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Profile of an Undercover Lobbyist for Azerbaijan
The rise of Brenda Shaffer as a scholar and oft-quoted expert in the field of energy politics illustrates just how vulnerable the American foreign policy establishment is to manipulation by foreign agents.
Supported by an overseas regime and an assorted network of overt and undercover lobbyists, she used oil money to build her academic credentials, then in turn used those credentials to promote Azerbaijan’s agendas through Congressional testimony, dozens of newspaper op-eds and media appearances, countless think tank events, and even scholarly publications.
She’s still doing it.
Shaffer first walked into Congress in 2001 to testify before the House of Representatives’ Committee on International Relations.
She was introduced as “the director of the Caspian Studies Program and a post-doctoral fellow in the international security program at the Belfort [Belfer] Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government”.
Addressing lawmakers, she asked them to repeal a section of the Freedom Support Act that barred direct US aid to the Azerbaijani government. “They have extended their hand to the US. They have huge expectations that the policy of this country is based on some sort of morality and high ideals,” she told them, and reinforced this in written testimony she also submitted.
Challenged about Azerbaijan’s democratic record, she replied: “There is a lot of room for improvement in terms of democratization. However, every six months, every year, things are getting better and better.”
What lawmakers listening to Shaffer didn’t know was that the Caspian Studies Program she headed at Harvard was set up in 1999 through a $1 million grant from the US Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce and a consortium of oil and gas companies led by Exxon, Mobil, and Chevron, all of which had commercial interests in the region. The chamber of commerce is a pro-Azerbaijan pressure group whose Board of Directors includes a vice president of SOCAR, the Azerbaijan state-owned energy company, and top lobbyists for BP and Chevron.
A 1999 press release from the chamber at the launch of the Caspian Studies Program noted its emphasis on outreach to “help to shape informed policy”. The Kennedy School of Government’s parallel press release announced that the program would open with a panel presentation and discussion chaired by Graham T. Allison and featuring Ilham Aliyev, then the first vice president of SOCAR. Allison was and remains the Director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, a prominent foreign policy think tank based at Harvard. Aliyev in 2003 succeeded his father as president of Azerbaijan.
Allison appointed Shaffer director of the new program in 1999 on the basis of merit, according to a Belfer Center spokesman, though the position was not advertised. The then-primary listserv for academic and policy-related jobs related to Eurasia, which was hosted at Harvard.edu, does not list any such vacancy related to the Caspian Studies Program.
At an event hosted by the Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce in 2000, Allison introduced Azerbaijan’s then-President Heydar Aliyev, who told his listeners that “I cheer the opening of a new chair at Harvard University relating to Azerbaijan and (the) Caspian area. I am thankful for the assistance of American-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce rendered for it.”
Until December 2014, Allison, the former dean of the Kennedy School, was listed online as a member of the chamber’s Board of Trustees.
Questioned about the scholar’s relationship with the lobbying group, the Belfer Center spokesman replied that: “To the best of our knowledge, we had no awareness that Graham was listed as a member of the Board of Trustees of the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce. After your note arrived, we contacted the chamber and asked them to remove Graham’s name. They have agreed to do so. Graham was never compensated for this apparently in-name-only role and he never, to the best of our knowledge, did any work on behalf of this organization.”
On the same day, the chamber removed Allison’s name from its website.
Further research revealed that the chamber’s supposed “Chairman Emeritus”, Dr Don Stacy, died several months ago.
It is unclear whether Henry Kissinger, Zbigniew Brzezinski, James A. Baker III, Brent Scowcroft and John Sununu are aware that they also are members of the group’s “Honorary Council of Advisors”, as the organization’s website claims. If so, it would make the chamber one of the best-connected foreign lobbying groups in D.C.
As a chamber of commerce, the Azerbaijan organization is incorporated as a 501(c)(6) non-profit, which allows it to conceal its donors from the public. In its 2011 tax filing, it reported paying more than US$ 100,000 in “other salaries and wages”, but without providing a breakdown of who received this money and for what. Neither its 2011 nor its 2012 filing report any direct expenditures for lobbying by external actors.
The chamber claims in its tax filings that it “makes its governing documents, and financial statements available to the public upon request”. Repeated requests for these documents emailed to its executive director, Susan Sadigova, went unanswered.
The Structure and Monitoring of Azerbaijani Lobbying Groups
Other Azerbaijani lobbying groups also prize confidentiality.
The Assembly of Friends of Azerbaijan, a heavyweight outfit with strong Congressional ties and traction, is also registered as a 501(c)(6), an IRS category intended to cover business leagues. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan America Alliance, an outfit chaired by former Indiana Rep. Dan Burton, is registered as a 501(c)(4) ‘social welfare organization’. This form of incorporation allows the Alliance to shield its donors from public view while it attempts to influence legislation and even participate in political campaigns and elections, including by supporting individual candidates.
Whether these groups need to register as “foreign agents” under US law is unclear. Azerbaijan America Alliance has formally registered. The Assembly of Friends has not, but says it will. The Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce has not registered, and there are no indications it plans to.
“Many non-profits are surprised to learn that there is no…exemption for non-profit, tax-exempt entities,” noted two legal experts following a 2010 scandal. “Penalties for failing to comply with… (lobbyist registration requirements) can include a fine of US$ 10,000 or imprisonment for up to five years.”
However, they hedge that it’s a challenge to figure out exactly what activities trigger the need to register, and that the Department of Justice gives little guidance about this.
Asked to comment on the specific case of the Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, one expert, Ed Wilson, concluded that the organization is very probably not obliged to register under current rules.
Media Outlets Aided Shaffer’s Efforts for Azerbaijan
Shaffer led the Caspian Studies Program until 2005. During her tenure, she wrote 14 op-eds for leading US and Israeli newspapers including the International Herald Tribune and the Jerusalem Post. Most called on American policy makers to pay more attention to the region. One exhorted the US to stop funding for disputed Nagorno-Karabakh.
In May 2006, journalist and lobbying expert Ken Silverstein dropped a bombshell in the form of a short piece entitled “Academics for Hire” in Harper’s Magazine. It accused prominent academics of performing “intellectual acrobatics on behalf of the [Caspian] region's rulers”. Shaffer was singled out for especially harsh criticism.
Silverstein highlighted the connection between Harvard and the Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, alleged that the Caspian Studies Program’s scholarship lacked intellectual integrity, and unearthed Shaffer’s 2001 plea to Congress to repeal sanctions against Azerbaijan.
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