A Legendary Think Tank Shows Its Age

As guests dined on tea-smoked quail at a party in Washington last month, Lieutenant General Douglas E. Lute, President Barack Obama's coordinator for Afghanistan policy, stood to offer praise for a new report. "All of us, and certainly those of us in the Administration, should take this glossy little book home and look at it carefully," Lute said of the study, which advocates negotiating with the Taliban. It was published by the Century Foundation, the New York-based policy institute and host of the dinner.

The Mar. 22 event was a bright moment for a once-prominent think tank that has lost money and prestige in recent years. The foundation, where economist John Kenneth Galbraith and physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer once served as trustees, has been eclipsed by more aggressive peers and has put its Upper East Side townhouse on the market for $30 million. It's looking to replace its president, Richard C. Leone, who's retiring after 22 years.