Richard Haass Bio

Richard Haass has been the President of the Council on Foreign Relations since July 2003. The author of 11 books on American foreign policy, Haass is an expert in U.S. foreign policy, international security, globalization, Asia, and the Middle East.

From 2001 to 2003, he was Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. Department of State and a close advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to hold the rank of Ambassador. He served as U.S. Coordinator for Policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process, where in 2003, Haass received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award for that effort.

From 1989 and five years following, Haass was special assistant to President George H.W. Bush and Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council.  In 1991, Haass was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal for his contributions to the development and articulation of U.S. policy during operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Haass was a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate and in 1980 worked in the U.S. Department of Defense, and a year later for the State Department from 1981 to 1985.

Haass was also Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, the Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor of International Studies at Hamilton College, a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Research Associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Haass lives in New York City with his wife and two children.

• President, Council on Foreign Relations, 2003-present
• Director of Policy Planning, U.S. Department of State, 2001-2003
• Recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal, 1991
• Special Assistant, President George H.W. Bush, 1989
• Legislative Aide in the U.S. Senate
• U.S. Department of Defense, 1979-1980
• U.S. State Department, 1981-1985
• Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies, the Brookings Institution
• The Sol M. Linowitz Visiting Professor, International Studies, Hamilton College
• Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
• Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government
• Research Associate, International Institute for Strategic Studies

• Ph.D., Oxford University, year unknown
• Oxford University, degree and year unknown
• B.A., Rhodes Scholar, Oberlin College, 1973

• The War of Necessity, War of Choice, 2009
• The Opportunity: America’s Moment to Alter History’s Course, 2006
• Honey and Vinegar: Incentives, Sanctions, and Foreign Policy, 2000
• After the Tests: U.S. Policy Toward India and Pakistan, 1999
• The Bureaucratic Entrepreneur: How to Be Effective in Any Unruly Organization, 1999
• Intervention: The Use of American Military Force in the Post-Cold War World, 1999
• Transatlantic Tensions: The United States, Europe, and Problem Countries, 1999
• Economic Sanctions and American Diplomacy, 1998
• The Reluctant Sheriff: The United States After the Cold War, 1997
• The Power to Persuade: How to Be Effective in Any Unruly Organization, 1995
• Beyond the INF Treaty, 1988