Source description last updated: 31 May 2023

In brief: The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based information platform providing media and monitoring reports aimed at informing and educating policy makers and the broader policy community about events and trends in societies that are strategically or tactically important to the United States and in which public access to such information is often restricted.

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Eurasia Daily Monitor (EDM), Terrorism Monitor (TM), other reports

EDM covered daily on ecoi.net, TM bi-weekly, other reports monthly, for countries of priorities A-C.

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

The Jamestown Foundation was founded in 1984 by William Geimer (The Jamestown Foundation website: About Us, undated), a former US official, with the aim of helping Soviet defectors (New York Times, 15 July 1988) and as a source of information on the inner workings of the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries (Wolf: In Memory of Cold War Hero William G. Geimer, 8 January 2003). Its proclaimed mission is to “inform and educate policy makers and the broader community about events and trends in those societies which are strategically or tactically important to the United States and which frequently restrict access to such information” (The Jamestown Foundation website: About Us, undated).

Current board members of the Jamestown Foundation include former US defence and intelligence officials (including a retired US Air Force general and a former head of U.S. counterintelligence), business leaders, academics, and former US diplomats. (The Jamestown Foundation website: Board Members, undated)

The foundation relies on a “global network of experts” for its analytical reporting. (The Jamestown Foundation website: About Us, undated).

Funding:

The Jamestown Foundation is a registered US public charity and receives financial contributions “from corporations, foundations and individuals” (The Jamestown Foundation website: Support Jamestown, undated). Further information on this matter could not be found.

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: Africa, Central Asia, China and the Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, South Asia, the Caucasus, Russia, Türkiye

Thematic focus: security issues, terrorism, militant groups, foreign policy and military interventions

Methodology:

The “monitor” reports are often authored by analysts based at institutions external to the foundation. While some work for institutions in the USA, most are affiliated with institutions in the regions they work on and often hail from these regions (see, for example, the list of analysts contributing to the EDM (The Jamestown Foundation website: About Eurasia Daily Monitor, undated) and the TM (The Jamestown Foundation website: About Jamestown’s Terrorism Program, undated)). They include “former high-ranking government officials and military officers, political scientists, journalists, scholars and economists” (The Jamestown Foundation website: About Us, undated) who provide analytical articles based on their expertise and their monitoring of local coverage of relevant issues. The publications contain references to public sources such as media reports including reports written in the local languages (see, for example, The Jamestown Foundation: Ukraine Launches Sabotage Operations on Occupied Territories and Inside Russia, 16 May 2023; The Jamestown Foundation: Potential for Conflict Growing in Russian Society, 11 April 2023; The Jamestown Foundation: Brief: National Resistance Front (NRF) Fails to Foment Unrest Against the Taliban, 31 March 2023)

Language of publication:

English

Further reading / links:

On the Jamestown Foundation’s founder William Geimer, a speech by US Republican Representative Frank R. Wolf:

Wolf, Frank R.: In Memory of Cold War Hero William G. Geimer, Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 2, 8 January 2003
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CREC-2003-01-08/html/CREC-2003-01-08-pt1-PgE39.htm 

On Jamestown Foundation & Soviet defectors:

New York Times: Washington Talk: Soviet Emigres; Russians Who Choose Democracy Find Transition Is Not Always Easy, 15 July 1988
https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/15/us/washington-talk-soviet-emigres-russians-who-choose-democracy-find-transition-not.html

A description of Jamestown Foundation by the Militarist Monitor (formerly: Right Web), an online publishing project focusing on prominent organisations or individuals who “promote militarist U.S. foreign and defense policies” (Militarist Monitor website: About The Militarist Monitor, undated):

Militarist Monitor: Jamestown Foundation, 28 May 2013
https://militarist-monitor.org/profile/jamestown_foundation/

Methodological note:

ecoi.net's source descriptions contain background information on an organisation’s mission & objective, funding and reporting methodology, as well as on how we cover the source. The descriptions were prepared after researching publicly accessible information within time constraints. Most information contained in a source description was taken from the source itself. The aim is to provide a brief introduction to the sources covered regularly, offering information on relevant aspects in one place in a systematic manner. 

All links accessed 31 May 2023