Directors of Policy Planning
The Secretary of State established a Policy Planning Staff, with a Director who held rank equivalent to an Assistant Secretary of State, on May 5, 1947. Between 1955 and 1961, the head of the Policy Planning function served as Assistant Secretary of State for Policy Planning, one of ten Assistant Secretaries authorized by Congress in the Department of State Organization Act of Aug 5, 1955 (P.L. 84-250; 69 Stat. 536). From 1961 to 1966, the Counselor of the Department served as Chairman of the Policy Planning Council. Since 1966, the Secretary of State has designated the head of the Policy Planning function under several different titles at a rank equivalent to an Assistant Secretary of State.
- George Frost Kennan (1947–1949)
- Paul Henry Nitze (1950–1953)
- Robert Richardson Bowie (1953–1957)
- Robert Richardson Bowie (1955–1957)
- Gerard Coad Smith (1957–1961)
- George Crews McGhee (1961)
- Walt Whitman Rostow (1961–1966)
- Henry David Owen (1966–1969)
- William Ira Cargo (1969–1973)
- James S. Sutterlin (1973)
- Winston Lord (1973–1977)
- William Anthony Kirsopp Lake (1977–1981)
- Paul Dundes Wolfowitz (1981–1982)
- Stephen Warren Bosworth (1983–1984)
- Peter Warren Rodman (1984–1986)
- Richard H. Solomon (1986–1989)
- Dennis B. Ross (1989–1992)
- Samuel Winfield Lewis (1993–1994)
- James Braidy Steinberg (1994–1996)
- Gregory B. Craig (1997–1998)
- Morton H. Halperin (1998–2001)
- Richard Nathan Haass (2001–2003)
- Mitchell Reiss (2003–2005)
- Stephen Krasner (2005–2007)
- David F. Gordon (2007–2009)
- Anne-Marie Slaughter (2009–2011)
- Jacob J. Sullivan (2011–2013)
- David McKean (2013–2016)
- Jon Finer (2016–2017)
- Brian H. Hook (2017–2018)
- Kiron Skinner (2018–2019)
- Peter Berkowitz (2019)