"Obama and Congress Suffer Democratic Discontent" Good Progressive Watch from "Bloomberg Politics"

[KoKo]

12. "Council on Foreign Relations" Here:

(We use so many acronyms these days it gets confusing. You probably already know this...but, maybe others will find it interesting)


Council on Foreign Relations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Committee on Foreign Relations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_on_Foreign_Relations


The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), founded in 1921, is a United States nonprofit, 4900 member organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs. Its membership has included senior politicians, more than a dozen Secretaries of State, CIA directors, bankers, lawyers, professors, and senior media figures.

The CFR regularly convenes meetings at which government officials, global business leaders and prominent members of the intelligence/foreign-policy community discuss major international issues. It publishes the bi-monthly journal Foreign Affairs, and runs a think tank called the "David Rockefeller Studies Program", which influences foreign policy by making recommendations to the presidential administration and diplomatic community, testifying before Congress, interacting with the media, and authoring books, reports, articles, and op-eds on foreign policy issues.

The CFR is headquartered in New York City, with an additional office in Washington, D.C..

Current Board Members

Carla A. Hills (Co-Chairman) -- Chairman and CEO, Hills & Company International Consultants. She also currently serves on the board of Gilead Sciences, Inc. and on the international board of J.P. Morgan Chase, and a member of the Secretary of State's Foreign Policy Advisory Board. Hills was formerly the U.S. trade representative (1989–93) under George H.W. Bush and secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development under Gerald Ford.

Robert E. Rubin (Co-Chairman) -- Former U.S. Secretary of Treasury. Rubin formerly spent decades as a high-level executive at Goldman Sachs, as well as serving on the board of Citigroup. He was the first director of the National Economic Council, and served as President Bill Clinton's assistant on economic policy.

David M. Rubenstein (Vice Chairman) -- Cofounder and Managing Director, The Carlyle Group. Regent of the Smithsonian Institution, vice chairman of the board for Duke University and the Brookings Institution, and president of the Economic Club of Washington

Richard N. Haass (President) -- 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 (1989–93).

John P. Abizaid -- Senior Partner, JPA Partners LLC. Former General in U.S. Army, who was the longest serving commander for CENTCOM. Chair of West Point's Combating Terrorism Center. Member of the board of directors of the Fortune 500 United Services Automobile Association (USAA) and holding company RPM International

Peter Ackerman -- Managing Director, Rockport Capital, Inc. Member of the executive council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Madeleine K. Albright -- Chair, Albright Stonebridge Group LLC and former U.S. Secretary of State (1997-2001). Currently serves on the U.S. Defense Department's Defense Policy Board.

Zoë Baird -- President, The Markle Foundation. Appointed to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1994-2000), the G-8 Heads of State Digital Opportunity Task Force (2000-2002), the Congressional Commission on the Roles and Capabilities of the U.S. Intelligence Community (1995), the Secretary of Defense's Technology and Policy Advisory Committee (2003-2004), and the NSA Advisory Board Cyber Awareness and Response Panel (2010-2011). Baird was the senior vice president and general counsel of Aetna (1990-1996) and associate counsel to the president (1980-1981).

Alan S. Blinder -- Gordon S. Rentschler Memorial Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Princeton University. Blinder was vice chairman of the Federal Reserve Board (1994-1996), and a member of President Clinton's original Council of Economic Advisers (1993-1994). He is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee and the Bellagio Group, and a former governor of the American Stock Exchange.

Mary Boies -- Managing Partner, Boies & McInnis LLP, also on the board of the Center for International Studies, International Rescue Committee, Business Executives for National Security, and the dean's executive committee at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. She has served as a member of the board of directors of MBNA Corporation and MBNA Bank. She was general counsel for the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board, vice president of CBS Inc., assistant director of the White House Domestic Policy Staff, and counsel to the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee.

David G. Bradley -- Chairman, Atlantic Media Company. Founder of the Advisory Board Company and Corporate Executive Board. Member of the board of the New America Foundation.

Tom Brokaw -- Special Correspondent, NBC News, from 1983 to 2004, anchor and managing editor of "NBC Nightly News", has won two Peabody awards and several Emmy, Overseas Press Club, and National Headliner awards.

R. Nicholas Burns -- Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics, Harvard Kennedy School. Former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (2005-2008), also U.S. ambassador to NATO for President George W. Bush and to Greece for President Clinton, as well as serving as state department spokesman for Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright. He worked at the National Security Council 1990-95 on Soviet/Russian affairs for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

Steven A. Denning -- Chairman, General Atlantic,on the Board of Thomson-Reuters. Chairman of the board of trustees of Stanford University and co-chair of the board of directors of The Nature Conservancy. Trustee emeritus of The Brookings Institution.

Martin S. Feldstein -- President Emeritus, National Bureau of Economic Research. Former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (1982-1984) and chief economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan. President of the American Economic Association in 2004. Member of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under President George W. Bush (2006). Member of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board under President Barack Obama (2009).

Stephen Friedman -- Chairman, Stone Point Capital. Friedman served (2002-2004) as assistant to President George W. Bush for economic policy and as director of the National Economic Council, chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, the Intelligence Oversight Board, Goldman Sachs, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and of the board of trustees of Columbia University.

Ann M. Fudge -- Former chairman and CEO of marketing compang Young & Rubicam Brands. She previously served as president of the Beverages, Desserts and Post Division, a $5 billion unit of Kraft Foods. Before joining General Foods, she spent nine years at General Mills. She serves as chair of the U.S. Programs Advisory Board of the Gates Foundation, as a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Brookings Institution, and as a member of the finance committee of the Harvard Corporation. She also serves on the board of directors of General Electric, Novartis], Unilever, and Infosys.

Pamela Gann --Trustee Professor of Legal Studies and George R. Roberts Fellow, and Senior Fellow of the Kravis Leadership Institute, Claremont McKenna College. Former President of Claremont McKenna College and Dean of Duke University School of Law

Thomas H. Glocer -- Former CEO of Reuters. Glocer also serves on the board of Merck & Co., Inc., Morgan Stanley, and K2 Intelligence. He is also a member of the Business Council and the Atlantic Council International advisory board.

Peter B. Henry -- Dean, Stern School of Business. Also a member of the boards of Kraft Foods and the National Bureau of Economic Research and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

J. Tomilson Hill -- Vice Chairman, The Blackstone Group. President and CEO of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM). Formerly an executive specializing in mergers and acquisitions at First Boston and Smith Barney, he later joined Lehman Brothers as a partner, where he was the head of their investment banking division.

Donna J. Hrinak -- President, Boeing Brazil, The Boeing Company. Hrinak was formerly the vice president of global public policy and government affairs at PepsiCo, Inc., and also served as U.S. ambassador to four countries: Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic, and as deputy assistant secretary of state for Mexico and the Caribbean.

Shirley Ann Jackson -- President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Jackson was appointed to serve on President Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2009), and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed her to the International Security Advisory Board to the Department of State (2011). She was formerly chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (1995–1999). Dr. Jackson is a trustee of the Brookings Institution, a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, and a member of the executive committee of the Council on Competitiveness. She also serves on the board of directors of NYSE Euronext, IBM, FedEx, Marathon Oil, Medtronic, and PSEG.

Muhtar Kent -- Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company. Kent is chairman of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center's CEO Council on Health and Innovation, a fellow of the Foreign Policy Association, a member of the Business Roundtable, former co-chair of The Consumer Goods Forum, a past chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council, and chairman emeritus of the U.S. ASEAN Business Council. He also serves on the boards of 3M, Special Olympics International, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Catalyst, and Emory University.

Jami Miscik -- President 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 Director for National Intelligence (2002-2005), and as the director for intelligence programs at the National Security Council (1995-1996).

James W. Owens -- Chairman and CEO Emeritus, Caterpillar Inc.. Owens is also a director of Alcoa Inc., IBM Corporation, and Morgan Stanley. He was a member of President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board from 2009-2010, and is currently a member of the board of trustees of North Carolina State University.

Eduardo J. Padrón -- President, Miami Dade College. Dr. Padrón is a past board chair of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and of the American Council on Education. He also serves on the boards of the Business-Higher Education Forum, the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center, and the International Association of University Presidents. Padrón also previously served on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

Peter G. Peterson -- Chairman, Peter G. Peterson Foundation. He is chairman emeritus and co-founder of the Blackstone Group. Peterson was formerly the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (2000-2004), chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers (1973 –1984), and chairman and CEO of Bell and Howell Corporation (1963-1971). Under President Richard Nixon, Peterson was appointed as assistant to the president for international economic affairs (1971) and then Secretary of Commerce(1972).

Ruth Porat -- Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Morgan Stanley. Porat is also a member of the U.S. Treasury's Borrowing Advisory Committee. She is vice chair of Stanford University's board of trustees, a member of the board of trustees of the Economic Club of New York, a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, and a member of the business committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Colin L. Powell -- Former four-star General in the United States Army and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor for Ronald Reagan (1987–1989), U.S. Secretary of State (2001-2005). Powell also serves on the board of Bloom Energy.

Frederick W. Smith -- Chairman, President, and CEO, Federal Express Corporation. Currently a member of the Business Roundtable, the Business Council, and is co-chairman of the Energy Security Leadership Council. Smith was a chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council, the International Air Transport Association, and the French-American Business Council and a director of five other major public companies
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Margaret Warner -- Senior Correspondent, PBS NewsHour, previously reported for The Wall Street Journal.

Vin Weber -- Co-Chairman and Partner, Mercury/Clark & Weinstock. Formerly member of the United States House of Representatives (1981-1993), representing Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District, where he was a member of the Appropriations Committee, former chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy.

Christine Todd Whitman -- President, The Whitman Strategy Group. Previously served as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (2001-2003), and governor of New Jersey (1994-2001), serves on the board of directors of S.C. Johnson and Son, Inc.; Texas Instruments; United Technologies; the Eisenhower Fellowships; and the American Security Project.

Fareed Zakaria -- Host, CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. Editor at large of Time Magazine, and a regular Washington Post columnist. From 2000 to 2010, Zakaria was the editor of Newsweek International, and managing editor of Foreign Affairs from 1992-2000.

Policy initiatives

The CFR started a program in 2008 to last for 5 years and funded by a grant from the Robina Foundation called "International Institutions and Global Governance" which aims to identify the institutional requirements for effective multilateral cooperation in the 21st century.[15]

The CFR's Maurice C. Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies, directed by scholar and author Sebastian Mallaby, works to promote a better understanding among policymakers, academic specialists, and the interested public of how economic and political forces interact to influence world affairs.[16]

The CFR's Center for Preventive Action (CPA) seeks to help prevent, defuse, or resolve deadly conflicts around the world and to expand the body of knowledge on conflict prevention. It does so by creating a forum in which representatives of governments, international organizations, nongovernmental organizations, corporations, and civil society can gather to develop operational and timely strategies for promoting peace in specific conflict situations.
Foreign Affairs

The council publishes Foreign Affairs, "the preeminent journal of international affairs and U.S. foreign policy". It also establishes independent task forces, which bring together experts with diverse backgrounds and expertise to work together to produce reports offering both findings and policy prescriptions on important foreign policy topics. The CFR has sponsored more than fifty reports, including the Independent Task Force on the Future of North America that published report No, 53, titled Building a North American Community, in May 2005.[17]
Media opinions

In 2005, Inter Press Service News Agency described CFR as "the nation's most influential foreign-policy think tank".[18]

Controversy

The council has been the subject of debates over sovereignty as well as the subject of numerous conspiracy theories. This is primarily due to the number of high-ranking government officials (along with world business leaders and prominent media figures) in its membership and the large number of aspects of American foreign policy that its members have been involved with. Echoing the most common accusation, the paleoconservative John Birch Society claims that the CFR is "Guilty of conspiring with others to build a one world government...".[19][20] Other figures like Cleon Skousen opposed the CFR vociferously.[21]
In response to the allegations and insinuations, the CFR's website contains an FAQ section about its affairs