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related: Koch Network - Charles Koch · Goldman Sachs · JPMorgan Chase · American Enterprise Institute · PhRMA · AIPAC
Who They Are
The Brookings Institution is Washington’s largest and most influential think tank by budget, founded in 1916 by St. Louis businessman Robert S. Brookings as the Institute for Government Research. Located at 1775 Massachusetts Avenue NW — walking distance from the White House — Brookings describes itself as nonpartisan and independent. Outside observers describe it as centrist, center-left, or center-right depending on which policy area you’re examining, which is itself a clue: Brookings serves whoever is funding it.
Key facts:
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit, EIN 53-0196577
- FY2024 revenue: $109 million; expenses: $102 million; net assets: $487.8 million
- FY2024 contributions: $70.3 million (64.5% of revenue)
- Executive compensation FY2024: $7.5 million (7.4% of expenses)
- Other salaries & wages: $51 million
- President (current): Cecilia Rouse — former chair of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers
- President (2002–2017): Strobe Talbott — Clinton-era Under Secretary of State
- President (2017–2022): Gen. John Allen — resigned amid FBI investigation into Qatar lobbying
- Ranked #1 think tank in the United States by the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go To Think Tank Index for multiple consecutive years
- Founded as the Institute for Government Research (1916); merged with Institute of Economics and Robert Brookings Graduate School to become Brookings in 1927
Brookings houses dozens of research centers and projects including: the Hamilton Project (economic policy), the Center on Regulation and Markets, the Center for Middle East Policy (which operated the now-defunct Brookings Doha Center), the 21st Century Defense Initiative, and WashU at Brookings.
2026 development: In February 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Pentagon to sever Senior Service College Fellowship ties with Brookings, alongside CFR, CNAS, New America, and other institutions he characterized as venues for “woke indoctrination.” Beginning in the 2026-2027 academic year, military personnel are barred from Brookings fellowship programs and redirected to institutions like Liberty University and Hillsdale College. For the 1-ranked think tank in the United States — an institution that has credentialed every Democratic economic policy team since the 1990s — the Hegseth ban represents the most direct government challenge to the centrist think tank establishment in modern American history.
Who Funds Them
Brookings requires full disclosure from corporations, corporate foundations, and foreign and domestic government donors — which means the funding is documented. What the documentation reveals is a client list that looks exactly like the donor rolls of Democratic Party establishment campaigns: Wall Street banks, defense contractors, foreign governments, and Silicon Valley.
Wall Street and Finance
Goldman Sachs has at least 11 documented connections to Brookings through past and present employees. Former Goldman president John L. Thornton chaired the Board of Trustees and donated at least $2.5 million directly, endowing the John L. Thornton China Center. Goldman co-founded the Hamilton Project inside Brookings in 2006 — more on that pipeline below.
JPMorgan Chase sits in Brookings’ $1–$2.4 million annual donor circle. In 2012, JPMorgan gave $15.5 million to launch the Global Cities Initiative — the largest single private corporate donation in Brookings’ institutional history. Internal documents obtained by NYT/GBH revealed the quid pro quo explicitly: a 2011 Brookings internal document stated growing metro economies “is good for the nation and for JPMC; also, many U.S. cities are JPMC clients — motivation to support them and their clients.” A 2013 internal memo worried about needing to “do a better job tying it back to JPMC” while noting “no one wants to create overt marketing opportunities.”
The Board of Trustees: Wall Street’s Boardroom
The governance structure tells the funding story in personnel form:
| Position | Name | Corporate Affiliation |
|---|---|---|
| Co-Chair | Glenn Hutchins | Chairman, North Island; co-founder, Silver Lake Partners (PE) |
| Co-Chair | Suzanne Nora Johnson | Former Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs |
| Vice Chair | Pete Higgins | Founding Partner, Second Avenue Partners |
| Vice Chair | Kenneth M. Jacobs | Senior Chairman, Lazard |
| Vice Chair | Leonard D. Schaeffer | Founding Chairman & CEO, WellPoint (health insurance) |
| Treasurer | Victor L. Hymes | President & CEO, Legato Capital Management |
| Secretary | Tracy R. Wolstencroft | Senior Advisor, TPG |
Among fiduciary trustees: Abby Joseph Cohen (Goldman Sachs Global Markets), Kevin Sneader (Goldman Sachs Asia Pacific), Jeffrey Aronson (Centerbridge Partners), Jonathan Colby (Carlyle Group), Alan Schwartz (Guggenheim Partners), E. Eric Tokat (Centerview Partners), Seth Bernstein (AllianceBernstein CEO), Vasant Prabhu (former Visa CFO), and Asutosh Padhi (McKinsey). Lifetime trustees include David M. Rubenstein (Carlyle Group co-founder), John L. Thornton (former Goldman Sachs president), Philip H. Knight (Nike chairman), and Haim Saban ($13 million to establish the Saban Center for Middle East Policy).
The “Corporate Overviews Tracking” Database
Internal documents obtained by the NYT/GBH investigation revealed that Brookings maintained a confidential spreadsheet called “Corporate Overviews Tracking” listing nearly 90 corporations from Alcoa to Wells Fargo, tracking “company priorities and a tally of donations.” The database documented benefits Brookings provided to corporate donors: General Electric got events focused on rail networks and clean energy (critical GE business lines); Hitachi gave $1.8 million over a decade and Brookings reviewed Hitachi’s “corporate marketing and sales strategy targeting the United States”; KKR donated and Brookings produced favorable research. Documents also showed that draft study conclusions were “discussed with donors — or even potential ones — before the research is complete” and that “drafts of the studies have been shared with donors whose opinions have then helped shape final reports.”
Defense Contractors
Per the Think Tank Funding Tracker, Brookings has received a minimum of $3.9 million from Pentagon contractors:
- Northrop Grumman: $1.75 million
- Mitsubishi (various entities): $420,000
- Lockheed Martin: $150,000
- Palantir Technologies: $50,000
- Boeing: $10,000
Foreign Governments
Brookings received a minimum of $18.5 million from foreign governments across documented periods:
- Qatar: $14.8 million (2011–2013) — single largest foreign government donor, funded the Brookings Doha Center
- UAE: $6 million (2010 and 2012 contributions)
- Norway: $1.6 million
- Australia (Dept. of Foreign Affairs): $600,000
- FY2024 donors also include: Sweden (Ministry for Foreign Affairs), Norway (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Denmark (Embassy), Korea Foundation, and Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office
A 2014 New York Times investigation found that foreign government grants came with what several legal specialists described as language “appearing to necessitate Brookings filing as a foreign agent” under FARA. Brookings disputed that characterization. Republican Senators Grassley, Cruz, Cotton, and Cornyn later argued in an August 2022 letter that “The Brookings Institution appears to be a foreign agent for the State of Qatar for purposes of FARA and should register as such with DOJ.”
Foundations and Healthcare Donors
The Hewlett Foundation, Arnold Ventures, and the Hutchins Family Foundation each gave over $2 million in a single year (2019). The Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Kresge Foundation each gave $1–2 million in the same period.
Healthcare-industry donors documented in FY2024: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ($2M+), State Farm Mutual ($500K–$999K), NIH ($500K–$999K), Commonwealth Fund ($100K–$249K), and SCAN Foundation ($100K–$249K). Leonard D. Schaeffer, founding CEO of WellPoint (now Elevance Health, one of the nation’s largest health insurers), serves as Vice Chair of the Board and endowed the Schaeffer Chair in Health Policy Studies.
FY2024 Corporate Donor Highlights
| Donor | Amount (FY2024) | Sector Interest |
|---|---|---|
| JPMorgan Chase & Co | $100K–$249K (annual; $15.5M total) | International banking, trade finance, urban development |
| Google, Inc. | $500K–$999K | Global digital services, IP protections, tech regulation |
| Amazon.com | $500K–$999K | International supply chains, e-commerce, labor policy |
| Microsoft (via Eric Schmidt) | $250K–$499K | Global technology markets |
| ExxonMobil Corporation | $100K–$249K | International energy markets, climate policy |
| State Farm Mutual | $500K–$999K | Insurance regulation, healthcare policy |
| Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | $2M+ | Healthcare market structure |
Money
The funding composition tells the story before a single paper is read. Goldman Sachs funds the Hamilton Project inside Brookings. JPMorgan funds the Global Cities Initiative inside Brookings. Qatar funds the Doha Center inside Brookings. Each donor gets a named, branded policy shop operating under Brookings’ “independent” letterhead — producing research that aligns with the funder’s preferred outcomes. The independence isn’t a lie exactly; Brookings publishes a wide range of research. But the research that gets resourced, branded, and connected to power is the research the donors paid for. Corporate donations over $50,000 more than quadrupled between 2003 and 2013.
What They Produce
Brookings’ policy output is enormous. The analytically significant pieces — the ones with documented policy pipelines — cluster around funder-aligned areas:
The Hamilton Project — Wall Street’s Policy Shop
Launched April 2006 inside Brookings by Robert Rubin (former Goldman Sachs co-chairman 1990–1992, Clinton Treasury Secretary 1995–1999), Roger Altman (Evercore, Clinton Treasury Deputy), and other Wall Street-aligned Democrats. Then-Senator Barack Obama spoke at the launch, calling it “the sort of breath of fresh air that I think this town needs.”
The Hamilton Project Advisory Council reads as a who’s-who of Wall Street and the Democratic financial establishment:
| Member | Wall Street Connection |
|---|---|
| Robert E. Rubin | Former Goldman Sachs co-chairman; former Treasury Secretary |
| Timothy F. Geithner | Former Treasury Secretary; president of Warburg Pincus (PE) |
| Roger Altman | Founder, Evercore; former Deputy Treasury Secretary |
| Ray Dalio | Founder, Bridgewater Associates (largest hedge fund) |
| Peter Orszag | Former OMB Director; former Citigroup exec; current Lazard CEO |
| Blair W. Effron | Co-founder, Centerview Partners |
| David M. Rubenstein | Co-founder, The Carlyle Group (PE); Brookings lifetime trustee |
| Glenn H. Hutchins | Co-founder, Silver Lake Partners (PE); Brookings Board Co-Chair |
| Suzanne Nora Johnson | Former Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs; Brookings Board Co-Chair |
| Brian Deese | Former BlackRock executive; former NEC Director |
| Penny Pritzker | Billionaire; former Commerce Secretary; Hyatt heiress |
| Tom Steyer | Billionaire; former hedge fund manager |
| Eric Schmidt | Former Google CEO |
| Ralph L. Schlosstein | Former CEO, Evercore |
| Mark Gallogly | Former Senior Partner, Centerbridge Partners (PE) |
Of approximately 50 advisory council members, at least 16 have direct ties to Wall Street investment banks, hedge funds, or private equity firms. The council is co-chaired by figures from Goldman Sachs and the Carlyle Group who also serve on the Brookings Board of Trustees — the same people governing the institution are directing its flagship economic policy initiative.
The Hamilton Project’s founding ideology was summarized by its first director Peter Orszag: “market competition and globalization generate significant economic benefits.” In practice, this means fiscal responsibility (austerity framing), financial market openness (deregulation-friendly), and pro-trade positions. Rubin’s public record on Glass-Steagall repeal (he called it “obsolete”) carried directly into the Hamilton Project’s framework.
Other Key Research Operations
Brookings Papers on Economic Activity — Flagship biannual academic journal, founded 1970. Influential in academic macroeconomics. Has published research on financial regulation that critics note consistently favors market-based solutions over structural reform.
Center for Middle East Policy — Produced the “Saban Forum” (jointly with Haim Saban, major Democratic donor and Israel hawk) and the Doha Center (Qatar-funded). Research output on Israel-Palestine has tracked closely with the position of major donors to the center.
Center on Regulation and Markets — Has co-produced work with AEI, the Koch-funded conservative counterpart, on financial regulation, consistently producing “bipartisan” frameworks that favor lighter regulatory touches. This is the Bipartisan Credibility Shield in direct action.
The Policy Pipeline
Brookings’ power is not primarily through lobbying. It is through personnel. The pipeline is not a policy paper → a vote. It is a person → an administration.
But Brookings also operates a systematic policy counterweight machine. When progressive think tanks — the Economic Policy Institute, Roosevelt Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities — propose structural reforms, Brookings consistently produces competing research that acknowledges the problem, dismisses structural solutions as impractical, and proposes market-compatible alternatives that preserve existing corporate and financial power structures.
The “Responsible Centrist” Pattern — Systematic Documentation
| Progressive Proposal | Progressive Advocates | Brookings Counter-Position | Brookings Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Break up big banks | Warren, Sanders, Americans for Financial Reform | ”Greater costs than benefits” and “potentially counterproductive” (2014 paper by former JPMorgan MD Douglas Elliott) | Dodd-Frank is sufficient; let reforms work |
| Single-payer/Medicare for All | PNHP, Sanders, Jayapal | ”Impossible (pipe) dream” (2016); radical, unprecedented, $4.1T/year | Incremental ACA improvements; market competition |
| $15 minimum wage | Fight for $15, EPI | ”More than double the cost” and “likely have some impact on hiring” | $10.10 + EITC expansion (government subsidy to employers) |
| Rent control | Tenant unions, city governments | ”Decreases affordability, fuels gentrification” in long run | Government subsidies/tax credits; zoning reform |
| Wealth tax | Warren, Sanders, Roosevelt Institute | Technocratic exploration of implementation complexity | Inheritance tax reform; closing loopholes |
| Regulate institutional landlords | Housing advocates | ”Symptom, rather than cause, of extremely tight housing markets” | Zoning reform; housing vouchers |
| NAFTA/TPP opposition | AFL-CIO, EPI, labor unions | ”The U.S. should be figuring out ways to expand NAFTA” | Trade adjustment assistance; worker retraining |
Healthcare: Defending the Market-Based Status Quo
The most explicit opposition to progressive healthcare reform came in a January 2016 article titled “The impossible (pipe) dream — single-payer health reform.” It characterized single-payer as something that “was, is, and will remain a dream” and called Sanders’ plan “radical in a way that no legislation has ever been in the United States.” The core argument was political impossibility: single-payer would cost “$4.1 trillion a year” and require “drastic cuts” causing “massive hospital bankruptcies.”
The article praised the ACA for leaving untouched: employment-based insurance for 170 million people, tax breaks supporting group insurance, military health programs for 14 million, and the private hospital system — a comprehensive defense of the status quo that aligned with the interests of healthcare donors like WellPoint/Elevance Health (whose founding CEO sits on the Board) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation ($2M+ annually).
Brookings healthcare research consistently promotes incrementalist, market-compatible reform: competitive insurance markets within the ACA framework, value-based pricing within existing Medicare structures, pharmaceutical cost reforms focused on FTC enforcement rather than Medicare price negotiation or patent reform, and “Medicare in 2030” conferences focused on “modernizing” through benefit redesign rather than expansion.
Housing and Real Estate: The JPMorgan-Lennar Pipeline
Brookings’ housing research has consistently opposed rent control while promoting supply-side, market-oriented solutions. A widely cited 2018 article by Rebecca Diamond (Stanford) hosted on the Brookings platform concluded that rent control “decreases affordability, fuels gentrification, and creates negative externalities on the surrounding neighborhood” — recommending “a government subsidy or tax credit” instead.
Scholar Jenny Schuetz, in congressional testimony on institutional landlords (June 2022), emphasized that “growth of institutional investors is a symptom, rather than the cause, of extremely tight housing markets” — recommending zoning reform and vouchers rather than regulation of institutional landlords.
The Lennar case exposed the donor-research pipeline directly. Brookings received $400,000 from Lennar Corporation, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, while actively promoting Lennar’s controversial $8 billion San Francisco Hunters Point redevelopment. Brookings VP Bruce Katz wrote to Lennar: “This can become a productive, mutually beneficial relationship.” Brookings named Lennar executive Kofi Bonner as a nonresident senior fellow — conferring Brookings’ scholarly imprimatur on a corporate project facing community opposition over toxic waste concerns.
Labor and Wages: The EITC Offset
A 2016 Hamilton Project brief proposed raising the minimum wage to $10.10 (not the $15 advocated by progressives) and pairing it with expanded Earned Income Tax Credits. The brief explicitly cautioned that a $15 minimum would “more than double the cost to an employer and likely have some impact on hiring” and that “about two-thirds of current minimum-wage earners live above 200 percent of the federal poverty line.” This framing argued for the EITC — a government subsidy to employers who pay low wages — as the primary mechanism for addressing poverty, a position that subsidizes corporate wage costs rather than requiring corporations to pay living wages.
On inequality more broadly, scholar Zia Qureshi’s framework promotes “predistribution” (making growth more inclusive) over redistribution (taxes and transfers) — conveniently avoiding confrontation with the wealth concentration that directly benefits Brookings’ donor base.
Trade: Wall Street’s Free Trade Defender
Brookings has maintained a dedicated USMCA Initiative framing NAFTA positively. A 2017 article argued “the U.S. should be figuring out ways to expand NAFTA, not a plan to end it.” Brookings hosted multiple events promoting the TPP, whose investor-state dispute settlement provisions and IP protections directly benefited Wall Street firms and tech companies — both major donor categories. Trade liberalization policies benefit JPMorgan (trade finance), Goldman Sachs (cross-border banking), Google ($500K–$999K, global digital services), Amazon ($500K–$999K, international supply chains), and ExxonMobil ($100K–$249K, international energy markets).
The Litan Scandal: Corporate-Commissioned Research Exposed
In 2015, Brookings fellow Robert Litan resigned after Senator Elizabeth Warren revealed during Senate testimony that his study arguing a proposed fiduciary rule “would be too costly” had been funded and commissioned by the Capital Group, one of the world’s largest investment management firms — and that Capital Group had provided editorial feedback. Brookings President Strobe Talbott acknowledged Litan “made a mistake in not following Brookings regulations.” The case was not an aberration but an exposed instance of a broader pattern: a 2014 Washington Post investigation found that the percentage of Brookings donations over $50,000 from corporations had more than quadrupled between 2003 and 2013.
Contradiction
Brookings consistently frames its positions as the “serious,” “evidence-based” middle ground. The structural pattern: (1) acknowledge the problem (inequality, housing costs, healthcare access), (2) dismiss structural solutions as impractical or radical, (3) propose market-compatible alternatives that preserve existing corporate and financial power structures, (4) present the result as independent centrist analysis. The former JPMorgan managing director argues against breaking up big banks. The institution funded by health insurers argues single-payer is impossible. The think tank that received $400,000 from Lennar promotes Lennar’s development project. The “evidence-based” label does a lot of heavy lifting.
The Qatar Pipeline — Foreign Government Influence
The State of Qatar was identified by the New York Times as “the single biggest foreign donor to Brookings,” contributing $14.8 million over a four-year period (2011–2014). The money funded the Brookings Doha Center, and the influence was documented:
Research constraints: Visiting fellow Saleem Ali reported being told during his job interview “that taking positions critical of the Qatari government in papers would not be allowed.” Scholar Sultan Barakat portrayed Qatar as “a vocal and progressive leader of modern Arab nations” in a 2012 report titled “The Qatari Spring” — a characterization sharply at odds with Human Rights Watch documentation of exploitative labor conditions.
Structural control: A 2007 memorandum of understanding required the head of the Brookings Doha Center to “engage in regular consultation” with Qatar’s foreign ministry and gave the ministry power to approve the center’s budget and programming.
Qatar’s own assessment: Qatar’s Foreign Affairs Ministry acknowledged the partnership gave Qatar “the bright image of Qatar in the international media, especially the American ones.”
The John Allen scandal: In June 2022, Brookings President John R. Allen, a retired four-star general, resigned amid an FBI investigation into whether he had violated foreign lobbying laws by advocating for Qatar while seeking payments from the Gulf state. The alleged lobbying occurred in 2017, while Allen was a Brookings fellow — he reportedly used his Brookings email to contact Trump administration officials including National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster during Qatar’s existential diplomatic blockade by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Brookings listed Qatar as a top donor that year, in the “$2,000,000 and above” category.
Congressional response: Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote expressing “significant concerns about agreements that Brookings has in place with foreign governments.” Republican Senators Grassley, Cruz, Cotton, and Cornyn argued Brookings “appears to be a foreign agent for the State of Qatar for purposes of FARA and should register as such with DOJ.” Grassley introduced legislation requiring nonprofits influencing U.S. policy to publicly report all foreign government funding.
The DOJ eventually dropped the case against Allen. The structural reality — a $14.8 million donor securing favorable research, editorial control over a named center, and a think tank president willing to lobby the White House on the donor’s behalf — remained intact.
Donation-to-Policy Timeline
| Date | Recipient/Target | Amount | Policy Return | Time Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2006 | Obama endorses Hamilton Project launch | Goldman/Rubin-funded initiative | Hamilton Project framework becomes Obama economic agenda; Rubin alums staff Treasury and OMB | 2–3 years |
| 2006–2009 | Hamilton Project personnel pipeline | Staff salaries via Goldman/Wall St | Orszag → OMB Director; Lew → OMB → Treasury; Furman → CEA Chair; Elmendorf → CBO Director | Immediate–3 years |
| 2007 | Qatar–Brookings MOU signed | Part of $14.8M | Qatar foreign ministry gets approval power over Doha Center budget and programming | Immediate |
| 2009–2010 | Peter Orszag → Obama OMB Director | Brookings fellowship | Deficit hawk framing dominates Obama budget; stimulus undersized; austerity narrative normalized | Immediate |
| 2010–2012 | Jack Lew → Obama OMB → Treasury Sec. | Hamilton Project staff | Financial system kept intact; no Glass-Steagall restoration; Wall Street regulatory framework preserved | 1–2 years |
| 2011–2013 | Qatar Doha Center | $14.8M | Qatar-favorable research; Allen lobbies Trump officials for Qatar 2017; center scholar calls Qatar “progressive leader” | 4+ years |
| 2012 | JPMorgan Global Cities Initiative | $15.5M | Brookings-JPMorgan framework shapes Obama metro policy; positions JPMorgan as policy partner, not regulatory target | 1–2 years |
| 2014 | Douglas Elliott anti-bank-breakup paper | Brookings fellowship (former JPMorgan MD) | “Breaking up big banks won’t stop another financial crisis” — academic cover for preserving too-big-to-fail status quo | Immediate |
| 2015 | Litan anti-fiduciary-rule study | Capital Group funded + provided editorial feedback | Argued DOL fiduciary rule “too costly” — exposed when Warren revealed funding during Senate testimony; Litan resigned | Immediate |
| 2016 | ”Impossible pipe dream” healthcare paper | Institutional (healthcare donor base) | Single-payer dismissed as radical and impossible; ACA incrementalism defended; market-based reform normalized | Ongoing |
| 2016 | Hamilton Project minimum wage brief | Institutional | $10.10 proposed (not $15); EITC expansion = government subsidy to employers paying low wages | Ongoing |
| 2018 | Anti-rent-control research | Institutional (real estate donor base) | “Rent control decreases affordability” — academic cover for supply-side-only housing policy | Ongoing |
| 2023 | Cecilia Rouse → Brookings President | Biden CEA chair post | Revolving door closes: Biden’s top economist moves to Brookings; institution’s role as Democratic policy shop between administrations cemented | Immediate |
Money
The Hamilton Project is the cleanest example of idea laundering in modern Democratic Party politics. Goldman Sachs co-founds a think tank inside Brookings in 2006. Barack Obama shows up at the launch and endorses it. By 2009, the Hamilton Project’s personnel — Jack Lew, Peter Orszag, Roger Altman — are running the U.S. Treasury and Office of Management and Budget. The result: no Glass-Steagall restoration, no structural break-up of too-big-to-fail banks, a stimulus package sized at roughly one-third of what Keynesian economists recommended, and a financial regulatory framework (Dodd-Frank) specifically designed to preserve Wall Street’s core business model while adding compliance costs that disadvantaged smaller competitors. Goldman funded the idea shop. The idea shop staffed the administration. The administration preserved Goldman’s world.
The Revolving Door
The Brookings-to-Democratic-administration pipeline is so well-established it functions as the bench for every Democratic presidency since Clinton:
Susan Rice — Brookings Senior Fellow, International Security (2002–2009) → Obama UN Ambassador (2009–2013) → Obama National Security Adviser (2013–2017) → Biden Domestic Policy Council Director (2021–2023). Rice’s entire pre-Obama career was built at Brookings. The institution is where Democratic foreign policy elites park between administrations.
Peter Orszag — Brookings Economic Studies fellow → First Hamilton Project Director (2006) → Obama OMB Director (2009–2010) → Citigroup Vice Chairman (2010–2016) → Lazard CEO. He once summarized the Hamilton Project’s ideology as “a sort of liberal spin on trickle-down Reaganomics.” The Brookings → White House → Wall Street arc is textbook revolving door.
Jack Lew — Hamilton Project chief of staff at Brookings → Obama OMB Director (2010–2012) → Obama Treasury Secretary (2013–2017). Lew embodied the Hamilton Project’s policy philosophy at the highest levels of economic policymaking.
Jason Furman — Hamilton Project Director → Chair of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Douglas Elmendorf — Hamilton Project advisory council → CBO Director.
Strobe Talbott — Clinton Under Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of State (1994–2001) → Brookings President (2002–2017). The parking-between-administrations model runs in both directions.
Martin Indyk — Brookings Vice President and fellow → Clinton Ambassador to Israel / Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs → back to Brookings → Obama Middle East peace envoy (2013–2014). Indyk’s Brookings role and State Department roles were essentially interchangeable. He held both simultaneously during periods when the Doha Center was receiving Qatar’s money.
Cecilia Rouse — Princeton economics professor → Obama CEA (2009–2011) → Biden CEA Chair (2021–2023) → Brookings President (2023–present).
John Allen — Retired Marine four-star general, former NATO/Afghanistan commander → Brookings President (2017–2022) → resigned under FBI investigation for allegedly lobbying Trump administration officials on behalf of Qatar.
Brian Deese — BlackRock executive → Biden NEC Director → Hamilton Project advisory council. The private equity-to-White House-to-Brookings advisory pipeline in a single career.
Contradiction
Brookings publishes research on the revolving door problem in American governance. It has produced thoughtful work documenting how the movement of personnel between industry and regulatory agencies creates capture. Meanwhile, the institution itself is the single most efficient revolving door in Democratic politics — a place where party elites hold their titles, maintain their networks, and wait for the next administration to call. The think tank that studies the problem is the problem.
What Their Funders Got
Goldman Sachs / Wall Street: The Hamilton Project framework became the intellectual architecture of Obama’s economic team. The practical outcomes: no restoration of Glass-Steagall, no structural separation of investment and commercial banking, a stimulus package (2009) sized at roughly one-third of what Keynesian economists recommended, and Dodd-Frank financial regulation designed specifically to preserve Wall Street’s core business model while adding compliance costs that disadvantaged smaller competitors. The phrase “too big to fail” became official policy rather than an epithet.
JPMorgan Chase: The $15.5 million Global Cities Initiative positioned JPMorgan as a partner in urban economic policy — producing research and convenings that shaped how mayors and federal agencies thought about metropolitan development. This occurred while JPMorgan was simultaneously navigating post-2008 regulatory scrutiny. Being a Brookings policy partner, rather than a regulatory target, is worth more than the $15.5 million. Internal documents confirmed JPMorgan sought “branding and relationship building” and Brookings acknowledged needing to “do a better job tying it back to JPMC.”
Qatar: $14.8 million purchased a named center producing favorable research under Brookings’ brand, editorial control via MOU with Qatar’s foreign ministry, a scholar who called Qatar a “progressive leader,” and ultimately a think tank president who used his Brookings email to lobby the Trump White House during Qatar’s existential diplomatic crisis. Qatar’s own foreign ministry acknowledged the investment delivered “the bright image of Qatar in the international media.”
Healthcare Industry: WellPoint/Elevance Health’s founding CEO sits on the Board as Vice Chair and endowed a named chair in health policy. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation gives $2M+ annually. Brookings healthcare research consistently defends market-based incrementalism: single-payer is “impossible,” the ACA framework is praised for preserving employer-based insurance and the private hospital system, and pharmaceutical reform proposals focus on enforcement rather than structural changes to pricing power.
Real Estate: Lennar Corporation gave $400,000 and got its executive appointed as a Brookings nonresident senior fellow while Brookings promoted Lennar’s $8 billion development project facing community opposition. More broadly, Brookings’ opposition to rent control and promotion of supply-side housing solutions serves the institutional landlords and homebuilders in its donor base.
Defense Contractors: Northrop Grumman ($1.75M) is Brookings’ top Pentagon-contractor donor. Brookings produces defense policy research, hosts the 21st Century Defense Initiative, and convenes the policymakers who set defense budgets. The think tank that studies defense spending is funded by the companies that receive defense contracts.
Capital Group / Financial Services: Funded and provided editorial feedback on a study arguing against the DOL fiduciary rule — research designed to protect financial advisors’ ability to recommend products that benefit the advisor rather than the client. Exposed by Senator Warren during Senate testimony, resulting in fellow Robert Litan’s resignation.
Class Analysis
Brookings occupies a structurally critical position in the American policy apparatus: it is where the professional-managerial wing of the donor class — financiers, defense industrialists, foreign governments — purchases the appearance of independent expertise to validate their preferred policy outcomes.
The “centrist” label is analytically useful but politically misleading. Brookings is centrist in the sense that it serves the consensus positions of the Democratic Party establishment and the Republican national security establishment simultaneously, since both wings share the same institutional funders: Wall Street, defense contractors, and the foreign policy blob. The Goldman-funded Hamilton Project and the Northrop Grumman-funded defense research don’t conflict — they’re both products of the same donor class, just targeting different policy levers.
The fundamental question is not whether any individual Brookings scholar is corrupt, but whether an institution funded by Wall Street, governed by Wall Street executives, and staffed by personnel who cycle between Wall Street and government can produce genuinely independent research on questions of financial regulation, corporate power, and wealth distribution.
The Qatar scandal cut through the branding in the most clarifying possible way. The institution that markets itself as the gold standard of independent research had its president — a retired four-star general — using his Brookings account to lobby the Trump White House for the foreign government that was its largest foreign donor.
What Brookings represents structurally is the think tank as a shadow government office — a place where the donor class’s preferred policymakers maintain their credentials, their networks, and their institutional affiliations between administrations, ready to cycle back in when the political calendar allows. It is not a research institution that happens to be connected to power. It is a power institution that happens to produce research.
Money
The relationship between Brookings and Goldman Sachs is the case study in how donor-class money moves through the policy ecosystem. Goldman’s former president chairs the Board of Trustees. Goldman alumni co-found the Hamilton Project inside Brookings. The Hamilton Project endorsed Obama before he was elected. Obama staffed Treasury and OMB from the Hamilton Project’s ranks. Goldman paid $0 in fines commensurate with its role in the 2008 financial crisis under the administration those alumni ran. The return on investment for Goldman’s Brookings relationship is incalculable — it purchased not just policy outcomes but the intellectual framework that made those outcomes seem like the inevitable product of independent economic reasoning. As Senator Warren put it: “This is about giant corporations who figured out that by spending, hey, a few tens of millions of dollars, if they can influence outcomes here in Washington, they can make billions of dollars.”
Sources
- ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: Brookings Institution — IRS 990 filings, FY2024 revenue $109M, net assets $487.8M, executive comp $7.5M (Tier 1)
- Think Tank Funding Tracker: Brookings Institution — $18.5M foreign government, $3.9M Pentagon contractors (Tier 2)
- OpenSecrets: Brookings Institution profile — lobbying and political spending data (Tier 1)
- Brookings Institution: Our Finances — funding overview and audited financial statements (Tier 3)
- Brookings: FY2024 Honor Roll of Contributors — corporate and foundation donors (Tier 3)
- Brookings: FY2024 Contributor Update List (Tier 3)
- Brookings: Board of Trustees — current officers, fiduciary trustees, lifetime trustees (Tier 3)
- Hamilton Project: About — founding, mission, advisory council (Tier 3)
- Hamilton Project: Advisory Council — full member listing (Tier 3)
- GBH/NYT Investigation: Brookings Big Think Tank’s Push for Corporate Donors’ Agendas (Aug 2016) — Corporate Overviews Tracking database, Lennar case, JPMorgan internal docs, draft-sharing with donors (Tier 2)
- NYT Investigation: Foreign Powers Buy Influence at Think Tanks (Sept 2014) — Qatar $14.8M, FARA concerns, Saleem Ali “no-go zones” (Tier 2)
- NYT Opinion: Is Money Corrupting Research? (Oct 2015) — Litan/Capital Group scandal (Tier 2)
- Mother Jones: Brookings, Elizabeth Warren, and Qatar (Oct 2022) — Allen scandal, congressional response, 2007 MOU details (Tier 2)
- CNN: Retired Gen. Allen resigns as Brookings president amid FBI probe (June 2022) (Tier 2)
- Washington Post: John Allen leaves Brookings amid federal probe (June 2022) (Tier 2)
- NPR: FBI Seizes Retired General’s Data Related to Qatar Lobbying (June 2022) (Tier 2)
- Responsible Statecraft: Brookings president resigns (June 2022) (Tier 2)
- Responsible Statecraft: DOJ drops probe into former Brookings president (Feb 2023) (Tier 2)
- Senator Elizabeth Warren: Letter to Brookings on foreign government funding agreements (Tier 1)
- Senator Chuck Grassley: Senators Push DOJ on FARA Compliance of Brookings Institution (Aug 2022) (Tier 1)
- The Nation: Investigation Into Brookings Ex-President Should Worry Think Tanks (2022) (Tier 2)
- Inside Philanthropy: The Obvious Problem of Corporate Funding at Brookings (Oct 2015) — corporate donations quadrupled, board composition analysis (Tier 2)
- LittleSis: Banking on Think Tanks — Goldman Sachs governance, JPMorgan GCI (Tier 2)
- Common Dreams: Obama’s Big Sellout (Dec 2009) — Hamilton Project revolving door, Orszag quote, Taibbi on Rubin network (Tier 2)
- Truthdig: The Shell Game of the Economic Elites’ Hamilton Project (2016) — Goldman Sachs funding, Jamie Peck analysis (Tier 2)
- The Baffler: Hamilton Project ideology analysis (Tier 2)
- Israel Hayom/Investigative Project: Qatar-Brookings Doha Center relationship (2014) (Tier 3)
- Brookings: The impossible (pipe) dream — single-payer health reform (Jan 2016) (Tier 3)
- Brookings: Breaking up the big banks won’t stop another financial crisis (2016) (Tier 3)
- Brookings/BPC: The Big Bank Theory paper (2014) — authored by former JPMorgan MD (Tier 3)
- Brookings: What does economic evidence tell us about effects of rent control? (2018) (Tier 3)
- Brookings: Where have all the houses gone? — Schuetz on institutional landlords (2022) (Tier 3)
- Brookings: Raising the Minimum Wage and Redesigning the EITC — Hamilton Project brief (2016) (Tier 3)
- Brookings: Rising Inequality — Qureshi predistribution framework (Tier 3)
- Brookings: Reining in pharmaceutical costs (Tier 3)
- Brookings: USMCA Initiative — NAFTA/trade advocacy (Tier 3)
- Hamilton Project: Four Alternatives for Taxing Wealth — Leiserson paper (Tier 3)
- American Academy of Arts & Sciences: John L. Thornton biography (Tier 3)
- Wikipedia: Brookings Institution — founding history, financials, controversies overview (Tier 3)
- Military.com: Hegseth Orders End to Pentagon-Funded Attendance at Elite Universities — Brookings among think tanks cut (Feb 2026) (Tier 2)
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