Council on Foreign Relations

Where policy is drafted before your vote is counted, critics have long alleged.

Founded 1921 from the Paris Peace Conference's 'Inquiry' group — the documented twin of London's Chatham House, both descended from the Round Table milieu. Its roster is the American foreign-policy establishment without remainder: nearly every postwar Secretary of State, CIA director, and Fed chair passed through. The critique was stated best by its own member, Senator William Jenner, and by historian Carroll Quigley — who examined the network's papers and approved of everything but the secrecy. The theory's strong claim (a shadow government) overreaches; the documented claim (policy is drafted before elections notice) is just its publication schedule, Foreign Affairs.