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Donald Rumsfeld & Committee for a "Free World"
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GroupWatch was compiled by the Interhemispheric Resource Center,
Box 4506, Albuquerque, NM 87196.
http://www.irc-online.org/
GroupWatch files are available at http://www.pir.org/gw/
Group: Committee for the Free World
File Name: cfw.txt
Last Updated: 8/89
Principals: Officers in 1989 are: Donald H. Rumsfeld, chairman;
Midge Decter, exec dir; Neal Kozodoy, sec; Robert B. Glynn, treas.(1)
Board of Directors, 1989 are: William Barrett, author and philosopher;
Alain Bensancon, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, France; Enzo Bettiza,
journalist, Italy; Gerd Bucerius, Die Zeit, Germany; Jean-Claude
Casanova, Commentaire, France; Lord Chalfont, author, U.K.; Carl
Gershman, pres of the National Endowment for Democracy; Sir James
Goldsmith, publisher, France; Johannes Gross, author, W. Germany;
Paul Johnson, author, U.K.; Jeane Kirkpatrick, former ambassador
to the United Nations; Leszek Kolakowski, U. of Chicago; Hilton
Kramer, The New Criterion; Irving Kristol, The Public Interest;
Leopold Labedz, Survey, U.K.; Melvin J. Lasky, Encounter, U.K.;
Seymour Martin Lipset, Stanford U.; Nicholas Lobkowixz, Catholic
U., W. Germany; Golo Mann; historian, W. Germany; Indro Montanelli,
journalist, Italy; Erwin Scheuch, U. of Cologne, W. Germany;
Edward Shils, U. of Chicago; Tom Stoppard, playwright, U.K.; Lord
Thomas, Centre for Policy Studies, U.K.; George Urban, historian,
U.K.; Jacqueline Wheldon, author, U.K.; and George F. Will,
columnist.(1)
Columnist Micah Morrison is a deputy director of CFW.(4)
Category: Political
Background: The Committee for the Free World (CFW) was founded in
1981 by Midge Decter who is the executive director. CFW has tax-
exempt status under 501(c)(3) and began with funding of $125,000
from individuals and ultra-conservative foundations. Among the
original funders were three of the major right-wing foundations:
Scaife, John M. Olin, and Smith Richardson.(2)
In its initial press conference, the CFW said it planned to work for
freedom "in the world of ideas," and planned to concentrate its efforts
on books, newspapers, broadcasting networks, and in classrooms.(2)
It envisioned itself as an organization committed to the defense of
the non-communist world "against the rising menace of totalitarianism."(2)
The group's intellectualism, democratic emphasis, and strident anti-
communism places the CFW in the arena of the numerous neoconservative
groups formed preceeding and following the election of former President
Ronald Reagan.
According to its brochure, the CFW has three purposes: to promote
democracy; to keep the public aware of all threats to democracy;
and to oppose the influence of those inside and outside of the U.S.
"who have made themselves the enemies of the democratic order."(1)
CFW has a speakers bureau and has a monthly publication, "Contentions."(1)
It claims to have 400 members and to focus its activities in the U.K.
and the U.S.(2,3
Countries: FR, IT, UK, US, and WG.
Funding: The Scaife Family Charitable Trusts and the Smith Richardson
Foundations put up at least $25,000 each in 1981.(3)
The Adolph Coors Foundation gave CWF a $15,000 grant in 1985 for
projects advocating democracy and a free society.(17) The John M.
Olin Foundation granted $35,000 in 1985 and $50,000 in 1986 for
support of publications and for other educational purposes.(17,18)
The Smith Richardson Foundation awarded four grants in 1985:
$35,000 for general support, $35,000 for Women and Families for
Defense, $25,000 for a film project on the American Communist
Party, and $10,000 for the Campus Coalition for Democracy.(17) In
1986, Smith Richardson gave $42,500 for general support.(18)
In 1985, The Sarah Scaife Foundation gave $35,000 for operating
support.(17) The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation gave $100,000
in 1986 in support of a conference in Milwaukee and general
activities.(18)
Activities: Director Midge Decter and deputy director Micah Morrison
regularly write columns for the national press, including The New
York Times and The Wall Street Journal.(4,5) CFW activities and
policies are often covered in the Unification Church-owned Washington
Times.(6,7) The articles generally attack politicians or legislation
under consideration that proposes cooperation with communist nations
or arms reduction.(4,5,7)
Over the past few years, the CFW along with the Smith Richardson
Foundation have provided $100,000 to an ad hoc task force headed by
three Phoenix lawyers who are opposing the connection of the American
Bar Association with the Association of Soviet Lawyers.(5) The
Phoenix task force represents Soviet Jewry and Ukranian and Baltic
nationalists.(5)
The CFW has taken a number of full-page ads in the New York Times
and Washington Post.(8,9,10,11) One printed in the Times in 1988
opposed the cease-fire in Nicaragua proposed at the Sapoa meeting
by five Central American Nations. The ad claimed that, "peace
accords that are not backed by military force are nothing more than
surrender."(8)
A 1981 ad called for armed opposition to the guerrilla groups in
El Salvador, stating they are dominated by the Salvadoran communist
party and Marxist-Leninist factions. It declared that the U.S. has
a vital stake in holding back "Soviet advancement" in El
Salvador.(9)
An ad from 1982 supported Solidarity in Poland. It called for a ban
of Western loans, Western goods and Western technology to both the
"Quisling government" set up by the Soviet Union and to the USSR.
These actions, the ad stated, would "further the processes of
disintegration from within that may mark the beginning of the end
of the Soviet Empire."(10)
The CFW and the American Foundation for Resistance Intl cosponsored an
appeal for "economic blackmail"--or play it our way and you will be
rewarded--with an ad in June 1988 in the Washington Post. This ad
supported the McClure amendment which would provide a Most Favored
Nation trade status to certain nations.(11) The trade "perk" would
be given to nations signing some non-governmental document--no
details are given on the content of the document.(11) A second ad
in June of 1988 shows a huge bear crushing a man in a suit and
carries the caption, "Have We Forgotten That Every Time We've
Hugged The Bear, Somebody Else Has Suffered?"(14) The message
clearly is not to trust the Soviet Union, not to believe in
glasnost, and not to negotiate any arms reductions.(14)
All of the ads are signed by the board of directors and other
neoconservative luminaries. All include a coupon requesting
donations to support the work of the CFW.
Those endorsing the ads and the work of CFW include a wide spectrum
of the right wing. Among them are: Richard V. Allen, Edwin J. Feulner,
Jr, Burton Pines, Robert Bork, Ray Cline, Ellen C. Garwood, Joshua
Muravchik, William Rusher, William E. Simon, Arnaud de Borchgrave,
Leo Cherne, Thomas W. Gleason, Roy Godson, Penn Kemble, Michael
Ledeen, R. Bruce McColm, Norman Podhoretz, Bayard Rustin, Ben J.
Wattenberg, Lewis Tambs, Max Singer, and Eugene V.
Wigner.(8,9,10,11,14)
In 1985, the CFW had a 2-day conference around the subject of the
Reagan-Gorbachev summit meeting in Geneva. The conference presented
the usual neoconservative complaint that the Reagan administration
failed to translate its anticommunist rhetoric into a hardline
strategy to rollback the influence of communism in the world.
Speakers at the conference strongly promoted the Strategic Defense
Initiative (SDI) and were critical of any attempt to negotiate with
the Soviets.(15) Among those present at the conference were Harvard
Sovietologist Richard Pipes, Michael Ledeen, Assistant Secretary of
Defense Richard Perle, and Asst. Secretary of State Elliott Abrams,
and conservative critics Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz.(15)
CFW markets, and presumably has made two films, "Agents of Deception"
and "The KGB Connections." The former covers the Soviet Union's use
of "disinformation," and how it is used against Western democracies.
"The KGB Connections" examines Soviet espionage activities in North
America.(19) Also offered for sale are pro-SDI publications and the
proceedings of two CFW conferences.(20)
Govt Connections: Michael Ledeen was involved with Col. Oliver
North in the Iran-Contra affair. Their work together involved the
development and dissemination of disinformation.(16) Ledeen has
been described by the Israeli press as an American agent who got
Israel involved as a broker in another Iran-Contra related deal
between the U.S. and Iran.(16) Ledeen became an editor at the
Center for Strategic and Intl Studies in the late 1970s. He later
joined the Reagan administration where he served as an adviser to
North on the National Security Council and was on the planning
group that led to the creation of the State Department's Office of
Public Diplomacy.(16)
Richard Perle served as Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson's chief aide on
military affairs. In that capacity he toured the country speaking
on behalf of the anti-Soviet agenda of the Committee on the Present
Danger (CPD).(21) Perle went on to join the Reagan administration
as Asst Sec of Defense for Intl Security Policy.(21)
Richard V. Allen became President Reagan's first foreign policy
advisor and in that position was a core member of the neoconservative
group that shaped the foreign policy for the administration. Allen
went on to become National Security Adviser to President
Reagan.(21)
Another important figure in foreign policy development was CWF
endorser, Richard Pipes. Pipes is considered the preeminent
Sovietologist in the country--it was the "Pipes Report" from Team B
that provided the intelligence and strategy for anti-Soviet groups
such as the CPD. The report advocated an immediate tripling of the
military budget, a strong defense, and an international policy of
containment militarism.(21) Pipes was a prominent member of the
CPD. He served on the National Security Council during the Reagan
administration.(21)
Elliott Abrams was deeply implicated in all aspects of the Iran-
Contra Affair. He first served in the Reagan administration as
Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian
Affairs and later as the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-
American Affairs.(21,47) In the latter position, he was heavily
involved in the Iran-Contra affair. Abrams is Midge Decter's
son-in-law.(47)
Roy Godson served as the U.S. representative to the Intl Youth Year
conference, an event funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.
He also served as a consultant to the U.S. Information Agency in
the early 1980s and was a member of the CIA transition team in
1980.(25)
Lewis Tambs was a member of the World Anti-Communist League. He
served as ambassador to Costa Rica until 1986.(27,28) Tambs is also
a member of the Council for Inter-American Security. The Council
produced the first so-called "Santa Fe Document" which laid out
much of the interventionist policy implemented in Central America
during President Reagan's first term in office.(37)
William Simon was Secretary of the Treasury under President Richard
Nixon.(37)
Ray Cline was a deputy director of the CIA from 1964 through 1967.(26)
Jeane Kirkpatrick served as the U.S. permanent representative to the
United Nations during the Reagan administration.(47)
Private Connections:
Max Singer, an endorser of the CFW, is president of the conservative
business strategy consulting firm the Potomac Organization. He went
to Honduras in 1983 where he offered advice on how to improve the
image of the contras. Of high priority, Singer obsrved, was the
avoidance of the image of the contras as a U.S.-run army.(12)
Singer also noted that he was planning to return to Washington to
write a book promoting the contras.(12) Singer was on the board of
Friends of the Democratic Center in Central America (PRODEMCA).(12)
PRODEMCA was founded to support incipient democratic processes in
Central America.(45) It has a controversial history because of its
advocacy of the Nicaraguan contras and involvement in the Iran-Contra
affair. PRODEMCA received $88,000 from Spitz Channell, head of the
National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty, a major actor
in Lt. Col Oliver North's private aid network for the contras.(32,37)
PRODEMCA terminated its own operations and merged with Freedom House
in late 1988.(45)
Eugene Wigner, a physicist by profession, was on the board of the
Committee on the Present Danger.(21) Wigner has also served on
the board of right-wing Accuracy in Media, a group that promotes
conservative causes by monitoring and criticizing the mainstream
media.(22,23) He has served on the board of trustees of Freedom
House, another neoconservative group working internationally in
support of the "institutions of democracy."(24) In 1982, Wigner
received a $200,000 "Founders Award" from the Rev. Sun Myung Moon
--head of the Unification Church.(41)
Ellen Garwood is a Dallas heiress, perhaps best known for her
generous donations to the U.S. Council for World Freedom, the U.S.
chapter of the World Anti-Communist League.(26) She is also a member
of the Council for National Policy (CNP), an elite foreign policy
planning group composed mostly of conservative millionaires.(39)
CNP aspires to be the policymaking body for the New Right.(46)
Ben J. Wattenberg and Irving Kristol were co-directors of the
Coalition for a Democratic Majority (CDM), a group that was formed
by the conservative wing of the Democratic Party in 1972. CDM was
an advocate of a strong military and the theory of "peace through
strength." Many of its members went on to join the Committee on the
Present Danger.(21) In 1988 Wattenberg was a senior fellow at the
American Enterprise Institute, a right-wing think tank that develops
and provides supporting documents for the policies of the New
Right.(21,29)
Irving Kristol is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise
Institute. He is a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, the
publisher of the National Interest magazine, and co-editor of the
Public Interest magazine. Formerly, Kristol was exec vice pres of
Basic Books and managing editor of Commentary magazine.(47) All of
the above publication present are conservative. Commentary is edited
by Norman Podhoretz, husband of Midge Decter. Jeane Kirkpatrick and
Elliott Abrams are contributors to the magazine, and Midge Decter
was formerly a managing editor.(47)
Penn Kemble is chairman of the executive committee of CDM.(30) He
was a member of the Natl Committee of Social Democrats, USA (SD/USA),
a coalition of intellectual, anticommunist neoconservatives who
believe that labor is the "cutting edge" for social change.(33,47)
He was founder and president of Friends of the Democratic Center in
Central America (PRODEMCA).(31,47) Jeanne Kirkpatrick and Former
Treasury Secretary William Simon were also on the PRODEMCA board.
Jeane Kirkpatrick was a prominent member of the Coalition for a
Democratic Majority and a member of the Committee on the Present
Danger. Both groups are strongly anticommunist and in the 1970s
developed and promoted the strategy of containment militarism.(21)
She is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and
is or was on the faculty of the Center for Strategic and International
Studies, another policy-developing think tank that was closely
tied to the Reagan administration.(50) Kirkpatrick is also a
syndicated columnist for the New York Times.(47)
Midge Decter is another major player in the neoconservative network
that came to the political forefront after Reagan's election to the
Presidency. Decter was a founding member of the Coalition for a
Democratic Majority and a member of the Committee on the Present
Danger.(47) She was on the board of the Heritage Foundation and a
former senior editor at Basic Books.(47)
William Simon is or was a trustee of the conservative think tank,
the Heritage Foundation.(40) He is president of the Olin Foundation,
a major funder of right-wing groups.(22) He is or was on the board
of governors of the Council for National Policy.(39) Simon is also
a member of the right-wing lay Catholic group, the Knights of
Malta--a group very active in Central America.(36) Simon headed a
major fund for private support to the Nicaraguan contras, the
Nicaraguan Freedom Fund.(37) He also served on the advisory committee
for AmeriCares, a group that received funds from the Nicaraguan
Freedom Fund. AmeriCares not only supported the contras, but has
been implicated in manipulation of the internal politics in
Nicaragua.(42,43) Simon was a board member of PRODEMCA.(37) He also
has been connected with the American Enterprise Institute, a right-
wing think tank, and the conservative media watchdog group,
Accuracy in Media.(37)
Bayard Rustin was on the original board of the CPD.(21) He was
chairman of the exec committee of Freedom House and of SD/USA.
Rustin was vice pres of the League for Industrial Democracy, a
group that works closely with SD/USA, and was on the board of the
CDM.(34,35)
Ray Cline was on the board of the U.S. Council for World Freedom,
the U.S. chapter of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL). Cline
was also involved with the activities of WACL.(26) He is the head
of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).(43)
Arnaud de Borchgrave is the editor of the Unification Church-owned
Washington Times newspaper. He is also a senior associate at
CSIS.(26)
Joshua Muravchik is currently on the board of CDM.(30) He is the
son of Emanuel Muravchik and nephew of Midge Decter.(21)
Edwin Feulner is president of The Heritage Foundation, a group that
played an important part in developing policy for the Reagan
administration.(38) He was on the 1984 board of governors of the
Council for National Policy.(39) Burton Yale Pines is a senior vice
pres for Research at the Heritage Foundation.(38)
Roy Godson is on the boards of the Committee for a Democratic
Majority and the League for Industrial Democracy.(48,49) Godson
heads the Washington DC office of the National Strategy Information
Center (NSIC), a right-wing think tank for military strategy.(21)
Misc: According to an article in the April 18, 1981 edition of The
Nation, The Smith Richardson Foundation not only has CIA agents
reviewing grants, but also provides management training to the CIA
and the Defense Department through an affiliate organization.(3)
In 1988, Midge Decter was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as writing
that, "Congress's recent cut-off of aid to the Contras was 'a day
that will live in infamy' like the day of Pearl Harbor."(13)
Sources:
1. The Committee for the Free World brochure, undated, received
July 7, 1989.
2. Kathleen Teltsch, "400 Intellectuals Form 'Struggle for Freedom'
Unit," New York Times, Feb 19, 1981.
3. "Culture War," The Nation, April 18, 1981.
4. Micah Morrison, "The Censor's Best Friend," The Wall Street
Journal, Mar 17, 1988.
5. Midge Decter, "Governor Dukakis Is Toying With Defense, and
America," New York Times, Oct 3, 1988.
6. Arnold Beichman, "Their Ideas Survive a Climatic Change,"
Washington Times, Apr 26, 1988.
7. Rita McWilliams, "Firms Skip Hill Meeting on U.S.S.R.,"
Washington Times, Oct 6, 1988.
8. Ad, New York Times, Apr 6, 1988.
9. Ad, New York Times, Apr 6, 1981.
10. Ad, New York Times, Jan 10, 1982.
11. Ad, Federal Page, Washington Post, June 20, 1988.
12. "Ideologues," New York Times, July 24, 1987.
13. William Pfaff, "Rumors of Democracy's Death Exaggerated,"
Los Angeles Times, Mar 25, 1988.
14. Ad, New York Times, June 23, 1988
15. Steve Law, "Neo-con Noggin-banging Session," In These Times,
Dec 11, 1985.
16. Fred Landis, "Disinformationgate," Covert Action Information
Bulletin, #27, Spring 1987.
17. Foundation Grants Index, 16th edition, 1987.
18. Foundation Grants Index, 17th edition, 1988.
19. CFW film list, received July 7, 1989.
20. CFW publications list, received July 7, 1989.
21. Jerry Sanders, Peddlers of Crisis: The Committe on the Present
Danger and the Politics of Containment (Boston, MA: South End
Press, 1983).
22. Sayid Khybar, "Afghan-Contra Lobby," unpublished paper, Mar 1988.
23. Saul Landau, "Dress Rehersal For a Red Scare," The Nation,
Apr 5, 1986.
24. Freedom at Issue, Jan/Feb 1989.
25. Report of the Congressional Committees Investigating the
Iran-Contra Affair, Appendix B, Vol 12, 1988.
26. Scott Anderson and Jon Lee Anderson, Inside the League
(New York, NY: Dodd, Mead & Co, 1986).
27. Howard Goldenthal, Glenda Hersh and Nick Filmore, "Right
Winging it," This Magazine, Vol 22, No 3, June-July, 1988.
28. Phone conversation with the Albuquerque Public Library,
July 13, 1989.
29. Ben Wattenberg, American Freedom Journal, Dec 1988/Jan 1989.
30. Letterhead received from CDM, July 19, 1989.
31. Common Cause Magazine, Mar/Apr 1988.
32. Michael Massing, "Contra Aides," Mother Jones, Oct 1987.
33. Michael Massing, "Trotsky's Orphans," The New Republic,
June 22, 1989.
34. Letter from the League for Industrial Democracy, received
Sep 30, 1986.
35. Letter from the Coalition for a Democratic Majority, received
Sep 23, 1986.
36. Penny Lernoux, "Who Knows? Knights of Malta Know," National
Catholic Reporter, May 5, 1989.
37. The New Right Humanitarians (Albuquerque, NM: The Resource
Center, 1986).
38. Science and Policy Research (Washington, DC: Columbia Books, 1988).
39. Mailing list of board of governors, Council for National
Policy, 1984.
40. David Ivon, "International Freedom Foundation," Covert Action
Information Bulletin, #31, Winter 1989.
41. Michael Isikoff, "Church Spends Millions on Its Image,"
Washington Post, Sep 17, 1984.
42. John Spicer Nichols, "La Prensa, The CIA Connection," Columbia
School of Journalism Review, July/Aug 1988.
43. AmeriCares letterhead, Nov 1987.
44. John S. Saloma III, Ominous Politics (New York, NY: Hill and
Wang, 1984).
45. Phone interview with PRODEMCA, Jan 29, 1989.
46. Phone conversation with author Sidney Blumenthal, author and
investigative reporter for the Washington Post, Sep 1989.
47. "The Neocon Family Tree," Mother Jones, July/Aug 1986.
48. Letter from the League for Industrial Democracy, received
July, 1989.
49. Letterhead from the Coalition for a Democratic Majority,
received July 1989.
50. Alison Muscatine, "Georgetown's Media Profs," Washington Post,
May 11, 1985.
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Alex Constantine Political Conspiracy Research Bin:
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