The Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) is an American research center based at Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C., United States.

FPI is housed in the Benjamin T. Rome building on the Embassy Row in Washington, D.C.[1] It organizes research initiatives and study groups, and hosts global leaders as resident or non-resident fellows in fields including international policy, business, journalism, and academia.

[3] The Washington Center of Foreign Policy Research was founded in 1957 by Paul H. Nitze, former Secretary of the Navy and Deputy Secretary of Defense; Nitze, a cold war strategist and expert on military power and strategic arms, whose roles as negotiator, diplomat and Washington insider spanned the era from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan, was also one of the founders of SAIS.

During its formative years, the Foreign Policy Institute additionally established discussion groups on religion in the 21st century, Asian security, "new sciences," and new technology and international affairs.

The Protection Project,[6] established at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government by FPI Fellow Laura Lederer in 1994, moved to SAIS in 2000.

In 2012 the Johns Hopkins SAIS established the Betty Lou Hummel Endowed Fund to create a permanent base of support for the Foreign Policy Institute.

Ambassador Cinnamon Dornsife, senior advisor of the international development program at SAIS, currently holds this position.