National Endowment for Democracy (NED)

The NED was co-founded in 1983 by Mark Palmer, and kickstarted through the Reagan administration’s National Security Decision Directive 77 from the same year. Among foreign governments and commentators, the NED is widely considered to be either a front for existing US intelligence agencies or a new wing of US intelligence — in either case, providing funding and public relations support for US foreign operations such as regime change, coups, espionage, or training for US-supported groups.