The aim, he once explained, was a "vital self-assertion in a world in which nothing but the self remains, if that remains".
"It is vital for witnesses to be able to substantiate assertions made in evidence to this parliament".
One role for the new think-tank is to make an academic case for China's vaguely backed assertion that most of the strategically vital waters are within its domain despite rival claims by South-East Asian countries.
As that concentration of economic power continues apace, it's more vital than ever to dispute Silicon Valley oligarchs' self-aggrandising assertions that they follow in the footsteps of civil rights heroes.
One of the report's central assertions is that deterring terrorism has become vital to protecting the economy, and that corporate leaders should therefore join government in defending major industries like energy, pharmaceuticals, finance and transportation.
Contrary to assertions by House Republican leaders, charging the government with the vital law enforcement task of keeping terrorists off airplanes is hardly a controversial, left-wing notion.
Rosie Mestel, a vital guide on such issues, did a valuable piece that essentiallydismantles the assertions of the activists pushing the petition.
I don't think a vital culture develops out of passivity or retreat, but out of assertion and choice.
But he cannot be a new Nasser, despite his probable efforts at emulation and Nasser's daughter Hoda's assertion that he will be - except in one vital respect, which is that of military authoritarianism.
Never before has Congress' assertion into matters of war and peace been quite so vital as it is today, with American troops engaged and still dying in one undeclared war after another.
But in its re-assertion of the traditional aims and purposes of the arts, it leaves a vital element out.
