Zbigniew Brzezinski, PhD
Counselor, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Zbigniew Brzezinski is a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; professor of American foreign policy, the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC.

From 1977 to 1981, he served as national security advisor to the president of the United States. In 1981, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his role in the normalization of United States - Chinese relations and for his contributions to the human rights and national security policies of the United States.

He has been involved in many public and pro bono activities: He serves as honorary chairman of the AmeriCares Foundation (a private philanthropic humanitarian aid organization); member of the board of trustees of Freedom House (a non-profit institution dedicated to the promotion of freedom); trustee of the Trilateral Commission (a cooperative American-European-Japanese forum); member of the board of directors of the Polish-American Enterprise Fund and of the Polish-American Freedom Foundation; chairman, International Advisory Board for the Yale Project on the Culture & Civilization of China; etc.

Zbigniew is a international advisor to major United States/global corporations; He is a frequent participant in annual business/trade conventions; also, a frequent public speaker, commentator on major domestic and foreign TV programs, and contributor to domestic and foreign newspapers and journals.

U.S. Government: Member of the Policy Planning Council of the Department of State; 1985, Member of the President’s Chemical Warfare Commission; 1987-88, Member of the NSC-Defense Department Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy; 1987-89, Member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (a Presidential commission to oversee U.S. intelligence activities).

From 1973-1976, Zbigniew served as director of the Trilateral Commission; In the 1968 presidential campaign as chairman of the Humphrey Foreign Policy Task Force; In the 1976 presidential campaign as principal foreign policy advisor to Jimmy Carter. In 1988, co-chairman of the Bush National Security Advisory Task Force. Zbigniew is a past member of Boards of Directors of Amnesty International, Council on Foreign Relations, Atlantic Council, the National Endowment for Democracy.

Academic: On the faculty of Columbia University 1960-89; on the faculty of Harvard University 1953-60. Ph.D., Harvard University, 1953; B.A. and M.A., McGill University 1949 & 1950. His most recent book is The GrandCchessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives; Also author of the best-seller The Grand Failure: The Birth and Death of Communism in the 20th Century, as well as of Out of Control: Global Turmoil on the Eve of the 21st Century; Game Plan: How to Conduct the U.S.-Soviet Contest; Power and Principle: Memoirs of the National Security Advisor, 1977-1981; The Fragile Blossom: Crisis and Change in Japan; Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technotronic Era; The Soviet Bloc: Unity and Conflict; and many other books and many articles in numerous United States and foreign academic journals.

Zbigniew has received many honors and awards. In 1995, he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest civilian decoration for his contributions to recovery by Poland of its independence; also highest civilian decorations from the governments of Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Hungary. Honorary degrees from Georgetown University, Williams College, Fordham University, College of the Holy Cross, Alliance College, the Catholic University of Lublin, Warsaw University, the University of Tbilisi, the University of Vilnius, the Ukrainian Free University, the Jagiellonian University; Honorary Citizenship from the City of Lviv; Centennial Medal of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences of Harvard University; the Hubert Humphrey Award for Public Service from the American Political Science Association; the U Thant Award; the David Rockefeller International Leadership Award; as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Ford Foundation, etc. In 1969, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1963, he was selected by the United States Chamber of Commerce as one of America’s Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Year.

Zbigniew was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1928. He is the son of a diplomat posted to Canada in 1938. He is married to Emilie Anna (Muska) Benes, a graduate of Wellesley College who is a sculptor. They have three children: Ian, Mark, and Mika.