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Ben Freeman

Ben Freeman is the director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy (CIP).

Articles by this author

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

The Saudi Lobby Moves from K Street to Main Street

How to make a gulf monarchy all-American.

Ben Freeman · Apr 19, 2021

The Perfectly Legal Ways Foreign Powers Subvert US Democracy

Foreign powers have ample ability, through their lobbyists, to directly influence congressional legislation. They also have at least three indirect, perfectly legal avenues for trying to shift U.S. foreign policy in their favor: think tanks, the media, and academia.

Ben Freeman · Nov 12, 2019

Protesters rally outside the Saudi Arabia Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, where journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed Oct. 2, 2018. (Photo: Ozan Kose / AFP/Getty Images )

Trump and Money Are Shielding Saudi Arabia From Accountability for Khashoggi's Killing

One year after Khashoggi’s killing, and 4 ½ years into the brutal Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, Congress and the president have yet to hold Saudi Arabia accountable.

Ben Freeman · Oct 2, 2019

Whatever the spin, whether of that revolving door or of the defense industry’s publicists, the bottom line couldn’t be clearer: if job creation is your metric of choice, Pentagon contractors are a bad taxpayer investment. (Photo Credit: U.S. Air Force/Brad Fallin)

More Money, Fewer Jobs: The Stubborn Truth About Employment and the Defense Industry

The military-industrial jobs scam

Nia Harris · Aug 5, 2019

Foreign contributions generally come with critically important strings attached -- usually a favorable stance toward that country in whatever influential work the think tanks are doing. (Photo: Middle East Institute)

Following the Foreign-Policy Money Trail in Washington

How Middle Eastern powers fund think tanks and buy foreign-policy expertise 

Ben Freeman · Feb 21, 2019

Any foreign power hoping to line the pockets of American politicians just has to hire a local lobbyist to do it for them. (Photo: White House/Flickr/cc)

How Saudi Money Keeps Washington at War in Yemen

The royal touch

Ben Freeman · Oct 5, 2018

"If such deep connections between Saudi Arabia and the Trump administration sometimes seem to surface out of nowhere, they all too often stem from an extraordinarily influential, if largely unpublicized, Saudi lobbying and public relations campaign." (Photo: White House/Flickr/cc)

Arms and Influence: How the Saudis Took Donald Trump for a Ride

The Saudi royals, who clearly grasp the nature of The Donald, have offered him the one thing he seems to love most: flattery, flattery, and more flattery

Ben Freeman · May 10, 2018

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