2018 Bilderberg Group listing includes familiar names of America’s leading power brokers

Any group that includes such seemingly diverse guests as Lindsay Graham, Wilbur Ross, Madeline Albright, Herb McMaster, John Kerry, Rick Perry and Ben Bernanke can’t be called political, so what’s left to describe it?

These folks and their ilk will be celebrating once again as the Bilderberg Group meets for the 66th time on June 7-10 in Turin, Italy. There won’t be anything to report on what will be discussed by the establishment’s rich and powerful, and you surely will never be invited to this or any other get together. Ah, the fate of the little people.

You could call it a secret society that meets annually at the world’s fanciest hotels and resorts, surrounded by an army of rifle-wielding private security and public police, for a closed-door session of some 140 royals, corporate kings, technology brainiacs, international bankers, politicians and military experts. You could also describe it as an event with no other apparent reason – except conspiracy.

Bilderberg is run by a committee that currently includes Google ruler Eric Schmidt, NEOM boss Klaus Kleinfeld, Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp, and Marie-Josée Kravis, a Hudson Institute fellow

The group first met in 1954 at the Hotel De Bilderberg in the Netherlands, using some CIA funds to push the early European Movement. That was the foundation for the European Union superstate. The rich like to spend other people’s money (one secret to staying rich!).

A common criticism of the group is that it seeks a world government, less populism and serves the interests of the rich and famous, who are the very folks who attend the secret confabs.

Judge for yourself with this list of some of the American participants with their current or past title or offices. Many became very famous years after they attended a Bilderberg Group session:

Presidents

• George H. W. Bush (1989, 1992)
• Bill Clinton (1991)
• Gerald Ford (1964, 1966) deceased

Senators

• Tom Daschle  (2008) Senator SD
• John Edwards (2004), Senator NC
• Chuck Hagel (1999, 2000), Senator NE, Secretary of Defense 2013–2015.
• John Kerry (2012), 68th Secretary of State and Senator MA
• Sam Nunn (1996, 1997), Senator GA
• Lindsey Graham (2016), Senator SC

Governors

• Mitchell Daniels (2012) Governor of Indiana
• Jon Huntsman, Jr. (2012) Governor of Utah
• Rick Perry (2007), Governor of Texas
• Mark Sanford (2008), Governor of South Carolina
• Kathleen Sebelius (2008), Governor of Kansas, Secretary of Health and Human Services

Government Service

•  Thomas E. Donilon (2012), Executive VP Fannie Mae, National Security Advisor
• Roger Altman (2011, 2012, 2013), Deputy Treasury Secretary from 1993–1994, Founder and Chairman of Evercore Partners
• George W. Ball (1954, 1993), Under Secretary of State, Ambassador to U.N. deceased
• Sandy Berger (1999), National Security Advisor
• Hillary Clinton (1997), 67th Secretary of State
• Timothy Geithner (2008, 2009) Treasury Secretary
• Dick Gephardt (2012), former Congressman and House Majority Leader
• Lee H. Hamilton (1997), former Congressman
• Christian Herter, (1961, 1963, 1964, 1966), 53rd Secretary of State deceased
• Charles Douglas Jackson (1957, 1958, 1960) Special Assistant to the President deceased
• Joseph E. Johnson (1954), President Carnegie Endowment for International Peace deceased
• Henry Kissinger (1957, 1964, 1966, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1977, 2008 – 2013, 2015, 56th Secretary of State
• Mark G. Mazzie (1986, 1987), Chief of Staff, U.S. Rep. George C. Wortley
• Richard Perle (2011), Chairman of the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee 2001–2003, Assistant Secretary of Defense 1981–1987
• Colin Powell (1997), 65th Secretary of State
• Condoleezza Rice (2008), 66th Secretary of State
• George P. Shultz (2008), 60th Secretary of State
• Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council
• Paul Volcker (2010), Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Terry Wolfe (2010), former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
• Robert Zoellick (2008–2015), Trade Representative, Deputy Secretary of State and President of the World Bank Group
• H.R. McMaster (2017), U.S. National Security Advisor
• Wilbur Ross (2017), Secretary of Commerce

Military

•  Lyman Lemnitzer (1963), Supreme Allied Commander NATO deceased
• Alexander Haig (1978), NATO Commander, Secretary of State deceased
• Keith B. Alexander (2012), Commander US Cyber Command; Director, NSA
• David Petraeus (2013), Director of the CIA

Financial

• David Rockefeller, Sr. (2008, 2009, 2011), Former Chairman, Chase Manhattan Bank deceased
• William Joseph McDonough (1997), former President, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• Ben Bernanke (2008, 2009), Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Paul Volcker (1982, 1983, 1986-1988, 1992, 1997, 2009, 2010), Chairman of the Federal Reserve

Corporations

• Jeff Bezos (2011, 2013), Founder of Amazon.com
• Timothy C. Collins (2008–2012), CEO of Ripplewood Holdings
• Bill Gates (2010), Chairman of Microsoft
• Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., former CEO of IBM
• H. J. Heinz II (1954), CEO of H. J. Heinz Company deceased
• Chris Hughes (2011), Co-founder of Facebook
• Donald E. Graham (2008–2010), CEO and Chairman of The Washington Post Co., Facebook Board of Directors
• Henry Kravis (2008–2015), Co-founder, Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
• Eric Schmidt (2008, 2010, 2011, 2013–2016), CEO and Chairman of Google
• Peter Thiel (2007-2016), President of Clarium Capital and PayPal co-founder
• Sam Altman (2016) President of Y Combinator and co-chairman of OpenAI
• David M. Cote (2016), Chairman and CEO of Honeywell

Academic

• Richard Pipes (1981),Senior Staff Member, National Security Council

Media

• William F. Buckley, Jr. (1996), columnist and founder of National Review (deceased)
• Charlie Rose (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012), Executive Editor and Anchor, ‘Charlie Rose’
• George Stephanopoulos (1996, 1997), Former Communications Director of the Clinton Administration (1993–1996), now ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent.
• Fouad Ajami (2012), Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University