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.
The Foreign Affairs Policy Board was launched in December 2011 under 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.
The Board is chartered to have up to 25 members who serve two-year terms. Board members have a wide range of expertise and backgrounds, including past government service, academia, politics, development, business, and think tanks. Past members include Liaquat Ahamed, Ann Fudge, Helene Gayle, Alberto Ibargüen, Jim Kolbe, Stephen Krasner, Mack McLarty, Jacqueline Novogratz, John Podesta, James Steinberg, Laura Tyson, Richard Verma, David Dreier, William Kennard, and Christine Todd Whitman.
The following are current members of the Foreign Affairs Policy Board as of 2015.
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
Nelson Cunningham, President and co-founder of McLarty Associates
Karen Donfried, President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States
Anne M. Finucane, Global Chief of Strategy and Marketing at Bank of America
Stephen J. Hadley, former National Security Advisor under President George W. Bush
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
Robert Kagan, Senior Fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution
Daniel C. Kurtzer, professor of Middle East studies at Princeton University and former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt
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
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
Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO of New America and former Director of Policy Planning under Secretary Hillary Clinton
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
Thomas J. Vallely, senior advisor for Mainland Southeast Asia at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation
