Politico
Libertarian business tycoon Charles Koch is handing out $10 million in new grants to promote voices of military restraint at American think tanks, part of a growing effort by Koch to change the U.S. foreign policy conversation.
The grants, details of which were shared exclusively with POLITICO, are being split among four institutions: the Atlantic Council; the Center for the National Interest; the Chicago Council on Global Affairs; and the RAND Corporation.
Each institution is using the funds in different ways. But, broadly speaking, the money will pay for scholarly positions and activities that explore various aspects of U.S. foreign policy, with a focus on testing widely held assumptions about the use of U.S. military force.
The funds are being dispensed amid growing public exhaustion in the United States with American military action overseas. Congress is moving to restrain the executive branch’s power to wage war. Some Democratic presidential candidates are running on promises to end the “endless wars” in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. And even President Donald Trump, who has yet to deliver on his campaign pledge to reduce the U.S. military footprint abroad, claims to be bringing U.S. troops home.
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