Steve Pieczenik (ex-State Dept; CFR member to 2012)
playerMedia & Managed Opposition
A former State Department crisis negotiator who was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a foreign-policy think tank, until 2012 — and became a regular guest on Alex Jones's InfoWars.
Who they are
Steve Pieczenik, a psychiatrist and author who served as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State[1].
What they do
A viral post on X (formerly Twitter) in October 2026 named him, with Robert David Steele, a former CIA officer, as the creator of Q, the anonymous online poster behind QAnon, a far-right American conspiracy theory and political movement that began in 2017, and tagged him 'CFR' — the Council on Foreign Relations, a foreign-policy membership organization and think tank.
How it works
He served under Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance and James Baker, and resigned in 1979 over the handling of the Iranian hostage crisis. The Council's own published member list includes him in October 2012; by November 2012 his name had been removed. He has been on InfoWars, the flagship radio show of Alex Jones, many times, including after the 2020 election, when he claimed the Trump administration had let the Democrats commit election fraud as a 'sting operation'.
Why it matters
His Council membership is documented. Any role in creating Q is not. In 2023 two researchers in France compared Q's posts with the writing of 13 people suspected of being Q. The closest match was two other men, Paul Furber and Ron Watkins, who both deny writing as Q. Pieczenik was not one of the 13, so that study neither ties him to Q nor clears him.
The engine's record — word for word
[Report #198] Wikipedia: 'Steve R. Pieczenik ( / p ə ˈ tʃ ɛ n ɪ k / ) (born December 7, 1943) is a Cuban -American psychiatrist , author , publisher , and conspiracy theorist .' 'In 1976, he was made Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Henry Kissinger , Cyrus Vance and James Baker .' 'In 1979, Pieczenik resigned as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State over the handling of the Iranian hostage crisis.' (
en.wikipedia.org).
CFR. The CFR's own roster, archived 6 Oct 2012: 'Thomas R. Pickering Steve R. Pieczenik Alberto M. Piedra Jr.' (
web.archive.org). The same roster, archived 18 Nov 2012: 'Thomas R. Pickering Alberto M. Piedra Jr.' (
web.archive.org) — his name gone. Alchetron: 'According to Internet Archive, his name was removed from the CFR roster sometime between October 6 and November 18, 2012.' (
alchetron.com).
INFOWARS. 'Pieczenik has appeared multiple times on InfoWars , the flagship radio program of Alex Jones'; 'After the 2020 United States presidential election , Pieczenik appeared on InfoWars claiming that the Trump administration had permitted the Democratic Party to engage in election fraud as a "sting operation"' (
en.wikipedia.org). A blog record of an earlier appearance: 'Dr Pieczenik says that WikiLeaks and Julian Assange were part of their counter-coup.' (
burners.me).
Q. The post (4 Oct 2026): 'created Q anon with Steve Pieczenik'. The 2023 peer-reviewed writing study compared Q's posts with the writing of 13 named suspects; he was not one of them, so it neither links him to Q nor clears him. Authorship: not found, held open. Would settle: a record placing him at the Q boards or the drops.
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