{"id":307250,"date":"2017-05-08T22:59:55","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T21:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/lockheed-martin-funded-experts-agree-south-korea-needs-more-lockheed-martin-missiles\/"},"modified":"2017-05-08T22:59:55","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T21:59:55","slug":"lockheed-martin-funded-experts-agree-south-korea-needs-more-lockheed-martin-missiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/lockheed-martin-funded-experts-agree-south-korea-needs-more-lockheed-martin-missiles\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockheed Martin-Funded Experts Agree: South Korea Needs More Lockheed Martin Missiles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_5589998\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/fair.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/THAAD.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-5589998\" src=\"http:\/\/fair.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/THAAD.png\" alt=\"THAAD anti-missile test (photo: DoD\/Lockheed Martin)\" width=\"350\" height=\"210\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>The THAAD anti-missile system sure is great, say analysts whose salaries are partly paid for by THAAD&#8217;s manufacturer. (photo: DoD\/Lockheed Martin)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>As tensions between the United States and North Korea continue to rise, one think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), has become a ubiquitous voice on the topic of missile defense, providing Official-Sounding Quotes to dozens of reporters in Western media outlets. All of these quotes speak to the urgent threat of North Korea and how important the United States\u2019s deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system is to South Korea:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cTHAADs are tailored to those medium-range threats that North Korea has in spades\u2014North Korea regularly demonstrates that kind of capability,\u201d says Thomas Karako, the director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. \u201cTHAADs are exactly the kind of thing that you would want for a regional area.\u201d (<b>Wired<\/b>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2017\/04\/missile-defense-will-protect-south-korea-make-china-nervous\/\">4\/23\/17<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>But [CSIS\u2019s Karako] called [THAAD] an important first step. &#8220;This is not about having a perfect shield, this is about buying time and thereby contributing to the overall credibility of deterrence,&#8221; Karako told <b>AFP<\/b>. (<b>France24<\/b>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/20170502-usa-thaad-missile-defence-system-operational-south-korea\">5\/2\/17<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>THAAD is a decent option, says Thomas Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, citing a perfect intercept record in trials to date. (<b>Christian Science Monitor,<\/b> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/World\/Global-News\/2016\/0721\/Will-THAAD-make-the-Korean-peninsula-safer\">7\/21\/16<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Seeing THAAD as a &#8220;natural consequence&#8221; of an evolving threat from North Korea, Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told <b>VOA<\/b> that Washington should continue to tell Beijing &#8220;this system is not aimed at China &#8230; and [China] will just have to live with this decision.&#8221; (<b>Voice of America<\/b>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/trump-urged-send-clear-message-china-thaad\/3778305.html\">3\/22\/17<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Victor Cha, a Korea expert and former White House official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, played down the chances that THAAD would be rolled back. &#8220;If THAAD is deployed prior to the elections and given the North Korean missile threat, I don&#8217;t think it would be prudent for a new government to ask that it be walked back,&#8221; Cha said. (<b>Reuters<\/b>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-southkorea-politics-usa-thaad-idUSKBN16H29S\">3\/10\/17<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Thomas Karako, senior fellow with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said China&#8217;s indirect, retaliatory measures over the THAAD deployment would only stiffen the resolve of South Korea. He called the Chinese intervention &#8220;short-sighted.&#8221; (<b>Voice of America<\/b>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/south-korea-reaffirms-thaad-deployment-despite-growing-opposition\/3688634.html\">1\/23\/17<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/1GTMDX4sn7Kl95Pbog9ca0o0S9rBuycaffZYM-JlJGVA\/edit#gid=0\">list<\/a> goes on. In the past year, FAIR has noted 30 media mentions of CSIS pushing the THAAD missile system or its underlying value proposition in US media, most of them in the past two months. <strong>Business Insider<\/strong> was the most eager venue for the think tank&#8217;s analysts, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/north-korea-nuclear-warhead-arsenal-2016-9\">routinely<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/japan-eyes-thaad-for-missile-defense-2016-11\">copying<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/thaad-missile-defense-2016\/#mad-about-thaad-2\">and<\/a>&#8211;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/pentagon-thaad-deployment-south-korea2016-11\">pasting<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/north-korea-satellite-images-of-nuclear-test-2016-10\">CSIS<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/what-kim-jong-un-wants-2016-12\">talking points<\/a> in stories warning of the North Korean menace.<\/p>\n<p>Omitted from all these CSIS media appearances, however, is that one of CSIS\u2019s top donors, Lockheed Martin, is THAAD\u2019s primary contractor\u2014Lockheed Martin\u2019s take from the THAAD system is worth <a href=\"http:\/\/lockheedmartin.com\/us\/news\/press-releases\/2013\/september\/mfc-092313-lm-receives-thaad.html\">about $3.9 billion<\/a> alone. Lockheed Martin directly funds the Missile Defense Project Program at CSIS, the program whose talking heads are cited most frequently by US media.<\/p>\n<p>While it\u2019s unclear how much exactly Lockheed Martin donates to CSIS (specific totals are not listed on their website, and a CSIS spokesperson wouldn\u2019t tell FAIR when asked), they are one of the top ten donors, listed in the \u201c$500,000 and up\u201d category. It\u2019s unclear how high \u201cand up\u201d goes, but the think tank\u2019s operating revenue for 2016 was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/about-us\/financial-information\">$44 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>None of these pieces mentioned that 56 percent of South Koreans <a href=\"http:\/\/news.xinhuanet.com\/english\/2017-04\/18\/c_136218132.htm\">oppose the deployment<\/a> of THAAD, at least until new elections are held on May 9. The person who greenlit the THAAD deployment, former President Park Geun-hye, left in disgrace after a fraud scandal\u2014throwing the legitimacy of the THAAD deployment into question, and turning it into a hot-button issue in the subsequent election.<\/p>\n<p>In light of her impeachment\u2014and, no doubt, the surprise election of a capricious President Trump in the US\u2014most South Koreans understandably want to wait until the new election before making a decision on THAAD. Beyond a few articles making opaque reference to South Koreans having \u201cmixed\u201d reactions, or glossing over local protests, this fact was omitted from US media reports altogether. Trump, the Pentagon and US weapons contractors knew what\u2019s best and were coming to the rescue.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_5589999\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/fair.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/NationKorea.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-5589999\" src=\"http:\/\/fair.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/NationKorea.png\" alt=\"The Nation: In South Korea, Women Are Leading the Resistance to US-Backed Militarization\" width=\"350\" height=\"447\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Unlike corporate media outlets, <strong>The Nation<\/strong> (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/in-south-korea-women-are-leading-the-resistance-to-us-backed-militarization\/\">2\/25\/17<\/a>) felt a need to talk to opponents of deploying new US weaponry.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>None of the 30 pieces with pro-THAAD talking heads from CSIS quoted South Korean peace activists or anti-THAAD voices. To find out the concerns of Korean THAAD critics, one had to turn to independent media reports, like Christine Ahn\u2019s in <b>The Nation <\/b>(<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/in-south-korea-women-are-leading-the-resistance-to-us-backed-militarization\/\">2\/25\/17<\/a>):<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt will threaten the very economic and social lifeblood of the communities,\u201d [Korean-American policy analyst Simone Chun] said&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe deployment of THAAD will increase tensions between South and North Korea,\u201d said Ham Soo-yeon, a resident of Gimcheon who has been publishing newsletters about their resistance. In a phone interview, Ham said THAAD would \u201cmake the unification of Korea more difficult,\u201d and that it would \u201cplace the Korean peninsula at the center of the US drive for dominant power over Northeast Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>None of these concerns made it into the above articles.<\/p>\n<p>Five of CSIS\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/support-csis\/our-donors\/corporation-and-trade-association-donors\">ten major corporate donors<\/a> (\u201c$500,000 and up\u201d) are weapons manufacturers: Besides Lockheed Martin, they are General Dynamics, Boeing, Leonardo-Finmeccanica and Northrop Grumman. Three of it its top four government donors (\u201c$500,000 and up\u201d) are the United States, Japan and Taiwan. South Korea also gives money to CSIS through the governmental Korea Foundation ($200,000-$499,000).<\/p>\n<p>Last August (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/08\/08\/us\/politics\/think-tanks-research-and-corporate-lobbying.html\">8\/8\/16<\/a>), the <b>New York Times<\/b> revealed internal documents of CSIS (and the Brookings Institution) showing how think tanks acted as undisclosed lobbyists for weapons manufacturers:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>As a think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies did not file a lobbying report, but the goals of the effort were clear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPolitical obstacles to export,\u201d read the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/2963994-CSIS-General-Atomics.html#document\/p17\/a307156\">agenda of one closed-door<\/a> \u201cworking group\u201d meeting organized by Mr. Brannen that included Tom Rice, a lobbyist in General Atomics\u2019 Washington office, on the invitation lists, the emails show.<\/p>\n<p>Boeing and Lockheed Martin, drone-makers that were major CSIS contributors, were also invited to attend the sessions, the emails show. The meetings and research culminated with a report released in February 2014 that reflected the industry\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI came out strongly in support of export,\u201d Mr. Brannen, the lead author of the study, wrote in an email to Kenneth B. Handelman, the deputy assistant secretary of state for defense trade controls.<\/p>\n<p>But the effort did not stop there.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Brannen initiated meetings with Defense Department officials and congressional staff to push for the recommendations, which also included setting up a new Pentagon office to give more focus to acquisition and deployment of drones. The center also stressed the need to ease export limits at a conference it <a href=\"http:\/\/csis.org\/event\/sustaining-us-lead\">hosted<\/a> at its headquarters featuring top officials from the Navy, the Air Force and the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>CSIS denied to the <b>Times<\/b> that its activities constituted lobbying. In response to FAIR\u2019s request for comment, a CSIS spokesperson \u201crejected [FAIR\u2019s] assertion entirely\u201d that there was any conflict.<\/p>\n<p>CSIS\u2019s consistent promotion of its funder\u2019s missile system could, of course, be a total coincidence. The bespectacled experts at CSIS could honestly believe the majority of South Koreans are wrong, and Trump\u2019s deployment of THAAD is a wise choice. Or it could be that think tanks funded by weapons makers are not impartial arbiters of whether more weapons are a good idea\u2014and not useful sources to readers who are hoping for neutral analysis of such questions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_bloom_bottom_trigger\"><\/span><br \/>\nThis piece was reprinted by <a href=\"http:\/\/rinf.com\">RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission from <a href=\"http:\/\/fair.org\/home\/lockheed-martin-funded-experts-agree-south-korea-needs-more-lockheed-martin-missiles\/\">FAIR<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The THAAD anti-missile system sure is great, say analysts whose salaries are partly paid for by THAAD&#8217;s manufacturer. (photo: DoD\/Lockheed Martin) As tensions between the United States and North Korea continue to rise, one think tank, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), has become a ubiquitous voice on the topic of missile defense, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2521,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-307250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}