In 2000, Nicholas Rockefeller arranged for two dozen prominent Californians to board the U.S.S. Portsmouth, a 361-foot nuclear-powered attack submarine, which then submerged off the coast near San Diego. This “Inspection of the United States Submarine Fleet Readiness” was a thrilling day for all on board, a group that included Henry Kissinger’s son, David—a Hollywood producer—and comedian Tim Allen, who even got to steer the sub for a few minutes.
Nick—“Rocky” to certain friends—had convinced the navy to sponsor the “inspection” through his chairmanship of the Committee on Foreign Relations, an organization he founded and that was generally, if wrongly, assumed to be an affiliate of the New York–based Council on Foreign Relations, to which he also belonged.
