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Chinese Think Tank Profiled by DNI Open Source Center

10.03.11 | 1 min read | Text by Steven Aftergood

The leading Chinese think tank known as CICIR, or China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, “is affiliated with China’s top intelligence agency,” according to a profile (pdf) prepared by the DNI Open Source Center (OSC), “although this fact is rarely acknowledged in PRC media.”

The OSC report presents a detailed description of the structure, leadership and publications of the CICIR, which “has been repeatedly named one of China’s top think tanks based, at least in part, on its perceived influence within the PRC government.” See “Profile of MSS-Affiliated PRC Foreign Policy Think Tank CICIR,” Open Source Center, 34 pages, August 25, 2011.

The OSC profile was first reported in “Chinese Think Tank Also Serves as Spy Arm” by Bill Gertz, Washington Times, September 28.

The Obama Administration’s commitment to open government does not extend to Open Source Center analyses like the CICIR report, even when they are unclassified and non-copyrighted.  Americans who wish to read such government publications anyway must therefore rely on unauthorized disclosures.