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Quincy Institute For Responsible Statecraft

Website:

quincyinst.org/
Type:

Foreign Policy Think Tank
Formation:

2019
Board Chair:

Stephen Heintz
CEO:

Lora Lumpe

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The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft is a non-interventionist foreign policy advocacy organization founded in 2019 with support from two major political donors, left-of-center George Soros and libertarian Charles Koch. 1

It officially launched in the Fall 2019, though its existence was announced by the Boston Globe months earlier. 1 Institute staff were listed on the website as of August 17, 2019. 2

The Institute is named for former President John Quincy Adams, who opposed interventionist military and foreign policies. 3

Funding

George Soros and Charles Koch each provided $500,000 in initial funding for the think tank. Approximately $800,000 was provided by other donors. The Boston Globe reported that the goal is to have the think tank secure $3.5 million in total funding by 2021. 1

Activities

In December 2020, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft joined a coalition of a dozen left-of-center groups to send the then-incoming Biden administration a list of 100 candidates recommended for senior posts. Quincy Institute co-founder Trita Parsi was recommended to oversee Middle East affairs for the National Security Council. 4

In March 2024, Anelle Sheline resigned from her post as foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the Biden administration’s State Department. She cited human rights abuses in Gaza and the Biden administration’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas as causes for her resignation. Sheline was previously a researcher at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, during which time she criticized the U.S. government for providing arms to Arab allies with poor human rights records. 5

In November 2024, Parsi criticized the incoming Trump administration for hiring people who “represent the same views” as first Trump administration staffers John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, and Nikki Haley. 6

As of January 2025, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft had six program areas: “Democratizing Foreign Policy,” “East Asia,” “Eurasia,” “Global South,” “Grand Strategy,” and “Middle East.” The Institute employs foreign policy specialists to produce research reports on U.S. foreign policy regarding these areas. 7

Responsible Statecraft Magazine

The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft produces a magazine titled Responsible Statecraft, which runs stories critical of the United States’ foreign policy establishment. 8 One section, “Military Industrial Complex,” collects all articles about defense contractors and other corporations involved in American war strategy and munitions, as well as those written about the Pentagon’s spending activities. 9 Another section, “Washington Politics,” features reporting and commentary chiefly on the U.S. president and members of U.S. Congress. 10

The magazine is led by editorial director Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, who is also a senior advisor at the Quincy Institute. She was formerly the executive editor of the American Conservative. 11

Think Tank Funding Tracker

In January 2025, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft launched Think Tank Funding Tracker, a new project that documents the funding sources of major U.S. think tanks. 12 That month, it also released a study on the amount of funding domestic U.S. think tanks received from both the U.S. government and foreign countries. 13

The Atlantic Council ranked as number one on the list of top foreign funding recipients, receiving $20,883,000 in funds from foreign governments since 2019, and Brookings Institution came in second with $17,150,001. 14

The Atlantic Council ranked as number one on the list of think tanks that received the most funding from Pentagon contractors, receiving $10,270,001 since 2019. The RAND Corporation ranked as number one on the list of think tanks that received funding from the U.S. government, receiving $1,409,000,000 since 2019. 14

The Quincy Institute also published a lengthy breakdown of the data in an accompanying report, which showed which foreign nations and which defense contractors were providing the funds. 15

Major Supporters

George Soros is a billionaire investor and leading funder of left-of-center advocacy groups and campaigns. He is the founder of the Open Society Foundations, which provides financial support to the Quincy Institute. 16

Charles Koch is an energy magnate and billionaire funder of libertarian and conservative advocacy campaigns. He co-founded the Koch Foundation and its related advocacy networks with his late brother David. Charles Koch provided initial funds to the Quincy Institute. 17

Other major financial supporters of the Quincy Institute include the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Colombe Foundation, the East West Bank Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Nasiri Foundation, the Pivotal Foundation, the Ploughshares Fund, the Samuel Rubin Foundation, the Stand Together Trust, the Stichting Giuestra International Foundation, the Arca Foundation, and the Streisand Foundation. 18

Staff

Board member and former president Andrew Bacevich is professor emeritus of International Relations and History at Boston University. A retired U.S. Army Colonel, he was a vocal critic of the Iraq War. His son died in the Iraq conflict in 20071920

As of January 2025, Lora Lumpe was serving as the CEO of the Institute. She was previously an advocacy director for U.S. foreign policy at George Soros’s Open Society Foundations from 2011 to 2020. 21

Executive vice president Trita Parsi worked for the United Nations Security Council and founded the National Iranian American Council. His book Losing an Enemy – Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Democracy praised the Obama administration’s Iran deal as averting war and preventing development of an Iranian nuclear weapon. 22 Parsi’s Twitter feed includes re-Tweets of claims that President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are racist, that China’s rise in the international arena is a result of its people, not its leadership, and that China is not a threat to the U.S. 23

Senior advisor and former research director Eli Clifton was previously a journalist for left-of-center organizations such as ThinkProgress and The Nation Institute (now rebranded TYPE Media Center). He supported the Obama administration’s Iran Deal. 24

Former board of advisors chair Suzanne DiMaggio was a senior fellow at the left-of-center New America think tank. She is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace with expertise on the Middle East and Asia, and has led diplomatic dialogue related to Iran and North Korea. She facilitated the Obama administration’s secret talks with Iran and the Trump administration’s dialogue with North Korea. 25

Former research director Stephen Wertheim is a research scholar at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies at Columbia University. He holds the position of research director with the Institute. Wertheim has conducted extensive research on World War I and World War II-era foreign policy philosophies and strategies. 26

As of 2025, Stephen Heintz was the chairman of the Quincy Institute’s board of directors. Heintz is the president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which manages an endowment of roughly $1.2 billion. He also co-founded left-of-center nonprofit Demos in 2001. 27

References

  1. Stephen Kinser, “In an astonishing turn, George Soros and Charles Koch team up to end US ‘forever war’ policy,” June 30, 2019. Accessed August 17, 2019.  https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2019/06/30/soros-and-koch-brothers-team-end-forever-war-policy/WhyENwjhG0vfo9Um6Zl0JO/story.html
  2. Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Bios, Accessed August 17, 2019. https://quincyinst.org/bios/
  3. Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, Accessed August 17, 2019. https://quincyinst.org/
  4. Bender, Bryan. “Progressives line up their own national security recruits for Biden.” Politico, December 18, 2020. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/18/progressive-defense-biden-448062.
  5. Allam, Hannah; Hudson, John. “State Dept. human rights staffer quits over Biden’s Gaza policy.” The Washington Post, March 27, 2024. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/27/gaza-state-department-resignation-dissent/.
  6. Friedman, Dan. “Trump’s First Picks Are War Hawks.” Mother Jones, November 12, 2024. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/trump-marco-rubio-secretary-of-state-war-hawks-ukraine-gaza-russia-israel/.
  7.  “Program Areas.” Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://quincyinst.org/program-areas/.
  8. “Home.” Responsible Statecraft. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/.
  9. “Military Industrial Complex.” Responsible Statecraft. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/military-industrial-complex/.
  10. “Washington Politics.” Responsible Statecraft. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/washington-politics/.
  11. “About.” Responsible Statecraft. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/about/.
  12. Vlahos, Kelley Beaucar. “First of its kind tracker cracks open DC’s think tank funding.” Responsible Statecraft, January 3, 2025. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/think-tank-funding/.
  13.  Schaffer, Michael. “‘Dark Money’ Is Tainting Washington Think Tanks. A New Report Shows It’s Worse Than You Think.” Politico, January 3, 2025. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/01/03/foreign-money-think-tanks-00196252.
  14. “Home.” Think Tank Funding Tracker. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://thinktankfundingtracker.org/. https://web.archive.org/web/20250106013928/https://thinktankfundingtracker.org/.
  15. Freeman, Ben and Cleveland-Stout, Nick. “Big Ideas and Big Money: Think Tank Funding in America.” Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, January 2025. Quincy Brief No. 68. Accessed January 12, 2025. https://quincyinst.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/18151647/QUINCY-BRIEF-NO.-68-JANUARY-2025-FREEMAN-CLEVELAND-STOUT.pdf. Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20250113185928/https://quincyinst.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/18151647/QUINCY-BRIEF-NO.-68-JANUARY-2025-FREEMAN-CLEVELAND-STOUT.pdf
  16. “Supporters.” Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://quincyinst.org/about/supporters/#.
  17. Bender, Bryan. “George Soros and Charles Koch take on ‘endless wars.’” Politico, December 2, 2019. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/12/02/george-soros-and-charles-koch-take-on-the-endless-wars-074737.
  18. “Financial Supporters.” The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://quincyinst.org/about/supporters/#financial-supporters.
  19. Andrew Bacevich, “Rescinding the Bush Doctrine,” March 1, 2007. Accessed August 18, 2019. http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/03/01/rescinding_the_bush_doctrine/
  20. Brian MacQuarrie, “Son of professor opposed to war is killed in Iraq,” May 15, 2007. Accessed August 18, 2019. http://archive.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/05/15/son_of_professor_opposed_to_war_is_killed_in_iraq/
  21. “Lora Lumpe.” Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://quincyinst.org/author/lora-lumpe/.
  22. Trita Parsi, “Losing an enemy: Obama, Iran, and the triumph of diplomacy,” August 1, 2017. Accessed August 18, 2019. https://www.amazon.com/Losing-Enemy-Obama-Triumph-Diplomacy/dp/0300218168
  23. Trita Parsi, Twitter profile, Accessed August 18, 2019. https://twitter.com/tparsi?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
  24. Eli Clifton, “Who are the billionaires attacking Obama’s Iran diplomacy?” February 3, 2015. Accessed August 18, 2019. https://www.thenation.com/article/who-are-billionaires-attacking-obamas-iran-diplomacy/
  25. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Suzanne DiMaggio, Accessed August 18, 2019. https://carnegieendowment.org/experts/1592
  26. Stephen Wertheim, Profile, Accessed August 18, 2019. http://www.columbia.edu/~saw2156/profile.html
  27. “Stephen Heintz.” Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Accessed January 24, 2025. https://quincyinst.org/author/stephen-heintz/.

Directors, Employees & Supporters

  1. Charles Koch
    Supporter
  2. George Soros
    Supporter
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