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).

 

Elliott Zaagman

Elliott Zaagman is a Beijing-based corporate trainer, executive coach, and writer who has spent the past seven years working in China’s growing tech ecosystem. He... MORE

Farhan Zahid

Farhan Zahid has done his Ph.D. in Counter Terrorism (Topic: Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist violent Non-State Actors in Pakistan and their relationship with Islamist Parties) from Vrije... MORE

Shan A. Zain

Shan A. Zain is an expert on Middle-East and Asia-Pacific region based in New Delhi, India.

Chris Zambelis

Chris Zambelis is a Senior Analyst specializing in Middle East affairs for Helios Global, Inc., a risk management group based in the Washington, D.C. area.... MORE

Andrew Zammit

Andrew Zammit is a PhD candidate at Monash University, has worked on terrorism research projects at Monash University and Victoria University, and blogs at https://andrewzammit.org/

Catherine Zara Raymond

Catherine Zara Raymond is an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies (IDSS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Yuri Zarakhovich

As the first and so far only Russian correspondent for TIME magazine since August 1988, Zarakhovich has been covering events like the breakup of the... MORE

Vasily Zatsepin

Vasily Zatsepin is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department for Military Economics, Institute for the Economy in Transition, Moscow.

Arnold Zeitlin

Arnold Zeitlin is the Managing Director at Editorial Research & Reporting Associates (ERRA) and Visiting Professor for the Department of Journalism at Guangdong University of... MORE

Jacob Zenn

Jacob Zenn is an adjunct assistant professor on African Armed Movements and Violent Non-State Actors in World Politics at the Georgetown University Security Studies Program (SSP) and... MORE

Adrian Zenz

Dr. Adrian Zenz is Senior Fellow and Director in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, Washington, D.C. (non-resident). His research focus is... MORE

Xuegang Zhang

Mr. Zhang Xuegang is an Associate Professor in China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR). He specializes in Southeast Asian security studies and China-U.S.-ASEAN trilateral... MORE

Xiaoming Zhang

Xiaoming Zhang, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership and Strategy at the Air War College, teaching strategy, and subjects on China... MORE

Hong Zhang

Hong Zhang is a PhD candidate at Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University. Her research interests include the political impact of China’s... MORE

Linda Zhang

Linda Zhang is a Research Assistant at the American Enterprise Institute, where her research focuses on Chinese economics, trade, and demographics. She graduated from the... MORE

Sufian Zhemukhov

Sufian Zhemukhov is currently a visiting scholar at George Washington University.

Hang Zhou

Zhou Hang is a Beijing-based researcher with the China and Global Security Project at Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Mr. Zhou’s research focuses on China-Africa... MORE

Zunyou Zhou

Dr. Zunyou Zhou is a senior researcher and head of the China section at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law and... MORE

Yulia Zhuchkova

Yulia Zhuchkova is a Russian expert on Central Asia, the Caucasus and Armenia.

Vera Zimmerman

Vera Zimmerman is a UkraineAlert contributor, independent research analyst and translator. She serves in the US Army National Guard as an analyst.

Taleh Ziyadov

Taleh Ziyadov is a research fellow at the Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy (ADA) and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Cambridge (UK).

Sherifa Zuhur

Dr. Sherifa Zuhur is Research Professor of Islamic and Regional Studies at the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College. She is also... MORE