Meet Secretary Kerry’s New Foreign Policy Board

October 22, 2014 By in Appointments, Foreign Policy, John F. Kerry, Secretary of State, State Department Tags: , , , ,

— Domani Spero
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Via state.gov:

The distinguished group is comprised of up to 25 members who meet at the Department of State periodically to discuss strategic questions, and to provide the Secretary and other senior Department officials with independent informed perspectives and ideas.

The following new members were appointed by Secretary Kerry:

  • Ambassador R. Nicholas Burns, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs;
  • Ambassador Johnnie Carson, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs;
  • Mr. Nelson Cunningham, President and Co-founder, McLarty Associates;
  • Retired Brigadier General Stephen A. Cheney, Chief Executive Officer, the American Security Project;
  • Dr. Karen Donfried, President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States;
  • The Honorable David Dreier, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and chairman of the Rules Committee;
  • Ms. Anne M. Finucane, Global Chief of Strategy and Marketing, Bank of America;
  • Ambassador William Kennard, former U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, and former Chairman, U.S. Federal Communications Commission;
  • Ambassador Daniel C. Kurtzer, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel and Egypt;
  • Dr. Joseph S. Nye, former Chairman, U.S. National Intelligence Council;
  • Ambassador Louis B. Susman, former U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James and former Vice Chairman, Citigroup Global Markets;
  • Mr. Thomas J. Vallely, Senior Advisor, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation;
  • The Honorable Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor, the State of New Jersey, and former Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

These new members join the following returning members to the Board:

  • Mr. Stephen J. Hadley;
  • The Honorable Jane Harman;
  • Ambassador Carla A. Hills;
  • Dr. Robert Kagan;
  • Retired Admiral Michael Mullen;
  • Dr. Vali Nasr;
  • Ambassador John Negroponte;
  • Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering;
  • Dr. Anne-Marie Slaughter.

At Secretary Kerry’s request, former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott will continue to serve as the Board’s Chair. He will work closely with the Secretary and his Policy Planning Director, David McKean, to coordinate the Board and its meetings.

The State Department statement says that “These appointments continue the tradition of a distinguished, diverse, and bipartisan Board membership with a wide range of expertise and backgrounds, including from government, academia, politics, development, and business.”

The Board is relatively new, constituted during the Clinton tenure.  According to state.gov:

The Foreign Affairs Policy Board was launched in December 2011 to provide the Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretaries of State, and the Director of Policy Planning with independent, informed advice and opinion concerning matters of U.S. foreign policy. The Board serves in a solely advisory capacity, with an agenda shaped by the questions and concerns of the Secretary. Its discussions focus on assessing global threats and opportunities; identifying trends that implicate core national security interests; providing recommendations with respect to tools and capacities of the civilian foreign affairs agencies; defining priorities and strategic frameworks for U.S. foreign policy; and performing any other research and analysis of topics raised by the Secretary of State, the Deputy Secretaries, and the Director of Policy Planning. […] The Board meets in a plenary session several times a year and is chartered to have up to 25 members.

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