The director of policy planning is the United States Department of State official in charge of the department's internal think tank, the policy planning staff, with a rank equivalent to assistant secretary. The position has traditionally been held by many members of the U.S. foreign policy establishment. Former directors of policy planning include two national security advisors, a president of the World Bank, and several presidents of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Directors of policy planning

{| class="wikitable"

|+

!No.

!Name

!Assumed office

!Left office

!President appointed by

|-

|1

|George F. Kennan

|1947

|1949

| rowspan="2" |Harry S. Truman

|-

|2

|Paul Nitze

|1950

|1953

|-

|3

|Robert R. Bowie

|1953

|1957

| rowspan="2" |Dwight D. Eisenhower

|-

|4

|Gerard C. Smith

|1957

|1961

|-

|5

|George C. McGhee

|1961

|1961

| rowspan="2" |John F. Kennedy

|-

|6

|Walt Whitman Rostow

|1961

|1966

|-

|7

|Henry David Owen

|1966

|1969

|Lyndon B. Johnson

|-

|8

|William I. Cargo

|1969

|1973

|Richard Nixon

|-

|9

|James S. Sutterlin

|1973

|1973

|Richard Nixon

|-

|10

|Winston Lord

|1973

|1977

|Gerald Ford

|-

|11

|Anthony Lake

|1977

|1981

|Jimmy Carter

|-

|12

|Paul Wolfowitz

|1981

|1982

| rowspan="4" |Ronald Reagan

|-

|13

|Stephen W. Bosworth

|1983

|1984

|-

|14

|Peter W. Rodman

|1984

|1986

|-

|15

|Richard H. Solomon

|1986

|1989

|-

|16

|Dennis B. Ross

|1989

|1992

|George H. W. Bush

|-

|17

|Samuel W. Lewis

|1993

|1994

| rowspan="4" |Bill Clinton

|-

|18

|James Steinberg

|1994

|1996

|-

|19

|Gregory B. Craig

|1997

|1999

|-

|20

|Morton Halperin

|1998

|2001

|-

|21

|Richard N. Haass

|2001

|2003

| rowspan="4" |George W. Bush

|-

|22

|Mitchell Reiss

|2003

|2005

|-

|23

|Stephen D. Krasner

|2005

|2007

|-

|24

|David F. Gordon

|2007

|2009

|-

|25

|Anne-Marie Slaughter

|2009

|2011

| rowspan="4" |Barack Obama

|-

|26

|Jake Sullivan

|2011

|2013

|-

|27

|David McKean

|2013

|2016

|-

|28

|Jonathan Finer

|2016

|2017

|-

|29

|Brian Hook

|2017

|2018

| rowspan="3" |Donald Trump

|-

|30

|Kiron Skinner

|2018

|2019

|-

|31

|Peter Berkowitz

|2019

|2021

|-

|32

|Salman Ahmed

|2021

|2025

|Joe Biden

|-

|33

|Michael Anton

|2025

|2025

|rowspan="2" |Donald Trump

|-

|34

|Michael Needham

|2025

|Present

|}

References

  • Policy Planning Staff Homepage
  • List of Directors of Policy Planning
  • University of Oxford