Richard Haassis president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher. Until June 2003, Richard Haass was director of policy planning for the Department of State, where he was a principal advisor to Secretary of State Colin Powell.Previously, Haass was vice president and director of foreign policy studies at The Brookings Institution.nbsp; He was also special assistant to President George Bush and senior director on the staff of the National Security Council from 1989 to1993.nbsp; Haass is the author ofThe Opportunity: America 's Moment to Alter History's Course.nbsp;A Rhodes Scholar, he holds a B.A. from Oberlin… College and Master and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Oxford University .