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Wikipedia on The Council on Foreign Relations

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is a think tank which describes itself as "dedicated to increasing America's understanding of the world and contributing ideas to U.S. foreign policy. The Council accomplishes this mainly by promoting constructive, closed debates and discussions, clarifying world issues, and publishing Foreign Affairs."

The Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, came about as a result of a meeting on May 30, 1919 at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, France. Some of the fifty participants were Edward M. House, Harold Temperley, Lionel Curtis, Lord Eustace Percy, Herbert Hoover, Christian Herter, plus American academic historians James Thomson Shotwell of Columbia University, Archibald Coolidge of Harvard and Charles Seymour of Yale.

Formally established in 1921, it is one of the most powerful private organizations with influence on U.S. foreign policy. It has about 4,000 members, including former national security officers, professors, former CIA members, elected politicians, and media figures. The council is not a formal institution within U.S. policy making.

There are two types of membership - term membership (which lasts for 5 years and is available to those between 30 and 36) and regular membership. Membership is only open to US citizens (native born or naturalised) and permanent residents who have applied for citizenship. Proposed members must be nominated by current ones.