Official_portrait_of_Secretary_Marco_Rubio

The Foreign Affairs Policy Board is an

advisory board An advisory board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to the management of a corporation, organization, or foundation. The informal nature of an advisory board gives greater flexibility in structure and management compared to the ...

that provides independent advice and opinion to the secretary of state, the deputy secretary of state, and the

director of policy planning The director of policy planning is the United States Department of State official in charge of the department's internal think tank, the policy planning staff, with a rank equivalent to assistant secretary. The position has traditionally been he ...

on matters concerning

U.S. foreign policy The officially stated goals of the foreign policy of the United States of America, including all the bureaus and offices in the United States Department of State, as mentioned in the ''Foreign Policy Agenda'' of the Department of State, are ...

. The board reviews and assesses global threats and opportunities, trends that implicate core

national security National security, or national defence (national defense in American English), is the security and Defence (military), defence of a sovereign state, including its Citizenship, citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of ...

interests, tools and capacities of the civilian foreign affairs agencies, and priorities and strategic frameworks for U.S. foreign policy. The board meets in a

plenary session A plenary session or plenum is a session of a conference or deliberative assembly in which all parties or members are present. Such a session may include a broad range of content, from keynotes to panel discussions, and is not necessarily r ...

several times a year at the U.S. Department of State in the Harry S. Truman Building.

History

The Foreign Affairs Policy Board was launched in December 2011 under then Secretary

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

and modeled after the Defense Policy Board of the U.S. Department of Defense. The board's first meeting was held on December 19, 2011.

Membership

The board is chartered to include 25 members who serve two-year terms. They have a wide range of expertise and come from various backgrounds, including

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

, politics,

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development (music), the process by which thematic material is reshaped * Photographic development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting * Development hell, when a proje ...

, business, and

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

Current members (as of June 2023)

* Thomas Donilon (co-chair), chairman, BlackRock Investment Institute * Cecilia Muñoz (co-chair), former member of White House Domestic Policy Council under President Obama * David Autor, Ford Professor in the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Department of Economics and Vice President of the

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, an ...

*Sameer Bhalotra, co-founder and CEO of ActZero, a security company based in Menlo Park, California * Hal Brands, Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a senior fellow at the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right think tank based in Washington, D.C., that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare ...

* Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, tenth president of the

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., with operations in Europe, South Asia, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as the United States. Foun ...

and former justice of the

Supreme Court of California The Supreme Court of California is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the judiciary of California, courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly ...

* Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr., 12th president of

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

and former governor of

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

* Janine Davidson, president of

Metropolitan State University of Denver Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver or Metro State) is a public university in Denver, Colorado, United States. It is located on the Auraria Campus, along with the University of Colorado Denver and the Community College of Denver ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

’s third largest and most diverse public university *Cathy Feingold, director of the

AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

’s International Department * Margaret Hamburg, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration *

Jon Huntsman, Jr. Jon Meade Huntsman Jr. (born March 26, 1960) is an American politician, businessman, and diplomat who served as the 16th governor of Utah from 2005 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the L ...

, vice chair of

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...

and former U.S. Ambassador to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

* Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank for the future of coastal cities. *

Kristie Kenney Kristie Anne Kenney (born May 24, 1955) is an American former senior diplomat who served as the 32nd Counselor of the United States Department of State from 2016 to 2017. She is a recipient of the Secretary's Distinguished Service Award, Secreta ...

, former U.S. diplomat * Gilman G. Louie, CEO and co-founder of America’s Frontier Fund * Katherine Maher, former CEO and executive director of the

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, and registered there as foundation (United States law), a charitable foundation. It is the host of Wikipedia, th ...

* James M. Manyika, senior vice president at

Alphabet Inc. Alphabet Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Alphabet is the world's third-largest technology company by revenue, after Amazon and Apple, the largest techno ...

* Meghan L. O’Sullivan, former deputy national security advisor on

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

* Annise D. Parker, former

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

mayor and city controller * Vincent R. Stewart, USMC, former deputy commander at the

United States Cyber Command United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It unifies the direction of cyberspace operations, strengthens DoD cyberspace capabilities, and integra ...

Past members

The following are past members of the Foreign Affairs Policy Board as of 2019: *

Liaquat Ahamed Liaquat Ahamed (born 14 November 1952 in Kenya) is an American author. Life and work Liaquat Ahamed was born in Kenya, where his grandfather had emigrated to from Gujarat, India, by way of Zanzibar in the late 19th century.Pulitzer Prize for History * Douglas Beck, vice president, Americas and Northeast Asia for Apple, Inc. *

R. Nicholas Burns Robert Nicholas Burns (born January 28, 1956) is an American diplomat and international relations scholar. He served as the United States ambassador to China from 2022 to 2025. Burns has had a 25-year career in the State Department and has serv ...

, former

under secretary of state for political affairs The under secretary of state for political affairs is currently the fourth-ranking position in the United States Department of State, after the United States Secretary of State, secretary, the United States Deputy Secretary of State, deputy secre ...

under President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

* Johnnie Carson, former

Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs The assistant secretary of state for African affairs is the head of the Bureau of African Affairs, within the United States Department of State, who guides operation of the U.S. diplomatic establishment in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa and ...

under President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

* Stephen A. Cheney, retired brigadier general and CEO of the American Security Project * Jared Cohen, founder and CEO of Jigsaw at

and former member of the Policy Planning Staff under Secretaries of State

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

and

* Nelson Cunningham, president and co-founder of McLarty Associates * Paula Dobriansky, former under secretary of state for global affairs and President's Envoy to Northern Ireland under President

* Karen Donfried, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States * Jim Donovan (banker), managing director at

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

* David Dreier, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and chairman of the House Rules Committee * Anne M. Finucane, global chief of strategy and marketing at

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (Bank of America) (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in ...

* Ann Fudge, former

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Young & Rubicam VMLY&R was an American marketing and Marketing communications, communications company specializing in advertising, Digital media, digital and social media, sales promotion, direct marketing and brand identity consulting, formed from the 2020 mer ...

Brands * Helene Gayle, former president and CEO of

CARE Care may refer to: Organizations and projects * CARE (New Zealand), Citizens Association for Racial Equality, a former New Zealand organisation * CARE (England) West Midlands, Central Accident Resuscitation Emergency team, a team of doctors & ...

* Stephen J. Hadley, former National Security Advisor under President

* Cecil D. Haney, 4-star admiral (retired),

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and former STRATCOM commander *

Jane Harman Jane Margaret Harman (née Lakes, June 28, 1945) is an American former politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1993 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the ranking member on the ...

, president of the

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS) or Wilson Center is a Washington, D.C.–based think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topi ...

* Carla A. Hills, co-chair of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

and former U.S. Trade Representative under President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

* Alberto Ibargüen, president and

of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation * Robert Kagan, senior fellow in foreign policy at the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

* William Kennard, former U.S. ambassador to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

* Robert Kimmitt, former U.S. ambassador to Germany, former

deputy secretary of the treasury The deputy secretary of the treasury of the United States advises and assists the Secretary of the Treasury in the supervision and direction of the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury and its activities, and succ ...

and

under President

Jim Kolbe James Thomas Kolbe (June 28, 1942 – December 3, 2022) was an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Arizona's 5th congressional district from 1985 to 2003 and its 8 ...

, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives * Stephen Krasner, former

under President George W. Bush * Daniel C. Kurtzer, professor of

Middle East studies Middle Eastern studies, sometimes referred to as Near Eastern studies, West Asian Studies or South Western Asian studies, is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the history, culture, politics, economies, an ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt * Mack McLarty, former

White House chief of staff The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a position in the federal government of the United States. The chief of staff is a Political appointments in the United States, politi ...

under President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

Michael Mullen Michael Glenn Mullen (born 4 October 1946) is a retired United States Navy Admiral (United States), admiral who served as the 17th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 2007 to September 2011. Mullen was the 32nd vice chief of Nav ...

, retired

admiral and former

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: appointment; gra ...

under presidents

and

* Vali Nasr, dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and senior fellow in foreign policy at the

* John D. Negroponte, former deputy secretary of state and the first

director of national intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...

* Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen * Joseph S. Nye,

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and professor at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

* Thomas R. Pickering, former

and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations *

John Podesta John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American political consultant who served as Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy from 2024 to 2025, having previously served as the Senior Advisor to the President ...

, former

under President

and counselor to President

* William Roedy, former chairman and CEO of MTV Networks International * Susan Schwab, former

United States Trade Representative The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting Foreign trade of the United States, United States ...

under President

Anne-Marie Slaughter Anne-Marie Slaughter (born September 27, 1958) is an American international lawyer, foreign policy analyst, political scientist, and public commentator. From 2002 to 2009, she was the dean of Princeton University's School of Public and Intern ...

, president and CEO of New America and former

under Secretary

* Clifford Sobel, former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands and U.S. ambassador to Brazil under President

* James Steinberg, former

United States deputy secretary of state The deputy secretary of state of the United States is the principal deputy to the United States Secretary of State, secretary of state. If the secretary of state resigns or dies, the deputy secretary of state becomes acting secretary of state unti ...

* Louis B. Susman, former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom under President

Strobe Talbott Nelson Strobridge Talbott III (born April 25, 1946) is an American foreign policy analyst focused on Russia. He was associated with ''Time'' magazine, and a diplomat who served as the deputy secretary of state from 1994 to 2001. He was president ...

, president of the

and former deputy secretary of state under President

Laura Tyson Laura D'Andrea Tyson (born June 28, 1947) is an American economist and university administrator who is currently a Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School at the Haas School of Business of the University of California, Berkeley and a senio ...

, former director of the National Economic Council and the chair of the

Council of Economic Advisers The Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is a United States agency within the Executive Office of the President established in 1946, which advises the president of the United States on economic policy. The CEA provides much of the empirical resea ...

under President Bill Clinton * Thomas J. Vallely, senior advisor for Mainland

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation *

Richard Verma Richard Rahul Verma (born November 27, 1968) is an Americans, American diplomat, who served as the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources, deputy secretary of state for management and resources, a position he held from April 5, 202 ...

, former U.S. ambassador to India * Charles David Welch, former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs under President

Christine Todd Whitman Christine Temple Whitman (; born September 26, 1946) is an American politician and author who served as the 50th governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush ...

, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush and the 50th

governor of New Jersey The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

References

External links

Foreign Affairs Policy Board on the State Department's website
{{authority control United States Department of State United States Department of State agencies American advisory organizations United States foreign policy 2011 establishments in Washington, D.C.