Center for International Policy

1970s

The Center was founded in 1975 under the fiscal sponsorship of the Fund for Peace by activists, including Bill Goodfellow and then-retired US foreign service official Donald Ranard, who served as the Center's first Executive Director.

During its first years, the Center focused its work on Asia, especially United States foreign policy towards South Korea and its relationships with the Park Chung-hee-led government. In 1976, Ranard testified to Congress on human rights violations in South Korea and the role of South Korean lobbyists in Washington.^[4] In 1978, the Center established an Indochina Program, which advocated the normalization of diplomatic relations with Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia; the program was closed 11 years later in 1989.

In the mid-1970s, while at the time also co-chairs of the Center's Board, US Representatives Donald Fraser and Tom Harkin introduced legislation that incorporated foreign countries' human rights records into consideration of security and economic aid.^[5]

1980s

During the 1980s, CIP campaigned in support of the Contadora Group and the subsequent Esquipulas Peace Agreement.

After South Africa received a loan from the International Monetary Fund in 1983, the Center began a campaign that pushed for provisions that prohibited the US representative to the IMF to support loans to countries that practice apartheid.^[6] The Center continued its work with research into labor practices and economic impacts of apartheid in South Africa.

1990s

In 1990, the Center established a joint program with the Costa Rica-based Arias Foundation, founded by Óscar Arias. The organisation's new President, Robert White, also worked extensively with Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide during his exile in Washington in the 1990s.^[7]

Wayne Smith joined the Center in 1991 to establish the Cuba program, working towards the normalisation of relations between the United States and Cuba.

In the mid-1990s, Adam Isacson established the Latin American Security program, which still operates today. The program campaigned against the militarisation of Plan Colombia and supporting the movement of funds to programs for judicial reforms and economic development. In June 1999, the program led the first ever congressional delegation to meet with insurgent leaders inside the territory they controlled.^[8]

2000s

Clarissa Segun and Paul Olweny, leaders for the Demilitarization for Democracy project, joined the Center in 2000. The project campaigned for diplomatic aid and United Nations peacekeeping.^[9] The project eventually closed in 2006.

Sarah Stephens worked on Cuba policy, joining the Center in 2001 with the Freedom to Travel project. She left CIP in 2006 and then launched the Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA).^[10]

In 2003, then-President Robert White established a program focused on governmental corruption in Central America, specifically illegal logging in Honduras. Former Washington Post foreign correspondent Selig Harrison joined CIP in the same year to head the Center's Asia program which focused on North Korea and the Indian subcontinent.

With the publishing of his book Capitalism's Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free-Market System (Wiley & Sons, 2005), CIP senior fellow Raymond Baker founds Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a non-profit, research and advocacy organisation focused on the role of illicit financial flows.

In June 2007, the Americas Program joined CIP after the dissolution of the International Relations Center.^[11] The Americas Program continues as the TransBorder Project and the Americas Project today.

Win Without War

Win Without War is coalition that promotes a more progressive national security strategy. Formed in 2002 to lead the first national campaign against the war in Iraq and the policies of the Bush/Cheney Administration, Win Without War continues as a core program of CIP directed by Stephen Miles.

Current projects include efforts to bring American troops home from Afghanistan, rein in spending at the Pentagon, prevent nuclear escalation with North Korea, bring awareness to US involvement in Yemen.

Security Assistance Monitor

Led by director Colby Goodman, Security Assistance Monitor tracks and analyzes U.S. security and defense assistance programs worldwide. By informing policymakers, media, scholars, NGOs and the public in the United States and abroad about trends and issues related to U.S. foreign security assistance, their aim is to enhance transparency and promote greater oversight of U.S. military and police aid, arms sales and training.

The SAM database compiles all publicly available data on U.S. foreign security assistance programs worldwide from 2000 to the present. Collected from a wide range of government documents, the database provides detailed numbers on U.S. arms sales, military and police aid and training programs. Users can search these numbers by country, region, program and assistance type.

Arms & Security Project

The Arms and Security Project engages in media outreach and public education aimed at promoting reforms in U.S. policies on nuclear weapons, military spending and the arms trade. It seeks to advance the notion that diplomacy and international cooperation are the most effective tools for protecting the United States. According to program director William D. Hartung, "the use of military force is largely irrelevant in addressing the greatest dangers we face, from terrorism, to nuclear proliferation, to epidemics of disease, to climate change, to inequities of wealth and income. The allocation of budgetary resources needs to be changed to reflect this reality."

Hartung's research is most frequently sited in publications such as the Hill, Defense News, the Washington Post among others.

Full list of current CIP programs

-Win Without War -Security Assistance Monitor -Arms & Security Project -Cuba Program -Americas Program -Global Progressive Hub -Avoided Deforestation Partners -Mighty Earth (fiscally sponsored)