Ben Freeman is Director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute. He investigates money in politics, defense spending, and foreign influence in America. He is the author of The Foreign Policy Auction, which was the first book to systematically analyze the foreign influence industry in the United States. Before joining the Quincy Institute, Ben founded the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, served as Deputy Director of the National Security program at Third Way, and was a National Security Fellow at the Project On Government Oversight. At the latter, he spear-headed creation of the “Foreign Influence Database,” a repository of propaganda distributed by foreign agents that was previously unavailable online.
Ben earned a PhD from Texas A&M University, where he taught in the Political Science Department and the Bush School of Government and Public Service. He is currently a faculty member at the Institute for Defense and Business, where he teaches seminars on the defense budget process and the foreign influence industry.
His work has appeared in numerous media outlets, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and Politico. Ben has appeared on CNN, BBC, NPR, Fresh Air with Terry Gross and numerous other media outlets. He has also testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
