The Foreign Affairs Policy Board is an advisory board that provides independent advice and opinion to the secretary of state, the deputy secretary of state, and the director of policy planning on matters concerning U.S. foreign policy. The board reviews and assesses global threats and opportunities, trends that implicate core national security 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 several times a year at the U.S. Department of State in the Harry S. Truman Building.
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The Foreign Affairs Policy Board is an advisory board that provides independent advice and opinion to the secretary of state, the deputy secretary of state, and the director of policy planning on matters concerning U.S. foreign policy. The board reviews and assesses global threats and opportunities, trends that implicate core national security 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 several times a year at the U.S. Department of State in the Harry S. Truman Building.
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Career
The Foreign Affairs Policy Board was launched in December 2011 under then Secretary Hillary Clinton 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, academia, politics, development, business, and think tanks.
Current members (as of October 2025)
Nicholas Burns
William J. Burns
Johnnie Carson
Stephen A. Cheney
Nelson W. Cunningham
Karen Donfried
Anne M. Finucane
Stephen J. Hadley
Jane Harman
Carla A. Hills
Jon Huntsman, Jr.
Robert Kagan
Daniel C. Kurtzer
Michael Mullen
Vali Nasr
John D. Negroponte
Joseph S. Nye
Thomas R. Pickering
Anne-Marie Slaughter
Louis B. Susman
Strobe Talbott
Thomas J. Vallely
David Wade
Past members
The following are past members of the Foreign Affairs Policy Board as of 2019:
Liaquat Ahamed, author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History
Douglas Beck, vice president, Americas and Northeast Asia for Apple, Inc.
R. Nicholas Burns, former under secretary of state for political affairs under President George W. Bush
Johnnie Carson, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs under President Barack Obama
Stephen A. Cheney, retired brigadier general and CEO of the American Security Project
Jared Cohen, founder and CEO of Jigsaw at Alphabet Inc. and former member of the Policy Planning Staff under Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton
Nelson Cunningham, president and co-founder of McLarty Associates
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, former California Supreme Court justice and president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Paula Dobriansky, former under secretary of state for global affairs and President's Envoy to Northern Ireland under President George W. Bush
Karen Donfried, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States
Jim Donovan (banker), managing director at Goldman Sachs
David Dreier, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and chairman of the House Rules Committee
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Anne M. Finucane, global chief of strategy and marketing at Bank of America
Ann Fudge, former chairman and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands
Helene Gayle, former president and CEO of CARE
Stephen J. Hadley, former National Security Advisor under President George W. Bush
Cecil D. Haney, 4-star admiral (retired), United States Navy and former STRATCOM commander
Jane Harman, president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Carla A. Hills, co-chair of the Council on Foreign Relations and former U.S. Trade Representative under President George H. W. Bush
Alberto Ibargüen, president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Robert Kagan, senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution
William Kennard, former U.S. ambassador to the European Union
Robert Kimmitt, former U.S. ambassador to Germany, former deputy secretary of the treasury and under secretary of state for political affairs under President George H. W. Bush
Jim Kolbe, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Stephen Krasner, former director of policy planning under President George W. Bush
Daniel C. Kurtzer, professor of Middle East studies at Princeton University and former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt
Mack McLarty, former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton
Michael Mullen, retired United States Navy admiral and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama
Vali Nasr, dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies and senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution
John D. Negroponte, former deputy secretary of state and the first director of national intelligence
Jacqueline Novogratz, founder and CEO of Acumen
Joseph S. Nye, political scientist and professor at Harvard University
Thomas R. Pickering, former under secretary of state for political affairs and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
John Podesta, former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton and counselor to President Barack Obama
William Roedy, former chairman and CEO of MTV Networks International
Susan Schwab, former United States Trade Representative under President George W. Bush
Anne-Marie Slaughter, president and CEO of New America and former director of policy planning under Secretary Hillary Clinton
Clifford Sobel, former U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands and U.S. ambassador to Brazil under President George W. Bush
James Steinberg, former United States deputy secretary of state
Louis B. Susman, former U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom under President Barack Obama
Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution and former deputy secretary of state under President Bill Clinton
Laura Tyson, former director of the National Economic Council and the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton
Thomas J. Vallely, senior advisor for Mainland Southeast Asia at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
Richard Verma, 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 George W. Bush
Christine Todd Whitman, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush and the 50th governor of New Jersey
