Council on Foreign Relations

Origins, 1918 to 1945 (1845–1937) served as the first honorary president (1921–1937) of the Council on Foreign Relations. The team produced more than 2,000 documents detailing and analyzing the political, economic, and social facts globally that would be helpful for Wilson in the peace talks. Their reports formed the basis for the Fourteen Points, which outlined Wilson's strategy for peace after the war's end. These scholars then traveled to the Paris Peace Conference 1919 and participated in the discussions there. was the first elected CFR president. economist Edwin F. Gay, 1908 In 1922, Gay, who was a former dean of the Harvard Business School and director of the Shipping Board during the war, headed the Council's efforts to begin publication of a magazine that would be the "authoritative" source on foreign policy. He gathered US$125,000 () from the wealthy members on the council, as well as by sending letters soliciting funds to "the thousand richest Americans". Using these funds, the first issue of Foreign Affairs was published in September 1922. Within a few years, it had gained a reputation as the "most authoritative American review dealing with international relations". In 1938, they created various Committees on Foreign Relations, which later became governed by the American Committees on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., throughout the country, funded by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation. Influential men were to be chosen in a number of cities, and would then be brought together for discussions in their own communities as well as participating in an annual conference in New York. These local committees served to influence local leaders and shape public opinion to build support for the Council's policies, while also acting as "useful listening posts" through which the Council and U.S. government could "sense the mood of the country". CFR promoted a blueprint of the ECSC and helped Jean Monnet promote the ESCS. In his book, White House Diary, Carter wrote of the affair, "April 9 [1979] David Rockefeller came in, apparently to induce me to let the shah come to the United States. Rockefeller, Kissinger, and Brzezinski seem to be adopting this as a joint project". ==Membership==

{{stack The CFR has two types of membership: life membership; and term membership, which lasts for 5 years and is available only to those between the ages of 30 and 36. Only U.S. citizens (native born or naturalized) and permanent residents who have applied for U.S. citizenship are eligible. A candidate for life membership must be nominated in writing by one Council member and seconded by a minimum of three others. Visiting fellows are prohibited from applying for membership until they have completed their fellowship tenure. Corporate membership is divided into "Associates", "Affiliates", "President's Circle", and "Founders". All corporate executive members have opportunities to hear speakers, including foreign heads of state, chairmen and CEOs of multinational corporations, and U.S. officials and Congressmen. President and premium members are also entitled to attend small, private dinners or receptions with senior American officials and world leaders. The CFR has a Young Professionals Briefing Series designed for young leaders interested in international relations to be eligible for term membership. Women were excluded from membership until the 1960s. ==Board members==

members of CFR's board of directors include: • David M. Rubenstein (chairman) – cofounder and co-chief executive officer, The Carlyle Group, regent of the Smithsonian Institution, chairman of the board of Duke University, co-chair of the board at the Brookings Institution, president of the Economic Club of Washington, and owner of the Baltimore Orioles. • Blair Effron (vice chairman) – cofounder, Centerview Partners • Jami Miscik (vice chairman) – senior advisor at Lazard Geopolitical Advisory and chief executive officer of Global Strategic Insights; former chief executive officer and vice chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc. Ms. Miscik served as the global head of sovereign risk at Lehman Brothers. She also serves as a senior advisor to Barclays Capital • Michael Froman (president) – former vice chairman and president, strategic growth, at Mastercard; former U.S. trade representative (2013–2017) under President Barack Obama • Nicholas F. Beim − partner at Venrock • Afsaneh Mashayekhi Beschloss − founder and chief executive officer, RockCreek • Margaret Brennan − moderator, Face the Nation; chief foreign affairs correspondent, CBS News • Sylvia Mathews Burwell – president, American University; former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (2014–2017) under President Barack Obama • Kenneth I. Chenault − chairman and managing director, General Catalyst • Tony Coles − executive chairman, Cerevel Therapeutics; co-founder and co-chair of the Black Economic Alliance • Cesar Conde – chairman, NBCUniversal News Group • Thomas Donilon • Michèle Flournoy – cofounder and managing partner, WestExec Advisors; cofounder, former chief executive officer, and now chair of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) • Jane Fraser – chief executive officer, Citi • Stephen Freidheim – chief investment officer, founder, managing partner, Cyrus Capital Partners L.P. • James P. Gorman – executive chairman, Morgan Stanley • Margaret (Peggy) Hamburg − former US FDA commissioner; former foreign secretary, National Academy of Medicine • William Hurd − former U.S. representative for Texas's 23rd congressional district (2015−2021); former CIA clandestine officer • Charles R. Kaye − chief executive officer, Warburg Pincus • Christopher Liddell • William H. McRaven – professor of national security, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, The University of Texas at Austin • Justin Muzinich – chief executive officer, Muzinich & Company; former U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (2018–2021) • Janet Napolitano – professor of public policy, Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley, former U.S. Attorney (1993–1997), Attorney General of Arizona (1999–2003), Governor of Arizona (2003–2009), and President Barack Obama's first Homeland Security Secretary (2009–2013) • Meghan L. O'Sullivan − director of Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School • Deven J. Parekh – managing director, Insight Partners • Charles Phillips − managing partner and cofounder, Recognize • Richard L. Plepler – founder and chief executive officer, Eden Productions • Ruth Porat – president, chief investment officer, and chief financial officer, Alphabet and Google • Laurene Powell Jobs • L. Rafael Reif – president emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology • Mariko Silver – president and chief executive officer, The Henry Luce Foundation; former president, Bennington College • James D. Taiclet – chairman, president, and chief executive officer, Lockheed Martin; associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics • Linda Thomas-Greenfield • Frances Fragos Townsend − executive vice president of corporate affairs, corporate secretary, chief compliance officer, Activision Blizzard • Tracey T. Travis – executive vice president of finance and chief financial officer, Estée Lauder Companies • Fareed Zakaria – host, CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS; columnist for the Washington Post, contributing editor for the Atlantic; former managing editor of Foreign Affairs (1992–2000) • Amy Zegart – Morris Arnold and Nona Jean Cox senior fellow at the Hoover Institution ==As a charity==

The Council on Foreign Relations received a three-star rating (out of four stars) from Charity Navigator in fiscal year 2016, as measured by an analysis of the council's financial data and "accountability and transparency". In fiscal year 2023, the council received a four-star rating (98 percent) from Charity Navigator. ==Reception==

In an article for The Washington Post, Richard Harwood described the membership of the CFR as "the nearest thing we have to a ruling establishment in the United States". The CFR has been criticized for its perceived elitism and influence over U.S. foreign policy, with detractors arguing that it serves as a networking hub for government officials, corporate executives, and media figures, reinforcing an establishment consensus that prioritizes globalist policies over national interests. In 2019, CFR was criticized for accepting a donation from Len Blavatnik, a Ukrainian-born billionaire with close links to Vladimir Putin. The council was reported to be under fire from its own members and dozens of international affairs experts over its acceptance of a $12 million gift to fund an internship program. Fifty-five international relations scholars and Russia experts wrote a letter to the organization's board and CFR president Richard N. Haass: "It is our considered view that Blavatnik uses his 'philanthropy'—funds obtained by and with the consent of the Kremlin, at the expense of the state budget and the Russian people—at leading western academic and cultural institutions to advance his access to political circles. We regard this as another step in the longstanding effort of Mr. Blavatnik—who ... has close ties to the Kremlin and its kleptocratic network—to launder his image in the West." Critics have accused the CFR of promoting interventionist foreign policies, stating that its reports and recommendations have often supported U.S. military interventions and regime-change efforts. Some opponents say that its influence contributes to a bipartisan consensus that favors global military engagement, economic neoliberalism, and the interests of multinational corporations. ==Publications==

Periodicals Foreign Affairs • The council publishes the international affairs magazine Foreign Affairs. It also establishes independent task forces, which bring together various experts to produce reports offering both findings and policy prescriptions on foreign policy topics. CFR has sponsored more than fifty reports, including the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America that published report No. 53, entitled Building a North American Community, in May 2005. • The United States in World Affairs (annual) • Political Handbook of the World (annual) recommends reconsideration of U.S. cyber, digital trade and online freedom policies which champion a free and open internet, as having failed. • US-Taiwan Relations in a New Era - Responding to a More Assertive China, Independent Task Force Report No. 81, co-chaired by Susan M. Gordon and Michael G. Mullen, directed by David Sacks. ==See also==

• Shoup, Laurence and Minter, William (1977). Imperial Brain Trust: the Council on Foreign Relations and United States Foreign Policy. New York: Monthly Review Press. • Parmar, Inderjeet (2004). Think Tanks and Power in Foreign Policy: A Comparative Study of the Role and Influence of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1939−1945. London: Palgrave. • • • Grose, Peter (2006). Continuing the Inquiry: the Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996. New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press. ==External links==