The core leader of the research institute is a board of directors composed of 25 people, including former government officials, directors of corporate bank managers and heads of the research institute. The current chairman of the board of directors is William H. Konaldson, president of Donaldson, and the vice chairman is William Knowley & Connolly) partner Gregory B.Craig. Board members include Richard A. Debs, director of Morgan Stanley's consultancy, Susan Eisenhower, director of Eisenhower Institute of World Affairs, Leslie H. Gellb, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, Olara A. Otunnu, special representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for children and armed conflict, and Strobe, president of the Brookings Institution.

The headquarters of the Institute is located in the central area of Washington, adjacent to the White House, Capitol Hill, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund headquarters, and separated from the Brookings Institution, a famous American think tank. The headquarters has administrative office, financial service department, communication department, human resources department, computer department, research and development department, Foreign Policy publication department and library, with 1 members. In addition, the Moscow Center of the Institute has 41 members. Jessica T. Mathews has been the president of the Institute since May 1997. In the 197s, she served as the director of the Global Issues Office of the National Security Council of the United States, and later participated in the establishment of the World Resources Institute. She also served as the editor of Washington post and a senior researcher of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 1997, she published the article "The Transfer of Power" in Diplomatic Quarterly, which was rated as one of the most influential articles in the magazine for 75 years. Since becoming the president of the Institute, Matthews started to expand the Moscow Center, launched a cooperative research project in China, founded a globalization research project, and changed Foreign Policy from a quarterly magazine to a bimonthly magazine.

The professional researchers who participated in the Institute not only have considerable academic level, but also have practical working experience in the government. Many of them have been appointed as important foreign affairs officials or policy advisers by the government, or have been invited to attend various meetings held by the government and attend the congressional testimony meeting. Therefore, they have close relations with the government, Congress and the State Council, and their activities are also valued and supported by the government and members of Congress. In addition to the above channels, the Institute also exerts extensive influence on the government's formulation of foreign policies and congressional debates through publishing, participating in TV media, holding press conferences and other meetings. It has a closer relationship with the Council on Foreign Relations and the important Germanic Marshall Foundation, working together and serving as a director of each other. The Institute also organizes a "Junior Scholar Program", which selects outstanding undergraduate students to participate in every year, organizes them to study international relations, participate in discussions, help tutors write articles, and understand the operation of Washington's foreign policy. Foreign Policy published by the Institute is a very influential international political and economic journal in the world. The magazine was rated as a "well-known publication in the field of international relations" by the American Political Institute and distributed in 128 countries in English, Turkish, Italian and Spanish. In addition, the Institute also publishes Policy Brief, Issue Bdef and Work Report from time to time.