Anya Schmemann

CFR Staff

Anya Schmemann

Managing Director, Task Force Program

Anya Schmemann is managing director of the Task Force program at CFR in Washington, DC. Task Forces engage distinguished experts and forge consensus on issues of critical importance to U.S. foreign policy. Anya also served as managing director of communications at CFR for many years. She previously served as assistant dean of communications and outreach at American University’s School of International Service, managed communications at the Harvard’s Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, administered the Caspian Studies Program at the Belfer Center, coordinated a research project on Russian security issues at the EastWest Institute in New York, and was assistant director of CFR’s Center for Preventive Action in New York. Anya received a BA and MA from Harvard University.

Labor and Employment

The Work Ahead

The world is in the midst of a transformation in the nature of work, as smart machines, artificial intelligence, new technologies, and global competition remake how people do their jobs and pursue th…

Task Force Report by Edward Alden, Laura Taylor-Kale, Anya Schmemann, Penny Pritzker and John Engler April 10, 2018 Renewing America
China

China’s Belt and Road

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign policy undertaking and the world’s largest infrastructure program, poses a significant challenge to U.S. economic, political, climate change, security, and global health interests.

Task Force Report by Jacob Lew, Gary Roughead, Jennifer Hillman, David Sacks and Anya Schmemann March 23, 2021
North Korea

A Sharper Choice on North Korea

A new Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Independent Task Force report, A Sharper Choice on North Korea: Engaging China for a Stable Northeast Asia, finds that the United States’ policy of “strategic…

Task Force Report by Mike Mullen, Sam Nunn, Adam Mount and Anya Schmemann September 16, 2016
Space

Securing Space: A Plan for U.S. Action

As outer space becomes more congested with debris and international tensions escalate, the threat to U.S. national security grows. The United States must act now to reassert its leadership and create pathways for management in this critical strategic domain.

Task Force Report by Nina M. Armagno, Jane Harman, Esther Brimmer and Anya Schmemann February 11, 2025
Technology and Innovation

Innovation and National Security

The United States has led the world in innovation, research, and technology development since World War II, but that leadership is now at risk. Addressing the challenge from China and other rising sc…

Task Force Report by Adam Segal, James Manyika, William H. McRaven and Anya Schmemann September 18, 2019 Renewing America
Cybersecurity

Confronting Reality in Cyberspace

The early advantages the United States held in cyberspace have largely disappeared as the internet has become more fragmented, less free, and more dangerous. The United States needs a new foreign policy for cyberspace to secure its economic and security interests.

Task Force Report by Nathaniel Fick, Jami Miscik, Adam Segal, Gordon M. Goldstein and Anya Schmemann July 12, 2022 Renewing America
Arctic

Arctic Imperatives

Overview “The United States, through Alaska, is a significant Arctic nation with strategic, economic, and scientific interests,” asserts a new Council on Foreign Relations-sponsored (CFR) Independ…

Task Force Report by Thad W. Allen, Christine Todd Whitman, Esther Brimmer and Anya Schmemann March 21, 2017
Defense and Security

U.S. Economic Security: Winning the Race for Tomorrow’s Technologies

Strategic competition over the world’s next generation of foundational technologies is underway, and U.S. advantages in artificial intelligence, quantum, and biotechnology are increasingly contested. The United States must address vulnerabilities and mobilize the investment needed to prevail.

Task Force Report by Justin G. Muzinich, Gina M. Raimondo, James D. Taiclet, Jonathan E. Hillman and Anya Schmemann November 13, 2025
COVID-19

Improving Pandemic Preparedness

COVID-19 has confirmed the U.S. and global vulnerabilities that were repeatedly identified in high-level reports, commissions, and intelligence assessments on pandemic threats for nearly two decades …

Task Force Report by Thomas J. Bollyky, Stewart M. Patrick, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Frances Fragos Townsend and Anya Schmemann October 8, 2020 Renewing America
Taiwan

U.S.-Taiwan Relations in a New Era

Although a conflict in the Taiwan Strait has thus far been avoided, deterrence has dangerously eroded. To maintain peace, the United States must restore balance to a situation that has been allowed to tilt far too much in China’s favor.

Task Force Report by Susan M. Gordon, Adm. Michael G. Mullen, David Sacks and Anya Schmemann June 20, 2023

United States

How Does Immigration Affect the U.S. Economy?

Immigrants have long played a critical role in the U.S. economy, filling labor gaps, driving innovation, and exercising consumer spending power. But political debate over their economic contributions has ramped up under the second Trump administration.

by Diana Roy December 4, 2025

G20 (Group of Twenty)

What Does the G20 Do?

The Group of Twenty, an informal gathering of many of the world’s largest economies, is the premier global forum for discussing international economic issues. Its 2025 summit marks the first time the forum is hosted in Africa, but questions loom about the group’s continued relevance.

by CFR Editors November 18, 2025

Climate Change

Global Climate Agreements: Successes and Failures

Introduction Over the last several decades, governments have collectively pledged to slow global warming. Despite intensified diplomacy, the world is already facing the consequences of climate cha…

by Lindsay Maizland and Clara Fong November 6, 2025 Renewing America

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