of the [[FTX Future Fund]] on 1 March 2022, reposted by [[Tyler Cowen]], gave its team as Beckstead (chief executive), [[Leopold Aschenbrenner]], MacAskill and [[Ketan Ramakrishnan]].[^23] Alter reported that in less than nine months the fund gave 13.9 million dollars to CEA.[^3] The English charity's accounts record donations from the [[FTX Foundation]] of 1,478,708 pounds in the year to June 2022 and 2,766,546 pounds in the year to June 2023, and state in both years that one of the trustees was also chief executive of the FTX Foundation.[^19] The Future Fund team announced its resignation in a post dated 11 November 2022.[^24]
The announcement of the [[FTX Future Fund]] on 1 March 2022, reposted by [[Tyler Cowen]], gave its team as Beckstead (chief executive), [[Leopold Aschenbrenner]], MacAskill and [[Ketan Ramakrishnan]].[^24] Alter reported that in less than nine months the fund gave 13.9 million dollars to CEA.[^3] The English charity's accounts record donations from the [[FTX Foundation]] of 1,478,708 pounds in the year to June 2022 and 2,766,546 pounds in the year to June 2023, and state in both years that one of the trustees was also chief executive of the FTX Foundation.[^19] The Future Fund team announced its resignation in a post dated 11 November 2022.[^25]
[[FTX]] filed for bankruptcy on 11 November 2022. Five days later Lempel was appointed chief executive.[^8] On 19 November the charity filed a serious incident report with the Commission stating that it held 3.3 million pounds and 300,000 dollars from FTX or affiliated entities, that one trustee was chief executive of the FTX Foundation and another an unpaid adviser to the FTX Future Fund. On 2 December the trustees told the Commission that those trustees had been excluded from decisions on the bankruptcy as "non-participating" trustees. The Commission opened a statutory inquiry under section 46 of the [[Charities Act 2011]] on 19 December 2022. On 12 February 2023 the trustees filed a second serious incident report about a historic safeguarding incident involving a former trustee before that person's appointment.[^7] The accounts for the year to June 2022 state that an internal investigation was "ongoing in Q1 2023 in order to investigate concerns re past conduct of a former trustee."[^8]
@ -221,9 +223,9 @@ The inquiry report of 22 May 2024 records that the trustees ringfenced the funds
### Spin-out and Successor Entities
In November 2023 the trustees decided to spin all fiscally sponsored projects out into independent entities. The accounts for the year to June 2025 record the completion dates: the Centre for the Governance of AI on 15 November 2024, Forethought on 28 February 2025, 80,000 Hours on 31 March 2025 and the teenage fellowship Non-Trivial on 11 April 2025. CEA and EA Funds were to merge from 1 July 2025. The board "does not intend to fiscally sponsor new charitable projects" and expects the company to "wind down (in 2026 or beyond)," and the accounts were prepared on a basis other than going concern. In that year the charity spent 8,135,491 pounds on CEA, 5,454,605 pounds on 80,000 Hours and 9,982,687 pounds on EA Funds and Giving What We Can, against total income of 12,083,820 pounds (31,663,819 pounds in 2024), and net funds fell from 43,259,065 pounds to 17,808,025 pounds.[^6] Open Philanthropy recommended 460,000 dollars to the English charity and 990,000 dollars to the American one for CEA's spin-out costs in May 2024.[^25]
In November 2023 the trustees decided to spin all fiscally sponsored projects out into independent entities. The accounts for the year to June 2025 record the completion dates: the Centre for the Governance of AI on 15 November 2024, Forethought on 28 February 2025, 80,000 Hours on 31 March 2025 and the teenage fellowship Non-Trivial on 11 April 2025. CEA and EA Funds were to merge from 1 July 2025. The board "does not intend to fiscally sponsor new charitable projects" and expects the company to "wind down (in 2026 or beyond)," and the accounts were prepared on a basis other than going concern. In that year the charity spent 8,135,491 pounds on CEA, 5,454,605 pounds on 80,000 Hours and 9,982,687 pounds on EA Funds and Giving What We Can, against total income of 12,083,820 pounds (31,663,819 pounds in 2024), and net funds fell from 43,259,065 pounds to 17,808,025 pounds.[^6] Open Philanthropy recommended 460,000 dollars to the English charity and 990,000 dollars to the American one for CEA's spin-out costs in May 2024.[^26]
Two new English companies, Centre for Effective Altruism UK (number 16360152, incorporated 2 April 2025) and Centre for Effective Altruism Community UK (number 16395613, incorporated 17 April 2025), are registered at Trajan House with a single director each and a statement that the company has no registrable controller.[^26] In the [[United States]], Centre For Effective Altruism Inc (EIN 33-3737390), at an address in Milton, Delaware, holds a tax exemption with a ruling date of 1 March 2025.[^27]
Two new English companies, Centre for Effective Altruism UK (number 16360152, incorporated 2 April 2025) and Centre for Effective Altruism Community UK (number 16395613, incorporated 17 April 2025), are registered at Trajan House with a single director each and a statement that the company has no registrable controller.[^27] In the [[United States]], Centre For Effective Altruism Inc (EIN 33-3737390), at an address in Milton, Delaware, holds a tax exemption with a ruling date of 1 March 2025.[^28]
### Footnotes
@ -246,11 +248,12 @@ Two new English companies, Centre for Effective Altruism UK (number 16360152, in
[^17]: Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and Prime Minister's Office, "Appointment of Jade Leung as the Prime Minister's AI adviser," GOV.UK, 15 August 2025; Cabinet Office, "Dr Jade Leung appointed Vice-Chair of the AI Security Institute and Security Advisor to the AI Taskforce," GOV.UK, 23 September 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/appointment-of-jade-leung-as-the-prime-ministers-ai-adviser ; https://www.gov.uk/government/news/dr-jade-leung-appointed-vice-chair-of-the-ai-security-institute-and-security-advisor-to-the-ai-taskforce
[^18]: Open Philanthropy grant pages, Wayback captures of 2023 to 2025: "Centre for Effective Altruism, Effective Altruism Infrastructure Fund" (October 2021); "General Support (2022)" (March 2022); "Research Assistant for Jonas Sandbrink" (May 2022); "Biosecurity Coworking Space," "Harvard Square Coworking Space" and "Harvard AI Safety Office" (August 2022); "Infrastructure Fund Regranting" (September 2022); "Effective Ventures Foundation, General Support" and "Office Space" (December 2022); "General Support (EVF USA, January 2023)"; "Effective Ventures Foundation, Support for What We Owe The Future" (January 2023); "Effective Ventures Foundation USA, Support for What We Owe The Future" (March 2023); "Effective Ventures Foundation USA, Harvard Square Coworking Space (2023)" (April 2023); "General Support (EVF, June 2023)" and "(EVF USA, June 2023)"; "Effective Ventures Foundation, AI Safety Communications Centre" (August 2023); "General Support (EVF, November 2023)" and "(EVF USA, November 2023)"; "General Support (EVF, May 2024)." https://web.archive.org/web/20251117060703/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-effective-altruism-infrastructure-fund/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20251103005418/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-general-support-2022/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250512185858/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-research-assistant-for-jonas-sandbrink/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20251113075351/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-biosecurity-coworking-space/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20251025192305/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-harvard-coworking-space/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20251117005852/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-harvard-ai-safety-office/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20230710180030/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-infrastructure-fund-regranting/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250831045703/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-ventures-foundation-uk-general-support/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250618023752/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-ventures-foundation-office-space/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20251031134905/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-general-support-january-2023/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250429042148/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-ventures-foundation-support-for-what-we-owe-the-future/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20241110095505/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-ventures-foundation-usa-support-for-what-we-owe-the-future/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250618024013/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-harvard-square-coworking-space-2023/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20251023101706/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-general-support/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250711152100/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-general-support-june-2023/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250201041241/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-ventures-foundation-ai-safety-communications-centre/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20251024141001/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-general-support-evf/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250518121930/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-general-support-evf-usa/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250123031744/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-general-support-evf-uk-may-2024/
[^19]: Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2023, filed at Companies House 21 March 2024: Trustees' Report, "Management of existing risks" (FTX bankruptcy), fund descriptions, and note 27 ("Related party transactions"), page 48. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/filing-history/MzQxNDkzNjQ2NGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf
[^20]: Open Philanthropy, team biographies "Claire Zabel" (Wayback capture of 5 January 2025) and "Eli Rose" (Wayback capture of 6 January 2025). https://web.archive.org/web/20250105212156/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/claire-zabel/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250106073801/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/eli-rose/
[^21]: Open Philanthropy, "Effective Ventures Foundation, Event Venue," award date December 2021, amount updated October 2024, Wayback capture of 4 November 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20251104150006/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-ventures-foundation-uk-event-venue/
[^22]: Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2024, filed at Companies House 1 April 2025, note 26 ("Post balance sheet events"). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/filing-history/MzQ2MDU2NjI0MmFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf
[^23]: Cowen, Tyler. "Announcing the Future Fund." Marginal Revolution, 1 March 2022. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/03/announcing-the-future-fund.html
[^24]: Beckstead, Nick, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Ketan Ramakrishnan and others. "The FTX Future Fund team has resigned." Effective Altruism Forum, 11 November 2022. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xafpj3on76uRDoBja/the-ftx-future-fund-team-has-resigned-1
[^25]: Open Philanthropy, "Centre for Effective Altruism, Spinout Costs (EVF UK, May 2024)" and "Spinout Costs (EVF USA, May 2024)," Wayback captures of 18 June 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250618031521/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-spinout-costs-evf-uk-may-2024/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250618031718/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-spinout-costs-evf-usa-may-2024/
[^26]: Companies House, "Centre for Effective Altruism UK," company number 16360152, and "Centre for Effective Altruism Community UK," company number 16395613, overviews, officers and persons with significant control, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/16360152 ; https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/16395613
[^27]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, "Centre For Effective Altruism Inc," EIN 33-3737390, organization record, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/333737390.json
[^20]: Open Philanthropy, "Atlas Fellowship: Scholarships and Summer Program for Students," award date March 2022, amount 5,000,000 dollars, grant investigator Claire Zabel (Wayback Machine captures of 2022 and 2024), https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/atlas-fellowship-scholarships-and-summer-program-for-students/ ; and "Atlas Fellowship: General Support," award date December 2022, amount 1,800,000 dollars, https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/atlas-fellowship-general-support/
[^21]: Open Philanthropy, team biographies "Claire Zabel" (Wayback capture of 5 January 2025) and "Eli Rose" (Wayback capture of 6 January 2025). https://web.archive.org/web/20250105212156/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/claire-zabel/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250106073801/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/eli-rose/
[^22]: Open Philanthropy, "Effective Ventures Foundation, Event Venue," award date December 2021, amount updated October 2024, Wayback capture of 4 November 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20251104150006/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-ventures-foundation-uk-event-venue/
[^23]: Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 30 June 2024, filed at Companies House 1 April 2025, note 26 ("Post balance sheet events"). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/filing-history/MzQ2MDU2NjI0MmFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf
[^24]: Cowen, Tyler. "Announcing the Future Fund." Marginal Revolution, 1 March 2022. https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2022/03/announcing-the-future-fund.html
[^25]: Beckstead, Nick, Leopold Aschenbrenner, Ketan Ramakrishnan and others. "The FTX Future Fund team has resigned." Effective Altruism Forum, 11 November 2022. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/xafpj3on76uRDoBja/the-ftx-future-fund-team-has-resigned-1
[^26]: Open Philanthropy, "Centre for Effective Altruism, Spinout Costs (EVF UK, May 2024)" and "Spinout Costs (EVF USA, May 2024)," Wayback captures of 18 June 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20250618031521/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-spinout-costs-evf-uk-may-2024/ ; https://web.archive.org/web/20250618031718/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/centre-for-effective-altruism-spinout-costs-evf-usa-may-2024/
[^27]: Companies House, "Centre for Effective Altruism UK," company number 16360152, and "Centre for Effective Altruism Community UK," company number 16395613, overviews, officers and persons with significant control, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/16360152 ; https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/16395613
[^28]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer API, "Centre For Effective Altruism Inc," EIN 33-3737390, organization record, retrieved 1 October 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/333737390.json

41
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Council on Foreign Relations.md
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@ -79,14 +79,20 @@ relations:
reverse: true
end: 2023-06-30
role: "president, 1,868,393 dollars reportable compensation in the return for the year to June 2023"
fn: 27
fn: 30
- type: head_of
with: "[[David Rubenstein]]"
reverse: true
role: "chairman in the return for the year to June 2023"
fn: 27
fn: 30
- type: funded
with: "[[Bernard L. Schwartz]]"
reverse: true
start: 2002
role: "Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellowship in Business and Foreign Policy, first holder Bennett Freeman"
fn: 26
created: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-01
updated: 2026-10-09
---
The Council on Foreign Relations is a New York membership organization that publishes [[Foreign Affairs]] and runs study groups, a meetings program for members, affiliated Committees on Foreign Relations in other cities and a corporate subscription program.
@ -167,21 +173,27 @@ General fund expenditures were 6,778,300 dollars against total funding of 6,718,
The report lists as directors, at press time, Harold Brown, Stanley Hoffmann, Nicholas Katzenbach, Lane Kirkland, Juanita Kreps, Robert Scalapino, [[Brent Scowcroft]], Stephen Stamas, Philip Geyelin, McColough, Donald McHenry, Peterson, William D. Rogers, Vance, Marina Whitman, Walter Wriston, Graham Allison, Warren Christopher, Richard Gelb, Alan Greenspan, [[Bobby Ray Inman]], Jeane Kirkpatrick, Lewis Preston and Clifton Wharton. Of these twenty-four, Brown, Allison, Christopher, Kirkland, Greenspan, Kreps and Whitman appear in the Trilateral Commission's North American roster of July 1981.[^1][^23] A letter from McCloy dated June 27, 1985, printed in the report, refers to David Rockefeller's "44 years of close and active association with the Council" and to his "relinquishment of his leadership on the Board."[^1]
### The Bernard L. Schwartz fellowship and the Greenberg Center, 2002
On March 20, 2002, the council announced that [[Bennett Freeman]] had been named the first Bernard L. Schwartz Fellow in Business and Foreign Policy. The fellowship was placed in the council's new [[Maurice R. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies]]. The release states: "This fellowship is funded by Bernard L. Schwartz, Chairman and CEO of Loral Space & Communications Ltd."[^26]
Two months earlier, on January 9, 2002, [[Space Systems/Loral]] had signed a consent agreement with the State Department's Office of Defense Trade Controls. The agreement set a civil penalty of $20,000,000, of which $14,000,000 was payable and $6,000,000 was suspended, and recorded that the company neither admitted nor denied the allegations in a draft charging letter.[^27] The draft charging letter, addressed to the president of Loral Space & Communications, alleged "Sixty-four (64) violations" in connection with the aftermath of the February 1996 Long March 3B failure.[^28]
### Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs published "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" in July 1947 over the signature "X," credited by the journal to George F. Kennan; the article called for "a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies."[^26]
Foreign Affairs published "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" in July 1947 over the signature "X," credited by the journal to George F. Kennan; the article called for "a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies."[^29]
### Recent filings
The Council's Form 990 for the year ended June 30, 2023 reports revenue of 106,930,600 dollars, expenses of 83,166,400 dollars and year-end assets of 719,707,600 dollars; the same series of returns on the [[ProPublica]] Nonprofit Explorer shows revenue of 59,633,100 dollars and assets of 438,237,900 dollars for the year to June 2011.[^2] The 2023 return lists contributions of 63,113,857 dollars, Foreign Affairs revenue of 11,709,500, individual membership revenue of 9,036,200 and corporate membership revenue of 1,103,843, with 711 employees and 34 voting members of the governing body. It describes the membership as "over 5,000," states that the members elect all voting directors, and gives the year of founding as 1921.[^27]
The Council's Form 990 for the year ended June 30, 2023 reports revenue of 106,930,600 dollars, expenses of 83,166,400 dollars and year-end assets of 719,707,600 dollars; the same series of returns on the [[ProPublica]] Nonprofit Explorer shows revenue of 59,633,100 dollars and assets of 438,237,900 dollars for the year to June 2011.[^2] The 2023 return lists contributions of 63,113,857 dollars, Foreign Affairs revenue of 11,709,500, individual membership revenue of 9,036,200 and corporate membership revenue of 1,103,843, with 711 employees and 34 voting members of the governing body. It describes the membership as "over 5,000," states that the members elect all voting directors, and gives the year of founding as 1921.[^30]
[[Richard Haass]] is shown as president through June 30, 2023 with reportable compensation of 1,868,393 dollars and 59,851 dollars of other compensation; [[Michael Froman]] is named as principal officer. Other reported compensation includes 524,534 dollars to the chief investment officer, [[Giovanna Ban]], 519,740 to the executive vice president and chief financial officer, Keith Olson, 459,793 to the director of studies, [[James M. Lindsay]], 330,419 to the editor of Foreign Affairs, [[Daniel Kurtz-Phelan]], and 280,205 to the distinguished fellow [[Martin Indyk]]. [[David Rubenstein]] is chairman, [[Blair Effron]] and [[Jami Miscik]] vice-chairmen, and the directors include [[Thad Allen]], [[Ashton B. Carter]] (through October 2022), [[Kenneth I. Chenault]], [[Laurence D. Fink]] (through June 30, 2023), [[Timothy F. Geithner]] (through June 30, 2023), [[James P. Gorman]], [[Stephen J. Hadley]], [[Jeh Johnson]], [[William H. McRaven]], [[Janet Napolitano]], [[Meghan O'Sullivan]], [[Ruth Porat]], [[Laurene Powell Jobs]], [[Frances F. Townsend]], [[Daniel H. Yergin]] and [[Fareed Zakaria]]. Schedule O reports business relationships between Haass and directors Effron, [[Stephen C. Freidheim]] and [[Nicholas Beim]]; between Rubenstein and Carter and Yergin; between Miscik and Gorman; and between directors [[James Manyika]] and Porat. Schedule I lists fellowship payments including 596,458 dollars for nine International Affairs Fellows, 288,750 dollars for four fellows in national security, 119,350 dollars for six in Japan, 100,000 dollars for one Edward R. Murrow press fellow and 80,000 dollars for one Stanton nuclear security fellow. The donor schedule is redacted in the public copy.[^27]
[[Richard Haass]] is shown as president through June 30, 2023 with reportable compensation of 1,868,393 dollars and 59,851 dollars of other compensation; [[Michael Froman]] is named as principal officer. Other reported compensation includes 524,534 dollars to the chief investment officer, [[Giovanna Ban]], 519,740 to the executive vice president and chief financial officer, Keith Olson, 459,793 to the director of studies, [[James M. Lindsay]], 330,419 to the editor of Foreign Affairs, [[Daniel Kurtz-Phelan]], and 280,205 to the distinguished fellow [[Martin Indyk]]. [[David Rubenstein]] is chairman, [[Blair Effron]] and [[Jami Miscik]] vice-chairmen, and the directors include [[Thad Allen]], [[Ashton B. Carter]] (through October 2022), [[Kenneth I. Chenault]], [[Laurence D. Fink]] (through June 30, 2023), [[Timothy F. Geithner]] (through June 30, 2023), [[James P. Gorman]], [[Stephen J. Hadley]], [[Jeh Johnson]], [[William H. McRaven]], [[Janet Napolitano]], [[Meghan O'Sullivan]], [[Ruth Porat]], [[Laurene Powell Jobs]], [[Frances F. Townsend]], [[Daniel H. Yergin]] and [[Fareed Zakaria]]. Schedule O reports business relationships between Haass and directors Effron, [[Stephen C. Freidheim]] and [[Nicholas Beim]]; between Rubenstein and Carter and Yergin; between Miscik and Gorman; and between directors [[James Manyika]] and Porat. Schedule I lists fellowship payments including 596,458 dollars for nine International Affairs Fellows, 288,750 dollars for four fellows in national security, 119,350 dollars for six in Japan, 100,000 dollars for one Edward R. Murrow press fellow and 80,000 dollars for one Stanton nuclear security fellow. The donor schedule is redacted in the public copy.[^30]
Five of the directors named in the 2023 return (Rubenstein, Manyika, O'Sullivan, Townsend and Yergin) are members of the North American group in the Trilateral Commission's list of September 6, 2024, on which five Council fellows also appear.[^28]
Five of the directors named in the 2023 return (Rubenstein, Manyika, O'Sullivan, Townsend and Yergin) are members of the North American group in the Trilateral Commission's list of September 6, 2024, on which five Council fellows also appear.[^31]
### Jeffrey Epstein
Two biographical statements in the [[Department of Justice]]'s [[Epstein Files|Epstein Library]], one headed "Biographical Information of Jeffrey E. Epstein" and one "About Jeffrey E. Epstein," neither dated on its face, describe [[Jeffrey Epstein]] as "a former member of the Trilateral Commission and a former member of the Council on Foreign Relations." No Council membership roll appears in the documents examined.[^29] An exchange of November 8 and 15, 2010 between Epstein and the Council's director of events concerns travel and a weekend event.[^30]
Two biographical statements in the [[Department of Justice]]'s [[Epstein Files|Epstein Library]], one headed "Biographical Information of Jeffrey E. Epstein" and one "About Jeffrey E. Epstein," neither dated on its face, describe [[Jeffrey Epstein]] as "a former member of the Trilateral Commission and a former member of the Council on Foreign Relations." No Council membership roll appears in the documents examined.[^32] An exchange of November 8 and 15, 2010 between Epstein and the Council's director of events concerns travel and a weekend event.[^33]
### Footnotes
@ -210,8 +222,11 @@ Two biographical statements in the [[Department of Justice]]'s [[Epstein Files|E
[^23]: The Trilateral Commission, membership list "As of July 1, 1981," reprinted in Congressional Research Service, The Trilateral Commission, Issue Packet IP0092 (Library of Congress, 1981), https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/19810501_IP0092_2d3ea09e2c6068af730f41d315f4ea490bc91878.pdf
[^24]: Memoranda, National Intelligence Officer for China to Deputy Director of Central Intelligence for National Intelligence, July 26, 1976 (NIO 1215-76) and September 7, 1976 (NIO 1426-76), CIA-RDP83B00100R000100130019-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp83b00100r000100130019-2
[^25]: Letter, Stansfield Turner to Alton Frye, Director, International Affairs Fellowships, Council on Foreign Relations, September 12, 1979, CIA-RDP80B01554R003300220008-8, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp80b01554r003300220008-8
[^26]: "X" (George F. Kennan), "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," Foreign Affairs, vol. 25, no. 4, July 1947, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/1947-07-01/sources-soviet-conduct
[^27]: Internal Revenue Service, Form 990 of Council on Foreign Relations Inc for the year ended June 30, 2023 (tax year 2022), Parts I, III, VI, VII, VIII, Schedules B, I and O, IRS e-file XML object 202430169349300598, https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2024/2024_TEOS_XML_01A.zip (member 2024_TEOS_XML_01A/202430169349300598_public.xml)
[^28]: The Trilateral Commission, membership list "Last updated September 6, 2024," North American Group, https://archive.org/details/tc-membership-list-sept-6-2024-1
[^29]: Department of Justice, Epstein Library, "Biographical Information of Jeffrey E. Epstein," EFTA00725190, and "About Jeffrey E. Epstein," EFTA00725191, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00725190.pdf and https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00725191.pdf
[^30]: Department of Justice, Epstein Library, emails of November 8 and 15, 2010 between Jeffrey Epstein and the Council on Foreign Relations director of events, EFTA00751793, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00751793.pdf
[^26]: Council on Foreign Relations, "Bennett Freeman Named First Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow in Business and Foreign Policy," press release dated March 20, 2002, https://www.cfr.org/articles/bennett-freeman-named-first-bernard-l-schwartz-senior-fellow-business-and-foreign
[^27]: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Defense Trade Controls, consent agreement with Space Systems/Loral, Inc., January 9, 2002, Exhibit 10.1 to Loral Space & Communications Ltd. Form 8-K, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001006269/000095012302000193/y56456ex10-1.txt
[^28]: U.S. Department of State, Office of Defense Trade Controls, Draft Charging Letter to Space Systems/Loral, Inc. (undated), https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/sys_attachment.do?sys_id=032ef245db15df00d0a370131f96192b
[^29]: "X" (George F. Kennan), "The Sources of Soviet Conduct," Foreign Affairs, vol. 25, no. 4, July 1947, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/russian-federation/1947-07-01/sources-soviet-conduct
[^30]: Internal Revenue Service, Form 990 of Council on Foreign Relations Inc for the year ended June 30, 2023 (tax year 2022), Parts I, III, VI, VII, VIII, Schedules B, I and O, IRS e-file XML object 202430169349300598, https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/990/xml/2024/2024_TEOS_XML_01A.zip (member 2024_TEOS_XML_01A/202430169349300598_public.xml)
[^31]: The Trilateral Commission, membership list "Last updated September 6, 2024," North American Group, https://archive.org/details/tc-membership-list-sept-6-2024-1
[^32]: Department of Justice, Epstein Library, "Biographical Information of Jeffrey E. Epstein," EFTA00725190, and "About Jeffrey E. Epstein," EFTA00725191, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00725190.pdf and https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00725191.pdf
[^33]: Department of Justice, Epstein Library, emails of November 8 and 15, 2010 between Jeffrey Epstein and the Council on Foreign Relations director of events, EFTA00751793, https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00751793.pdf

43
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Effective Ventures.md
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@ -14,8 +14,16 @@ tags:
- Philanthropy
summary: "Effective Ventures was the umbrella charity that legally housed the central effective-altruism organizations, took roughly 27 million dollars from Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX in 2022, repaid all of it to the FTX bankruptcy estate in a 2024 settlement, and then resolved to spin out all of its projects into independent bodies."
location: "Oxford, England; United States"
relations:
- type: director_of
with: "[[Claire Zabel]]"
reverse: true
start: 2019-07-18
end: 2024-03-28
role: "director of the English company then named the Centre for Effective Altruism"
fn: 4
created: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-06-20
updated: 2026-10-08
---
Effective Ventures was the umbrella organization that served as the legal and operational home of the central institutions of [[Effective Altruism|effective altruism]]. It consisted of two affiliated charities, the Effective Ventures Foundation in the United Kingdom and Effective Ventures Foundation USA, which between them hosted projects including the [[Centre for Effective Altruism]], [[80,000 Hours]], [[Giving What We Can]], and the EA Funds. The group received about 27 million dollars from [[Sam Bankman-Fried]]'s [[FTX]] and its associated foundation in 2022, repaid the full amount to the FTX bankruptcy estate in a January 2024 settlement, and subsequently decided to dissolve the umbrella and spin its projects out as independent organizations.[^1][^2]
@ -26,30 +34,43 @@ Effective Ventures operated as a fiscal sponsor, a single charitable structure u
The projects housed under Effective Ventures included the Centre for Effective Altruism, which runs the movement's conferences and community infrastructure; the career-advising organization 80,000 Hours, cofounded by [[William MacAskill]] and Benjamin Todd; Giving What We Can, the pledge organization for charitable donation also cofounded by MacAskill and [[Toby Ord]]; the grantmaking platform EA Funds; the Forethought Foundation; and at various times other research and outreach efforts. Several of the people who ran Effective Ventures and its projects, including MacAskill, also held roles in Bankman-Fried's philanthropic operation.[^1][^3]
### Trustees and Control
[[Companies House]] records [[Claire Zabel]] as a director of Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), company number 07962181, from July 18, 2019 to March 28, 2024.[^4] The register of persons with significant control records her as holding more than 25 percent but not more than 50 percent of the voting rights from July 18, 2019 to February 2, 2022, and again from September 21, 2023 to March 28, 2024.[^5]
The accounts for the year to June 30, 2023 list as trustees William MacAskill, Toby Ord, Zabel, [[Owen Cotton-Barratt]], [[Nick Beckstead]], [[Tasha McCauley]], [[Lincoln Quirk]], [[Eli Rose]] and J Winchell, with [[Howie Lempel]] as chief executive until December 7, 2023.[^6] Note 27 states that Zabel "is employed as a program director at Open Philanthropy, our largest funder" and that "As a result of that position, Claire has significant influence over some of the funding decisions made by Open Philanthropy in relation to several of the charity's projects." In that year the company received 39,037,949 pounds in grant income from [[Open Philanthropy]] and donations of 2,766,546 pounds from the [[FTX Foundation]]. The note states that one of the Board of Trustees was also the chief executive of the FTX Foundation during the year.[^7]
The [[Charity Commission]] report of May 22, 2024 records that one trustee was the chief executive of the FTX Foundation and another an unpaid adviser to the [[FTX Future Fund]], that trustees were not required to disclose potential conflicts of interest on joining the board until October 2022, and that the inquiry found no evidence of unmanaged conflicts regarding funds received from the FTX Foundation. It does not name the trustees or mention Open Philanthropy.[^8]
### The FTX Money and the Settlement
In 2022 entities within Effective Ventures received approximately 26.8 million dollars in grants from FTX and the FTX Foundation, part of the wave of money Bankman-Fried directed into effective-altruism and longtermist causes before his exchange collapsed in November 2022. When FTX failed and entered bankruptcy, its estate moved to recover money that FTX and Alameda had paid out, including charitable grants, on the basis that the funds had originated in customer deposits misappropriated in the fraud.[^2][^4]
In 2022 entities within Effective Ventures received approximately 26.8 million dollars in grants from FTX and the FTX Foundation, part of the wave of money Bankman-Fried directed into effective-altruism and longtermist causes before his exchange collapsed in November 2022. When FTX failed and entered bankruptcy, its estate moved to recover money that FTX and Alameda had paid out, including charitable grants, on the basis that the funds had originated in customer deposits misappropriated in the fraud.[^2][^9]
Effective Ventures announced in January 2024 that it had reached a settlement with the FTX bankruptcy estate under which it returned 26,786,503 dollars, a sum the organization stated was equal to one hundred percent of the funds it and its projects had received from FTX and the FTX Foundation. The repayment, which the group covered in part by drawing on reserves and other donors, removed the threat of clawback litigation but consumed a large share of the organization's resources.[^2][^4]
Effective Ventures announced in January 2024 that it had reached a settlement with the FTX bankruptcy estate under which it returned 26,786,503 dollars, a sum the organization stated was equal to one hundred percent of the funds it and its projects had received from FTX and the FTX Foundation. The repayment, which the group covered in part by drawing on reserves and other donors, removed the threat of clawback litigation but consumed a large share of the organization's resources.[^2][^9]
### Wytham Abbey
Among the assets Effective Ventures had acquired in the period of FTX-era abundance was Wytham Abbey, a fifteenth-century manor house near Oxford, bought in 2022 for a reported price of about 15 million pounds to serve as a conference and workshop venue for the effective-altruism community. The purchase, made with funding connected to the movement's major donors, drew public criticism as an extravagant use of charitable money and became a symbol of the movement's spending during its flush years.[^5][^3]
Among the assets Effective Ventures had acquired in the period of FTX-era abundance was Wytham Abbey, a fifteenth-century manor house near Oxford, bought in 2022 for a reported price of about 15 million pounds to serve as a conference and workshop venue for the effective-altruism community. The purchase, made with funding connected to the movement's major donors, drew public criticism as an extravagant use of charitable money and became a symbol of the movement's spending during its flush years.[^3][^10]
After the FTX collapse and the settlement, Effective Ventures put the property up for sale, and it was sold in 2024 at a reported loss of about 14.5 million dollars against the purchase and associated costs. The sale was part of the broader unwinding of the organization's holdings and commitments in the wake of the FTX failure.[^5]
After the FTX collapse and the settlement, Effective Ventures put the property up for sale, and it was sold in 2024 at a reported loss of about 14.5 million dollars against the purchase and associated costs. The sale was part of the broader unwinding of the organization's holdings and commitments in the wake of the FTX failure.[^10]
### The Decision to Spin Out
In the aftermath of the FTX collapse, which implicated people close to the organization and exposed the concentration of legal and reputational risk in a single shared structure, the boards of Effective Ventures UK and Effective Ventures USA decided to spin out all of the group's projects into independent organizations rather than continue as an umbrella. The decision followed an external investigation, commissioned after the collapse, into the organizations' ties to Bankman-Fried.[^1][^6]
In the aftermath of the FTX collapse, which implicated people close to the organization and exposed the concentration of legal and reputational risk in a single shared structure, the boards of Effective Ventures UK and Effective Ventures USA decided to spin out all of the group's projects into independent organizations rather than continue as an umbrella. The decision followed an external investigation, commissioned after the collapse, into the organizations' ties to Bankman-Fried.[^1][^11]
The dissolution proceeded over the following two years. 80,000 Hours announced its plan to become independent in December 2023 and completed its spin-out in May 2025, establishing new United Kingdom entities; the Centre for Effective Altruism announced in January 2024 that it would leave the umbrella and merge with EA Funds, targeting independence by mid-2025. The boards stated that they would not take on new sponsored projects to replace those that departed.[^6][^7]
The dissolution proceeded over the following two years. 80,000 Hours announced its plan to become independent in December 2023 and completed its spin-out in May 2025, establishing new United Kingdom entities; the Centre for Effective Altruism announced in January 2024 that it would leave the umbrella and merge with EA Funds, targeting independence by mid-2025. The boards stated that they would not take on new sponsored projects to replace those that departed.[^11][^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "EV updates: FTX settlement and the future of EV," Effective Altruism Forum, on the two legal entities, the hosted projects, the settlement, and the decision to spin out all projects. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/HjsfHwqasyQMWRzZN/ev-updates-ftx-settlement-and-the-future-of-ev
[^2]: "Effective Ventures Settles $26.8M FTX Donations Case," The Crypto Times, January 31, 2024, on the return of 26,786,503 dollars equal to one hundred percent of the FTX funds received. https://www.cryptotimes.io/2024/01/31/effective-ventures-settles-26-8m-ftx-donations-case/
[^3]: "Effective Ventures," Effective Altruism Forum topic page, on the fiscal-sponsor structure and the constituent projects. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/topics/effective-ventures
[^4]: "Asset Recovery: Effective Ventures Return $27M in Donations to FTX Bankruptcy Estate," Coinfomania, on the clawback context and the recovery of customer-deposit-sourced grants. https://coinfomania.com/asset-recovery-effective-ventures-return-27m-in-donations-to-ftx-bankruptcy-estate/
[^5]: "FTX-linked Effective Ventures sells UK manor at $14.5M loss," Protos, on the 2022 purchase of Wytham Abbey for about 15 million pounds and its 2024 sale at a reported loss. https://protos.com/ftx-linked-effective-ventures-sells-uk-manor-at-14-5m-loss/
[^6]: "Reflections and lessons from Effective Ventures," Effective Altruism Forum, on the post-FTX investigation and the board decision to spin out the projects. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/AuSah98NtR5qv8zQA/reflections-and-lessons-from-effective-ventures-1
[^7]: "80,000 Hours completes spin-out from Effective Ventures," 80,000 Hours, May 2025, on the December 2023 announcement, the May 2025 completion, and the Centre for Effective Altruism's planned merger with EA Funds. https://80000hours.org/2025/05/80000-hours-completes-spin-out-from-effective-ventures/
[^4]: Companies House, "Effective Ventures Foundation (UK)," company number 07962181, register of officers filtered to resigned officers, entry for Claire Zabel (appointed July 18, 2019; resigned March 28, 2024), viewed October 8, 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/officers?filter=resigned
[^5]: Companies House, "Effective Ventures Foundation (UK)," persons with significant control, entry for Claire Zabel, viewed October 8, 2026. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/persons-with-significant-control
[^6]: Effective Ventures Foundation (UK), Trustees' Report and Financial Statements for the year ended June 30, 2023, "Reference and administrative details," page 1 (names printed with initials). https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/filing-history/MzQxNDkzNjQ2NGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf
[^7]: Same filing, note 27 ("Related party transactions"), page 48. https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/07962181/filing-history/MzQxNDkzNjQ2NGFkaXF6a2N4/document?format=pdf
[^8]: Charity Commission for England and Wales, "Charity Inquiry: Effective Ventures Foundation UK," published May 22, 2024 (marked withdrawn May 27, 2026). https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk/charity-inquiry-effective-ventures-foundation-uk
[^9]: "Asset Recovery: Effective Ventures Return $27M in Donations to FTX Bankruptcy Estate," Coinfomania, on the clawback context and the recovery of customer-deposit-sourced grants. https://coinfomania.com/asset-recovery-effective-ventures-return-27m-in-donations-to-ftx-bankruptcy-estate/
[^10]: "FTX-linked Effective Ventures sells UK manor at $14.5M loss," Protos, on the 2022 purchase of Wytham Abbey for about 15 million pounds and its 2024 sale at a reported loss. https://protos.com/ftx-linked-effective-ventures-sells-uk-manor-at-14-5m-loss/
[^11]: "Reflections and lessons from Effective Ventures," Effective Altruism Forum, on the post-FTX investigation and the board decision to spin out the projects. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/AuSah98NtR5qv8zQA/reflections-and-lessons-from-effective-ventures-1
[^12]: "80,000 Hours completes spin-out from Effective Ventures," 80,000 Hours, May 2025, on the December 2023 announcement, the May 2025 completion, and the Centre for Effective Altruism's planned merger with EA Funds. https://80000hours.org/2025/05/80000-hours-completes-spin-out-from-effective-ventures/

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---
created: 2026-10-09
updated: 2026-10-09
title: New School for Social Research
aliases:
- New School for Social Research
- The New School
- New School
- New School University
- New School for Social Research (New York)
- University in Exile
- Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science
tags:
- Organization
- NewSchool
- HigherEducation
- UniversityInExile
- Rockefeller
- MKULTRA
- Psi
- Epstein
- CIA
category: "Private Organization"
summary: "A private New York City university founded in 1919 by Columbia professors who left over the First World War, whose University in Exile sheltered German scholars and whose wartime faculty entered government propaganda work."
start: 1919-01-01
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Charles Austin Beard]]"
reverse: true
start: 1919
role: "co-founder of the school with James Harvey Robinson and Herbert Croly"
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[James Harvey Robinson]]"
reverse: true
start: 1919
role: "co-founder of the school"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Dorothy Payne Whitney]]"
reverse: true
start: 1919
role: "pledged $10,000 a year for ten years and served on the board of directors"
fn: 2
- type: director_of
with: "[[Alvin Johnson]]"
reverse: true
start: 1922
role: "director of the school and organizer of the University in Exile"
fn: 6
- type: funded
with: "[[Hiram J. Halle]]"
reverse: true
start: 1933
role: "guaranteed $60,000 a year for two years to start the University in Exile"
fn: 12
- type: funded
with: "[[Rockefeller Foundation]]"
reverse: true
start: 1933
role: "co-funded faculty appointments and the Research Project on Totalitarian Communication"
fn: 14
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Hans Speier]]"
reverse: true
start: 1933-09
role: "professor of sociology, Graduate Faculty member and co-director of the Research Project on Totalitarian Communication"
fn: 22
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Kurt Riezler]]"
reverse: true
start: 1939
end: 1952
role: "professor of philosophy, Graduate Faculty"
fn: 37
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Max Ascoli]]"
reverse: true
start: 1933
role: "Graduate Faculty member from late 1933"
fn: 48
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Leo Strauss]]"
reverse: true
start: 1938
end: 1948
role: "Graduate Faculty member"
fn: 34
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Hannah Arendt]]"
reverse: true
start: 1967
end: 1975
role: "University Professor in Philosophy"
fn: 35
- type: head_of
with: "[[Hans Simons]]"
reverse: true
start: 1950
end: 1961
role: "president"
fn: 66
- type: head_of
with: "[[John R. Everett]]"
reverse: true
start: 1964
end: 1982
role: "president"
fn: 66
- type: head_of
with: "[[Jonathan F. Fanton]]"
reverse: true
end: 1999
role: "president"
fn: 68
- type: head_of
with: "[[Bob Kerrey]]"
reverse: true
start: 2001-01
end: 2010-12-31
role: "seventh president, named in 2000 and due to start after leaving the Senate; president through 2010"
fn: 72
- type: head_of
with: "[[David E. Van Zandt]]"
reverse: true
start: 2011
role: "eighth president"
fn: 72
- type: head_of
with: "[[Dwight A. McBride]]"
reverse: true
start: 2020
end: 2023
role: "ninth president"
fn: 74
- type: head_of
with: "[[Donna Shalala]]"
reverse: true
start: 2023
end: 2024
role: "interim president"
fn: 74
- type: head_of
with: "[[Joel Towers]]"
reverse: true
start: 2024
role: "tenth president"
fn: 74
- type: funded
with: "[[Jeffrey Epstein]]"
reverse: true
start: 2014
end: 2019
role: "tuition and transfers paid from Epstein accounts, as recorded in bank statements and a Deutsche Bank exhibit"
fn: 90
- type: funded
with: "[[Starr Foundation]]"
reverse: true
start: 2004
role: "$10 million grant to establish the India China Institute"
fn: 76
- type: funded
with: "[[Bernard L. Schwartz]]"
reverse: true
start: 2004
role: "$3.7 million gift for the Center for Economic Policy Analysis and an endowed professorship"
fn: 76
- type: director_of
with: "[[Bernard L. Schwartz]]"
reverse: true
start: 2004
role: "trustee, joined the board September 1, 2004"
fn: 75
- type: funded
with: "[[United States Department of the Air Force]]"
reverse: true
start: 2013
role: "assistance award FA95501410030, $6,176,482, on the dynamics of sacred values"
fn: 84
- type: funded
with: "[[Project MKUltra]]"
reverse: true
start: 1961
end: 1962
role: "two 1962 projects at the school, per the Everett file; subproject numbers not stated there"
fn: 62
- type: funded
with: "[[Bernard L. Schwartz]]"
reverse: true
start: 2001
role: "$1.1 million for the Bernard L. Schwartz Lecture Series and Project in Markets, Equality and Democracy"
fn: 77
- type: director_of
with: "[[Dorothy Payne Whitney]]"
reverse: true
role: "board of directors"
end: 1930
fn: 7
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Wilhelm Reich]]"
reverse: true
start: 1939
end: 1941
role: "associate professor lecturing in psychiatry, per a New School official to the FBI"
fn: 50
---
A private New York City university founded in 1919 by professors who had been dismissed or had resigned during the First World War, the New School for Social Research opened as an adult school of social science with money from the circle around [[The New Republic]].[^1] Its Graduate Faculty, known from 1933 as the [[University in Exile]], took in German and Central European scholars, and during the Second World War members of that faculty worked for the [[Office of Strategic Services]], the [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]] and the [[Office of War Information]].
### Founding, 1917 to 1922
In 1917 [[Nicholas Murray Butler]], president of [[Columbia University]], dismissed [[Henry Dana]] and [[James McKeen Cattell]] for their outspoken opposition to the war. [[Charles Austin Beard]] and [[James Harvey Robinson]] resigned in protest, and Robinson then persuaded [[Herbert Croly]], the first editor of the New Republic, to join them in founding a new school.[^1] The 1919 founding proposal rejected endowment. Beard wrote that "Endowment spells dry rot," and the founders planned to rely on tuition and annual gifts.[^1]
[[Dorothy Payne Whitney]], the Whitney heiress who had married [[Willard Straight]] and co-founded the New Republic with Croly, had discussed an independent social-science institute with Croly, Beard and Robinson from 1916. Her husband, then serving in Europe, warned her against the two men. She pledged $10,000 a year for ten years.[^2] The ten-year pledges reached nearly $300,000, much of it from Straight, and she paid largely for a renovated townhouse.[^3] A women's group that met to support the school included Mrs. Willard Straight, Mrs. Learned Hand and, later, Mrs. [[Thomas W. Lamont]].[^4]
The school did not rely on endowment. The [[Rockefeller Foundation]], the Carnegie and the Rosenwald foundations turned down an early request for an endowment, and the school could not count on the Rockefellers, the Whitneys, the Goodyears or the Guggenheims.[^5] In 1922 the New Republic was short of money and its owners wanted the school closed so that Straight would support the magazine.[^5] Straight stayed on the board with Croly, [[Wesley Clair Mitchell]], Caroline Bacon and [[Emily James Putnam]].[^5] In April 1922 [[Alvin Johnson]] took over as director and wrote to Straight about the change.[^6]
Dorothy Payne Whitney remained on the Board of Directors until 1930, after 1925 as Mrs. Leonard Elmhirst, and continued financial support for several years after 1929 through the [[William C. Whitney Foundation]].[^7] A Cornell finding aid for her papers states that the school "was begun with the backing of the Whitney Estate in 1919."[^8] In 1969 Milton C. Rose, her son's attorney, told the FBI that the foundation was created by her and Willard Straight in memory of her father and that [[Michael Whitney Straight]] had been its president "since its inception in 1937."[^9]
### University in Exile, 1933
Johnson had co-edited the [[Encyclopaedia of the Social Sciences]] from 1930 to 1935 and had corresponded with German-speaking scholars who contributed to it. After the Nazi seizure of power he set out to shelter them. In April 1933 he began to raise $60,000 a year for two years to support a faculty of fifteen scholars.[^10] Before the largest gift he had raised between $7,000 and $15,000.[^11]
[[Hiram J. Halle]] telephoned Johnson after a letter Johnson had written to [[Edwin R.A. Seligman]] reached him. Johnson's account has Halle telling him "I am prepared to guarantee the sixty thousand a year for two years." Halle wanted his name kept out of the announcement so that other donors would not hold back, and [[Frank Altschul]] vouched for his credit.[^12] The school's own history describes Halle's gift as the entire sum Johnson required.[^10] Johnson's account has Halle guaranteeing $60,000 a year for two years.[^12] Bessner writes that Johnson had collected $120,000 from Halle to fund fifteen professorships at $4,000 a year and raised further money through the Institute of International Education, and that Lederer, then in London, asked Speier to help, so that in the summer of 1933 Speier carried contracts between London and Berlin to prospective members.[^13]
The first appointments were made with the Rockefeller Foundation. Johnson and the Foundation agreed on a dozen individuals to rescue, and the Foundation's Paris associate [[Tracy Kittredge]] wrote on the State Department's view of the question on March 29, 1933.[^14] The [[Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars]] acted for the Foundation in these early cases and did not seek permanent United States posts for the men it supported.[^14] The school's history lists the original members as the agricultural economist [[Karl Brandt]], the public finance specialist [[Gerhard Colm]], [[Arthur Feiler]], [[Eduard Heimann]], [[Herman Kantorowicz]], [[Emil Lederer]], [[Hans Speier]], [[Erich von Hornbostel]], [[Max Wertheimer]] and [[Frieda Wunderlich]]. By October 1933 ten academics were teaching, and by 1935 six more had been added.[^10]
The Emergency Committee was founded in May 1933 when Alfred E. Cohn, Bernard Flexner and Fred M. Stein approached [[Stephen Duggan]] of the [[Institute of International Education]]. [[Felix Warburg]] and [[Alan Gregg]] advised the organizers, and [[Livingston Farrand]] chaired it. The Committee made grants to host institutions rather than to scholars, and it made 335 grants from about 6,000 applicants. [[Edward R. Murrow]] was its assistant secretary until 1935.[^15] Duggan invited Johnson to lunch after the University in Exile was announced and told him of the Committee's plan.[^16] The Committee's records file [[Kurt Riezler]], Speier, [[Max Ascoli]], Colm, [[Arnold Brecht]], [[Hans Simons]], [[Hans Staudinger]], [[Jacob Marschak]], [[Adolph Lowe]], Lederer and [[Wilhelm Reich]] under the heading "Non-Grantees," which the finding aid defines as applicants not aided through the Committee.[^15] The school's history lists Colm and Speier among its original members.[^10]
### Federal contacts
[[Peter M. Rutkoff]] and [[William B. Scott]] write that after 1947 Johnson acknowledged in private letters that he had been meeting regularly with [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] officials since the 1930s to report on the faculty, and that a Rockefeller Foundation memorandum of January 27, 1942 indicated that he had also monitored files of "enemy aliens" in the early 1940s for the federal district attorney.[^17] According to [[Sidney Hook]], Johnson on at least one occasion "wanted to get rid of a Communist Party member" but "delegated it to [[Clara Mayer]]." The Graduate Faculty charter adopted an explicitly anticommunist clause in 1940, after difficulties with the State Department and immigration authorities.[^17] In early 1942 Johnson requested a meeting at which he and Staudinger appeared before a panel drawn from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Visa Division, Naval Intelligence and the Army, and Johnson had to defend himself against charges of heading a "Communist outfit."[^18] In the early 1950s the school's administration received "inquiries from congressional and Senate committees, the FBI, and numerous individuals."[^19] Johnson also sat on a wartime enemy alien hearing board whose cases had been "well prepared in advance by the FBI."[^12]
### Graduate Faculty and wartime government work
The Office of Strategic Services considered the New School "the best collection of German, left-leaning intellectuals in the United States." Over two hundred students who had studied at the University in Exile worked for the government during the war, and New School scholars were involved in more than twenty-five government-associated projects.[^20] Foreign nationals on the faculty could not work directly for Washington, so agencies used intermediaries at the Rockefeller Foundation to assign projects to them. The National Defense Commission asked the Graduate Faculty in the winter of 1939 to 1940 for analyses of Nazi successes. Organizations that used Graduate Faculty research included the Board of Economic Warfare, the Foreign Economic Administration, the National Economic and Social Planning Association and the Public Administration Committee of the Social Science Research Council.[^13][^20] The Graduate Faculty also produced a translation of Hitler's Mein Kampf in 1938 and 1939, which Bessner writes the OSS and the OWI used, possibly through Speier.[^13]
The [[Research Project on Totalitarian Communication]], led by Speier and the psychoanalyst [[Ernst Kris]], was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation until 1943.[^21] The project ran from 1940 to 1944 in the school's finding aid.[^22] The preface of its 1944 book dates the start of work to April 1, 1941. The Rockefeller Foundation granted $15,960 in March 1941 and $19,000 in 1942, and Johnson housed the staff in New School rooms, which Bessner attributes to his wish to show the government and the intellectual community that he was not hiding a fifth column. Its research papers went to agencies in Washington, London and Ottawa.[^23] Its analysts studied radio broadcasts from totalitarian countries and coordinated their work with the [[British Broadcasting Corporation]] and United States agencies. Many of the researchers later held federal posts.[^21] The project's staff included Sidney Axelrad, Joe Carmichael, Rose M. Chayes, Henry Elkin, Erik Estorik, Jacob Goldstein, Hans Herma, George Hilton, Eleanor Horn, Gertrud Kurth, Stanley Lipkin, Janice Loeb, Rita Lowe, Margaret P. Mascret, Alexander Mintz, George A. Nelson Jr., Margaret Otis, Heinz Paechter, Thomas Rubinstein, Dorothy L. Sandler, Joseph Shor, Ursula Wasserman, Florence Weil and Howard B. White.[^24] The project's 1944 book, German Radio Propaganda, went to allied agencies, and the acting head of the British Political Warfare Mission in Washington called it "a magnificent piece of work."[^25]
Speier's wartime career ran from the project into the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, where [[Goodwin Watson]], head of its Analysis Division, offered him the post of Senior Political Analyst in February 1942; he became Principal Political Analyst in November 1942, and Bessner writes that Watson later "left the FBIS under pressure from enemies of the New Deal, and Speier became the FBIS's Acting Chief Analyst."[^26][^27] On May 22, 1944 he transferred to the Office of War Information's Overseas Operations Branch.[^27] A connection he made at the OWI with [[Leo Rosten]] brought him to the [[Rand Corporation]], where he headed the Social Science Division from July 1948.[^28][^29] [[John Foster Dulles]], a Rockefeller Foundation trustee, urged the Foundation after the war to continue work in this field in order to counter Soviet propaganda in Europe.[^21]
### Institute of World Affairs
The finding aid for the Institute of World Affairs states that the Institute, established in 1942 as an independent unit of the New School, developed from two divisions of the Graduate Faculty, a Study Group on Germany and the Totalitarian Communication Project organized by Speier and Kris, and that its studies included work done in conjunction with, or on the commission of, United States war offices, among them Germany's Position in European Postwar Reconstruction.[^30] Bessner writes that from 1943 Speier was in conflict with colleagues over the Institute, a research center funded by [[Doris Duke]]; he declined to serve on its council in October 1943 and wrote that he did not want to be "a pawn" in faculty fights. In 1947 and 1948 he planned a Division of International Studies, which was elected on December 17, 1947 and never realized.[^31]
### Ecole Libre des Hautes Etudes
In 1941 Johnson facilitated the establishment of the [[Ecole Libre des Hautes Etudes]] at the New School, also called the Free French School. Between 1942 and 1946 it offered courses, mostly in French, in the social sciences and humanities. The Ecole Libre was recognized by the de Gaulle and Belgian governments as equivalent to a university degree. Its board included [[Henri Focillon]], [[Jean Perrin]], [[Paul van Zeeland]], [[Jacques Maritain]] and [[Gustave Cohen]]. Some faculty held that the school should be scholarly and non-political, while others, supporters of the Free France movement led by [[Charles de Gaulle]], held that it had an intrinsic relationship to that movement. The Ecole Libre was severed from the New School in June 1947.[^32]
### Faculty
[[Leo Strauss]] came to the school on a path that ran through the Rockefeller Foundation. The Foundation and [[Harold Laski]] of the London School of Economics recommended him to Johnson.[^33] Strauss taught at the New School from 1938 to 1948.[^34] [[Hannah Arendt]] was University Professor in Philosophy from 1967 to 1975. The school's archive holds her office files, including correspondence with [[Elizabeth Young-Bruehl]] from 1969 to 1975.[^35] The Rockefeller Foundation records list a grant in aid to Arendt under the New School.[^36]
Riezler, a diplomat and philosopher, emigrated at the end of 1938 and held a Graduate Faculty post. The Editors' Note in the Spring 1956 issue of [[Social Research]] states that he was Professor of Philosophy from 1939 to 1952, when he became Professor Emeritus; [[Wayne C. Thompson]] writes that he retired in 1952, the Marbach authority record gives his New School affiliation as circa 1939 to 1954, and the Neue Deutsche Biographie has him returning to Rome in 1954.[^37][^38][^39][^40] Johnson recorded Riezler as his last appointment: "With Riezler the roster was closed."[^41] The Institute of World Affairs finding aid lists him among the Study Group on Germany, attended by Eduard Heimann, [[Erich Hula]], [[Karl Mayer]], [[Albert Salomon]], Strauss, [[Horace Kallen]] and [[Felix Kaufmann]], and among the researchers associated with the University in Exile.[^30] The papers of Reuben Abel list him among the lecturers Abel attended, and the school's faculty vertical files hold a file for him.[^42][^43] Riezler and Strauss taught two courses together in the mid-1940s, one on Aristotle's De anima and Descartes's Passions of the Soul with [[Solomon Asch]] and one on Plato's Theaetetus with [[Alexandre Koyré]], and Riezler published "Some Critical Remarks on Man's Science of Man" in Social Research in 1945.[^44][^45] Strauss's eulogy for Riezler appeared in Social Research in 1956 beside a memorial article by [[Theodor Heuss]]. His daughter Maria married the New School professor [[Howard B. D. White]].[^40][^46][^47] Ascoli joined the University in Exile in late 1933 after Johnson recruited him as one of two Rockefeller scholars, and he later edited [[The Reporter]].[^48]
Wilhelm Reich appears in the school's archive through a bound photocopy of his 1940 New School lectures, transcribed from the archive of the Orgone Institute.[^49] The NYPL files list a Reich file for 1939 and 1940 under non-grantees.[^15] An official of the school, whose name is redacted, told FBI agents in December 1941 that Reich had been an associate professor for two years, during 1939 and 1940, at about $1,500 a year, and that the connection ended after the spring term of 1941; the school, the official said, "makes no inquiry of their political views or background."[^50] The same official described Reich as conducting "a lecture in psychiatry" and said he "claims to have a cure-all for cancer," all of which the official "stated smacked of 'quack' tactics on subject's part."[^50] A Bureau memorandum of May 6, 1941 records that Reich's non-quota visa of August 11, 1939 was issued because his "New York Seminar for Vegetotherapy" was part of the New School; the immigration record gives his arrival as August 28, 1939 and his destination as the school at 66 West 12th Street, and the New York report names "Dr. Alvin Johnson, Director" as the destination.[^51] A Bureau summary of February 1957 (M. A. Jones to L. B. Nichols) condenses the 1941 interview to a statement that Reich entered the United States in 1939, taught psychology at the New School "until let out by the school because his teaching 'smacked of quack tactics,'" and was apprehended as a German alien on December 12, 1941.[^52] The school's archive also keeps a faculty vertical file for [[Gregory Bateson]].[^53] [[Erich Fromm]] taught courses at the school from 1941 to 1959.[^54]
### Parapsychology listings and teaching, 1968 to 1994
The school appears in several parapsychology directories and reports in the CIA-held STARGATE record. A special report in the Princeton Alumni Weekly by [[Robert G. Jahn]] lists the New School among the colleges and universities in its survey of psychic research in the Western world.[^55] The 1975 survey New Psychic Frontiers by [[Walter Uphoff]] and [[Mary Jo Uphoff]] lists under the New School an entry naming [[Robert M. Brier]], [[Martin Ebon]], [[Gilbert Roller]] and others at 66 West 12th Street, New York 10011, in its chapter on research, investigation and teaching; the same survey places Brier at [[C.W. Post College]] in its philosophy department and [[Hans Holzer]] at the New York Institute of Technology.[^56] Records found do not establish whether the Gilbert Roller in this entry is the Gilbert Roller who co-founded the early 1930s [[Bindelof séance circle]].
The school's Bulletin for spring 1975 lists "Experimental Parapsychology" (course 2750-0, Bob Brier, Wednesdays from February 5, $90), "Paramechanics: A Study of Paranormal Psychical Phenomena" (2755-3, Gilbert Roller, Tuesdays from February 4, $90), "The Challenge of Psychic Phenomena" (2760-3, Edith Wegman) and a parapsychology course by Parimal Das (5747-3). Roller's faculty biography reads that he conducted investigations into paranormal phenomena, particularly physical manifestations, and was a faculty member of F.I.T. and president of Hepworth Films Corp.; Parapsychology Review reported in 1973 that Roller taught a course on telekinesis, poltergeists and ectoplasmia.[^57] Ebon's own lecture series "Parapsychology: From Magic to Science" ran from 1966 to 1968, and The Writer's Directory lists him as lecturer in the Division of Social Sciences in 1949 to 1950, 1955 to 1956 and 1967.[^58] The archive holds a file "Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship, 1975" and a file "Soviet Affairs Forum: Related Courses, 1964 January 29."[^59]
A 1982 engineering article by Jahn in the Proceedings of the IEEE (February 1982) includes a roster of United States universities and colleges where parapsychology is pursued that names the New School for Social Research, and the same roster appears in a 1991 anthology compiled by [[Science Applications International Corporation]].[^60] A conference program circulated by email in March 1994 lists [[Sheila Davis]] of the New School with a paper titled "Cerebral function, Jungian typology and language style: Toward a new theory."[^61]
### MKULTRA projects, 1962
The school's archive holds a folder of the records of president [[John R. Everett]] headed "Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 1977-1978." The folder contains correspondence between Everett and the CIA about the release of [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA]] details, including the release of universities' involvement, and "a report of two projects conducted at the New School in 1962 that received funding through MKUltra." The first attempted to discern relationships between body type and personality characteristics, and the second concerned graphology and psychopathologies. The description states that the researchers on at least one of them appear to have been unaware of CIA sponsorship.[^62] The description does not name the researchers or give subproject numbers. Two released subproject files, Subprojects 134 and 137, match the two descriptions and are set out on the Project MKUltra page.[^63]
The graphology teacher [[Klara G. Roman]] taught at the school from 1948 until shortly before her death in 1962. Her Encyclopedia of the Written Word, a graphology lexicon, was edited after her death by [[Maurice Edwards]] and [[Rose Wolfson]], and its acknowledgments thank "The Handwriting Institute and The Human Ecology Fund" and Daniel S. Anthony "of The New School for Social Research."[^64] Subproject 137, a $2,000 grant paid in 1961 for the manuscript of a graphology lexicon by an unnamed woman who died in 1962, has a curriculum vitae in the released file that lists the invention of a "Graphodyne"; Roman invented the graphodyne. The CIA copy does not name her. The Human Ecology Fund's 1961-1963 report, as tabulated by David H. Price, lists $2,000 to "Roman, Klara G."[^63] The first project, on body type and personality, matches Subproject 134, whose investigator is not named in the released file.
On October 9, 1977, the New York Times reported that the list of 80 institutions given to Senate investigators "is still classified, but each of those institutions has been notified separately by the C.I.A." that it had hosted agency research, and that 26 colleges and universities had acknowledged the research publicly.[^65]
### Presidents
The finding aid for the school's presidential records lists Hans Simons (1950 to 1961), [[Henry David]] (1961 to 1963), [[Robert MacIver]] (1963 to 1964) and Everett (1964 to 1982).[^66] Everett's tenure is described as one of the longest in the school's history, second only to Johnson's.[^67] [[Jonathan F. Fanton]], appointed in 1984, left the $250,000 post in September 1999 for the [[MacArthur Foundation]], and on February 17, 2000 the school named [[Bob Kerrey]], who said he had been planning to run for a third Senate term until the school approached him, as its seventh president, to start after he left the Senate in January 2001.[^68] A fact sheet captured by the Internet Archive on December 11, 2000 lists [[John L. Tishman]] as chairman of the board of trustees, [[Arnold H. Aronson]], [[Michael E. Gellert]] and [[Nancy B. Peretsman]] as vice chairs and Scaturro as treasurer, and names Scaturro as chancellor, [[Elizabeth Dickey]] as acting provost and [[James Murtha]] as executive vice president.[^69] Kerrey was installed at [[Carnegie Hall]] on February 20, 2001, with Tishman, "Chair of the Board of Trustees," giving remarks, and Tenet Healthcare's proxy statement of August 2001 gives him as "President of New School University in New York City since January 2001."[^70] On December 10, 2008 the faculty voted no confidence in him, which the Chronicle of Higher Education described as "nearly unanimous" with 74 votes in favor, two against and one abstention in a summary by Faculty Senate co-chair Jim Miller; the trustees met the same day and, in a university statement, unanimously expressed confidence in him. The amNewYork newspaper reported on December 23, 2008 that a majority of senior faculty approved a no-confidence measure "by a vote of 269 to 18" after a Faculty Senate meeting a week before the student occupation of the cafeteria at 65 Fifth Avenue.[^71] [[David E. Van Zandt]], dean and professor of law at the Northwestern University School of Law, was announced on August 26, 2010 as the eighth president and took office on January 1, 2011, with Kerrey remaining president until the end of 2010; Van Zandt's installation ceremony took place on September 15, 2011, and the archive's biographical note for Kerrey dates his presidency "from 2001 through 2010."[^72][^73] [[Dwight A. McBride]] was the ninth president from 2020 to 2023, [[Donna Shalala]] served as interim president from August 2023, and [[Joel Towers]], a member of the school since 2004 and a former executive dean of [[Parsons School of Design]], was appointed the tenth president effective August 1, 2024.[^74]
### Trustees and finances
[[Philip Scaturro]] was chairman of the board in 2004, when [[Peggy Brim Bewkes]], [[Eileen Naughton]], [[Richard Reiss Jr.]] and [[Bernard L. Schwartz]], chairman and chief executive of [[Loral Space & Communications]], joined the Board of Trustees on September 1.[^75] On November 4, 2004 the school announced a $10 million grant from the [[Starr Foundation]], the largest foundation gift in its history, to establish the [[India China Institute]], led by Provost [[Arjun Appadurai]] and Graduate Faculty dean [[Benjamin Lee]], and a $3.7 million gift from Schwartz for the Bernard Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and the Irene and Bernard L. Schwartz Professorship of Economics and Policy. The announcement attributes the Schwartz gift to Schwartz and, in Kerrey's quoted remarks, to the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation.[^76]
On November 9, 2001, the school announced a gift of $1.1 million from Schwartz, then chairman and chief executive of Loral Space & Communications, for the Bernard L. Schwartz Lecture Series and Project in Markets, Equality and Democracy, a four-year project based at the Graduate Faculty's Center for Economic Policy Analysis.[^77] The November 4, 2004 release says the center had been established in September 2004 and would be renamed the Bernard Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis "in recognition of the Schwartz Foundation's gift," and that it would continue to sponsor the Irene and Bernard Schwartz Lecture.[^78]
The same release describes the Starr Foundation as established in 1955 by [[Cornelius Vander Starr]], an insurance entrepreneur who founded the American International family of insurance companies, now [[American International Group]], and as holding assets of approximately $3.5 billion.[^79] The House Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China deposed Schwartz on November 21, 1998 and reported that Schwartz, chairman and chief executive of Loral Space & Communications, Ltd., met directly with Commerce Secretary [[Ron Brown]] on at least four occasions after 1993.[^80]
The school's fiscal 2022 Form 990 lists [[Linda E. Rappaport]] as chair, [[Elliot Stein]], [[Franci J. Blassberg]] and Susan L. Foote as vice chairs, and McBride as president with reportable compensation of $815,044 and estimated other compensation of $604,206; the trustees listed include [[Beth Rudin DeWoody]] and [[Bevis Longstreth]].[^81] The school's board page lists current trustees without titles, with Rappaport first and Towers as president ex officio; life trustees include Scaturro, who was the school's chancellor when Kerrey was named.[^68][^82] The school's federal filings, retrieved through the ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer summary data for EIN 13-3297197, show total revenue of $602,901,362 and total assets of $1,706,553,269 for the fiscal year ending June 2023. Contributions reported in that year were $35,451,892, down from $55,910,574 in fiscal 2022.[^83]
### Federal awards
USAspending.gov records list several federal awards to The New School. The largest defense award is an Air Force assistance award, FA95501410030, for $6,176,482 with a period of performance from December 15, 2013 to March 14, 2019, under the title "Dynamics of Sacred Values and Social Responsibilities in Governance and Conflict Management."[^84] The [[Minerva Research Initiative]] lists a project with the same title, 2014 to 2019, managed by the [[Air Force Office of Scientific Research]], with [[Jeremy Ginges]] of the school as principal investigator and [[Scott Atran]], Richard Davis, [[Douglas Medin]], [[John Alderdice]], Adolf Tobena and Oscar Vilarroya as co-principal investigators.[^85] An earlier Defense Technical Information Center final report, "Mutual Influence of Moral Values, Mental Models and Social Dynamics on Intergroup Conflict," covering May 2010 to April 2013 under Air Force Office of Scientific Research contracts, names Atran as principal investigator with Medin, Ginges and Davis as co-investigators.[^86] A [[National Science Foundation]] award of $653,245 beginning May 1, 2016 carries the title "The Devoted Actor: Sacred Values, Identity Fusion and Intergroup Conflict."[^85] Other records include a 2009 Army award of $1,370,000 for "Northern Chicago Clinic EMR Development," a 2011 Defense Department award of $1,048,998 for a "Multi-Inclusion, Universal Client Electronic Health Record," a 2012 Defense Department award of $522,399 for "Design and Visualization Best Practice," and a 2009 Energy Department award of $1,903,000 for the school's green building.[^84]
### Epstein payments
Bank statements for [[Jeffrey Epstein]]'s account at [[Deutsche Bank]] record payments to the school. The August 2015 statement lists an outgoing transfer on August 6 of $16,083.00 to a [[Bank of America]] account, with the beneficiary line "E NEW SCHOOL OPERATING ACCOUNT."[^87] The October 2016 statement lists a preauthorized debit dated October 27 of $17,030.00 described as "TUITION THE NEW SCHOOL."[^88] The May 2017 statement lists a preauthorized debit dated May 10 of $10,856.00 described as "TUITION THE NEW SCHOOL." The same statement page lists an outgoing transfer on May 11 of $3,589.00 through Sterling National Bank with the beneficiary line "FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY."[^89] A Deutsche Bank presentation to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, dated September 12, 2019, lists in an exhibit titled "Tuition Payments on Behalf of Children / Women" nine payments to The New School from Epstein accounts: $29,025 on February 4, 2014; $15,704 on January 5, 2015; $4,730 on June 12, 2015; $16,083 on August 6, 2015; $16,656 on December 9, 2015; $4,420 on June 14, 2016; $16,850 on July 8, 2016; $3,756 on January 13, 2017; and $8,790 on January 10, 2019. The exhibit's only [[New York Film Academy]] entry is $3,442 on March 10, 2017.[^90]
Emails released by the Department of Justice show the payments were for one student's tuition, invoiced by the school each term from fall 2014 to spring 2019. Epstein's bookkeeper [[Bella Klein]] wired the payments, and his accountant [[Richard Kahn]] forwarded invoices for approval. On December 9, 2015, Klein asked Epstein to "confirm that i can proceed with wire in the amount of $16,656," and he replied "yes."[^91] On September 20, 2016, Kahn forwarded a fall invoice with "approval to pay thank you."[^92] The fall 2015 invoice of $16,083 matches the August 6, 2015 wire to the school's operating account.[^93] On August 1, 2018, Klein wrote: "Today I paid balance for her fall semester in the amount of $7719."[^94] The spring 2019 invoice was $8,790.[^95]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "The Founding, 1919," Histories of The New School, https://histories.newschool.edu/histories/founding-1919 (the Columbia dismissals of Dana and Cattell, the resignations of Beard and Robinson, Robinson's approach to Croly, Beard's "Endowment spells dry rot," and the 1919 proposal).
[^2]: "Dorothy Payne Whitney Straight Elmhirst," Histories of The New School, https://histories.newschool.edu/people/dorothy-payne-whitney-straight-elmhirst (the 1916 discussions, the husband's warning and the pledge of $10,000 a year for ten years).
[^3]: Peter M. Rutkoff and William B. Scott, New School: A History of The New School for Social Research (New York: Free Press, 1986), pp. 11, 19, 21 (Dorothy Straight's pledges "nearly $300,000, much of it from Dorothy Straight"; townhouse "paid for largely by Dorothy Straight").
[^4]: Alvin Johnson, Pioneer's Progress (Viking, 1952; University of Nebraska Press, 1960), p. 273: women's group including Mrs. Willard Straight, Mrs. Learned Hand and "later Mrs. Thomas W. Lamont."
[^5]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, pp. 28, 35, 45: the 1922 crisis; the board members who stayed (Croly, Mitchell, Caroline Bacon, Dorothy Straight, Emily Putnam); and the Rockefeller, Carnegie and Rosenwald refusal of an early endowment request, with "could not count on the Rockefellers, the Whitneys, the Goodyears, or the Guggenheims" on p. 44.
[^6]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, p. 30: Johnson's April 1922 letter to Dorothy Straight after taking over as director, with the phrase "To put it baldly, I have usurped the".
[^7]: Tara Mastrelli, "'In the Name of Freedom': a Review of Judith Friedlander's *A Light in Dark Times* (2018, Columbia University Press)," *International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society* 34 (2021), pp. 125-135, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-019-09344-5, notes citing the New School Archives and Special Collections and the Dartington Hall Trust Archives.
[^8]: Cornell University Library, "Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst papers," #3725, https://archives.library.cornell.edu/repositories/2/resources/1281.
[^9]: FBI, summary memorandum of September 10, 1969 and teletypes on the interview of Milton C. Rose, in "Straight, Michael W., HQ-1" (FOI/PA 1179375-1), https://archive.org/details/StraightMichaelW.HQ1.
[^10]: "University in Exile," Histories of The New School, https://histories.newschool.edu/histories/university-exile (Johnson's correspondence with German-speaking scholars through the Encyclopaedia, $60,000 a year for two years, a faculty of fifteen at $4,000 each, the gift of "the whole $60,000" from Halle, the ten original members, six added by 1935, and the lists of original members). Johnson's own account (p. 340) gives $60,000 a year for two years.
[^11]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, p. 92: Halle "had pledged the entire sum that Johnson required," Johnson "had collected only between $7,000 and $15,000," and Halle "made his fortune in petroleum refining and finance." Halle's anonymity is reported on the same page.
[^12]: Johnson, Pioneer's Progress, p. 340: Halle's call, "I am prepared to guarantee the sixty thousand a year for two years," Frank Altschul's vouching for Halle's credit and the concern that other donors would not contribute if they knew Halle would carry the whole load; p. 370: Johnson appointed to an enemy alien hearing board with Maurice Davidson and Joseph Leary Delaney, with cases "well prepared in advance by the FBI."
[^13]: Daniel Bessner, "The Night Watchman: Hans Speier and the Making of the American National Security State" (PhD diss., Duke University, 2013), pp. 80-81, 85-86, 129 note 38 and 138-139, https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/232a76ac-f2d8-4827-99fe-50b3b109fa6c/content.
[^14]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, p. 86: Johnson and the Rockefeller Foundation "had agreed to rescue" a dozen individuals; p. 91: Tracy Kittredge, "an associate in the Paris office of the Rockefeller Foundation," wrote on March 29, 1933; p. 94: "the Emergency Committee, acting for the Rockefeller Foundation."
[^15]: New York Public Library, Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars records, MssCol 922, https://archives.nypl.org/mss/922 (biographical note: founding in May 1933 by Cohn, Flexner and Stein contacting Duggan; Warburg and Gregg as advisers; Farrand as chair; Murrow as assistant secretary until 1935; 335 grants from about 6,000 applicants; Series I.B "Non-Grantees" with Riezler box 107 folder 16 (1933-1934, 1940), Speier box 118 folder 17 (1934, 1940), Ascoli box 38 folder 46 (1933-1935, 1939-1943), Colm box 50 folder 5 (1933-1941), Brecht box 46 folder 36, Simons box 117 folder 3 (1933-1943), Staudinger box 119 folder 3, Marschak box 93 folder 52, Lowe box 91 folder 23, Lederer box 86 folder 44 and Reich box 105 folder 36 (1939-1940)).
[^16]: Johnson, Pioneer's Progress, p. 344: "Stephen Duggan, of the Institute for International Education, invited me to lunch."
[^17]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, p. 226: "in his private letters he acknowledged that he had been meeting regularly with FBI officials since the 1930s to report on the faculty"; Sidney Hook says Johnson "delegated it to Clara Mayer"; the 1940 "explicitly anticommunist clause in its charter"; and a Rockefeller Foundation memorandum of January 27, 1942 ("Hans Eisler File," endnote 22, p. 296) on enemy-alien files; the endnote names no author for the memorandum. Sole source for the enemy-alien monitoring and the Clara Mayer passage.
[^18]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, p. 135: "a governmental panel comprised of representatives from the FBI, the Visa Division, Naval Intelligence, and the Department of the Army," with Johnson, Staudinger and Makinsky appearing in early 1942.
[^19]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, p. 228.
[^20]: Daniel Bessner, "The Night Watchman: Hans Speier and the Making of the American National Security State" (PhD diss., Duke University, 2013), https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/232a76ac-f2d8-4827-99fe-50b3b109fa6c/content, pp. 137-138 (the OSS quotation, over two hundred students, "over twenty-five government-associated projects," and the Rockefeller intermediaries), citing Claus-Dieter Krohn, Intellectuals in Exile: Refugee Scholars and the New School for Social Research (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993), pp. 139-149, 165-167.
[^21]: "Rockefeller Foundation Support for Communications Media in the 1930s and 1940s," Rockefeller Archive Center, RE:source, https://resource.rockarch.org/story/rockefeller-foundation-support-for-communications-media-in-the-1930s-and-1940s/ (Kris and Speier's study of totalitarian communication, coordinated with the BBC and government agencies; Rockefeller funding ending in 1943; researchers entering federal service; John Foster Dulles as a Foundation trustee urging post-war work; Bryce Wood's caution).
[^22]: New School Archives and Special Collections, "Research Project on Totalitarian Communication, 1940-1944," https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/27451 (led by Speier and Kris for the Research Center of the Graduate Faculty, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation).
[^23]: Ernst Kris and Hans Speier, German Radio Propaganda (New York: Oxford University Press, 1944), Preface; New School Archives, NS-02-16-01, Series 3, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/27451; Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 130-131 and note 47.
[^24]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 131 n. 47, citing the New School Archives, "Totalitarianism Research Project," Box 1.
[^25]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 131 n. 49, citing Walter Adams to Ernst Kris, May 8, 1944, Speier Papers, Box 3, Folder 134, and John Marshall's reply.
[^26]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 137 (Watson "left the FBIS under pressure from enemies of the New Deal, and Speier became the FBIS's Acting Chief Analyst").
[^27]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 132-137 (the offer of February 1942; Principal Political Analyst, November 1942) and pp. 145-146 (transfer to the Overseas Operations Branch on May 22, 1944).
[^28]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," introduction, p. 13 (the connection made at the OWI with Leo Rosten "brought Speier to the RAND Corporation").
[^29]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 194-195 (consultant May 1948, head of the Social Science Division July 1948).
[^30]: The New School Archives and Special Collections, "Institute of World Affairs records," record group NS-02-16-01, historical note and scope and contents. https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/235
[^31]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 164-170.
[^32]: New School Archives and Special Collections, "David Hahn École Libre papers," https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/526 (Johnson facilitated the school in 1941; courses 1942 to 1946; recognition by the de Gaulle and Belgian governments; board members Focillon, Perrin, Van Zeeland, Maritain and Cohen; severance from the New School in June 1947).
[^33]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, p. 146: "The Rockefeller Foundation and Harold Laski of the London School of Economics recommended Strauss to Alvin Johnson."
[^34]: "Leo Strauss," Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/strauss-leo/ (the New School years, 1938 to 1948).
[^35]: New School Archives and Special Collections, "Hannah Arendt New School faculty files," https://aspace.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/233 (University Professor in Philosophy, 1967 to 1975; office files; correspondence with Elizabeth Young-Bruehl, 1969 to 1975).
[^36]: Rockefeller Archive Center, search "New School for Social Research," Rockefeller Foundation records, Series 200, folder "New School for Social Research - Hannah Arendt - (Grant in Aid)" (folder title).
[^37]: Editors' Note, *Social Research* 23, no. 1 (Spring 1956), p. 233 (footnote to Leo Strauss, "Kurt Riezler, 1882-1955"): "Kurt Riezler was Professor of Philosophy in the Graduate Faculty of the New School from 1939 to 1952, when he became Professor Emeritus."
[^38]: Thompson, *In the Eye of the Storm*, p. 232.
[^39]: Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach, Normdaten record PE00079064, "Riezler, Kurt (1882-1955)," affiliations ("New School for Social Research <New York, NY> (1919-1997) (ca. 1939-1954)") and relations ("Liebermann, Käthe (1885-1955), Ehefrau 1915"). https://www.dla-marbach.de/en/catalogue/find/opac/id/PE00079064/
[^40]: Becker, Bert, "Riezler, Kurt Karl Joseph Siegmund (Pseudonym J. J. Ruedorffer)," *Neue Deutsche Biographie* 21 (2003), pp. 618-619, the biographical article on Riezler, including its literature list. https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/gnd118601008.html
[^41]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, p. 97 (Riezler's 1932 role at Frankfurt and "philosopher and diplomat Kurt Riezler"); Johnson, Pioneer's Progress, p. 347: "With Riezler the roster was closed."
[^42]: The New School Archives and Special Collections, "Reuben Abel papers," collection NA-0003-01, scope and contents (list of lecturers). https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/165
[^43]: The New School Archives and Special Collections, "Riezler, Kurt," File, Box 10, Folder 18, New School faculty vertical files collection (NS-08-02-02). https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/43221
[^44]: Colen, José A., and Svetozar Minkov, "Leo Strauss on Social and Natural Science: Two Previously Unpublished Papers," *The Review of Politics* 76, no. 4 (2014), pp. 619-633, introduction, and Strauss's paper "The frame of reference in the social sciences" (Leo Strauss Papers, Box 14, Folder 10). DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/S003467051400059X
[^45]: Riezler, Kurt, "Some Critical Remarks on Man's Science of Man," *Social Research* 12, no. 4 (1945), pp. 481-505, as listed in Colen and Minkov.
[^46]: Strauss, Leo, "Kurt Riezler (1882-1955)," *Social Research* 23 (1956), pp. 233-258, reprinted in *What Is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies* (1959).
[^47]: Heuss, Theodor, "A Word in Memory of Kurt Riezler," *Social Research* 23, no. 1 (Spring 1956), opening article of the issue.
[^48]: Rutkoff and Scott, New School, p. 102: "Johnson recruited two additional Rockefeller scholars, Italian political scientist Max Ascoli and Austrian Erich Hula"; p. 118: Ascoli "joined the University in Exile in late 1933," later editor of the Reporter.
[^49]: New School Archives and Special Collections, "Wilhelm Reich Lectures, New School for Social Research (1940), 2018," https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/58166 (bound color photocopy of the 1940 transcripts from the Archives of the Orgone Institute).
[^50]: FBI New York report of December 24, 1941, "Dr. Wilhelm Reich, Alien Enemy Control," NY file 100-8422, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. The synopsis of the report gives the arrival date as August 26, 1939; its body and the immigration record give August 28.
[^51]: FBI memorandum of May 6, 1941 and Washington Field Office report of June 16, 1941, Wilhelm Reich FBI file, Part 1, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI.
[^52]: Federal Bureau of Investigation, file on Dr. Wilhelm Reich, bufile 100-14601, Part 2 of 10, memorandum of M. A. Jones to L. B. Nichols, February 14, 1957, PDF page 123, beginning "Files reflect Wilhelm Reich, Austrian born, entered the U. S. in 1939," archive.org item WilhelmReichFBI, https://archive.org/details/WilhelmReichFBI. The item has ten parts (reich1, reich2, reich3, reich4a, 4b, 4c, reich5a, 5b, 5c, reich6).
[^53]: New School Archives and Special Collections, "Bateson, Gregory," New School faculty vertical files, NS-08-02-02, Box 1, Folder 20, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/42943.
[^54]: "Erich Fromm," Histories of The New School, https://histories.newschool.edu/people/erich-fromm (courses at the New School "from 1941 to 1959").
[^55]: Robert G. Jahn, "Psychic Process, Energy Transfer, and Things That Go Bump in the Night," Princeton Alumni Weekly special report, "Psychic Research in the Western World: Colleges and Universities" list, CIA CREST, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500070001-1, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000500070001-1.
[^56]: Walter and Mary Jo Uphoff, New Psychic Frontiers (Minneapolis: Bolger Publications, 1975), chapter V, pp. 228-229 (C.W. Post College and New School entries; Holzer at the New York Institute of Technology), CIA CREST, CIA-RDP96-00788R001200230018-6, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001200230018-6.
[^57]: New School Bulletin, spring 1975, vol. 32, no. 5 (December 27, 1974), pp. 82, 88, 172, 328 and 356, https://books.google.com/books?id=Ez07AAAAMAAJ; Parapsychology Review (1973), index entry "Roller, Gilbert, 6:10," https://books.google.com/books?id=sH8YAQAAMAAJ.
[^58]: John White, ed., Psychic Exploration (New York: Putnam, 1974), https://books.google.com/books?id=MbbxpH5RCaAC; The Writer's Directory, 1998-2000, p. 424, https://books.google.com/books?id=AKgKAB3ClvwC.
[^59]: New School Archives and Special Collections, Adult Division Office of the Dean records (NS-02-01-01), Series 5, Box 7, Folder 43; NS-03-01-07, Box 2, Folder 2, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3.
[^60]: Robert G. Jahn, "The Persistent Paradox of Psychic Phenomena: An Engineering Perspective," Proceedings of the IEEE 70, no. 2 (February 1982), pp. 136-170, roster of colleges and universities, CIA CREST, CIA-RDP96-00788R001100010004-6, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00788r001100010004-6; Science Applications International Corporation, Anomalous Mental Phenomena: Selected Papers (June 24, 1991), institutions roster, CIA CREST, CIA-RDP96-00789R003100030001-4, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00789r003100030001-4.
[^61]: Brian Josephson, Tucson conference program, email circulated March 21, 1994 to the pdl@jsasoc.com list, CIA CREST, CIA-RDP96-00792R000100130005-8, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00792r000100130005-8.
[^62]: New School Archives and Special Collections, "Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 1977-1978," John R. Everett records, Box 7, Folder 29, https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/34220 (scope note). Sole source for the 1962 projects described in this paragraph.
[^63]: MKULTRA Subproject 134 (CIA release DOC_0000017393) and Subproject 137 (DOC_0000017396), https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000017393 and https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000017396; David H. Price, "Buying a Piece of Anthropology, Part 1: Human Ecology and Unwitting Anthropological Research for the CIA," Anthropology Today 23(3), 2007, fig. 4, https://archive.org/details/human_ecology_torture_suicide.
[^64]: New School Archives and Special Collections, Maurice Edwards papers documenting the work of graphologist Klara G. Roman (NA-0010-01), https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/284; Encyclopedia of the Written Word (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1968), acknowledgments.
[^65]: Jo Thomas, "Extent of University Work for C.I.A. Is Hard to Pin Down," New York Times, October 9, 1977 (dateline Washington, October 8), CIA reading room copy, https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp88-01315r000300390007-3.
[^66]: New School Archives and Special Collections, "John R. Everett records," https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/289 (Everett 1964-1982; MacIver 1963-1964; Henry David 1961-1963; Hans Simons 1950-1961).
[^67]: Public Seminar, "The New School's Forgotten President," https://publicseminar.org/essays/the-new-schools-forgotten-president/ (Everett's tenure 1964 to 1982, "second only to the school's founding father Alvin Johnson").
[^68]: Neil MacFarquhar, "Senator Kerrey Accepts Presidency of New School," New York Times, February 17, 2000, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/national/regional/021700kerry-pres-edu.html (Kerrey said he had been planning to run for a third Senate term until the school approached him; Fanton, "appointed in 1984," left the "$250,000 post with its official Greenwich Village residence" in September 1999 to become president of the MacArthur Foundation; "He will be the school's seventh president"; "The senator does not yet have a formal contract with the school"; Philip Scaturro identified as the school's chancellor).
[^69]: New School University fact sheet, Internet Archive capture of December 11, 2000, https://web.archive.org/web/20001211161500/http://www.newschool.edu:80/aboutnsu/an_ata.html.
[^70]: New School University press release, February 20, 2001 (Internet Archive copy), https://web.archive.org/web/2id_/https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2001/022001_install.html; Tenet Healthcare Corporation, Schedule 14A proxy statement, August 21, 2001, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/70318/000091205701529713/a2056401zdef14a.htm.
[^71]: Chronicle of Higher Education, December 10, 2008 (Internet Archive copy), https://web.archive.org/web/2id_/https://www.chronicle.com/article/new-school-faculty-senate-votes-no-confidence-in-president-bob-kerrey/; NBC New York, December 11, 2008, https://www.nbcnewyork.com/local/kerry-gets-no-confidence-vote-at-new-school/1856735; amNewYork, December 23, 2008, https://www.amny.com/news/new-school-in-turmoil-students-occupy-building-tell-kerrey-quit.
[^72]: New School press release, "The New School Names David E. Van Zandt New President," August 26, 2010, https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2010/NewPresidentAppointment.htm (Wayback Machine capture of January 24, 2021: eighth president, effective January 1, 2011, succeeding Kerrey, who "was appointed in 2001" and remained president through 2010; Michael J. Johnston, chair of the board).
[^73]: New School Archives, Board of Trustees records NS-01-01-04, Series 2, folder "David Van Zandt--installation as University President (September 15, 2011)," https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/resources/244; New School Archives and Special Collections, biographical note to "Video statement by Bob Kerrey, 2014 January 28" (NS-03-02-08), https://findingaids.archives.newschool.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/58008.
[^74]: Daniel Jonas Roche, "The New School taps architect Joel Towers as its tenth president," The Architect's Newspaper, June 7, 2024, https://www.archpaper.com/2024/06/the-new-school-architect-joel-towers-tenth-president/ (Towers at the school since 2004; appointment begins August 1, 2024; succeeds interim president Donna E. Shalala, in the role since August 2023, and Dwight A. McBride, ninth president 2020 to 2023; Linda E. Rappaport, chair of the board).
[^75]: New School press release, "New School University Announces New Board Members," October 21, 2004, https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2004/102104_nsu_members.html (Wayback Machine capture of September 10, 2006: Bewkes, Naughton, Reiss and Schwartz joined September 1, 2004; "Philip Scaturro is Chairman of the Board").
[^76]: New School press release, "New School University Receives Major Gifts to Fund Projects Related to Globalization," November 4, 2004, https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2004/110404_nsu_gifts.html (Wayback Machine capture of September 10, 2006: $10 million from the Starr Foundation, "the largest foundation gift in the University's history"; $3.7 million from Bernard L. Schwartz; Kerrey's remarks naming the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Foundation).
[^77]: New School press release, November 9, 2001, http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2001/110901_schwart.html (Wayback Machine capture of September 10, 2006, https://web.archive.org/web/20060910004616/http://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2001/110901_schwart.html): the $1.1 million gift from Schwartz, chairman and chief executive of Loral Space & Communications, and the four-year project at the Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
[^78]: New School press release, "New School University Receives Major Gifts to Fund Projects Related to Globalization," November 4, 2004, https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2004/110404_nsu_gifts.html (Wayback Machine capture of September 10, 2006: "Since its establishment in September 2004"; the center renamed for the Schwartz gift; the Irene and Bernard Schwartz Lecture).
[^79]: New School press release, "New School University Receives Major Gifts to Fund Projects Related to Globalization," November 4, 2004, https://www.newschool.edu/pressroom/pressreleases/2004/110404_nsu_gifts.html, section "About the Starr Foundation" (established 1955 by Cornelius Vander Starr; American International family, now American International Group, Inc.; assets of approximately $3.5 billion).
[^80]: U.S. House of Representatives, Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, Report (H. Rept. 105-851), vol. I, pp. 49 to 50 and notes 112 to 116 (p. 240), including the November 21, 1998 deposition of Bernard L. Schwartz, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851/pdf/GPO-CRPT-105hrpt851.pdf
[^81]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, The New School, Form 990 for the fiscal year ending June 2022 (filing 202301359349306540), Part VII, Section A, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133297197/202301359349306540/full (McBride, president, 815,044 reportable compensation and 604,206 estimated other compensation; Rappaport, chair; Stein, Blassberg and Foote, vice chairs; DeWoody and Longstreth, trustees).
[^82]: New School, "Board of Trustees Members," https://www.newschool.edu/about/university-leadership/board-of-trustees-members/ (members listed without titles, Linda E. Rappaport listed first, Joel Towers as president, life trustees including Philip Scaturro; no chair identified on the page).
[^83]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, The New School, EIN 13-3297197, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133297197 (organization summary data, tax years 2011 to 2023).
[^84]: USAspending.gov award records, recipient "THE NEW SCHOOL,": FA95501410030 (Department of the Air Force, start 2013-12-15, $6,176,482); W81XWH0910456 (Army, 2009, $1,370,000); W81XWH1120183 (Defense Department, 2011, $1,048,998); FA87501220325 (Defense Department, 2012, $522,399); DEEE0001719 (Energy, 2009, $1,903,000).
[^85]: Minerva Research Initiative, "Dynamics of Sacred Values and Social Responsibilities," awarded projects, https://minerva.defense.gov/Research/Funded-Projects/Article/2029607/dynamics-of-sacred-values-and-social-responsibilities/ (Wayback Machine capture of December 10, 2019: principal investigator Jeremy Ginges, co-principal investigators, years 2014-2019, managing service agency Air Force Office of Scientific Research). USAspending award detail for ASST_NON_FA95501410030_097: period of performance 2013-12-15 to 2019-03-14. NSF award 1559387: USAspending.gov, start 2016-05-01, $653,245.
[^86]: Scott Atran, Douglas Medin, Jeremy Ginges and Richard Davis, "Mutual Influence of Moral Values, Mental Models and Social Dynamics on Intergroup Conflict," final report, Defense Technical Information Center ADA591831 (archive.org mirror DTIC_ADA591831), project period May 2010 to April 2013.
[^87]: Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas statement for JEFFREY EPSTEIN, August 1 to 31, 2015, DOJ Epstein Library file EFTA01285659, page 1 of 5: "08-06 Outgoing Money Trnsf TO BANK OF AMERICA A/C [redacted] TH E NEW SCHOOL OPERATING ACCOUNT (16,083.00)." The preceding 08-06 line is an $8,155.00 transfer to 1st United Bank for W. Chester Brewer, Jr., P.A.
[^88]: Deutsche Bank statement for JEFFREY EPSTEIN, October 1 to 31, 2016, DOJ Epstein Library file EFTA01286417, page 3 of 5 (Bates EFTA01286419): "10-27 Preauthorized Debit ... TUITION THE NEW SCHOOL (17,030.00)."
[^89]: Deutsche Bank statement for JEFFREY EPSTEIN, May 1 to 31, 2017, DOJ Epstein Library file EFTA01299344, page 2 of 5 (Bates EFTA01299345): "05-10 Preauthorized Debit ... TUITION THE NEW SCHOOL (10,856.00)." The same page lists "05-11 Outgoing Money Trnsf TO STERLING NATIONAL BANK A/C [redacted] FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (3,589.00)" and, on May 19, an American Express payment of $89,103.78.
[^90]: Deutsche Bank presentation to the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, September 12, 2019, Exhibit R, "Tuition Payments on Behalf of Children / Women," DOJ Epstein Library file EFTA01681865, page marked EFTA01681912 (printed page 49).
[^91]: Bella Klein email exchange with Jeffrey Epstein, December 9, 2015, EFTA02478844, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library.
[^92]: Richard Kahn email, September 20, 2016, EFTA01782038, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library.
[^93]: The New School invoice, fall 2015, EFTA02491750; Deutsche Bank statement, August 2015, EFTA01285659, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library.
[^94]: Bella Klein email, August 1, 2018, EFTA02600764, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library.
[^95]: The New School invoice, spring 2019, EFTA01008842, U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library.

57
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Open Philanthropy.md
View file

@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ relations:
with: "[[Effective Altruism Foundation]]"
role: "1,000,000 dollars over two years, research and general operations, July 2019"
start: 2019-07
fn: 22
fn: 25
- type: founded
with: "[[Dustin Moskovitz]]"
reverse: true
@ -67,27 +67,33 @@ relations:
with: "[[Redwood Research]]"
start: 2021-11
role: "four grants totaling 9.42 million dollars; grant investigator Nick Beckstead"
fn: 17
fn: 20
- type: funded
with: "[[Redwood Research]]"
start: 2022-08
role: "10.7 million dollars over 18 months"
fn: 17
fn: 20
- type: funded
with: "[[Redwood Research]]"
start: 2023-06
role: "5.3 million dollars"
fn: 17
fn: 20
- type: funded
with: "[[Redwood Research]]"
start: 2025-05
role: "1.1 million dollars for research collaborations"
fn: 17
fn: 20
- type: funded
with: "[[Alignment Research Center]]"
start: 2022-03
role: "1,515,000 dollars in 2022"
fn: 18
fn: 21
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Claire Zabel]]"
reverse: true
start: 2015-08
role: "research analyst from August 2015, later program officer, head of effective altruism grantmaking and program director"
fn: 16
created: 2026-06-19
updated: 2026-10-08
---
@ -112,23 +118,25 @@ In 2022 Open Philanthropy set aside nearly 3 million dollars for what became the
Karnofsky led Open Philanthropy as chief executive until June 16, 2021, when he announced that the cofounder Alexander Berger had been "promoted to co-CEO" in "a dual-CEO structure, with both of us reporting directly to the board," Karnofsky keeping biosecurity and AI risk and Berger taking the portfolio renamed "Global Health and Wellbeing."[^12] On July 27, 2023, Karnofsky announced "on behalf of Open Philanthropy's board" that Berger was sole chief executive and that his own title was changing to director of AI strategy; Tuna, styled in the announcement as president, said that "Dustin and I have worked closely with Alexander for many years," and Berger recalled the time "when Holden, Cari, Dustin and I were starting to think about it together."[^13] Karnofsky left the staff on April 29, 2024, for the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]], writing that the organization "would benefit from less ambiguity about my role in its funding decisions (especially given the fact that I'm married to the President of a major AI company)," and that he would remain on its board "at least for the time being."[^14] The same officers ran the [[Open Philanthropy Action Fund]], a 501(c)(4) whose returns list Karnofsky and Berger as co-CEOs for 2021 and 2022 and "co-CEO thru 7/23/23" for 2023.[^15]
[[Claire Zabel]] joined Open Philanthropy as a research analyst in August 2015. The organization's team page described her as program officer for global catastrophic risks in November 2018 and, from December 2019 to at least January 2022, as leading its grantmaking on effective altruism; by June 2024 she was a program director who oversaw the Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness team and had led the Global Catastrophic Risks Capacity Building team.[^16] The Coefficient Giving team biography gives her current title as managing director of the Short Timelines Special Projects team and states that she ran the Capacity Building team from 2018 to 2024 and oversaw the Biosecurity and Pandemic Preparedness team in 2018 and 2019 and again in 2023 and 2024.[^17] Her name appears as grant investigator on grant pages dated May 2018 to March 2022 that total about 12.6 million dollars, among them 5,000,000 dollars to the [[Atlas Fellowship]] in March 2022 and 1,904,942 dollars to the [[Nuclear Threat Initiative]] in November 2018.[^18]
### Redwood Research
Redwood Research, a [[Berkeley]] AI-alignment nonprofit, announced in October 2021 that its board was [[Nate Thomas]], Paul Christiano and Karnofsky; its returns list Karnofsky as treasurer for 2021 and treasurer and CFO for 2022, and as a director until November 2023.[^16] Open Philanthropy recommended four grants totaling 9.42 million dollars to Redwood in November 2021, with [[Nick Beckstead]] as grant investigator, then 10.7 million dollars in August 2022, 5.3 million in June 2023 and 1.1 million in May 2025, before the 36 million dollars of November 2025, a total of 62.52 million dollars. None of the four archived grant pages mentions Karnofsky's or Christiano's board seats. Open Philanthropy's senior program officer for AI risk, [[Ajeya Cotra]], was a Redwood director on its return for 2023 and until August 2024.[^16][^17]
Redwood Research, a [[Berkeley]] AI-alignment nonprofit, announced in October 2021 that its board was [[Nate Thomas]], Paul Christiano and Karnofsky; its returns list Karnofsky as treasurer for 2021 and treasurer and CFO for 2022, and as a director until November 2023.[^19] Open Philanthropy recommended four grants totaling 9.42 million dollars to Redwood in November 2021, with [[Nick Beckstead]] as grant investigator, then 10.7 million dollars in August 2022, 5.3 million in June 2023 and 1.1 million in May 2025, before the 36 million dollars of November 2025, a total of 62.52 million dollars. None of the four archived grant pages mentions Karnofsky's or Christiano's board seats. Open Philanthropy's senior program officer for AI risk, [[Ajeya Cotra]], was a Redwood director on its return for 2023 and until August 2024.[^19][^20]
### ARC and Canary
Open Philanthropy gave the [[Alignment Research Center]], founded by Paul Christiano, 265,000 dollars for general support in March 2022 and 1,250,000 dollars over two years in November 2022. The center incubated ARC Evals, which spun off in December 2023 as [[METR]].[^18][^19][^20] In September 2025 Open Philanthropy gave the RAND Corporation 10 million dollars over three years for Canary, "a collaboration between RAND and METR to develop advanced methods for evaluating AI systems," on the recommendation of [[Trevor Levin]] of its AI governance and policy team.[^21]
Open Philanthropy gave the [[Alignment Research Center]], founded by Paul Christiano, 265,000 dollars for general support in March 2022 and 1,250,000 dollars over two years in November 2022. The center incubated ARC Evals, which spun off in December 2023 as [[METR]].[^21][^22][^23] In September 2025 Open Philanthropy gave the RAND Corporation 10 million dollars over three years for Canary, "a collaboration between RAND and METR to develop advanced methods for evaluating AI systems," on the recommendation of [[Trevor Levin]] of its AI governance and policy team.[^24]
### Effective Altruism Foundation
Open Philanthropy's grant pages record five grants to the [[Effective Altruism Foundation]] (EAF). In July 2019 it recommended 1,000,000 dollars over two years "to support some aspects of its research and general operations," with Nick Beckstead and [[Claire Zabel]] as grant investigators. The page states that "we have felt ambivalent about EAF's work to date (despite feeling unambiguously positively about some of their projects)" and that "A major purpose of this grant is to encourage and support EAF and our other grantees in the space in taking approaches to longtermism with greater emphasis on shared objectives between different value systems."[^22]
Open Philanthropy's grant pages record five grants to the [[Effective Altruism Foundation]] (EAF). In July 2019 it recommended 1,000,000 dollars over two years "to support some aspects of its research and general operations," with Nick Beckstead and Claire Zabel as grant investigators. The page states that "we have felt ambivalent about EAF's work to date (despite feeling unambiguously positively about some of their projects)" and that "A major purpose of this grant is to encourage and support EAF and our other grantees in the space in taking approaches to longtermism with greater emphasis on shared objectives between different value systems."[^25]
Four later grants were recorded: 15,358 dollars in April 2020 (investigators [[Zachary Robinson]] and Alexander Berger), 375,000 dollars in October 2020 (investigator Robinson), 697,268 dollars in January 2022, all for research and advocacy on policy interventions in Europe in the field of development aid, and 200,000 dollars in April 2022 for work in biosecurity.[^23]
Four later grants were recorded: 15,358 dollars in April 2020 (investigators [[Zachary Robinson]] and Alexander Berger), 375,000 dollars in October 2020 (investigator Robinson), 697,268 dollars in January 2022, all for research and advocacy on policy interventions in Europe in the field of development aid, and 200,000 dollars in April 2022 for work in biosecurity.[^26]
[[Simon Knutsson]] wrote in 2019 that he sent Open Philanthropy questions on October 31 and November 5 about whether the 2019 grant was conditioned on guidelines written by EAF, and that its communications officer replied on November 5 and 8 that the organization had nothing to add beyond the grant page.[^24]
[[Simon Knutsson]] wrote in 2019 that he sent Open Philanthropy questions on October 31 and November 5 about whether the 2019 grant was conditioned on guidelines written by EAF, and that its communications officer replied on November 5 and 8 that the organization had nothing to add beyond the grant page.[^27]
On Open Philanthropy's share of effective altruism funding, two compilations give different figures for 2019. [[Benjamin Todd]] of [[80,000 Hours]] estimated in 2021 that effective altruism funding in 2019 was about 416 million dollars per year, of which about 260 million dollars came from Open Philanthropy (an average of its 2017 to 2019 grants taken from its grants database), 80 million dollars for GiveWell-recommended charities excluding Open Philanthropy was added to global health, and 30 million dollars per year was a guess for other longtermist and meta donations; he described all the figures as extremely rough. The ratio of 260 to 416 is 62.5 percent. A spreadsheet of grants compiled by a forum user and last updated November 7, 2023 lists Open Philanthropy at 196.6 million dollars of 306.1 million dollars in 2019, a share of 64.2 percent, and 236.9 million dollars of 407.5 million dollars in 2020, with the [[Survival and Flourishing Fund]] at 1.8 million dollars in 2019 and 5.4 million dollars in 2020. Its Open Philanthropy column sums to about 1.99 billion dollars for 2012 through 2022.[^25][^26]
On Open Philanthropy's share of effective altruism funding, two compilations give different figures for 2019. [[Benjamin Todd]] of [[80,000 Hours]] estimated in 2021 that effective altruism funding in 2019 was about 416 million dollars per year, of which about 260 million dollars came from Open Philanthropy (an average of its 2017 to 2019 grants taken from its grants database), 80 million dollars for GiveWell-recommended charities excluding Open Philanthropy was added to global health, and 30 million dollars per year was a guess for other longtermist and meta donations; he described all the figures as extremely rough. The ratio of 260 to 416 is 62.5 percent. A spreadsheet of grants compiled by a forum user and last updated November 7, 2023 lists Open Philanthropy at 196.6 million dollars of 306.1 million dollars in 2019, a share of 64.2 percent, and 236.9 million dollars of 407.5 million dollars in 2020, with the [[Survival and Flourishing Fund]] at 1.8 million dollars in 2019 and 5.4 million dollars in 2020. Its Open Philanthropy column sums to about 1.99 billion dollars for 2012 through 2022.[^28][^29]
### Footnotes
@ -147,14 +155,17 @@ On Open Philanthropy's share of effective altruism funding, two compilations giv
[^13]: Karnofsky, Holden. "Alexander Berger is Now Sole CEO of Open Philanthropy." Open Philanthropy, July 27, 2023, archived March 17, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260317060608/https://coefficientgiving.org/research/alexander-berger-is-now-sole-ceo-of-open-philanthropy/
[^14]: Karnofsky, Holden. "Joining the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace." EA Forum, April 29, 2024. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7gzgwgwefwBku2cnL/joining-the-carnegie-endowment-for-international-peace
[^15]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Coefficient Giving Action Fund" (formerly Open Philanthropy Action Fund), EIN 81-2644663, organization record, Form 990 data and Part VII officer listings for fiscal years 2016 to 2024, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/812644663
[^16]: Thomas, Nate. "We're Redwood Research, we do applied alignment research, AMA." LessWrong, October 6, 2021, https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qHvHvBR8L6oycnMXe/we-re-redwood-research-we-do-applied-alignment-research-ama ; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Redwood Research Group Inc," EIN 87-1702255, Form 990 Part VII officer listings for fiscal years 2021 to 2024, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/871702255 ; Open Philanthropy, "Ajeya Cotra," team biography, archived November 11, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20231111135945/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/ajeya-cotra/
[^17]: Open Philanthropy grant pages, archived: "Redwood Research, General Support," November 2021, http://web.archive.org/web/20220811081927/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support/ ; "Redwood Research, General Support (2022)," http://web.archive.org/web/20221106183007/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support-2/ ; "Redwood Research, General Support (2023)," http://web.archive.org/web/20230912095528/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support-2023/ ; "Redwood Research, AI Safety Research Collaborations," May 2025. http://web.archive.org/web/20250810094119/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-ai-safety-research-collaborations/
[^18]: Open Philanthropy, "Alignment Research Center, General Support," March 2022, archived. http://web.archive.org/web/20220816132918id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/alignment-research-center-general-support/
[^19]: Open Philanthropy, "Alignment Research Center, General Support (November 2022)," archived. http://web.archive.org/web/20230512114157id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/alignment-research-center-general-support-november-2022/
[^20]: METR, "ARC Evals is now METR," December 4, 2023. https://metr.org/blog/2023-12-04-metr-announcement/
[^21]: Open Philanthropy, "RAND Corporation, AI Evaluation and Testing," September 2025, archived. http://web.archive.org/web/20251025225511id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/rand-corporation-ai-evaluation-and-testing/
[^22]: Open Philanthropy, "Effective Altruism Foundation: Research and Operations," grant page, award date July 2019, grant investigators Nick Beckstead and Claire Zabel. Archived 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-research-and-operations/
[^23]: Open Philanthropy grant pages for the Effective Altruism Foundation: April 2020, 15,358 dollars; October 2020, 375,000 dollars; January 2022, 697,268 dollars; April 2022, 200,000 dollars (Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness). Archived 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy-2022/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy-2022-2/
[^24]: Simon Knutsson, "E-mail exchange with the Open Philanthropy Project," simonknutsson.com, November 10, 2019. https://www.simonknutsson.com/e-mail-exchange-with-the-open-philanthropy-project Sole source; Knutsson did not publish the replies.
[^25]: Benjamin Todd, "How are resources in effective altruism allocated across issues?," 80,000 Hours, August 9, 2021, section on 2019 funding by cause area. https://80000hours.org/2021/08/effective-altruism-allocation-resources-cause-areas/
[^26]: "Historical EA funding data," spreadsheet linked from the Effective Altruism Forum post of that title, last updated November 7, 2023; columns OPP, GW, EAF (which in this sheet denotes the EA Funds, not the Effective Altruism Foundation), ACE, SFF, FTX, annual totals 2012 to 2023 (estimate). https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ZbaDmowkXbTBsxvHn/historical-ea-funding-data Percentages and the 2012 to 2022 sum computed from the sheet's dollar figures.
[^16]: Open Philanthropy, "Claire Zabel," team biography, Wayback Machine captures of November 28, 2018, December 12, 2019, January 19, 2022 and June 17, 2024. https://web.archive.org/web/20240617074758/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/claire-zabel/
[^17]: Coefficient Giving, "Claire Zabel," team biography, viewed October 8, 2026. https://coefficientgiving.org/team/claire-zabel/
[^18]: Open Philanthropy grant pages naming Claire Zabel as grant investigator (twenty pages, listed in the footnotes of the Claire Zabel page). https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/atlas-fellowship-scholarships-and-summer-program-for-students/ and https://web.archive.org/web/2024id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/nuclear-threat-initiative-projects-to-reduce-global-catastrophic-biological-risks/
[^19]: Thomas, Nate. "We're Redwood Research, we do applied alignment research, AMA." LessWrong, October 6, 2021, https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qHvHvBR8L6oycnMXe/we-re-redwood-research-we-do-applied-alignment-research-ama ; ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Redwood Research Group Inc," EIN 87-1702255, Form 990 Part VII officer listings for fiscal years 2021 to 2024, https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/871702255 ; Open Philanthropy, "Ajeya Cotra," team biography, archived November 11, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20231111135945/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/ajeya-cotra/
[^20]: Open Philanthropy grant pages, archived: "Redwood Research, General Support," November 2021, http://web.archive.org/web/20220811081927/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support/ ; "Redwood Research, General Support (2022)," http://web.archive.org/web/20221106183007/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support-2/ ; "Redwood Research, General Support (2023)," http://web.archive.org/web/20230912095528/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support-2023/ ; "Redwood Research, AI Safety Research Collaborations," May 2025. http://web.archive.org/web/20250810094119/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-ai-safety-research-collaborations/
[^21]: Open Philanthropy, "Alignment Research Center, General Support," March 2022, archived. http://web.archive.org/web/20220816132918id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/alignment-research-center-general-support/
[^22]: Open Philanthropy, "Alignment Research Center, General Support (November 2022)," archived. http://web.archive.org/web/20230512114157id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/alignment-research-center-general-support-november-2022/
[^23]: METR, "ARC Evals is now METR," December 4, 2023. https://metr.org/blog/2023-12-04-metr-announcement/
[^24]: Open Philanthropy, "RAND Corporation, AI Evaluation and Testing," September 2025, archived. http://web.archive.org/web/20251025225511id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/rand-corporation-ai-evaluation-and-testing/
[^25]: Open Philanthropy, "Effective Altruism Foundation: Research and Operations," grant page, award date July 2019, grant investigators Nick Beckstead and Claire Zabel. Archived 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-research-and-operations/
[^26]: Open Philanthropy grant pages for the Effective Altruism Foundation: April 2020, 15,358 dollars; October 2020, 375,000 dollars; January 2022, 697,268 dollars; April 2022, 200,000 dollars (Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness). Archived 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy-2022/ , https://web.archive.org/web/2022id_/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/effective-altruism-foundation-european-policy-research-and-advocacy-2022-2/
[^27]: Simon Knutsson, "E-mail exchange with the Open Philanthropy Project," simonknutsson.com, November 10, 2019. https://www.simonknutsson.com/e-mail-exchange-with-the-open-philanthropy-project Sole source; Knutsson did not publish the replies.
[^28]: Benjamin Todd, "How are resources in effective altruism allocated across issues?," 80,000 Hours, August 9, 2021, section on 2019 funding by cause area. https://80000hours.org/2021/08/effective-altruism-allocation-resources-cause-areas/
[^29]: "Historical EA funding data," spreadsheet linked from the Effective Altruism Forum post of that title, last updated November 7, 2023; columns OPP, GW, EAF (which in this sheet denotes the EA Funds, not the Effective Altruism Foundation), ACE, SFF, FTX, annual totals 2012 to 2023 (estimate). https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/ZbaDmowkXbTBsxvHn/historical-ea-funding-data Percentages and the 2012 to 2022 sum computed from the sheet's dollar figures.

44
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Rand Corporation.md
View file

@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
---
created: 2025-07-22
updated: 2026-10-08
updated: 2026-10-09
title: Rand Corporation
tags:
- Organization
@ -14,10 +14,34 @@ tags:
category: "Private Organization"
start: 1946
location: "Santa Monica, California"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Hans Speier]]"
reverse: true
role: "head of the Social Science Division"
start: 1948-07
end: 1960
fn: 2
summary: "The Rand Corporation is the Air Force's principal Cold War nonprofit think tank in Santa Monica, founded as Project RAND in 1946, whose Vietnam-era Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Study produced suppressed critical findings."
---
The Rand Corporation, whose name is an acronym for Research and Development, is headquartered in [[Santa Monica, California]], with a Washington, D.C., office near the [[White House]]. It arose from the partnership between university scientists and the military that developed during the Second World War, established as Project RAND in 1946 with the [[U.S. Air Force]] as its primary institutional sponsor and incorporated as an independent nonprofit in 1948. It is not primarily a psychological research organization; economists and political scientists form the largest part of its staff. In the [[Cold War]] it was among the first institutions to apply systematic psychological and social scientific methods to military problems, including censorship policy, the psychological effects of weapons, propaganda organization, and, most controversially, the morale and motivation of enemy forces during the [[Vietnam War]].[^1]
### Social Science Division
In the summer of 1946 a committee of [[Herbert Goldhamer]], Olaf Helmer, Frederick Mosteller, [[Leo Rosten]], W. Allen Wallis, [[Warren Weaver]] and Samuel Wilks began to consider which social scientists to bring to Project RAND. In September 1947 Project RAND held a Conference of Social Scientists in New York (September 14 to 19; RAND R-106, June 9, 1948) to recruit leaders for its planned Social Science and Economics divisions. The thirty-five participants included [[Ernst Kris]], [[Franz Neumann]], [[Harold Lasswell]], [[Bernard Brodie]], [[Ruth Benedict]], Charles Dollard and [[Pendleton Herring]] of the [[Carnegie Corporation]], Donald Young of the [[Social Science Research Council]] and Warren Weaver of the [[Rockefeller Foundation]], an early RAND consultant. Weaver told the group that every piece of knowledge in sociology, economics and political science would be forged into "weapons" for the defense of democracy; [[Frank Collbohm]] told them that the Air Force "makes available to RAND information in other fields, intelligence, plans, etc."[^2]
[[Hans Speier]] came to RAND from the [[New School for Social Research]], where from April 1, 1941 he had co-directed with Kris the [[Research Project on Totalitarian Communication]] under Rockefeller Foundation grants. At the [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]] he was offered the post of Senior Political Analyst by [[Goodwin Watson]] in February 1942 and became Principal Political Analyst in November 1942; after Watson left he became Acting Chief Analyst, and on May 22, 1944 he transferred to the [[Office of War Information]]'s Overseas Operations Branch.[^3] A connection he made at the OWI with Rosten brought him to RAND's attention.[^2] He consulted from May 1948 and headed the Social Science Division from July 1948, keeping it in Washington until 1957. He hired [[Alexander George]], [[Nathan Leites]], Phil Davison and William Kaufmann, several of them colleagues from the Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service, used Leon Gouré, [[John Herz]] and [[Otto Kirchheimer]] as consultants, held a "Q" clearance, and opened a RAND office in Wiesbaden. In October 1960 the divisions were reorganized into departments, Goldhamer succeeded him, and Speier joined the Research Council (chairman 1961 to 1962).[^2][^4]
### Incorporation and Ford Loan
RAND was incorporated as an independent nonprofit on May 14, 1948. [[H. Rowan Gaither]] and Collbohm arranged the separation from [[Douglas Aircraft]] with a $100,000 interest-free loan and a $300,000 credit guarantee from [[Henry Ford II]] of the [[Ford Foundation]], plus a $150,000 Wells Fargo credit line; the loan was extended to $1,000,000 in 1950 and later converted to a grant. The Carnegie Corporation, the National Science Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation were among RAND's other early financial supporters.[^5]
### Superstitions Study and Korea
The division issued Jean M. Hungerford's RM-365, "The Exploitation of Superstitions for Purposes of Psychological Warfare" (April 14, 1950, marked a working paper). It surveys superstition in wartime Germany (astrologers, fortune-tellers, chain letters, with a Security Service report of May 21, 1942 on chain letters translated in an appendix), in other belligerent countries and in the postwar Soviet Union and Eastern Europe; it records Goebbels's 1942 diary entries on counter-horoscopes and a plan for occultist propaganda, German agents posing as astrologers in France in 1940, and the OSS black radio program Operation Hermit, which used astrology and fortune-telling in broadcasts to Nanking. It proposes astrology and fortune-telling to predict dire events likely to befall the enemy, chain letters to burden the enemy postal system, and word-of-mouth rumors introduced by agents, and it states that the files of wartime "black" propagandists were not examined. Its sources include the FCC's weekly reports on Nazi propaganda for 1943 and early 1944, Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service Central European Analysis reports, and Kris and Speier's German Radio Propaganda.[^6]
After the outbreak of the Korean War a team including Goldhamer, George, Davison, Ewald Schnitzer and a Hungerford (Bessner writes "Jay Hungerford"; RM-365 is credited to Jean M. Hungerford, and records found do not establish whether they are the same person) visited Korea; from August 24, 1951, Goldhamer advised the American armistice delegation at Kaesong and circulated Speier's papers and Leites's The Operational Code of the Politburo (RAND, 1951) to the negotiators. Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy was reported to carry the Operational Code on helicopter trips.[^7]
### Early Psychological Work
Rand produced a classified 1949 conference report on methods for studying the psychological effects of unconventional weapons, one of the earliest institutional contributions to the field. Its early Cold War work on propaganda and psychological operations included studies of censorship policy, the effects of translation and mistranslation on message delivery, and the organization of psywar efforts. Other Rand studies relevant to psychological operations examined folk tales relating to swindling and dishonesty in Third World societies and graft and corruption among government officials in Nigeria, the Philippines, and Brazil. [[Daniel Ellsberg]], then a Rand analyst, produced a paper exploring in theoretical terms how blackmail techniques might prove useful to the military.[^1]
@ -64,14 +88,20 @@ Rand's Santa Monica headquarters is described in accounts from the period as res
### Remote Viewing Era References
In accounts of the 1970s parapsychology research milieu, Rand is noted as larger and more prestigious than the [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] among scientific think tanks, and it figures in the French accounts of 1959 and 1960 of a [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)|USS Nautilus]] telepathy experiment, which the U.S. Navy denied and which a 1975 DIA study called rumors.[^2][^3]
In accounts of the 1970s parapsychology research milieu, Rand is noted as larger and more prestigious than the [[Stanford Research Institute|SRI]] among scientific think tanks, and it figures in the French accounts of 1959 and 1960 of a [[The Nautilus (Telepathy Project)|USS Nautilus]] telepathy experiment, which the U.S. Navy denied and which a 1975 DIA study called rumors.[^8][^9]
In Le Matin des magiciens, [[Jacques Bergier]] and [[Louis Pauwels]] wrote that at the beginning of 1957 the Rand Corporation laid before [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]] a report proposing telepathy for communicating with submarines, particularly under the polar ice cap, and that the report had no effect for a year. In the same chapter they list Rand among the organizations with parapsychology study laboratories, and a footnote cites a "Rapport de la Rand Corporation, 31 août 1958" in connection with a statement that the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission proposed in 1958 to use clairvoyants to guess where Russian bombs would fall.[^4] A report to Soviet Defense Minister [[Rodion Malinovsky]] of March 1960, as quoted by [[I. V. Tsykunov]], says that from the end of 1957 Rand, Westinghouse and Bell Telephone had been working intensively on telepathy.[^5]
In Le Matin des magiciens, [[Jacques Bergier]] and [[Louis Pauwels]] wrote that at the beginning of 1957 the Rand Corporation laid before [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]] a report proposing telepathy for communicating with submarines, particularly under the polar ice cap, and that the report had no effect for a year. In the same chapter they list Rand among the organizations with parapsychology study laboratories, and a footnote cites a "Rapport de la Rand Corporation, 31 août 1958" in connection with a statement that the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission proposed in 1958 to use clairvoyants to guess where Russian bombs would fall.[^10] A report to Soviet Defense Minister [[Rodion Malinovsky]] of March 1960, as quoted by [[I. V. Tsykunov]], says that from the end of 1957 Rand, Westinghouse and Bell Telephone had been working intensively on telepathy.[^11]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Peter Watson, *War on the Mind: The Military Uses and Abuses of Psychology*. Basic Books, 1978. pp. 388-394 (Ch. 21), 462-468 (App. II); Mai Elliott, *RAND in Southeast Asia: A History of the Vietnam War Era*. RAND CP-564, 2010; Anthony Russo, "Looking Backward: RAND and Vietnam," *Ramparts*, October 1972; RAND report series: RM-4507/3-ISA (March 1965), RM-4911-2-ISA/ARPA (1966), RM-5446-1-ISA/ARPA (October 1967), RM-5462-1 (November 1969), RM-6131-1 (September 1970).
[^2]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^3]: Maire, Louis F., III, and J. D. LaMothe. *Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research*, DST-1810S-387-75, September 1975, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500420001-2, https://cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000500420001-2.
[^4]: Pauwels, Louis, and Jacques Bergier. *Le Matin des magiciens*, abridged and annotated university edition prepared by Yvonne Lenard with Monica Faulkner (Harper and Row, 1967), pp. 136-141.
[^5]: Tsykunov, I. V. "От фантазии к реальности: как история «Наутилуса» открыла гонку сверхъестественных вооружений между СССР и США" [From fantasy to reality: how the story of the Nautilus opened the race for supernatural weapons between the USSR and the USA]. Aliter, no. 20 (2023), pp. 34-55. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/ot-fantazii-k-realnosti-kak-istoriya-nautilusa-otkryla-gonku-sverhestestvennyh-vooruzheniy-mezhdu-sssr-i-ssha. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^2]: Daniel Bessner, "The Night Watchman: Hans Speier and the Making of the American National Security State" (PhD diss., Duke University, 2013), pp. 187-200 and notes 76-123; conference participants at p. 190 note 88; Rosten at pp. 190-191 note 89; Weaver at p. 192; Q clearance at p. 198. https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/232a76ac-f2d8-4827-99fe-50b3b109fa6c/content. Deutsche Biographie, "Speier, Hans" (sfz123260), and the University at Albany Speier Papers finding aid (GER-084) give the same RAND dates.
[^3]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," introduction p. 13 (the OWI connection with Rosten; Speier recruited several of his Analysis Division colleagues to RAND), pp. 132-137 (February 1942 offer; Principal Political Analyst, November 1942; Acting Chief Analyst after Watson's departure, p. 137) and pp. 145-146 (transfer to the Overseas Operations Branch, May 22, 1944).
[^4]: Ernst Kris and Hans Speier, German Radio Propaganda (New York: Oxford University Press, 1944), Preface (work begun April 1, 1941).
[^5]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 187 note 76.
[^6]: RAND RM-365, Jean M. Hungerford, The Exploitation of Superstitions for Purposes of Psychological Warfare (April 14, 1950; ASTIA ATI 210637), full text at https://archive.org/details/1950-hungerford-exploitation-of-superstitions-for-purposes-of-psychological-warfare; rand.org record https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM365.html. Bessner, "The Night Watchman," p. 201 note 128 (dates it April 15, 1950).
[^7]: Bessner, "The Night Watchman," pp. 205-207 and notes 145-150, citing Goldhamer, The 1951 Korean Armistice Conference: A Personal Memoir, and Robert C. Tucker's memoir for the Joy detail.
[^8]: Schnabel, Jim. *Remote Viewers*. Dell, 1997.
[^9]: Maire, Louis F., III, and J. D. LaMothe. *Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research*, DST-1810S-387-75, September 1975, CIA-RDP96-00787R000500420001-2, https://cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp96-00787r000500420001-2.
[^10]: Pauwels, Louis, and Jacques Bergier. *Le Matin des magiciens*, abridged and annotated university edition prepared by Yvonne Lenard with Monica Faulkner (Harper and Row, 1967), pp. 136-141.
[^11]: Tsykunov, I. V. "От фантазии к реальности: как история «Наутилуса» открыла гонку сверхъестественных вооружений между СССР и США" [From fantasy to reality: how the story of the Nautilus opened the race for supernatural weapons between the USSR and the USA]. Aliter, no. 20 (2023), pp. 34-55. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/ot-fantazii-k-realnosti-kak-istoriya-nautilusa-otkryla-gonku-sverhestestvennyh-vooruzheniy-mezhdu-sssr-i-ssha. Sole source for the passages so cited.

57
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Rockefeller Foundation.md
View file

@ -8,10 +8,28 @@ tags:
- PublicHealth
- ColdWar
- MKULTRA
summary: "The Rockefeller Foundation, endowed from the Standard Oil fortune in 1913, ran public-health and agricultural campaigns across Latin America that eased the social costs of American corporate expansion, supplied a pipeline of trustees into the State Department, and in 1943 funded the McGill psychiatric institute where CIA depatterning experiments were later conducted."
summary: "The Rockefeller Foundation, endowed from the Standard Oil fortune in 1913, ran Latin American public-health campaigns, supplied trustees to the State Department, and in 1943 funded the McGill psychiatric institute later tied to CIA experiments."
location: New York, NY
created: 2026-06-12
updated: 2026-06-12
updated: 2026-10-09
relations:
- type: funded
with: "[[New School for Social Research]]"
start: 1933
end: 1943
role: "co-funded University in Exile appointments and the Research Project on Totalitarian Communication"
fn: 8
- type: funded
with: "[[Max Ascoli]]"
start: 1931
role: "fellowship that brought him to the United States"
fn: 15
- type: funded
with: "[[Princeton Listening Center]]"
start: 1939-11
end: 1941-06
role: "foundation funding for the listening center, per the Princeton finding aid and Mercado"
fn: 19
---
The Rockefeller Foundation, chartered in 1913 and endowed from the [[Standard Oil]] fortune, was the largest of the [[John D. Rockefeller Jr.|Rockefeller]] family's philanthropies and the institutional model for the family's approach to social engineering through medicine, education, and agriculture. Across the first half of the twentieth century its public-health campaigns in [[Latin America]] (against hookworm, malaria, and yellow fever) prepared the ground for American corporate penetration of the region, easing the human suffering that accompanied plantation agriculture and resource extraction without addressing its causes. By the Cold War the Foundation had become a reservoir of national-security policy talent, supplying secretaries of state and trustees who moved between its board and the highest levels of US government, and a funder of psychiatric research that intersected the CIA's mind-control programs.
@ -40,9 +58,27 @@ The Foundation's board functioned as a recruiting pool for US foreign policy. In
The Foundation's reach extended into the psychiatric research that the CIA would later exploit. In 1943 it funded the establishment of the [[Allan Memorial Institute]] at [[McGill University]] in Montreal (the book renders the name "Allen"), the psychiatric institute later directed by [[D. Ewen Cameron]], whose depatterning experiments became [[MKULTRA]] Subproject 68. The Foundation also funded [[Sensory Deprivation]] research, the technique of strapping subjects in a sealed box cut off from light, sound, smell, and touch; in March 1955 the [[National Institutes of Health]] began CIA-funded experiments using the standard method minus the practice of releasing subjects on request, after which mind-control experiments spread under funding directed by [[Sidney Gottlieb]] of the CIA's [[TSS|Technical Services Staff]], part of an old-boy network that included Nelson Rockefeller's former CIAA associate [[J.C. King]]. Colby and Dennett note that Nelson "needed little introduction to MKULTRA," the CIA's use of the health and welfare bureaucracy for mind-control work having begun during his own tenure as undersecretary of HEW.[^7]
### New School for Social Research
The Foundation paired with the [[New School for Social Research]] in 1933 to bring German and Central European scholars to the University in Exile. [[Alvin Johnson]] and the Foundation agreed on a dozen individuals to rescue, and the Foundation's Paris associate [[Tracy Kittredge]] wrote on the State Department's view of the question on March 29, 1933. The [[Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars]] acted for the Foundation in these early cases and did not seek permanent United States posts for the men it supported.[^8] Johnson later went to Raymond Fosdick, then the Foundation's president, for travel and two-year stipends for five scholars, and the Foundation supplied expert information on who was a Nazi or Fascist.[^9]
The Rockefeller Archive Center's account of the Foundation's refugee scholar program states that Foundation officers worked closely with Johnson, with whom they had been working since 1933, and that the Foundation depended on the Emergency Committee to find permanent employment for scholars and on the [[United States Department of State]] to secure non-quota visas.[^10] Johnson's memoir has his request to Fosdick growing from five scholars to fifteen and then twenty-five, then to a project of one hundred, which Fosdick put to his trustees and approved the next day; the New York Times obituary of June 9, 1971 states that the Foundation "approved the request and assured the financing of 100 emigres."[^11] The Foundation's grant records group the New School's files under the refugee-scholar program, with a separate file for the [[Ecole Libre des Hautes Etudes]] and wartime projects including Totalitarian Communication Studies and War and Peace Studies.[^12] A July 31, 1941 letter from [[Marc Bloch]] to Johnson, written after the French government barred French males of military age from leaving Paris, is filed in the Foundation's records.[^13]
The Foundation funded the [[Research Project on Totalitarian Communication]] at the New School, led by [[Hans Speier]] and [[Ernst Kris]], which analyzed radio broadcasts from totalitarian countries and was coordinated with the British Broadcasting Corporation and government agencies. Foundation funding ended in 1943, and many of the researchers later held federal posts. John Foster Dulles, a Foundation trustee, urged the Foundation to continue work in this field after the war in order to counter Soviet propaganda in Europe.[^14]
### Refugee Scholar Fellowships, 1931 to 1933
The Italian anti-fascist [[Max Ascoli]] came to the United States in 1931 on a Foundation fellowship; Ascoli wrote in 1954 that the offer was made in the spring of 1931 by the Foundation's representative in Italy, [[Luigi Einaudi]].[^15][^16] In 1933 Johnson recruited Ascoli, with the Austrian scholar [[Erich Hula]], as one of two additional Rockefeller scholars for the University in Exile, and Ascoli joined the Graduate Faculty in late 1933.[^17]
### Belém Virus Laboratory
In the Brazilian Amazon the Foundation's medical infrastructure directly served the development drive. The BR-010 highway pushed south from [[Belem|Belém]] toward [[Juscelino Kubitschek|Kubitschek's]] new capital at Brasília, "shielded from the jungle's malarial counterattacks by mosquito control programs and scientists from the Rockefeller Foundation-funded Belém Virus Laboratory," the same road network that opened uncontacted indigenous territories to settlement and mining.[^8]
In the Brazilian Amazon the Foundation's medical infrastructure directly served the development drive. The BR-010 highway pushed south from [[Belem|Belém]] toward [[Juscelino Kubitschek|Kubitschek's]] new capital at Brasília, "shielded from the jungle's malarial counterattacks by mosquito control programs and scientists from the Rockefeller Foundation-funded Belém Virus Laboratory," the same road network that opened uncontacted indigenous territories to settlement and mining.[^18]
### Princeton Listening Center and Wartime Monitoring
The Foundation's money reached American radio monitoring before the government had a monitoring service of its own. The [[Princeton Listening Center]] was launched in November 1939 at [[Princeton University]] with Foundation funding, and its finding aid states that it was financed by the Foundation and continued its work until June 1941, when the [[Federal Communications Commission]] took over; [[Stephen C. Mercado]] likewise gives the absorption by the [[Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service]] as June.[^19] [[Daniel Bessner]] writes that Washington organizations "used intermediaries at the Rockefeller Foundation to assign projects to Graduate Faculty members," some of whom could not work directly for the government because they remained foreign nationals.[^20]
A [[Baltimore Sun]] article described the service as a joint project of the FCC, Princeton and the Foundation. [[Harold N. Graves Jr.]] wrote a memo for [[Lloyd Free]] on July 9, 1941 about his "embarrassment" at inaccuracies in the article, among them its claim of a joint project.[^21]
### Footnotes
@ -53,4 +89,17 @@ In the Brazilian Amazon the Foundation's medical infrastructure directly served
[^5]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 9; Ch. 10.
[^6]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 12; Ch. 18; Ch. 23.
[^7]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 18.
[^8]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 22.
[^8]: Peter M. Rutkoff and William B. Scott, New School: A History of The New School for Social Research (New York: Free Press, 1986), p. 86, p. 91 and p. 94.
[^9]: Alvin Johnson, Pioneer's Progress (University of Nebraska Press, 1960), pp. 366-367.
[^10]: Rockefeller Archive Center, "The Rockefeller Foundation's Refugee Scholar Program," REsource, https://resource.rockarch.org/story/the-rockefeller-foundations-refugee-scholar-program-world-war-ii-nazi-europe/ (Foundation officers worked closely with Alvin Johnson of the New School for Social Research, with whom they had been working since 1933; the Emergency Committee found permanent employment for scholars).
[^11]: Alvin Johnson, Pioneer's Progress (Viking Press, 1952; University of Nebraska Press, 1960), pp. 366 to 367; "Dr. Alvin Johnson Of New School Dies," The New York Times, June 9, 1971, p. 1, https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/09/archives/dr-alvin-johnson-of-new-school-dies-dr-alvin-johnson-of-new-school.html
[^12]: Rockefeller Archive Center, DIMES catalog, Rockefeller Foundation records, RG 1.1, Series 200, file groups "Refugee Scholars - New School for Social Research - (French Institute)," "New School for Social Research - Totalitarian Communication Studies," and "War and Peace Studies," https://dimes.rockarch.org.
[^13]: Rockefeller Archive Center, REsource story "The Rockefeller Foundation's Refugee Scholar Program" (letter from Marc Bloch to Alvin Johnson, July 31, 1941, RAC, RG 1.1, Series 200, Box 48, Folder 550).
[^14]: "Rockefeller Foundation Support for Communications Media in the 1930s and 1940s," Rockefeller Archive Center, RE:source, https://resource.rockarch.org/story/rockefeller-foundation-support-for-communications-media-in-the-1930s-and-1940s/
[^15]: Boston University, Bridge, "Connections," November 23, 2001, https://www.bu.edu/bridge/archive/2001/11-23/connections.htm. Also Isabelle Richet, review of Davide Grippa, Un antifascista tra Italia e Stati Uniti, Primo Levi Center, November 24, 2014, https://primolevicenter.org/printed-matter/an-antifascist-between-italy-and-the-united-states/.
[^16]: "The Reporter's Notes," The Reporter, September 23, 1954, pp. 2-6, https://archive.org/details/sim_reporter_1954-09-23_11_5.
[^17]: Peter M. Rutkoff and William B. Scott, New School: A History of the New School for Social Research (New York: Free Press, 1986), pp. 102 and 118.
[^18]: Colby and Dennett, Ch. 22.
[^19]: Princeton University Library, "Princeton Listening Center Records, 1939-1941" (AC015), finding aid. https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/AC015. Stephen C. Mercado, "FBIS Against the Axis, 1941-1945," Studies in Intelligence 45, no. 5 (2001), on the Princeton Listening Center's launch in November 1939 with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, and on its absorption by FBIS in June. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol45no5/html/v45i5a04p.htm.
[^20]: Daniel Morris Bessner, "The Night Watchman: Hans Speier and the Making of the American National Security State" (PhD dissertation, Duke University, 2013), p. 138. https://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/items/19152946-8fbb-4b9b-9da0-faca0979e718.
[^21]: Roop, Part I, pp. 93-95, on the Baltimore Sun article of July 1941 and Graves's memo of 9 July 1941. https://archive.org/details/ForeignBroadcastInformationServiceHistoryPart11941-1947.

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20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology.md
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@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
---
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-10-09
title: Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology
aliases:
- Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology
@ -15,17 +15,47 @@ tags:
- 1950s
- 1960s
category: "Intelligence & Government"
summary: "The Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology was a CIA front foundation established around 1955 in New York City to channel MKULTRA funding to academic and institutional researchers, including Ewen Cameron at McGill University, under the cover of legitimate behavioral science research grants."
summary: "The Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology was a CIA front foundation established around 1955 in New York City to channel MKULTRA funding to academic researchers, including Ewen Cameron at McGill University."
start: 1955-01-01
end: 1965-01-01
location: "New York, New York"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[James Monroe]]"
reverse: true
start: 1957
end: 1963
role: "executive secretary and treasurer (1957 annual report); executive director of the renamed Human Ecology Fund 1961 to 1963 (Price)"
fn: 4
- type: head_of
with: "[[Harold Wolff]]"
reverse: true
start: 1955
role: "president, per the 1957 annual report"
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[D. Ewen Cameron]]"
start: 1957
role: "project Experiments in Techniques and Methods of Psychotherapy (McGill), per the 1957 annual report"
fn: 4
- type: funded
with: "[[David R. Saunders]]"
start: 1957
role: "Personality Studies project at Educational Testing Service, per the 1957 annual report; about $140,000 per Marks"
fn: 5
- type: funded
with: "[[Klara G. Roman]]"
start: 1961
end: 1963
role: "$2,000 grant for a book on the psychology of writing, per Price's table of the Fund's 1961-1963 report; the Fund is thanked in the posthumous Encyclopedia of the Written Word"
fn: 9
---
The Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology was a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] front foundation established in [[New York City]] around 1955 to channel covert funding from [[Project MKUltra|MKULTRA]] to academic researchers, psychiatric institutions, and other organizations conducting behavioral modification research on the CIA's behalf. Operating under the guise of a legitimate foundation supporting behavioral science research, the Society provided institutional cover that allowed MKULTRA funding to reach recipients whose participation might have been refused or compromised if the CIA's role had been disclosed.[^1]
### Function and Structure
The Society was one of three primary cut-out mechanisms through which MKULTRA funding reached institutional recipients; the others were the [[Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation]] (a legitimate foundation that served as a partial conduit) and later the Human Ecology Fund (an organizational successor or parallel vehicle). The Society operated with a board of directors that included academics with legitimate scholarly credentials, providing the appearance of conventional foundation governance.
The Society was one of two primary cut-out mechanisms through which MKULTRA funding reached institutional recipients; the other was the [[Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation]] (a legitimate foundation that served as a partial conduit). The Human Ecology Fund was the Society itself under a new name from 1961.[^2] The Society operated with a board of directors that included academics with legitimate scholarly credentials, providing the appearance of conventional foundation governance.
The cut-out structure served multiple intelligence purposes. It fragmented the institutional relationship between the CIA and individual researchers: a professor at a university receiving a Society grant knew (or was given reason to believe) only that a private foundation was funding their research. It maintained the CIA's deniability, since no CIA name appeared on grant documents. And it distributed the program across enough institutions that no single investigator could reconstruct the program's full scope from their own position within it.
@ -39,15 +69,29 @@ The Society also funded research at other American universities, psychiatric hos
### Founding by Harold Wolff and the Chinese Refugee Project
The Society was incorporated in 1955 by [[Harold Wolff]], the Cornell neurologist who had conducted an official [[Brainwashing]] study for [[Allen Dulles]]; Wolff argued that to understand how governments manipulate behavior one had to study "human ecology," man in relation to his total environment, drawing on psychology, medicine, sociology, and anthropology. In its early days the Society undertook a covert espionage assignment: under the cover of investigating "the ecological aspects of disease," it studied 100 Chinese refugee students stranded after the 1949 revolution (on an $84,175 budget, paying each $25 a day) to identify candidates who might be recruited, trained, and even conditioned to resist Chinese interrogation as agents on the mainland. [[Lawrence Hinkle]] recalled that when CIA security would not clear an anthropologist Wolff had hired, Wolff simply lied to her about the money's source.[^2]
The Society was incorporated in 1955 by [[Harold Wolff]], the Cornell neurologist who had conducted an official [[Brainwashing]] study for [[Allen Dulles]]; Wolff argued that to understand how governments manipulate behavior one had to study "human ecology," man in relation to his total environment, drawing on psychology, medicine, sociology, and anthropology. In its early days the Society undertook a covert espionage assignment: under the cover of investigating "the ecological aspects of disease," it studied 100 Chinese refugee students stranded after the 1949 revolution (on an $84,175 budget, paying each $25 a day) to identify candidates who might be recruited, trained, and even conditioned to resist Chinese interrogation as agents on the mainland. [[Lawrence Hinkle]] recalled that when CIA security would not clear an anthropologist Wolff had hired, Wolff simply lied to her about the money's source.[^3]
### James Monroe and the Academic Cover Grants
In 1955 Sid Gottlieb's [[TSS]] crew took the Society over from [[Morse Allen]] and remade it to look like a legitimate foundation; in 1957, as Cornell administrators tired of it, the CIA severed the university connection and installed a four-person staff under Lieutenant Colonel [[James Monroe]], a former Air Force Korean-War-POW researcher, to monitor several hundred thousand dollars a year in grants (Monroe personally supervised Cameron's work in Montreal). The grants built academic respectability: [[Carl Rogers]] received about $30,000, [[Charles Osgood]] $192,975 for the cross-cultural "semantic differential" research the Agency saw as relevant to propaganda, [[H. J. Eysenck]] $26,000 that a memo admitted had "no immediate relevance" but would "lend prestige," $5,000 to [[B. F. Skinner]] toward the work behind *Beyond Freedom and Dignity*, and a no-strings $30,000 "contingency investment" in [[Martin Orne]]'s hypnosis expertise. Pure "cover grants" funded a Levittown study, an analysis of a Mongoloid skull, and a survey of circumcision's effects on Turkish boys; in 1960 the Society sponsored a $15,000 APA survey that sent ten psychologists to the Soviet Union, nine unaware of CIA involvement. By the end of 1965, having satisfied itself it had overlooked nothing useful, the Society was dissolved, having distributed roughly $400,000 a year at its peak.[^2]
In 1955 Sid Gottlieb's [[TSS]] crew took the Society over from [[Morse Allen]] and remade it to look like a legitimate foundation; in 1957, as Cornell administrators tired of it, the CIA severed the university connection and installed a four-person staff under Lieutenant Colonel [[James Monroe]], a former Air Force Korean-War-POW researcher, to monitor several hundred thousand dollars a year in grants (Monroe personally supervised Cameron's work in Montreal). The grants built academic respectability: [[Carl Rogers]] received about $30,000, [[Charles Osgood]] $192,975 for the cross-cultural "semantic differential" research the Agency saw as relevant to propaganda, [[H. J. Eysenck]] $26,000 that a memo admitted had "no immediate relevance" but would "lend prestige," $5,000 to [[B. F. Skinner]] toward the work behind *Beyond Freedom and Dignity*, and a no-strings $30,000 "contingency investment" in [[Martin Orne]]'s hypnosis expertise. Pure "cover grants" funded a Levittown study, an analysis of a Mongoloid skull, and a survey of circumcision's effects on Turkish boys; in 1960 the Society sponsored a $15,000 APA survey that sent ten psychologists to the Soviet Union, nine unaware of CIA involvement. By the end of 1965, having satisfied itself it had overlooked nothing useful, the Society was dissolved, having distributed roughly $400,000 a year at its peak.[^3]
### The 1957 Annual Report
The Society's annual report for 1957 gave its address as "71-58 Austin Street, Forest Hills 75, L. I., N.Y.," and listed James L. Monroe as executive secretary and treasurer. It named Harold G. Wolff as president, Lawrence E. Hinkle Jr. as vice president, and John W. Gittinger as field representative. The board of directors pictured in the report was Wolff, [[Adolf Berle]] Jr., Hinkle, [[Joseph C. Hinsey]], Carl R. Rogers and [[John C. Whitehorn]]. [[Walter P. Pasternak]] was listed as technical writer. The report says the Society's funds came from gifts by private individuals and, in one instance, from the [[Foresight Foundation]], and that "A major portion of the money has been expended in support of the Human Ecology Study Program at the Cornell University Medical College."[^4]
The report's review of projects lists the Cornell work, research at [[Rutgers University]], Cameron's psychotherapy experiments at McGill University, [[Robert Hyde|Robert W. Hyde]]'s work at the Butler Health Center, a study of prisoners of war by [[Albert Biderman|Albert D. Biderman]], a project under [[Beatrice Bishop Berle]], and a "Personality Studies" project under Dr. David R. Saunders of the [[Educational Testing Service]]. The Saunders project was funded in October of the year under review to examine the relation between two personality theories, the Gittinger theory and the Myers-Briggs type theory, using the Wechsler-Bellevue scale and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator on the same group.[^4] John D. Marks later wrote that the Society gave about $140,000 to Saunders, "who knew about the Agency's involvement."[^5]
### Wechsler Data and Graphology
Marks describes a program in which [[John Gittinger]]'s Personality Assessment System, built on Wechsler scores, drew its data from the Society's grantees: "At Gittinger's urging, other Human Ecology grantees gave the Wechsler battery to their experimental subjects and sent him the scores."[^6] Marks writes that the Society "wound up funding handwriting research and a publication in West Germany," and that it "sponsored a study to compare handwriting analyses with Wechsler scores of actors (including some homosexuals), patients in psychotherapy, criminal psychopaths, and fashion models." He adds that Gittinger went on to hire a resident graphologist. A former colleague, not named in the note, told Marks of that work: "Something I learned very early in government was not to ask questions."[^7]
### CIA Summer Camps for Children
An October 1977 NBC television segment, "The Children and the CIA," reported that the Agency had used the Society to finance summer camps where children were brought together for observation and possible later recruitment, with counselors unaware of the CIA funding, the same conduit that had paid Cameron for his depatterning work.[^3]
An October 1977 NBC television segment, "The Children and the CIA," reported that the Agency had used the Society to finance summer camps where children were brought together for observation and possible later recruitment, with counselors unaware of the CIA funding, the same conduit that had paid Cameron for his depatterning work.[^8]
### Renaming and Phase-Out
Marks states that "In 1961 the Society changed its name to the Human Ecology Fund," and continues to call the body the Society throughout his book.[^2] The Human Ecology Fund's 1961-1963 report, as tabulated by [[David H. Price]], lists grants including $2,000 to Klara G. Roman for "Book: The Psychology of Writing" and $39,000 to Frank Haronian for "Physique and psychological functioning." Price gives James L. Monroe as the Fund's executive director from 1961 to 1963 and David Rhodes from 1964, and states that operations shifted from New York City to Cornell University's medical school.[^9] The posthumous Encyclopedia of the Written Word (1968) thanks "The Handwriting Institute and The Human Ecology Fund" for helping Roman, and Dr. Walter P. Pasternak "of the Human Ecology Fund."[^10] A February 1963 CIA memorandum on MKULTRA Subproject 137 states that "The Fund will receive its usual acknowledgement in the publication of the manuscript."[^11] At the 1977 hearing Gittinger testified that "As far as I was concerned, it was the period of time ending in 1961," and that the Society and the Human Ecology Fund were phased out. He gave the phase-out end date for the Fund as 1965: "I believe the Human Ecology fund finally phased out in 1965, but I was not involved in this phasing out."[^12] Marks records that in 1962 Gittinger and his co-workers moved their base of operations from the Human Ecology headquarters in New York to [[Psychological Assessment Associates]], a CIA proprietary company in Washington.[^5]
### Disclosure
@ -55,8 +99,27 @@ The Society's role as a CIA front was disclosed during the 1977 Senate Health Su
The disclosure that a foundation with academic and scientific board members had served as a CIA funding conduit for human experimentation raised significant questions about the responsibilities of ostensibly independent academic and charitable institutions that accepted government-adjacent funding without adequate disclosure or oversight.[^1]
### 1977 Public Accounts
Asked at the August 3, 1977 hearing about the Society's funding, Gittinger said: "The Agency in effect provided the money. They did not direct the projects." He also said that "there are a lot of innocent people who received the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology money which I know for a fact they were never asked to do anything for the CIA," and that "They had no knowledge that they were getting CIA money."[^12] Asked about the budget, he replied: "I honestly do not remember," and guessed "about $150,000 a year, but don't hold me to that."[^12]
Marks reports that James Monroe told The New York Times on August 2, 1977 that "only about 25 to 30 percent" of the Society's budget came from the CIA, a figure Marks says Monroe knew to be false because "the actual figure was well over 90 percent."[^13]
The New York Times reported on October 9, 1977 that "Sociological, cultural and anthropological studies were financed through the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology," and that the list of 80 institutions given to Senate investigators "is still classified, but each of those institutions has been notified separately by the C.I.A."[^14]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Marks, John. *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control.* Times Books, 1979, Chapter 9 ("The Proprietaries") - primary account of the Society's structure and funding relationships using surviving MKULTRA documents. "Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification." Senate Hearing, August 3, 1977.
[^2]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*. Times Books, 1979, Chapter 9.
[^3]: A.B.H. Alexander, "Sex, Drugs, the CIA, MIND CONTROL and Your Children," PROBE, c. 1996.
[^2]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control* (Times Books, 1979), chapter 9, "Human Ecology," p. 149, note ("In 1961 the Society changed its name to the Human Ecology Fund").
[^3]: John D. Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*. Times Books, 1979, Chapter 9.
[^4]: Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, Annual Report, 1957 (34 pp.). Wayback Machine capture of https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21090820/1957-annual-report-society-human-ecology.pdf , https://web.archive.org/web/2/https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21090820/1957-annual-report-society-human-ecology.pdf .
[^5]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, chapter 9, "Human Ecology," p. 168 (grant to Saunders and the move to Psychological Assessment Associates in 1962). Sole source for the dollar figure and the 1962 move: Marks.
[^6]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, chapter 10, "The Gittinger Assessment System," p. 170.
[^7]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, chapter 10, "The Gittinger Assessment System," p. 171, note (asterisk note on graphology).
[^8]: A.B.H. Alexander, "Sex, Drugs, the CIA, MIND CONTROL and Your Children," PROBE, c. 1996.
[^9]: David H. Price, "Buying a piece of anthropology, Part 1," *Anthropology Today* 23(3), June 2007, text and fig. 4 (source given: Human Ecology Fund, Report, 1963, pp. 13-42). https://archive.org/details/human_ecology_torture_suicide . Sole source for the grant rows: Price's table.
[^10]: *Encyclopedia of the Written Word* (New York: F. Ungar, 1968), acknowledgments, Internet Archive full-text index of https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwr0000roma
[^11]: MKULTRA Subproject 137, CIA release DOC_0000017396, accounting memorandum of February 1963. https://archive.org/details/DOC_0000017396
[^12]: *Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification*, Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, United States Senate, 95th Congress, 1st Session, August 3, 1977, testimony of John Gittinger. Available: intelligence.senate.gov.
[^13]: Marks, *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate*, "Conclusions" chapter, note on p. 207 (quoting James Monroe in *The New York Times*, August 2, 1977). Sole source for the Monroe statement: Marks.
[^14]: Jo Thomas, "Extent of University Work for C.I.A. Is Hard to Pin Down," *The New York Times*, October 9, 1977 (dateline Washington, October 8). CIA reading room copy: https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp88-01315r000300390007-3 ; archive.org copy: https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01315r000300390007-3 .