People naturally disagree about who is responsible for the partisan tone and tactics in Washington, DC, these days, but most agree on this: It's worse, it's more intense, and it's nastier. And few on either side are enjoying it much.

This report will not pine for a golden age of brotherly love that never existed in Washington. The capital city has always been a partisan place full of rough-and-tumble political brawling. However, this report will suggest it is better to work with all—not half—of our collective foreign policy brain. Today, like at so many significant moments in history, much is unsettled. Policymakers are seeking to understand the Muslim world, anti-Americanism is intensifying, the White House is attempting new policies in the Middle East, and the United States is embroiled in a war testing all those policies. So this is a time for asking questions, not pulling down the blinds. Yet, fewer opportunities exist for the two parties to deliberate on foreign policy issues. The big foreign policy issues, both regional and topical, that currently dominate the agenda—Iraq, Iran, North Korea, China, nuclear proliferation, trade, and immigration—will benefit from a process that engages the wisdom from both sides of the aisle.

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Nancy E. Roman is vice president and director of the Washington Program of the Council on Foreign Relations. Before coming to the Council, Ms. Roman was president of the G7 Group, a political consulting firm that advises Wall Street on the economic implications of political developments as well as legislative and regulatory policy in the G7 regions, China, and Latin America.

Ms. Roman also spent ten years as a journalist covering politics, Congress, foreign policy, and economics. She was a congressional correspondent and legal affairs reporter for the Washington Times before becoming congressional bureau chief. She also worked for several years as a political reporter for the Fort Lauderdale News and Sun Sentinel. She came to Washington in 1988 as press secretary and legislative assistant for Representative Clay Shaw Jr. (R-FL), a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Ms. Roman holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and French from Baylor University and a Master of Arts degree in international economics and American foreign policy from the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.