Leslie H. Gelb is currently the president of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has held that position since June 1993.

Throughout his career, he has worked for The New York Times in a variety of positions: columnist (January 1991 - June 93), deputy editorial page editor (1986-90), editor of the op-ed page (1988-90), national security correspondent (1981-86), and diplomatic correspondent (1973- 77). In 1985, he received the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory journalism and was the Front Page Award Winner for that same year.

Leslie Gelb has co-authored numerous books, including The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked (1980), which was awarded the American Political Science Association's Woodrow Wilson Award, Our Own Worst Enemy: The Unmaking of American Foreign Policy (1984), and Claiming the Heavens (Star Wars) (1988). He is author of the book Anglo-American Relations, 1945-1950: Toward a Theory of Alliances (1988).

From 1980-1981, he was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a consultant for the German Marshall Fund of the US. From 1969-73, he was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, while concurrently serving as a visiting professor at Georgetown University.

He was Assistant Secretary of State (Director, Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs) 1977 - July 79, where he received the Distinguished Honor Award, the highest award given by the State Department. From 1967-69, he was Director of Policy Planning and Arms Control, International Security Affairs, at the Department of Defense and the director of the Pentagon Papers Project. While at the Pentagon, he received the Distinguished Service Award, which is the highest Pentagon award.

From 1964-66 he was an assistant professor at Wesleyan University, leaving to become the executive assistant for US Senator Jacob K. Javits (1966-67).

Leslie Gelb is a trustee for The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and for Tufts University. He is a board member of Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, an advisory board member for the Center on Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, an advisory board member for the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University, and member of the board of directors at Salomon Brothers Family of Mutual Funds, director of The India Fund, Inc., The Asia Tigers Fund, Inc, Central European Value Fund, Inc. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Trilateral Commission, and a fellow at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1993, he was the recipient of the Father of the Year Award.

He received his B.A from Tufts University in 1959 and went on to earn an M.A. (1961) and Ph.D. (1964) at Harvard University.

He was married to Judith Cohen in 1959 and they have three children.