Before he became ambassador to the PRC and assistant secretary of state, Winston Lord was head of the Association for Foreign Relations. Stanley Roth, who was assistant secretary of state for Asia-Pacific affairs during the second term of the Clinton administration, was formerly director of research and studies at the US Institute of Peace.
如羅德在出任駐中共大使、助理國務卿前，是「外交關係協會」的總裁；柯林頓政府第二任期的亞太事務助理國務卿陸士達，出任前是「美國和平研究所」研究部主任。