Richard N. Haass

Richard N. Haass is President of the Council on Foreign Relations, the preeminent independent foreign policy organization in the world. Previously, he was Director of Policy Planning for the State Department and a principal adviser to Colin Powell. Haass, who held the rank of ambassador, also served as U.S. coordinator for the future of Afghanistan and as the lead U.S. official for Northern Ireland's peace process. Earlier, he was the senior Middle East advisor to President George H. W. Bush, and served in Ronald Reagan's State Department and Jimmy Carter's Pentagon. He now lives with his wife and children in New York City.