Forum Post: Does the Council on Foreign Relations run the U.S. (and maybe the World)???

Judge for yourself.

Conspiracy theory people put up links like this http://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/Council_Foreign_Relations.htm  but it doesn't mean it's a conspiracy if it's true.

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These are the top people from the CFR site and Wikipedia. The youngest was born in 1937. 

Officers and Directors Emeriti

Leslie H. Gelb President Emeritus

Leslie (Les) Howard Gelb (born March 4, 1937) is a former correspondent for The New York Times and is currently President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense can Rescue American Policy published by HarperCollins in March 2009. Gelb was director of Policy Planning and Arms Control for International Security Affairs at the Department of Defense from 1967 to 1969, winning the Pentagon's highest award, the Distinguished Service Award. Robert McNamara appointed Gelb as director of the project that produced the controversial Pentagon Papers on the Vietnam War. He served as an Assistant Secretary of State in the Carter Administration from 1977 to 1979, serving as director of the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs and winning the Distinguished Honor Award, the highest award of the US State Department. He supported the Iraq War and later claimed his "initial support for the war was symptomatic of unfortunate tendencies within the foreign policy community, namely the disposition and incentives to support wars to retain political and professional credibility."

Maurice R. Greenberg Honorary Vice Chairman

Maurice Raymond "Hank" Greenberg (born May 4, 1925) is an American business executive and former chairman and CEO of American International Group (AIG), which was the world's 18th largest public company and its largest insurance and financial services corporation. He is currently chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Co., Inc. (C.V. Starr), a diversified financial services firm that is named for the founder of AIG, Cornelius Vander Starr. He joined C.V. Starr as Vice President in 1960 and was given the additional responsibilities of President of American Home Assurance Company in 1962. He was elected Director of C.V. Starr in 1965, Chairman and Chief Executive officer in 1968 and continues in that role. Greenberg is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Managing Director of Starr International Company Inc., and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Starr International USA, Inc. (Starr International USA). C.V. Starr and Starr International USA are collectively known as Starr Companies. Greenberg is Honorary Vice Chairman and Director of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of David Rockefeller's Trilateral Commission. In the 1980s, his extensive foreign connections prompted the Reagan administration to offer him a job as Deputy Director of the CIA, which he declined. He is a former Chairman and currently a Trustee of the Asia Society, Trustee Emeritus of the Rockefeller University, and is an honorary Trustee of the Museum of Modern Art, all three institutions founded by the Rockefeller family. He is also a former Chairman and current member of the US–Korea Business Council, a member of the US–China Business Council, and the Business Council. He has served on the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange, the President’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, and the Business Roundtable. He is a past Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He is Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Committee on United States – China Relations.

Peter G. Peterson Chairman Emeritus

Peter G. Peterson (born June 5, 1926) is an American businessman, investment banker, fiscal conservative, author, and politician whose most prominent political position was as United States Secretary of Commerce from February 29, 1972, to February 1, 1973 under Richard Nixon. He is most well known currently as founder and principal funder of The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which he established in 2008 with a $1 billion endowment. The group focuses on raising public awareness about U.S. fiscal-sustainability issues related to federal deficits, entitlement programs, and tax policies. Before serving in the White House, Peterson was Chairman and CEO of Bell & Howell, from 1963 to 1971. From 1973 to 1984 he was Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers. In 1985 he co-founded the private equity firm, the Blackstone Group. Peterson was Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations until retiring in 2007, after being named chairman emeritus. In 2008, Peterson was ranked 149th on the "Forbes 400 Richest Americans" with a net worth of $2.8 billion.

David Rockefeller Honorary Chairman

David Rockefeller, Sr. (born June 12, 1915) is the current patriarch of the Rockefeller family. He is the youngest and only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil. His five siblings were Abby, John D. III, Nelson, Laurance and Winthrop. Rockefeller began a lifelong association with the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) when he joined as a director in 1949, the youngest member appointed to that position yet. He would later become head of the nominating committee for future membership and after that much the chairman of this influential foreign policy think-tank. Displeased with the failure of the Council on Foreign Relations to include Japan, Rockefeller helped found the Trilateral Commission in July 1973. His net wealth is estimated at 2.2 billion dollars, ranking him among the 300 richest people in the world. Initially, most of his wealth had come to him via the family trusts that his father had set up, which were administered by Room 5600 and the Chase Bank. In turn, most of these trusts were held as shares in the successor companies of Standard Oil, as well as diverse real estate investment partnerships, such as the expansive Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, which he later sold for considerable profit, retaining only an indirect stake.

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Below is directly off the CFR Website

What is the Council on Foreign Relations? When and why was it formed?

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. Founded in 1921, CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy and has no affiliation with the U.S. government.

Membership Selection Procedures

A candidate for membership must be nominated in writing by one CFR member and seconded by a minimum of three other individuals (maximum of four). It is not required that seconding letters come from current CFR members, but it is strongly recommended.

A candidate for term membership must be nominated in writing by one CFR member and seconded by a minimum of two other individuals (maximum of three). It is not required that seconding letters come from current CFR members, but it is strongly recommended. Candidates applying for the November 1, 2012 deadline must be between the ages of thirty and thirty-six on January 1, 2013.

What is the difference between not-for-attribution and on-the-record meetings?

CFR meetings are usually held on a not-for-attribution basis to encourage frank and candid discussion. This means that participants are welcome to make use of the information received at the meeting, but neither the identity of the speakers nor that of any other participant may be revealed, nor may anyone cite a CFR meeting as the source of the information.

Some CFR meetings are conducted on an on-the-record basis, which means the information imparted at the meeting can be used by all participants. The transcripts and/or audio and video of these meetings are posted on CFR.org. These resources are accessible to both the interested public and to members who are not able to attend the meeting.

How can I get access to CFR meetings?

Only CFR members and invited guests may attend meetings. Accredited media are invited to cover select on-the-record events. The proceedings of on-the-record CFR meetings are available on CFR.org as transcripts, webcasts, videos, and audio streams.