home > the cfr think tank > experts > richard n. haass
President, Council on Foreign Relations
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-212-434-9543; for all media requests, contact Lisa Shields at +1-212-434-9888 or sdoolin@cfr.org
E-mail: president@cfr.org
Location:
New York, NY
Media downloads:
One-page bio ( RICHARD HAASS - LONG BIO.PDF, 49K)
Video clip (MP4, 1.9 MB)
Video clip (MP4, 689K)
Expertise:
U.S. foreign policy; international security; globalization; Asia; Middle East
Experience:Dr. Richard Haass is president of the Council on Foreign Relations, a position he has held since July 2003. The Council on Foreign Relations 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.
Dr. Haass is the author or editor of eleven books on American foreign policy, including War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars (Simon and Schuster, May 2009). He is also the author of one book on management: The Bureaucratic Entrepreneur: How to Be Effective in Any Unruly Organization (Brookings, 1999).
From January 2001 to June 2003, Dr. Richard Haass was director of policy planning for the Department of State, where he was a principal adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Confirmed by the U.S. Senate to hold the rank of ambassador, Dr. Haass also served as U.S. coordinator for policy toward the future of Afghanistan and U.S. envoy to the Northern Ireland peace process. For his efforts, he received the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award.
Dr. Haass has extensive additional government experience. From 1989 to 1993, he 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, Dr. 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. Previously, he served in the Departments of State (1981-85) and Defense (1979-80) and was a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate.
Dr. Haass also was 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. A Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Haass holds a BA from Oberlin College and the Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University. He has received honorary doctorates from Hamilton College, Franklin & Marshall College, Georgetown University, and Oberlin College.
Dr. Richard Haass was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1951. He lives in New York City with his wife and two children.
Past Research Projects
January 28, 2010
Interview
President Barack Obama's first State of the Union address focused heavily, as expected, on domestic economic recovery and reasserting U.S. competitiveness. Six CFR experts noted different aspects of the challenges facing Obama.
See more in United States, U.S. Strategy and Politics
January 26, 2010
Interview
Domestic economic problems will dominate President Obama's State of the Union address. In foreign policy, Iran will dominate administration concerns, says CFR President Richard Haass, who advocates supporting Iran's political opposition.
See more in United States, U.S. Strategy and Politics
January 22, 2010
Op-Ed
Newsweek
Richard N. Haass says the current opportunity for outsiders to promote regime change within Iran should not be missed.
See more in Iran, Democracy and Human Rights, U.S. Strategy and Politics
Winter 2010
Article
The Corporate Philanthropist
Richard N. Haass argues that "business leaders would do well to revive the tradition of corporate statesmanship."
See more in Business and Foreign Policy
January 5, 2010
Op-Ed
Financial Times
"The world is simply too large and too complex to control," writes Richard Haass, and the challenges facing it can only be handled through collective effort.
See more in Global Governance, International Organizations, UN
December 29, 2009
Op-Ed
Project Syndicate
Richard Haass examines the successes and shortfalls of President Obama's emerging foreign policy.
See more in Diplomacy, U.S. Strategy and Politics, Presidency
December 14, 2009
Transcript
Paul Kennedy, Director of the International Studies Program and Professor of History at Yale University, speaks at the Council on Foreign Relations, New York.
See more in U.S. Strategy and Politics, Foreign Policy History
December 14, 2009
Video
Watch Paul M. Kennedy, director of International Security Studies and the Dilworth Professor of History at Yale University, analyze characteristics of great powers and what constitutes national strength.
This meeting was cosponsored with the National History Center, an initiative of the American Historical Association.
See more in Foreign Policy History
December 14, 2009
Audio
Listen to Paul M. Kennedy, director of International Security Studies and the Dilworth Professor of History at Yale University, analyze characteristics of great powers and what constitutes national strength.
This meeting was cosponsored with the National History Center, an initiative of the American Historical Association.
See more in Foreign Policy History
December 11, 2009
Academic Module
This module features teaching notes by CFR President Richard N. Haass, author of War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars, along with other resources to supplement the text. In this CFR Book, Dr. Haass contrasts the decisions that shaped the conduct of two wars between the United States and Iraq, and writes an authoritative, personal account of how U.S. foreign policy is made, what it should seek, and how it should be pursued.
December 10, 2009
First Take
In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance, President Obama, while arguing the need for peace, made a supremely realistic statement about the limitations of international institutions, the need to talk to tyrants, and the unavoidability of war, says CFR's Richard Haass.
See more in United States, Peacekeeping, Presidency
December 8, 2009
Audio
Listen to Daniel Senor, adjunct senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies, discuss his new book, Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle.
See more in Israel, Economic Development
December 5, 2009
Op-Ed
Newsweek
It does not seem likely that the United States will be able to extract its troops from either Afghanistan or Iraq by 2011, writes Richard Haass.
See more in Afghanistan, Iraq, Wars and Warfare
December 1, 2009
Op-Ed
Politico
Richard Haass writes on what President Obama accomplished with his speech on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan at West Point.
See more in United States, Afghanistan, Defense/Homeland Security, Defense Strategy, Wars and Warfare, Terrorism
November 27, 2009
Op-Ed
Project Syndicate
Richard Haass looks back to the lessons learned from the Cold War and argues that they still have implications to today's global challenges.
See more in Wars and Warfare, International Peace and Security, Foreign Policy History
November 23, 2009
Video
Watch Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh of India discuss U.S.-Indian relations.
This meeting was co-sponsored with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
See more in South Asia, India, International Peace and Security
November 23, 2009
Audio
Listen to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh of India discuss U.S.-Indian relations.
This meeting was co-sponsored with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
See more in United States, India, International Peace and Security
November 23, 2009, Washington D.C.
Transcript
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh of India discusses U.S-Indian relations.
See more in United States, India, International Peace and Security
November 4, 2009
Audio
Listen to Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speak about the current nuclear situation, threats to stability, and ways to further promote nonproliferation.
See more in Global Governance, Proliferation
November 4, 2009
Video
Watch Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, speak about the current nuclear situation, threats to stability, and ways to further promote nonproliferation.
See more in Global Governance, Arms Control and Disarmament
Explore the international oceans regime with a new interactive from CFR's program on International Institutions and Global Governance.
This report explores how international legal rules regarding military force might evolve to better meet the challenges of mass atrocities.
The authors of this CSR explain why the United States needs to place greater emphasis on preventive action and how current organizational arrangements can be changed to meet that need.
This report addresses pan-Asian and trans-Pacific architectures and guidelines for how the United States can revise its approach in order to consolidate and improve the efficacy of these Asian institutions.
Complete list of Council Special Reports
Through compelling analysis and rich historical examples that span the globe and range from the thirteenth century through the present, Charles A. Kupchan explores how adversaries can transform enmity into amity, and exposes prevalent myths about the causes of peace.
With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine Israel's adversity-driven culture to offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
Vali Nasr reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
Complete list of CFR Books
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
James M. Lindsay
Senior Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9626 (NY); +1.202.509.8405 (DC)
jlindsay@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org