The Nationalities Working Group was established on 20 January 1978 as a group within the National Security Council of the US, functioning under the umbrella of the East-West Planning Group. It was interagency task force thatdealt with the non-Russian regions of the Soviet Union. Alexandre Bennigsen had influenced Zbigniew Brzezinski in establishing the group which continued to show the influence of Bennigsen's approach to Islamic nationalities in Central Asia. It was originally headed by Paul B. Henze. Other participants included the CIA veteran Jeremy Azrael.<ref name="Kalinovsky"/> Richard Pipes headed the group under the Reagan administration.<ref name="Kalinovsky"/>