General disorder: Another four-star tries to cash in
With help from Daniel Lippman, Lee Hudson, Bryan Bender, Andrew Desiderio and Lawrence Ukenye
Old generals don’t fade away, they move in the bright light of day from the Pentagon into lucrative contracts with defense companies, think tanks and foreign governments.
The revolving door between military/defense industry/wonkism/lobbyist is usually not much of a problem for the D.C. crowd as long as the paperwork is filed before the stars are traded for cufflinks. But some former officers get caught in the door, and things can get messy.
Last night, we found out that JOHN ALLEN, the retired Marine Corps four-star and president of the Brookings Institution think tank, failed to disclose his work for the Qatari government and allegedly lied to federal investigators about it when asked.
According to a 77-page search warrant application originally obtained by the AP, Allen gave agents a “false version of events” in 2020 when asked about his involvement in the 2017 diplomatic crisis that pitted Qatar against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who slapped economic embargoes on their regional rival and for a time even threatened to invade.
[ ] Enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which mandates that Americans who take part in political activities on behalf of foreign governments register with the Department of Justice, “has never been a top priority at the Justice Department and that is a big reason why we see situations like that of General Allen and Qatar,” said DYLAN HEDTLER-GAUDETTE of the Project On Government Oversight. “This is why it is so critical for both Congress and the Justice Department to take meaningful action to strengthen and enhance enforcement of FARA. If they don’t, undue foreign influence over U.S. policy making will persist and people violating FARA will continue to get away with it.”
Mattis' battle buddy JOHN KELLY, a fellow retired four-star Marine general who went on to become Trump’s Homeland Security Secretary and White House chief of staff, was granted permission in 2016 to act as a mentor for Australia’s Defense Joint Task Force Commanders Course. Kelly included the job on his government ethics form when he was nominated for the Homeland Security job.
Likewise, retired Marine Gen. JAMES JONES, former President BARACK OBAMA’s first national security adviser, former Commandant of the Marine Corps, and European Command chief, was given authorization to work for Ironhand Security, a company that has sought work with governments like Saudi Arabia. Another four-star retired Marine Corps Commandant, JAMES AMOS, also sought and received permission to join the board of VT Systems Inc, an engineering firm owned by Singapore Technologies Engineering which has offices in the UAE and Brazil.
No list is complete, of course, without mentioning retired three-star Army Gen. MIKE FLYNN, who before he led the charge for Q-inspired conspiracy theories, was Trump’s national security adviser and a decorated, if controversial, three-star general. While working on the Trump campaign, Flynn was being paid by the Turkish government. Flynn didn’t register his foreign work that took place throughout the 2016 presidential campaign with the U.S. government until after Trump fired him in February 2017.
CEASEFIRE: The Pentagon has blinked. After a House panel moved to cut the travel budget of Deputy Defense Secretary KATHLEEN HICKS, the department on Wednesday pledged to put a single entity in charge of cruise missile defense by the end of July, our colleague BRYAN BENDER reports.
Brookings think tank puts its president, Gen. John Allen, on leave amid federal investigation into foreign lobbying
WASHINGTON (AP) — Brookings think tank puts its president, Gen. John Allen, on leave amid federal investigation into foreign lobbying.
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