Council on Foreign Relations

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is one of America's oldest and most influential think tanks, founded in 1921. Its focus is on, obviously, foreign relations. CFR is known for coining the term "containment" and helping to draw up the "blueprints" for NATO and the Marshall Plan. Despite being home to scores of policy big shots, the CFR's recommendations have often been ignored by politicians. In the run-up to the Vietnam War, for example, CFR characterized Ho Chi Minh's regime as more nationalist than Marxist and recommended diplomacy in favor of war. Its current president, Richard Haass, has also been a critic of the War in Iraq.

Conspiracy theories
CFR is a staple target of conspiracy theories, usually relating to the New World Order, North American Union, Illuminati, Freemasonry, and the international Jewish conspiracy (especially due to Henry Kissinger's presence). Its name often comes up next to similar organizations with high-ranking officials as members that attract endless conspiracy theorizing, including the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission. The CFR notably became the subject of historian Carroll Quigley's more crackpot ideas, in which he alleged them to be part of a vast, secretive "Anglo-American elite" that ruled the world. They were so secretive in fact, that Quigley was able to track their certainly 'large' effect on the world and history down to quite some detail. CFR conspiracies are also peddled by the John Birch Society. The fact, as previously mentioned, that they've been ignored on multiple occasions concerning major diplomatic issues undermines their supposed all-powerful status somewhat. But then again, that's what they want you to think!