Retired US military personnel are guaranteed means of interfering in directing the policies of other countries

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• Hundreds of retired military officials have taken jobs in foreign governments since 2015, according to a WaPo report.

• They often accept highly lucrative jobs paying up to seven figures in salary and benefits.

• Some of the countries where these veterans work have committed human rights abuses, according to WaPo.


Afrasianet - Hundreds of retired military officials have taken high-paying jobs with foreign governments, sometimes making up seven figures in salaries and benefits, despite some countries being accused of human rights abuses, according to a report.

A new Washington Post investigation found that more than 500 retired military personnel have held jobs with foreign governments since 2015, with the majority of the jobs located in North Africa or the Middle East, including advisory positions for the Saudi Ministry of Defense.

The jobs are also very lucrative, The Post found through a Freedom of Information Act request. For example, the Australian government has offered former senior US Navy officials more than $10 million in consulting deals.

And in Azerbaijan, a retired US Air Force general was offered an advisory job at $5,000 a day. By comparison, an active four-star general with more than two decades of experience receives up to $203,698 annually in base salary, according to The Post.

The Washington Post reported that Saudi Arabia, which has been repeatedly accused of human rights abuses, has appointed at least 15 retired US generals and admirals as advisers to the country's Defense Ministry.

Ex-Marine hired as Special Operations Consultant for $258,000 a year. What was said about Saudi actions against foreign opponents did not prevent US military officers from taking action from the country.

Jones, who served as national security adviser during the Obama administration, has two Virginia-based consulting firms — Ironhand Security LLC and Jones Group International LLC — that have contracts with Saudi Arabia. In an interview with The Washington Post, Jones said the Trump administration has encouraged him to accept more contracts from the country's Department of Defense.

According to Jones, his companies have four such contracts, with 53 US citizens in Riyadh. Eight of them are retired generals and admirals, and 32 are former lower-ranking military personnel, the Washington Post reported.

“No one ever came up to us and said, 'Hey, we think you should drop out,'” Jones told The Post.

“I don't know what the alternative would have been if we dropped out. I was worried that (the Saudis) might drift into other relationships with the Chinese and the Russians, and I didn't think that would be very good."

Charles Wald, a retired four-star Air Force general who accepted a job to work in Riyadh at one of Jones' companies, said there was a big debate about whether to stop working for Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi's killing.

"We asked ourselves, do we fundamentally turn a blind eye to immorality?

Or support a legitimate government," Wald told the paper.

The company decided to stay. Other military personnel took jobs in Indonesia or the United Arab Emirates. Under the limitations of the Emoluments Clause, the Constitution provides that retired U.S. military personnel, which generally applies to those who have served at least 20 years in uniform and are eligible for a pension, cannot receive advisory fees, gifts, jobs, or titles from foreign governments without express approval of Congress.


However, the newspaper found that consent is almost always granted. Of the 500 applications since 2015, about 95% have been approved.

The newspaper also reported that some people negotiated jobs with foreign governments while on active duty. There is no penalty for violating the law and enforcement is rare, according to the publication.

One of the most prolific cases of a former US military officer being punished for accepting fees from a foreign government was Michael Flynn, former national security adviser to Donald Trump.

More than 500 retired US military personnel — including dozens of generals and admirals — have taken lucrative jobs since 2015 working for foreign governments, most of them in countries known for human rights abuses and political repression, according to a Washington Post investigation.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, 15 retired US generals and admirals have served as paid consultants to the Department of Defense since 2016. Among the paid Saudi advisers are retired Gen. James Jones, the national security adviser to President Barack Obama, and retired Gen. Keith Alexander, who led the National Security Agency under Obama and President George W. Bush, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post under lawsuits under the Freedom Act. the information.

Others who have served as advisers to the Saudis include a retired four-star general in the Air Force and a former commander in chief of US forces in Afghanistan.

Most of the retired American personnel have served as civilian contractors for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and other Gulf states, playing a crucial, if largely invisible, role in modernizing their militaries.

Meanwhile, security forces in the Gulf states continued to commit human rights abuses both at home and outside their borders. With combined intelligence, aerial refueling and other support from the US government and contractors, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have intervened in Yemen's civil war to catastrophic effect, precipitating a global humanitarian crisis and killing thousands of civilians, according to UN investigators. Foreign governments have long promoted their interests in Washington by paying Americans as lobbyists, lawyers, political consultants, think tank analysts and public relations consultants.

But the recruitment of retired US military personnel for their experience and political influence has accelerated over the past decade as oil-rich Gulf states splurge on defense spending and strengthen their security partnerships with the Pentagon.

Congress allows retired troops as well as reservists to work for foreign governments if they first obtain approval from their branch of the armed forces and the State Department. But the US government has struggled to keep the appointments secret. For years, it withheld almost all information about the practice, including which countries employ the most retired US service members and how much money is at stake.

To bring the issue to light, The Washington Post sued the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and State Department in federal court under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). After a two-year legal battle, The Post obtained more than 4,000 pages of documents, including case files for about 450 retired soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.


The documents show that foreign governments pay handsomely for US military talent, with salary and benefits packages running into the six figures, and sometimes seven figures, far more than most US service members earn while on active duty.

At the top of the scale, four-star active generals earn $203,698 annually in base pay.

Retired generals and admirals make the most money, but former enlisted personnel can also collect hefty foreign salaries on top of their US military pensions, records show.

Saudi Arabia has hired a former US Navy SEAL to work as a special operations consultant for $258,000 a year. The UAE has provided annual compensation packages of more than $200,000 to helicopter pilots and $120,000 to aircraft mechanics.

Military officials revised pay packages for retired generals and admirals, as well as the names of lower-ranking personnel. In the legal petitions, the US officials argued that disclosing the information would violate the privacy of the former service members and could expose them to "embarrassment and harassment" and "unfairly harm their public reputations".

The newspaper identified some of the names and details that were revised through the reports. She continued to sue the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to obtain the rest of the information.

In September, US District Judge Amit B. Mehta largely in favor of The Post and ordered the government to release wage packets and other withheld items. In his order, Mehta called the government's privacy arguments "unconvincing."

In particular, he added: "The public has a right to know whether high-ranking military leaders are abusing their positions - or may be perceived to be doing so - to create jobs with foreign governments in retirement."

A lawyer for the Justice Ministry said it was considering an appeal against the judge's decision. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a Washington-based nonprofit watchdog group, has filed a similar lawsuit against the State Department to find out more about how former US service members sold their military expertise to foreign powers.

POGO shared documents it received from the State Department with The Post. Retired senior military officers often testify before Congress and appear on television to discuss national security, but rarely reveal whether they are on a foreign government's payroll, said Brandon Brockmire, director of investigations and research at BUGO.

"The public operates on the assumption that its only loyalty is to the United States," he said.

"The public has a right to know if and how a foreign power has access to its expertise."


Nearly two-thirds of the jobs held by American veterans are in the Middle East and North Africa, where governments pay top dollar for American military expertise honed by two decades of war and counterterrorism operations in the Arab world.

The documents show that 25 retirees from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps were given permission to take up jobs in Saudi Arabia.

Most of them were senior officers who had received job offers to serve as advisers to the Saudi Ministry of Defense.

One notable beneficiary of Mohammed bin Salman's reign was 78-year-old James Jones, a retired general who served as Obama's national security adviser and was commandant of the Marine Corps. Jones owns two Virginia-based consulting firms — Ironhand Security LLC and Jones Group International LLC — that have contracts to advise the Saudi Ministry of Defense.

Jones applied for a permit to work for the Saudis in November 2016 and was approved by the United States four months later, documents show.

In an interview, Jones said, Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, called him and asked him to meet with the prince during the prince's visit to the United States that year to discuss the possibility of consulting with the Department of Defense.

"Primarily the crown prince said he's worried about how much money Saudi Arabia is spending on military equipment and hardware, rather than capabilities," Jones said.

"He was wondering if there was something we could do to help them transform the Department of Defense and the Armed Forces into something that would be more useful and less expensive."

Jones said he agreed to conduct an organizational assessment of Prince Mohammed's Saudi armed forces starting in 2017, but only after vetting and gaining support from officials at the White House, State Department and Department of Defense.

"If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have done it," he added.

To carry out the project, Jones assembled a team of about a dozen former top Pentagon officials, including William S. Cohen, who served as Secretary of Defense in the Clinton administration.

A spokesperson for Cohen said he worked on the team for about a year. Documents show that four retired generals received US permission in 2017 to work with Jones' team in Riyadh: Charles Wald, a four-star Air Force general; Michael Barbero, a three-star Army general; Arnold Bonnaroo, two-star general of the Marine Corps; and John Doucette, one-star general in the Air Force.


Others are mentioned in the story


Air Force, retired General Charles Wald Employment in foreign governments Security Consultant, Ironhand Security / Saudi Ministry of Defense Principal Consultant, Jones International Group / Government of Libya Army retired Cd Michael Barbero Employment in foreign governments Security Consultant, Ironhand Security / Saudi Ministry of Defense Senior Consultant, Smart Decision Systems / Kuwait Ministry of Defense National Security Adviser, Jones International Group/Government of Libya Marine Corps, retired Major General Arnold Bonnaroo Security Consultant, Ironhand Security / Saudi Ministry of Defense Army retired Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry Employment in foreign governments Senior Adviser / Saudi Ministry of Defense Air Force, retired Brigadier General John Doucette Employment in foreign governments Security Consultant, Jones International Group / Saudi Ministry of Defense Army retired Lieutenant General Douglas Lott Barbero and Doucette did not respond to requests for comment.

Bonnaroo, 76, a longtime Pentagon adviser and former congressional staffer, said he worked with Jones as a consultant from April 2017 to April 2018, traveling to Riyadh every month or two. "We've done real, serious and detailed work,

" Bonnaroo said, adding that the group has briefed US officials on their progress. He declined to disclose how much he was paid, citing a confidentiality clause in his contract with Ironhand Security.

General Jones, who was seen in 2016 in New York, said he agreed to consult with the Saudis starting in 2017, but only after obtaining US approval.

"If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have done it," he said. (Ricardo Saffi/Getty Images/Concordia Summit) Although the US military has refused to disclose the compensation packages the retired generals received, other public records show that the Saudis pay their advisers handsomely. Four retired, lower-ranking officers working for Jones—two Marine colonels, an Army colonel and a Navy captain—have earned salaries between $200,000 and $300,000 advising the Saudi Ministry of Defense.

Military officials have revised the identities of these officers, asserting that the public has no right to obtain the information. The documents show that the Jones companies continue to advise the Saudis on how to reorganize their military command structure so that the armed forces can operate jointly rather than in separate fiefdoms.

Traditionally, the primary mission of the Saudi military and security services has been to ensure the protection and survival of the Al Saud family, with different princes controlling different branches as competing centers of power.

Officials at the Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for an interview. Because of Saudi Arabia's vast oil reserves, US presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt have pledged to help defend the kingdom militarily.

Saudi Arabia buys more US weapons than any other country in the world to date. More than 200 active-duty US soldiers are stationed in Saudi Arabia as trainers and advisors. But Washington has long struggled to reconcile its strong security partnership with Saudi Arabia and the kingdom's troubling human rights record.

The US-Saudi security partnership came under severe strain after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks — 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals — and again because of the war in Yemen, and then again after Khashoggi's assassination.

During his 2020 presidential campaign, Joe Biden promised to make Saudi Arabia "pay the price and make it, in effect, a pariah." However, less than two years later, President Biden traveled to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and exchanged fist bumps with Prince Mohammed to reaffirm the relationship.

During their meeting at the Al-Salam Royal Palace, the two leaders discussed a range of issues, including oil production and human rights. Since then, the relationship has slipped again.

On October 5, Saudi Arabia, Russia and other members of OPEC+ announced that they would cut oil production to raise prices. The decision angered the Biden administration.

Saudi Arabia has been accused of siding with Moscow, whose oil is subject to Western sanctions because of the war in Ukraine. Biden warned that the Saudi government would face "consequences," but did not say how. Another high-ranking senior officer who did business with Saudi Arabia is Keith Alexander, 70, who served as the director of the National Security Agency as well as the first head of U.S. Cyber Command.

In July 2018, Alexander’s cybersecurity company, IronNet, signed a partnership agreement with the Saudis to develop a new institution: the Prince Mohammed bin Salman College of Cybersecurity.

Billing itself as the kingdom's first training program for electronic warfare, the college was established under the supervision of Saud al-Qahtani, an influential aide to the crown prince.

Two months later, during the Trump administration, the State Department approved Alexander's request to help develop the Electronic Warfare College and serve on its board of advisors, documents show. US officials revised details about how much money Alexander would earn. Alexander, founder, CEO and chairman of IronNet, declined to comment.

Bridget Bell, a spokeswoman for IronNet, said the company's contract with the Saudis "focused on developing the college's educational efforts" and that the arrangement lasted through 2020.

Alexander was originally supposed to serve on the college's board of advisors, Bell said, but he did not attend any meetings "nor did he work directly on holding the company." It added that Alexander and Ironnet had "no interaction" with Al-Qahtani.


Many American companies stopped doing business with Saudi Arabia in the weeks after Khashoggi's killing, including lobbyists and PR firms that represented the kingdom in Washington. At the time, a spokesperson for Jones told The Daily Beast that the retired Marine general was "upset" and "horrified" by Khashoggi's death, and downplayed his company's business in Riyadh, saying that one contract with the Saudis had recently expired and another contract had expired. It was due to expire soon.

In fact, the Jones Companies not only remained in Saudi Arabia, but expanded their partnership with the Department of Defense after Khashoggi's murder.

In his interview with The Post, Jones said he was "very shocked and surprised by what clearly happened" to Khashoggi. But he said Jones International applied for and accepted more work from the Saudi Ministry of Defense in 2019 because we were "encouraged" by the Trump administration to do so.

He said his companies now have four Saudi contracts and employ 53 Americans in Riyadh. Of these, eight are retired generals and admirals, and 32 are retired lower-ranking military personnel.

Officials from the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps declined requests for interviews about approval procedures for foreign employment.

But records show that they rarely turn down a job application. Philip DeVille, an attorney who oversaw the Air Force program from 2012 to 2016, said in an interview that he has turned down a small number of applications from retired personnel to work in "Third World countries notorious for the brutality of the conflict."

He refused to name the countries. In general, Deville said he sees most business opportunities as supportive of US foreign policy.

He said that the countries concerned have always been friendly to Washington and are looking for American expertise to make their armies more professional. "If I sign up with another army as instructors, it may not bring this country into Switzerland, but it won't make it worse," he said.

Once the Armed Forces approves employment applications, the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs conducts a final review.

But records provided by the government indicate the office operates with little more than a rubber stamp, declaring all but five cases since 2015. State Department officials declined interview requests from The Washington Post to discuss their criteria for accepting applications from retired military personnel to work for the Saudis and other foreign governments.

But in a written response to questions, the ministry said it took human rights considerations into account and was "confident" that security cooperation with the Saudis would "raise the level of respect for human rights."

The President made it clear that the rule of law and respect for human rights are at the forefront of US foreign policy.

We will continue decades of U.S. partnership to help strengthen Saudi Arabia's defenses through security cooperation, defense trade, training, and exercises, but we are also clear about the challenges ahead.

One of the few cases denied by the State Department involved a retired naval commander who earned $291,000 a year with Saudi Military Industries (SAMI), a state-owned arms supplier, as director of weapons systems.

The Navy approved the request in August 2020, but the State Department reversed the decision four months later, concluding that the arrangement would "adversely affect the foreign relations of the United States."

No further explanation was given. SAMI was established by the Saudi government in 2017. It is wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund, a $620 billion sovereign wealth fund controlled by Prince Mohammed. SAMI's mission is to help the kingdom establish a domestic arms industry and reduce its dependence on the United States and other foreign suppliers.

In August 2020, the Navy gave tentative approval to another retired officer—Timothy Carter, former Northrop Grumman CEO—to take a job at SAMI as executive vice president for weapons and missiles.

Carter's annual compensation was even more lucrative: $514,200 in salary and living expenses, plus an annual bonus of up to $330,000.

What happened to Carter's request after that is not clear.

A Navy spokeswoman said the service has been waiting more than two years for the State Department to make a final decision.

The State Department did not respond to questions about the case. Carter did not respond to requests for comment. Regardless, Carter did not wait for a green light from American officials before he began working with the Saudis.

Saudi Military Industries (SAMI) announced his appointment on September 4, 2019, nearly a full year before he received initial approval from the Navy. Documents show that Navy officials knew he had already taken the job.

Under federal law, the Department of Defense can force retirees to repay any foreign money they receive before their applications are approved.

But there is no evidence that the armed forces have imposed sanctions in such cases. A new Washington Post investigation has exposed the fact that hundreds of war veterans have taken lucrative foreign jobs — often in countries with known human rights abuses. US officials approved these contracts - but fought to keep them secret.

The Washington Post found that many military retirees take foreign jobs or gifts without ever notifying the US government. The Armed Forces and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs do not have a mechanism to identify such cases.

Unless rule-breakers were brought to public attention—as Flynn did—or someone reported them, they had no reason to fear getting into trouble.

Karl Eikenberry, 70, is a retired three-star Army general who led US and NATO forces in Afghanistan and later served as the US ambassador to Kabul. Since 2021, Eikenberry has also described himself in several online bios as a senior advisor to the Saudi Ministry of Defense. But there is no record of him seeking authorization for the job from the military or the State Department. He did not respond to messages seeking comment.


Retired Gen. Karl Eikenberry, the US ambassador to Afghanistan at the time, at the July 2011 funeral of the murdered brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Years ago, Eikenberry described himself as a senior adviser to the Saudi Ministry of Defense. (Massoud Hosseini/AFP/Getty Images) By examining LinkedIn profiles and other publicly available sources, The Post identified 20 other retired officers — including four generals and admirals — who reported working for Jones International Group or Ironhand Security as consultants to the Saudi military but had no record of federal approval. Among them is Edward Cashman, a retired Navy admiral.

Sean Jenkins, a retired Army major general. and Cathal O'Connor, a retired Navy admiral. Everyone started working at The Jones Group in 2021, within weeks of retiring from the US Army. None of the three responded to requests for comment.

Jones said his employees were instructed "to complete all the requirements that they have to do" before working with the Saudis.

Other generals have moved to Saudi Arabia to serve after being forced to retire from the US Army for misconduct. Bradley Baker, a retired three-star Army general, was hired by Jones International Group in September 2020 as Project Manager in Riyadh. Baker's military career ended in 2019 after the Army relieved him of command for engaging in an "inappropriate relationship with a woman" while separated from his wife.

Baker did not respond to messages seeking comment. Last year, he told Task & Purpose, a news site covering the military, that he had not committed adultery and was merely communicating with a woman during a divorce.

The rules regarding foreign jobs that require US government approval are vague and open to interpretation.

The armed forces said the authorization is necessary if the veterans work directly for a foreign government, or if foreign officials can exercise control over their employment or compensation by a private company.

Retirees who have been hired by large US corporations - such as Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics - to work with foreign governments are generally exempt. The difference is that foreign governments cannot hire or fire these individuals, and employers can reassign them to other jobs if they do not sit well with their foreign clients.

For example, retired Navy Admiral Stephen G. Smith worked in Riyadh from 2017 to 2020 as a consultant to the Department of Defense under contract with Booz Allen Hamilton, a major international consulting firm.

Smith did not seek approval for the work from the Navy and the State Department. He told The Post he didn't need it because he worked directly for Booz Allen and "wasn't involved in any contractual issues with the Saudis."


The military services have sometimes applied inconsistent standards to what qualifies as foreign control. The Marine Corps concluded, for example, that retirees who work for US subsidiaries of companies owned by foreign governments do not need US approval. Other services said they do.

In May 2020, the Army rejected a request by a retired officer who had a $300,000-a-year job lined up with Jones International Group to work as a consultant at the Saudi Ministry of Defense.

She cited disciplinary problems on his military record. At the same time, the Army said it was "unclear" whether the officer needed a US permit because he worked for Jones Group International, a US company.

The military told the officer that if the Saudi government "controls your activities," he could not take the job.

The Army redacted the officer's name from the documents, but the details of his service record match the biography of David Height, another general who left the U.S. Army under a cloud. Haight was demoted three ranks—from major general to lieutenant colonel—and forced to retire in 2016 due to a personal misconduct scandal. An Army investigation found that Haight, a married military ranger who served as a brigade commander in Afghanistan, embraced a "disgusting lifestyle" and pursued an 11-year affair with a female government employee.

Adultery is a crime under military law, and Army officials said that Haight's sexual escapades put him in danger of extortion. Haight began working in Riyadh as an advisor to the Saudis in July 2019, eight months before the military was due to deliver its decision on his application, according to his LinkedIn profile. In a short phone interview, Height said he left his job in December 2021.

He added that while working in an advisory capacity at the Saudi Ministry of Defense, his contract was with Jones International Group. Asked if he had any concerns about the Saudi government's human rights record, Height said the Jones group "has always been very careful that our efforts are in line with US policy to stabilize the Middle East" and to professionalize the Saudi military.

The distinction between state-controlled and independent firms is often blurry in non-democratic countries, especially absolute monarchies such as Saudi Arabia, where trade is dominated by the royal family and there is little transparency in the business sector.


In February, for example, an entirely new Saudi defense contractor — Scopa Industries Corp. — opened its doors. LLC - his business with an ambitious agenda.

Describing itself as the "preeminent defense company in the kingdom," Scuba said its goal was to "meet the directives" of Prince Mohammed by contributing to the "revolutionary defense process" and creating local jobs.

The company is owned by the Ajlan family, a conglomerate run by three billionaire brothers. In practice, however, Saudi companies cannot operate in the defense sector without the crown prince's blessing.

The Scopa Industries website features five senior U.S. advisors: Barbero, retired Vice Admiral of the Navy Rich Brown, retired Admiral Michael A. Brown, retired Army Colonel Dominic Caracciello, and retired Air Force Colonel Todd Harmer. Harmer said in an email that his activities at Scopa Industries "fully comply with US laws and regulations," but declined to comment further. Other US consultants to Scopa Industries did not respond to requests for interviews.

Another Saudi defense contractor, Vinnell Arabia LLC, employs hundreds of Americans to train the Saudi National Guard. Vinnell Arabia is a joint venture between Northrop Grumman, the US defense giant headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, and Arab Builders for Trading, a company in Riyadh owned by the son-in-law of the late King Abdullah IV. As of 2015, a Northrop Grumman subsidiary owned 51 percent of Arabian Vinyl, according to court documents the company filed in response to a federal lawsuit in Virginia.

But the Riyadh-based company also made a declaration stating that it is subject only to Saudi law and that "no US employer - including Northrop Grumman - exercises any control over Arabian Vinyl Company."

The documents show that none of Vinnell's American employees have applied for permission from American officials to train Saudi forces since at least 2015.

Vinnell Arabia did not respond to a request for comment.

 

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