Is Barack Obama a CFR member?

Answer 1

Technically, No. The CFR is an independent think tank, outside of government, which provides policy advice to both Congress and the Executive branch. It is not part of the government.

The Council on Foreign Relations was founded in 1921. Like many other Washington, D.C. "think tanks", it's a lobbying entity pushing a specific ideological viewpoint, in this case primarily for an "activist" foreign policy. With a large number of members in various government posts or who have contacts with such government employees, CFR is one of the more effective lobbying organizations in D.C.

As a private lobbying organization, the CFR does not explicitly publish membership roles and/or exactly who is active or inactive in the organization. It reportedly has roughly 5,000 existing members (plus several hundred corporate memberships) from most influential walks of life. All CFR members are required to be US Citizens, and corporate members must be US-run companies.

As an external lobbying organization, the President can have no active part in it. While it is unknown if all Presidents who were CFR members resigned or merely deactivated their memberships while in office, there would be an illegal conflict-of-interest for any President to maintain any sort of active role in such an organization.

Answer 2

Yes, Barack Obama is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He became a member in 2008 and has been actively involved in its activities and discussions on foreign policy and global affairs.