Angelina Jolie was named a member of the thinktank nonpartisan foreign policy group The Council on Foreign Relations. At first I didn’t think this was a big deal, as Jolie is already a UN Goodwill Ambassador and seems to have some influence in government considering that she also attended the World Economic Forum last year.

According to Wikipedia, The Council on Foreign Relations is an elite organization that is considered the greatest influence on US foreign policy outside the State Department. It is able to shape policy with members that include many State Department employees and government officials along with big corporate interests that pay for membership. Current members include Jimmy Carter, Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Henry Kissinger, John Kerry, and Bill Clinton. Angelina Jolie will join Ron Silver as one of the two actor members, along with media representatives such as Tom Brokaw, Diane Sawyer, and Lesley Stahl.

There are two types of membership, life and term memberships. Term memberships are for people between the ages of 30 and 36 and lasts for 5 years. It is likely that Angelina has this type of membership.

It’s doubtful that the Council on Foreign Relations can get all those powerful people together at once, but they do hold meetings and conferences, according to their website:

Panel discussions, interviews, lectures, book clubs, and film screenings bring Council members together with senior government officials, world leaders, academic experts, and prominent thinkers to discuss the major foreign policy issues of our time.

The Council on Foreign Relations is about to get a lot more press for their various events, and they undoubtedly are banking on that by approving Jolie for membership.

My first thought when hearing this is that she’ll be busy with obligations for this organization soon, and that we really should take her literally when she says she’ll take a year off acting.

Header image is of Angelina at a special screening of A Mighty Heart at the LA Museum of Tolerance on Wednesday night. This explains why she was not at Brad Pitt’s side for the Vegas premiere of Oceans 13. [pic via JJB]