CFR & The Trilateral Commission
The Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission are the most influential foreign policy organizations in the US and the world respectively. Unlike Bilderberg, they operate openly — but their membership rolls overlap almost perfectly with every major foreign policy decision of the past century.
The Council on Foreign Relations has shaped US foreign policy since 1921. Every Secretary of State for decades has been a member. It publishes Foreign Affairs, the most influential policy journal in the world. It does this entirely in the open — which is either reassuring or the most audacious institutional power move in history.
Overview
The Council on Foreign Relations was founded in 1921, emerging from the same milieu of Eastern Establishment internationalism that shaped postwar American foreign policy. Its membership has included virtually every Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, National Security Adviser, CIA Director, and senior diplomat of the modern era.
The CFR publishes Foreign Affairs, widely considered the most influential foreign policy journal in the world. It produces policy reports, hosts off-the-record discussions, and runs programs that train the next generation of foreign policy professionals. It is entirely transparent about its existence, membership, and activities — which is either evidence that it has nothing to hide or evidence that openness is the most effective form of obscurity.
The Trilateral Commission was founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller, with Zbigniew Brzezinski as founding director, to foster cooperation between North America, Europe, and Japan (later expanded to include other Pacific nations). Its membership is similar to CFR's — senior figures from government, business, academia, and media — but it is explicitly transnational.
The 1980 presidential election brought Trilateral Commission members to prominence: Jimmy Carter was a Trilateral member, as were virtually his entire foreign policy team including Brzezinski. Ronald Reagan ran explicitly against the "Trilateral globalists," though his own administration included members. The Commission's critics span left and right: from Noam Chomsky, who views it as a mechanism for transnational elite coordination against democratic accountability, to Pat Robertson, who viewed it as a vehicle for world government.
A partial list of CFR members who have held the positions of Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, or National Security Adviser since 1953 would fill a page.
Timeline
CFR Founded
Council on Foreign Relations established by participants in the Paris Peace Conference negotiations.
Foreign Affairs Founded
CFR launches Foreign Affairs journal, which will become the most influential foreign policy publication in the world.
Trilateral Commission Founded
David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzezinski found the Trilateral Commission to coordinate US-European-Japanese elite policy.
Carter Administration
President Carter and most of his foreign policy team are Trilateral Commission members, triggering significant public attention.
Reagan's Trilateral Critique
Reagan campaigns against 'Trilateral globalists' — while his own transition team includes Trilateral members.
Key Players
David Rockefeller
Chase Manhattan Bank chairman who chaired the CFR and co-founded the Trilateral Commission. Arguably the most influential private citizen in postwar American foreign policy.
Zbigniew Brzezinski
National Security Adviser under Carter, Trilateral Commission founding director. Author of 'The Grand Chessboard.'
Henry Kissinger
Long-time CFR member. His foreign policy decisions — Chile, Cambodia, East Timor — are the subject of ongoing historical debate.
The Revolving Door
The CFR's influence operates through the revolving door between its membership and government positions. Rather than making decisions itself, the CFR shapes who holds decision-making positions and what frameworks they use when they get there.
The pattern is consistent across administrations of both parties. The CFR is non-partisan — it includes both Democratic and Republican foreign policy professionals. This is either evidence of its independence or evidence that the bipartisan consensus it fosters operates outside electoral politics.
A partial list of CFR members who have held the positions of Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, or National Security Adviser since 1953 would fill a page. Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, and virtually every other holder of these offices have been CFR members before, during, or after their government service.
The CFR would describe this as evidence that it recruits from and prepares people for government service. Critics would describe it as evidence that a private membership organization has effectively captured the foreign policy apparatus of the United States.
The Bottom Line
The CFR and Trilateral Commission are not secret. Their membership rolls, meeting topics, and publications are public. The question isn't what they're hiding — it's whether open elite coordination is more or less of a democratic problem than covert elite coordination.
Primary Sources4 cited
CFR Membership and Annual Reports
CFR's own published membership rolls and activity reports.
Trilateral Commission Published Membership
Publicly available Trilateral Commission membership lists.
Laurence Shoup, 'Wall Street's Think Tank'
Academic analysis of the CFR's influence on US foreign policy.
Senate Confirmation Hearings
Congressional records documenting CFR membership of government nominees.
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