Council For The National Interest

The Council for the National Interest ("CNI") is a 501(c) organization in the United States advocating a "new direction for U.S. Middle East policy." With its sister organization the Council for the National Interest Foundation ("CNIF") it works to educate about and promote what it describes as "even handed policies by the U.S. government". Founded in 1989 by former Congressmen Paul Findley (R-IL) and Pete McCloskey (R-CA), the Council describes itself as "the only organization of its kind striving against tremendous odds to reverse the U.S. government's one-sided, one-way Middle East policies." CNI has been especially critical of the state of Israel and lobby groups that support it, like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee ("AIPAC"). The Economist wrote in 2007 that CNI "even bills itself as the anti-AIPAC." It is especially critical of what it alleges is Israel's misuse of U.S. taxpayer's money to fund activities in violation of international law, monitoring the use of U.S. taxpayer funds by Israel in the West Bank and in Gaza.

Ambassador (ret.) Robert V. Keeley is CNI's chair and former United States Ambassador David Newton is its vice chair. Alison Weir is the organization's president and former Central Intelligence Agency officer Philip Giraldi is Executive Director.