Council on Foreign Relations

{{short description|American think tank on foreign policy}}
{{Distinguish|United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|European Council on Foreign Relations}}
{{Use American English|date = August 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Council on Foreign Relations
| image = Council on Foreign Relations.svg
| abbreviation = CFR
| founded_date = {{Start date and age|1921}}
| type = [[Think tank]]
| headquarters = [[Harold Pratt House]], 58 East 68th Street, [[Manhattan]]
| location = [[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
| leader_title = President
| leader_name = [[Michael Froman]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.cfr.org/expert/michael-froman | title=Michael Froman}}</ref>
| leader_title2 = Chairman
| leader_name2 = [[David Rubenstein]]
| revenue = $102,605,000<ref name="FR 2022">[https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/131628168/202320239349301607/full Council On Foreign Relations Inc — 2022]. ''projects.propublica.org''.</ref>
| revenue_year = 2022
| expenses = $79,073,100<ref name="FR 2022"/>
| expenses_year = 2022
| website = {{URL|https://www.cfr.org|cfr.org}}
}}

The '''Council on Foreign Relations''' ('''CFR''') is an American [[think tank]] specializing in [[Foreign policy of the United States|U.S. foreign policy]] and [[international relations]]. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan [[nonprofit organization]]. CFR is based in [[New York City]], with an additional office in [[Washington, DC|Washington, D.C]]. Its [[Members of the Council on Foreign Relations|membership]] has included senior politicians, numerous [[United States Secretary of State|secretaries of state]], [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] directors, bankers, lawyers, professors, corporate directors and CEOs, and senior [[Mass media|media]] figures.

CFR meetings convene government officials, global business leaders and prominent members of the intelligence and foreign-policy communities to discuss international issues. CFR has published the bi-monthly journal ''[[Foreign Affairs]]'' since 1922. It also runs the [[David Rockefeller]] Studies Program, which makes recommendations to the presidential administration and [[Diplomacy|diplomatic]] community, testifies before [[United States Congress|Congress]], interacts with the media, and publishes research on foreign policy issues.

[[Richard N. Haass]] stepped down as company president in June 2023, with [[Michael Froman]] replacing him.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Council on Foreign Relations Announces Michael Froman Will Serve as New President |url=https://www.cfr.org/news-releases/council-foreign-relations-announces-michael-froman-will-serve-new-president |access-date=2023-07-02 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en}}</ref>

==History==
===Origins, 1918 to 1945===
[[File:Elihu Root, bw photo portrait, 1902.jpg|thumb|right|[[Elihu Root]] (1845–1937) served as the first honorary president (1921–1937) of the Council on Foreign Relations.<ref name=CFR/> (Pictured 1902, age 57).]]
In September 1917, near the end of [[World War I]], President [[Woodrow Wilson]] established a working fellowship of about 150 [[scholar]]s called "[[The Inquiry]]", tasked with briefing him about options for the postwar world after Germany was defeated. This academic group, directed by Wilson's closest adviser and long-time friend "Colonel" [[Edward M. House]], and with [[Walter Lippmann]] as Head of Research, met to assemble the strategy for the postwar world.<ref name=Shoup>{{cite book|author1=Shoup, Lawrence H. |author2=Minter, William |title=Imperial Brain Trust: The Council on Foreign Relations and United States Foreign Policy|url=https://archive.org/details/imperialbraintru0000shou|url-access=registration|publisher=Monthly Review Press|year=1977|isbn=0-85345-393-4}}</ref>{{rp|13–14}} 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.<ref name=Grose>{{cite book|author=Grose, Peter|title=Continuing the Inquiry: The Council on Foreign Relations from 1921 to 1996|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations Press|year=2006|isbn=0876091923|url=https://archive.org/details/continuinginquir0000gros|url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|1–5}}
[[File:DAVIS, JOHN W. HONORABLE LCCN2016857882.jpg|thumb|left|[[John W. Davis]] was the first elected CFR president<ref name=CFR/>]]

As a result of discussions at the Peace Conference, a small group of British and American diplomats and scholars met on May 30, 1919, at the [[Hotel Majestic (Paris)|Hotel Majestic]] in Paris. They decided to create an Anglo-American organization called "The Institute of International Affairs", which would have offices in London and New York.<ref name=Shoup/>{{rp|12}}<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|5}} Ultimately, the British and American delegates formed separate institutes, with the British developing the Royal Institute of International Affairs (known as [[Chatham House]]) in&nbsp;London. Due to the [[isolationist]] views prevalent in American society at that time, the scholars had difficulty gaining traction with their plan and turned their focus instead to a set of discreet meetings which had been taking place since June 1918 in New York City, under the name "Council on Foreign Relations". The meetings were headed by [[corporate lawyer]] [[Elihu Root]], who had served as [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] under President [[Theodore Roosevelt]], and attended by 108 "high-ranking officers of banking, manufacturing, trading and finance companies, together with many lawyers".

[[File:Paul Drennan Cravath.png|thumb|First CFR vice-president, attorney [[Paul Drennan Cravath]]]]
The members were proponents of Wilson's [[Internationalism (politics)|internationalism]], but they were particularly concerned about "the effect that the war and the treaty of peace might have on postwar business".<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|6–7}} The scholars from the inquiry saw an opportunity to create an organization that brought diplomats, high-level government officials, and [[Academy|academics]] together with lawyers, bankers, and [[Business magnate|industrialists]] to influence government policy. On July 29, 1921, they filed a certification of [[incorporation (association)|incorporation]], officially forming the Council on Foreign Relations.<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|8–9}} Founding members included its first honorary president, [[Elihu Root]], and first elected president, [[John W. Davis]], vice-president [[Paul D. Cravath]], and secretary–treasurer [[Edwin F. Gay]].<ref>[https://www.cfr.org/sites/default/files/pdf/cfrcentennialbook.pdf "The Council on Foreign Relations A Short History"] by George Gavrilis, Council on  Foreign Relations, 2021, page 10. Retrieved November 29, 2021. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130221730/https://www.cfr.org/sites/default/files/pdf/cfrcentennialbook.pdf |date=November 30, 2021 }}.</ref><ref name=CFR>[https://www.cfr.org/historical-roster-directors-and-officers "Directors and Officers"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209051526/https://www.cfr.org/historical-roster-directors-and-officers |date=December 9, 2021 }} cfr.org. Retrieved November 29, 2021.</ref>

[[File: Edwin Francis Gay in 1908.jpg|thumb|left|[[Harvard Business School]] economist [[Edwin Francis Gay|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 ({{Inflation|US|125000|1922|fmt=eq}}) 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".<ref name=Shoup/>{{rp|17–18}}

In the late 1930s, the [[Ford Foundation]] and [[Rockefeller Foundation]] began financially supporting the Council.<ref>{{Cite book|author=O'Brien, Thomas F.|title=The Century of U.S. Capitalism in Latin America|publisher=UNM Press|year=1999|isbn=9780826319968|pages=105–106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EMVF8jtZy0oC&pg=PA105}}</ref> 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".<ref name=Shoup/>{{rp|30–31}}

During the [[Second World War]], the Council achieved much greater prominence within the government and the [[State Department]], when it established the strictly confidential ''[[War and Peace Studies]]'', funded entirely by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]].<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|23}} The secrecy surrounding this group was such that the Council members who were not involved in its deliberations were completely unaware of the study group's existence.<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|26}} It was divided into four functional topic groups: economic and financial; security and [[armament]]s; territorial; and political. The security and armaments group was headed by [[Allen Welsh Dulles]], who later became a pivotal figure in the [[CIA]]'s predecessor, the [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS). CFR ultimately produced 682 memoranda for the State Department, which were marked [[classified information|classified]] and circulated among the appropriate government departments.<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|23–26}}

=== Cold War era, 1945 to 1979 ===
[[File:David Rockefeller - NARA - 195929 (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[David Rockefeller]] (1915–2017) joined the Council in 1941 and was appointed as a director in 1949.]]
A critical study found that of 502 government officials surveyed from 1945 to 1972, more than half were members of the Council.<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|48}} During the [[Eisenhower administration]] 40% of the top U.S. foreign policy officials were CFR members (Eisenhower himself had been a council member); under [[Truman Administration|Truman]], 42% of the top posts were filled by council members. During the [[Kennedy administration]], this number rose to 51%, and peaked at 57% under the [[Lyndon B. Johnson Administration|Johnson administration]].<ref name=Shoup/>{{rp|62–64}}

In an anonymous piece called "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" that appeared in ''Foreign Affairs'' in 1947, CFR study group member [[George F. Kennan|George Kennan]] coined the term "[[containment]]".  The essay would prove to be highly influential in US foreign policy for seven upcoming presidential administrations. Forty years later, Kennan explained that he had never suspected the Russians of any desire to launch an attack on America; he thought that it was obvious enough and he did not need to explain it in his essay. [[William Bundy]] credited CFR's study groups with helping to lay the framework of thinking that led to the [[Marshall Plan]] and [[NATO]]. Due to new interest in the group, membership grew towards 1,000.<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|35–39}}

[[File:Harold Pratt House 004.JPG|thumb|CFR Headquarters, located in the former [[Harold Pratt House]] in [[New York City]]]]
[[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] chaired a CFR study group while he served as President of [[Columbia University]]. One member later said, "whatever General Eisenhower knows about economics, he has learned at the study group meetings."<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|35–44}} The CFR study group devised an expanded study group called "Americans for Eisenhower" to increase his chances for the presidency. Eisenhower would later draw many Cabinet members from CFR ranks and become a CFR member himself. His primary CFR appointment was Secretary of State [[John Foster Dulles]].  Dulles gave a public address at the [[Harold Pratt House]] in New York City in which he announced a new direction for Eisenhower's foreign policy: "There is no local defense which alone will contain the mighty land power of the communist world. Local defenses must be reinforced by the further deterrent of massive retaliatory power." After this speech, the council convened a session on "Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy" and chose [[Henry Kissinger]] to head it. Kissinger spent the following academic year working on the project at Council headquarters. The book of the same name that he published from his research in 1957 gave him national recognition, topping the national bestseller lists.<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|39–41}}

CFR played an important role in the creation of the [[European Coal and Steel Community]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Ciappi |first=Enrico |date=2023 |title=A Reappraisal of the Origins of European Integration: From Wartime Planning to the Schuman Plan |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00220094231200453 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=676–696 |language=en |doi=10.1177/00220094231200453 |s2cid=262030757 |issn=0022-0094}}</ref> CFR promoted a blueprint of the ECSC and helped [[Jean Monnet]] promote the ESCS.<ref name=":0" />

On November 24, 1953, a study group heard a report from political scientist William Henderson regarding the ongoing conflict between [[France]] and Vietnamese Communist leader [[Ho Chi Minh]]'s [[Viet Minh]] forces, a struggle that would later become known as the [[First Indochina War]]. Henderson argued that Ho's cause was primarily [[nationalism|nationalist]] in nature and that Marxism had "little to do with the current revolution." Further, the report said, the United States could work with Ho to guide his movement away from Communism. State Department officials, however, expressed skepticism about direct American intervention in Vietnam and the idea was tabled. Over the next twenty years, the United States would find itself allied with anti-Communist [[South Vietnam]] and against Ho and his supporters in the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|40, 49–67}}

The Council served as a "breeding ground" for important American policies such as [[mutual deterrence]], [[arms control]], and [[nuclear non-proliferation]].<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|40–42}}

In 1962 the group began a program of bringing select Air Force officers to the Harold Pratt House to study alongside its scholars. The Army, Navy and Marine Corps requested they start similar programs for their own officers.<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|46}}

A four-year-long study of [[China–United States relations|relations between America and China]] was conducted by the Council between 1964 and 1968. One study published in 1966 concluded that American citizens were more open to talks with China than their elected leaders. Henry Kissinger had continued to publish in ''Foreign Affairs'' and was appointed by President [[Richard Nixon]] to serve as [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Adviser]] in 1969. In 1971, he embarked on a secret trip to Beijing to broach talks with Chinese leaders. Nixon went to China in 1972, and diplomatic relations were completely normalized by [[Jimmy Carter|President Carter]]'s Secretary of State, another Council member, [[Cyrus Vance]].<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|42–44}}

The Vietnam War created a rift within the organization. When [[Hamilton Fish Armstrong]] announced in 1970 that he would be leaving the helm of ''Foreign Affairs'' after 45 years, new chairman [[David Rockefeller]] approached a family friend, [[William Bundy]], to take over the position. Anti-war advocates within the Council rose in protest against this appointment, claiming that Bundy's hawkish record in the State and Defense Departments and the CIA precluded him from taking over an independent journal. Some considered Bundy a [[war criminal]] for his prior actions.<ref name=Grose/>{{rp|50–51}}

In November 1979, while chairman of CFR, David Rockefeller became embroiled in an international incident when he and Henry Kissinger, along with [[John J. McCloy]] and Rockefeller aides, persuaded President Jimmy Carter through the State Department to admit the Shah of Iran, [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], into the US for hospital treatment for [[lymphoma]]. This action directly precipitated what is known as the [[Iran hostage crisis]] and placed Rockefeller under intense media scrutiny (particularly from ''[[The New York Times]]'') for the first time in his public life.<ref>[[Murray Rothbard|Rothbard, Murray]], [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/ir/Ch27.html Why the War? The Kuwait Connection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205132652/http://archive.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/ir/Ch27.html |date=February 5, 2016 }} (May 1991)</ref><ref>Scrutiny by NYT over the Shah of Iran – David Rockefeller, ''Memoirs'' (pp. 356–75)</ref>

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 [[Zbigniew Brzezinski|Brzezinski]] seem to be adopting this as a joint project".<ref>{{cite book|last=Carter|first=Jimmy|title=White House Diary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IDKNVdWVMlEC|year=2010|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-1-4299-9065-3|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IDKNVdWVMlEC&pg=PA312 312]}}</ref>

==Membership==
{{stack|
[[File:Richard Haass and Steve Coll (3531761594) (cropped).jpg|thumb|President Emeritus [[Richard N. Haass]] (2009, age 57)]]
[[File:Dmitry Medvedev with Madeleine Albright-1.jpg|thumb|[[Madeleine Albright]] with Russian President [[Dmitry Medvedev]]]]
[[File:Secretary Clinton Delivers Remarks on American Leadership (8433287729).jpg|thumb|Richard N. Haass with [[Hillary Clinton]]]]
}}

{{Main article|Members of the Council on Foreign Relations}}
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.<ref>[https://www.cfr.org/membership/individual-membership "Individual Membership"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917153014/https://www.cfr.org/membership/individual-membership |date=September 17, 2020 }} CFR.org</ref>

Corporate membership (250 in total) 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cfr.org/content/about/annual_report/ar_2006/11_corporate_044-047.pdf |title=Corporate Program |access-date=February 25, 2007 |archive-date=June 16, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616100051/http://www.cfr.org/content/about/annual_report/ar_2006/11_corporate_044-047.pdf |url-status=live }}&nbsp;{{small|(330&nbsp;KB)}} CFR.org</ref>

The CFR has a Young Professionals Briefing Series designed for young leaders interested in international relations to be eligible for term membership.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cfr.org/event-series/young-professionals-briefing-series |title=Young Professionals Briefing Series |access-date=February 7, 2024 |archive-date=November 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129062037/https://www.cfr.org/event-series/young-professionals-briefing-series |url-status=live }}&nbsp;{{small|(330&nbsp;KB)}} CFR.org</ref>

Women were excluded from membership until the 1960s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rietzler |first=Katharina |date=2022 |title=U.S. Foreign Policy Think Tanks and Women's Intellectual Labor, 1920–1950 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhac015 |journal=Diplomatic History |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=575–601 |doi=10.1093/dh/dhac015 |issn=0145-2096}}</ref>

==Board members==
Members of CFR's board of directors include:<ref name="Officers and Directors">{{cite web|url=https://www.cfr.org/board-directors|title=Board of Directors|website=Council on Foreign Relations|access-date=2019-10-10|archive-date=November 13, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113143900/https://www.cfr.org/board-directors|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[David M. Rubenstein]] (Chairman) – Cofounder and Co-Chief Executive Officer, [[The Carlyle Group]]. Regent of the [[Smithsonian Institution]], chairman of the board for [[Duke University]], co-chair of the board at the [[Brookings Institution]], and president of the [[The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.|Economic Club of Washington]]
* [[Blair Effron]] (Vice Chairman) – Cofounder, [[Centerview Partners]]
* [[Jami Miscik]] (Vice Chairman) – 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]]. She currently serves on the boards of EMC Corporation, [[In-Q-Tel]] and the American Ditchley Foundation, and is a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. Before entering the private sector, she had a twenty-year career as an [[intelligence officer]], including a stint as the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s Deputy Director for Intelligence (2002–2005), and as the Director for Intelligence Programs at the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] (1995–1996)
* [[Richard N. Haass]] (President Emeritus) – Former State Department director of policy planning and lead U.S. official on Afghanistan and Northern Ireland (2001–2003), and principal Middle East adviser to President [[George H. W. Bush|George H.W. Bush]] (1989–1993)
*[[Thad Allen|Thad W. Allen]] − Chair, National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board, [[NASA]]
*[[Sylvia Mathews Burwell]] – President, [[American University]]. Former [[United States Secretary of Health and Human Services]] (2014–2017) under President [[Barack Obama]]
* [[Kenneth Chenault|Kenneth I. Chenault]] − Chairman and Managing Director, [[General Catalyst]]
*[[Cesar Conde]] – Chairman, [[NBCUniversal Television and Streaming|NBCUniversal News Group]]
* [[James P. Gorman]] – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, [[Morgan Stanley]]
* [[Stephen Hadley]] – Principal, RiceHadley Gates. He was the 21st [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]]
*[[Margaret Hamburg|Margaret (Peggy) Hamburg]] − Foreign Secretary, [[National Academy of Medicine]]
* [[Laurene Powell Jobs]] – Founder and President, [[Emerson Collective]]
*[[Jeh Johnson|Jeh Charles Johnson]] − Partner, [[Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison|Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP]]. Former [[United States Secretary of Homeland Security|Homeland Security Secretary]] (2013–2017) under President [[Barack Obama]]
* [[William H. McRaven]] – Professor of National Security, [[Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs]], [[University of Texas at Austin|The University of Texas at Austin]]
* [[Janet Napolitano]] – Professor of Public Policy, [[Goldman School of Public Policy]], [[University of California, Berkeley]], former [[United States Attorney|U.S. Attorney]] (1993–1997), [[Arizona Attorney General|Attorney General of Arizona]] (1999–2003), [[List of Governors of Arizona|Governor of Arizona]] (2003–2009), and [[President of the United States|President]] [[Barack Obama]]'s first [[United States Secretary of Homeland Security|Homeland Security Secretary]] (2009–2013)
*[[Meghan O'Sullivan|Meghan L. O'Sullivan]] − Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, [[John F. Kennedy School of Government|Harvard Kennedy School]]
*[[Deven Parekh|Deven J. Parekh]] – Managing Director, [[Insight Partners]]
*[[Charles Phillips (businessman)|Charles Phillips]] − Managing Partner and Cofounder, Recognize
*[[Richard Plepler|Richard L. Plepler]] – Chief Executive Officer, Eden Productions
*[[Ruth Porat]] – Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, [[Alphabet Inc.|Alphabet]] and [[Google]]
*[[Frances Townsend|Frances Fragos Townsend]] − Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, [[Activision Blizzard]]
*Tracey T. Travis – Executive Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer, [[The Estée Lauder Companies|Estée Lauder Companies]]
* [[Daniel Yergin]] – Vice Chairman, [[IHS Markit]]
* [[Fareed Zakaria]] – Host, CNN's ''[[Fareed Zakaria GPS]]''. Editor at large of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine, and regular columnist for ''[[The Washington Post]]''. From 2000 to 2010, Zakaria was the editor of ''[[Newsweek International]]'', and managing editor of ''Foreign Affairs'' from 1992 to 2000

==As a charity==
The council received a three star rating (out of four stars) from [[Charity Navigator]] in fiscal year 2016, as measured by their analysis of the council's financial data and "accountability and transparency".<ref name=CharityNav>{{cite web|author1=Charity Navigator|title=Council on Foreign Relations – A nonpartisan resource for information and analysis|url=http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3580#.VWAShUaGOT8|publisher=[[Charity Navigator]]|access-date=May 23, 2015|archive-date=July 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170713082308/https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3580#.VWAShUaGOT8|url-status=live}}</ref>

==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".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Harwood |first1=Richard |title=Ruling Class Journalists |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1993/10/30/ruling-class-journalists/761e7bf8-025d-474e-81cb-92dcf271571e/ |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=5 June 2023 |date=30 October 1993}}</ref>

In 2019, CFR was criticized for accepting a donation from [[Len Blavatnik]], a Ukrainian-born billionaire with close links to [[Vladimir Putin]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Haldevang |first=Max de |date=2019-10-16 |title=Top US think tank criticized for taking $12 million from a Russia-tied oligarch |url=https://qz.com/1721240/council-of-foreign-relations-criticized-for-russia-tied-donation |access-date=2023-08-04 |website=Quartz |language=en}}</ref> It 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's president, Richard N. Haass. <blockquote>"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&nbsp;... has close ties to the Kremlin and its kleptocratic network—to launder his image in the West."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Friedman|first=Dan|title=A Soviet-born billionaire is buying influence at US institutions. Anti-corruption activists are worried.|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/council-on-foreign-relations-leonard-blavatnik-russia/|access-date=2021-09-20|website=[[Mother Jones (magazine)|Mother Jones]]|archive-date=September 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920213116/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/council-on-foreign-relations-leonard-blavatnik-russia/|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

==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.<ref name=Prespage>{{cite web |url=http://www.cfr.org/about/ |title=President's Welcome |access-date=2007-02-24 |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations |archive-date=July 17, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717190718/http://www.cfr.org/about/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
*''The United States in World Affairs'' (annual)<ref name=civ>[[Harold Tobin|Tobin, Harold J.]] & Bidwell, Percy W.  [https://archive.org/download/ldpd_11345811_000/ldpd_11345811_000.pdf "Publications of the Council on Foreign Relations." ''Mobilizing Civilian America'']. Council on Foreign Relations, 1940.</ref>
*''Political Handbook of the World'' (annual)<ref name=civ/>

===Books===
* [[Harold Tobin|Tobin, Harold J.]] & Bidwell, Percy W. [https://archive.org/download/ldpd_11345811_000/ldpd_11345811_000.pdf ''Mobilizing Civilian America'']. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1940.
* [[Ruth Savord|Savord, Ruth]]. [https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.74200/2015.74200.American-Agencies-Interested-In-International-Affairs.pdf ''American Agencies Interested in International Affairs'']. Council on Foreign Relations, 1942.
* [[A. Doak Barnett|Barnett, A. Doak]]. [https://archive.org/details/communistchinaan013656mbp ''Communist China and Asia: Challenge To American Policy'']. New York: [[Harper & Brothers]], 1960. {{LCCN|605956}}
* Bundy, William P. (ed.). [https://archive.org/details/twohundredyearso00bund ''Two Hundred Years of American Foreign Policy.''] [[New York University Press]], 1977. {{ISBN|978-0814709900}}
* Clough, Michael. [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_-74AV_A24k4C ''Free at Last? U.S. Policy Toward Africa and the End of the Cold War'']. New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0876091001}}
* Mandelbaum, Michael. [https://archive.org/download/bub_gb_-74AV_A24k4C/bub_gb_-74AV_A24k4C.pdf ''The Rise of Nations in the Soviet Union: American Foreign Policy and the Disintegration of the USSR.''] New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1991. {{ISBN|978-0876091005}}
* Gottlieb, Gidon. [https://archive.org/download/bub_gb_hBw49OofkEkC/bub_gb_hBw49OofkEkC.pdf ''Nation Against State: A New Approach to Ethnic Conflicts and the Decline of Sovereignty.''] New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1993. {{ISBN|0876091591}}

===Reports===
* "Confronting Reality in Cyberspace: Foreign Policy for a Fragmented Internet"<ref>[https://www.cfr.org/report/confronting-reality-in-cyberspace "Confronting Reality in Cyberspace: Foreign Policy for a Fragmented Internet"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808020518/https://www.cfr.org/report/confronting-reality-in-cyberspace |date=August 8, 2022 }} Council on Foreign Relations, May 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022.</ref><ref>[https://www.cfr.org/blog/how-should-us-cybersecurity-policy-develop "How Should U.S. Cybersecurity Policy Develop?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814042847/https://www.cfr.org/blog/how-should-us-cybersecurity-policy-develop |date=August 14, 2022 }} Adam Segal, Council on Foreign Relations, July 14, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022.</ref> recommends reconsideration of U.S. cyber, digital trade and online freedom policies which champion a free and open internet, as having failed.<ref>[https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jul/15/council-on-foreign-relations-says-us-internet-poli/ "Council on Foreign Relations says U.S. internet policy has failed, urges new approach"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808215342/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/jul/15/council-on-foreign-relations-says-us-internet-poli/ |date=August 8, 2022 }} Ryan Lovelace,''The Washington Times'', July 15, 2022. Retrieved August 7, 2022. (No. 80 updated: July 2022.)</ref>
* ''[https://www.cfr.org/task-force-report/us-taiwan-relations-in-a-new-era 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==
* [[Members of the Council on Foreign Relations]]
*

== Citations ==
{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}

== General and cited sources==
* 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 Macmillan|Palgrave]].
* {{cite book|author=Schulzinger, Robert D.|title=The Wise Men of Foreign Affairs|url=https://archive.org/details/wisemenofforeign0000schu|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|year=1984|isbn=0231055285}}
* {{Cite book|author=Wala, Michael|title=The Council on Foreign Relations and American Foreign Policy in the Early Cold War|location=Providence, RI|publisher=Berghann Books|year=1994|isbn=157181003X}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box}}
* {{Official website|http://www.cfr.org/}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/item/lcwa00089000/ Archived website] at [[Library of Congress]] (2001–2018)
* {{Curlie|Regional/North_America/United_States/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Policy_Institutes/Council_on_Foreign_Relations/}}
* [https://findingaids.princeton.edu/catalog/MC104 Council on Foreign Relations Papers] at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20091208080843/http://www.cfr.org/publication/publication_list.html?groupby=4&type=interactive&filter=12 "Multimedia Crisis Guides"]
* {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/CouncilOnForeignRelations |publisher= FBI |work= File |title= Council on Foreign Relations |id=62-5256 |date= August 27, 1931 }}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:1921 establishments in New York City]]
[[Category:Foreign policy and strategy think tanks in the United States]]
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[[Category:Think tanks established in 1921]]
[[Category:Realist think tanks]]
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