Overview

The Slade Gorton International Policy Center was established in January 2010 to honor the living legacy of Senator Gorton's more than six decades of public service to Washington State and the nation. The Gorton Center is headquartered in the offices of The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) in Seattle, WA. The Gorton Center will have three research priorities. First, the Gorton Center will incorporate and build on ongoing NBR initiatives to sponsor research in economics and trade, energy security, energy and the environment, and other important issues. Second, the Gorton Center will build on NBR’s robust program of terrorism-related studies and leverage Slade’s work as the first permanently appointed member of the 9/11 Commission to address how the United States is organized to meet the difficult intelligence questions of our time. Third, the Gorton Center will embark on a new initiative in keeping with Senator Gorton’s—and Senator Scoop Jackson’s—passion for encouraging the pursuit of freedom, democracy, security, and prosperity throughout the world. Underscoring the proposition that open societies, rule of law, and vigilant defense are essential to a peaceful, just, and prosperous future, the Gorton Center will seek to understand the nexus of freedom and security in an Asian context. Senator Gorton maintains his office in the Gorton Center and, in addition to advising its work, provides extensive one-on-one time with students in the Global Leaders and Fellows Mentorship Program, which trains our next generation of leaders in U.S. Senator Slade Gorton's principled and bipartisan approach to solving complex policy issues.