As chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, Richard N. Haas was asked the same question wherever he went. “What keeps him up at night?” Over the years he has had no shortage of options: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, climate change, international terrorism, food insecurity, global pandemics.
but as he Retired after 20 years Haas, who runs America’s oldest private organization focused on international affairs, came to a disturbing conclusion. What is the most serious danger to world security right now? Is there a threat to deprive him of his sleep? America itself.
“That’s us,” he said regretfully the other day.
The global strategist didn’t even think about it until recently. But in his mind, the collapse of America’s political system meant that for the first time in his life, the threats inside outweighed those outside. Haas said that instead of being the most reliable refuge in a volatile world, the United States has become the source of the deepest instability and the paragon of uncertain democracy.
“Our domestic political situation is not just one that other countries don’t want to copy,” he said in an interview ahead of the final day of the Council on Foreign Relations on Friday. “But I also think it introduces a degree of unpredictability and a really detrimental lack of credibility. For America’s ability to function well in the world, it depends on us, our friends. It makes things very difficult.”
Having spent his entire career as a policy maker and researcher of world affairs, domestic challenges prompted him to turn his attention inward. Haas recently published a book, “The Bill of Duty: The 10 Habits of a Good Citizen,” which teaches Americans how to “stay informed,” “stay polite,” and “put their country first.” outlines ways we can help heal our society. Bromides, sure, but they are often somehow elusive these days. In addition to his consulting work, he hopes to spend much of the next chapter of his life promoting civics education.
“My own trajectory has changed,” he said in two interviews summarizing his 20 years on the council. “This new book is something I didn’t expect to write five or ten years ago, but I actually think it’s almost a reconstruction of American democracy. Now. It’s a national security concern, and it’s not.”
The 71-year-old Haas, thanks to his position and temperament, is a well-established member of a regime that fell into disrepute during the era of Donald J. Trump, and is largely bipartisan during the Trump presidency. spokesman for the “realist” consensus of For most of the three-quarters of a century after World War II, it determined America’s place in the world for better or worse. Of course, it’s a clubbing world, a world where elitist groupthink and even conspiracy theories are always condemned. Last week he made his final appearance as president of the council, Haas interviewed Secretary of State Anthony J. Brinken On stage and online, the 27th Secretary of State appeared before the council.
“It’s hard to think of anyone who has done more to make this institution what it is today,” said Blinken, praising the organizers.
“I want to thank you for that,” Haas replied with a smile. “But I’m still going to ask him the tough questions.”
Despite being a veteran of four administrations (one Democrat, three Republicans), Haas’s regular appearances on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” have made him an insular think-tank policy nerd. has transcended the world. excesses of recent years and tried to figure it all out.
Haas headed most mornings from the set in New York’s Rockefeller Plaza to Congress’s Upper East Side headquarters, about 20 blocks north. His relatively modestly sized four-floor office is stuffed with literally thousands of books, dozens of globes, stacks of paper and honorary degrees, the cluttered offices of the President of the Council on Foreign Relations. It was exactly the same as what I imagined. Photos from various colleges, as well as with family, presidents, and colleagues in successive administrations.
It would be difficult to imagine the Council without him. The longest-serving president in the organization’s century-long history, he focused on growing and diversifying membership, opening an expanded Washington office, and education, while maintaining a bipartisan approach. We pride ourselves on maintaining our position in the skies. America First Trumpism. He will be replaced by Michael Froman, who served as U.S. Trade Representative under President Barack Obama.
Haas was born in Brooklyn, grew up on Long Island, and attended Oberlin College. made a documentary On student reactions to the Kent shootings. After graduating in 1973, he became a scholar in Rhodes. He worked for Rhode Island Democratic Senator Claiborne Pell on the Capitol and met a young Senator named Joe Biden in 1974.
Mr. Haas then served in the Department of Defense under President Jimmy Carter, the State Department under President Ronald Reagan, and the National Security Council under President George H.W. Under President George W. Bush, he served as Director of Policy Planning at the State Department. eventually left In 2003, he became disillusioned with what he later called the Iraq War. “Improper choice executed improperly.”
As a young man, Mr. Haas opposed the Vietnam War and considered himself a liberal. inspired by the vision of For over 40 years, he was a Republican, but he occasionally voted Democrat. But by 2020, he abandoned the party It was captured by Trump after the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. publicly declared oneself unaffiliated.
Over the past century, America has experienced other periods of division and discord, such as Jim Crow, McCarthyism, Vietnam, the civil rights movement, and Watergate. The assassinations, riots and wars of 1968 are often remembered as a singularly harrowing year in national life. But Haas sees this moment as even worse. “These were not threats to systems or structures,” he said. “That’s why I think this is more important.”
Haas, like other presidential candidates, agreed to meet with Trump in 2015 to advise him on foreign affairs, but admitted that he had made a bad judgment on the over-the-top real estate developer.
“What I was completely wrong was thinking that the pressures of public office would moderate or normalize him, whatever language he used. He would have more respect for tradition and heritage.” said Haas. “And I was wrong about that. Rather, he became more radical. He doubled down.”
The question is whether America has changed in the long run. “For every non-American or foreign leader who tells me this, I must have a nickel. I no longer know what is the norm and what is the exception,” he said. Said. Will a Biden administration be a return to the America I took for granted, and will President Trump be a historic fiasco? Or is Biden the exception and Trump and Trumpism the new America?”
After spending most of the past half century exploring other countries, Mr. Haas is ready to explore his own. Put your foreign policy hat aside for now, and as the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence approaches in three years, expand the message of the book and refocus the nation on the core values embodied in the Declaration of Independence. said he would like to help guess the
Despite all his worries, he insists he is not pessimistic. “When I go around talking about this subject, people know there is something wrong with American democracy,” he said. “They know it’s insane. And they don’t always agree on how to fix it. But there’s a really open atmosphere to the conversation.”
