About Us

Mission

The Jamestown Foundation’s mission is to inform and educate policymakers 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. Utilizing indigenous and primary sources, Jamestown’s material is delivered without political bias, filter or agenda. It is often the only source of information which should be, but is not always, available through official or intelligence channels, especially in regard to China, Russia and Eurasia.

Programs

The Jamestown Foundation’s main publications are China Brief, Eurasia Daily Monitor and Terrorism Monitor. Click on the map below to explore them.

About Us

 

Origins

Founded in 1984 by William Geimer, The Jamestown Foundation made a direct contribution to the downfall of Communism through its dissemination of information about the closed totalitarian societies of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

William Geimer worked with Arkady Shevchenko, the highest-ranking Soviet official ever to defect when he left his position as undersecretary general of the United Nations. Shevchenko’s memoir “Breaking With Moscow” revealed the details of Soviet superpower diplomacy, arms control strategy and tactics in the Third World, at the height of the Cold War. Through its work with Shevchenko, Jamestown rapidly became the leading source of information about the inner workings of the captive nations of the former Communist Bloc. In addition to Shevchenko, Jamestown assisted the former top Romanian intelligence officer Ion Pacepa in writing his memoirs. Jamestown ensured that both men published their insights and experience in what became bestselling books. Even today, several decades later, some credit Pacepa’s revelations about Ceausescu’s regime in his bestselling book Red Horizons with the fall of that government and the freeing of Romania.

The Jamestown Foundation has emerged as a leading provider of information about Eurasia. Our research and analysis on conflict and instability in Eurasia enabled Jamestown to become one of the most reliable sources of information on the post-Soviet space, the Caucasus and Central Asia as well as China. Furthermore, since 9/11, Jamestown has utilized its network of indigenous experts in more than 50 different countries to conduct research and analysis on terrorism and the growth of al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda offshoots throughout the globe.

By drawing on our ever-growing global network of experts, Jamestown has become a vital source of unfiltered, open-source information about major conflict zones around the world—from the Black Sea to Siberia, from the Persian Gulf to Latin America and the Pacific. Our core of intellectual talent includes former high-ranking government officials and military officers, political scientists, journalists, scholars and economists. Their insight contributes significantly to policymakers engaged in addressing today’s newly emerging global threats in the post 9/11 world.

 

Nikolai Getman: The Gulag Collection

In 1946, an artist named Nikolai Getman was imprisoned in the Soviet Union’s GULAG, a system of forced labor camps across Siberia and the interior of the USSR. Upon his release in 1954, Getman commenced a public career as a politically correct painter. Secretly, however, for more than four decades, Getman labored at creating a visual record of the GULAG, which vividly depicts all aspects of the horrendous life (and death) so many innocent millions experienced during that infamous era. Getman’s collection is unique because it is the only visual record known to exist of this tragic phenomenon. In early 1997, The Jamestown Foundation learned of The Gulag Collection and that Getman was desperate to get the painting transported to the West; he feared that upon his death they would be destroyed. With the financial support of Jim Kimsey, The Jamestown Foundation brought the paintings to the United States, where in 1997 they were put on display in the U.S. Congress. The Collection remained with Jamestown until 2009, when it was permanently transferred to the Heritage Foundation, where it resides today (heritage.org).

 

David Iberi

David Iberi writes for the Jamestown Foundation's blog.

Aslan Idar

Aslan Idar is a freelance journalist based in Nalchik.

Masako Ikegami

Masako Ikegami is Professor and Director of the Center for Pacific Asia Studies (CPAS) at Stockholm University. She holds Doctor of Sociology from University of... MORE

Alisher Ilkhamov

Alisher Ilkhamov is a Research Fellow at the University of London, SOAS.

Zafar Imran

Zafar Imran is an independent analyst based in Washington DC.

Michael A. Innes

Michael A. Innes is a Visiting Research Fellow in the School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, and a regular contributor to Foreign... MORE

Vladislav Inozemtsev

Dr. Vladislav Inozemtsev is Professor of Economics and a Senior Research Fellow with the Polish Institute of Advanced Studies, in Warsaw, Poland.

Grigory Ioffe

Grigory Ioffe was born and raised in Moscow, Russia, and graduated from Moscow State University where he majored in Human Geography. He emigrated to the... MORE

Muhammad Iqbal

Muhammad Iqbal is a Ph.D. candidate at Monash University, researching violent extremism.

Zafar Iqbal Yousafzai

Zafar Iqbal Yousafzai is the author of The Troubled Triangle: US-Pakistan Relations under the Taliban’s Shadow (Routledge, 2021).

Sydney Irving

Sydney Irving is an independent journalist based in East Africa.

Den Isa

Den Isa is an expert on Krygystan.

David C. Isby

David Isby is a Washington-based author and defense and foreign policy analyst.

Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel

Bashdar Pusho Ismaeel is a writer and analyst whose primary focus and expertise is on the Kurds, Iraq, Turkey and Middle Eastern current affairs. His... MORE

Noor Huda Ismail

Noor Huda Ismail is a consultant on the impact of religion on political violence in Southeast Asia. Mr. Ismail has been doing extensive research on... MORE

Fariz Ismailzade

is a freelance writer based in Baku. He holds a master's degree from Washington University in St. Louis and currently works for Cornell Caspian Consulting.... MORE

Elie Issa

Elie Issa is a Lebanese analyst focusing on the Middle East and North Africa regions for the past eight years. His interests include geopolitical, security... MORE

Idil P. Izmirli

Dr. Idil P. Izmirli is currently a Visiting Scholar and a Part-Time Faculty at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. In 2012,... MORE