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Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

#31

Post by adolph »

Even awesomer is heading up Washington "institutions" like Brookings while taking a foreign paycheck.

https://www.vox.com/23166516/scandal-john-allen-brookings-th...

The court filing alleges that Allen had been tapped by two unregistered representatives of Qatar — a business executive named Imaad Zuberi and a former US ambassador to the UAE, Richard Olson — to advocate on Qatar’s behalf. (That Olson used the email address rickscafedxb@yahoo.com, a reference to the seedy Rick’s Cafe in the film Casablanca and the airport code for Dubai, might have been a tip-off that no one should be shocked that something was awry.)

Re: Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

#32

Post by thrill »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #10
aerostable_slug wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The security agreements they signed are sufficient to guard national secrets. It has nothing to do with whether they go to work for Raytheon, the Saudi Defense Ministry, or Goodwill in their retirement, their compensation packages, etc.

I'm not seeing how 'security agreements' can guard against them deciding to just stay in Saudi Arabia with the patronage of the princes.

Expatriates would still be subject to not disclosing national secrets. It's not like they're former second-rate steak salesmen.

Re: Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

#34

Post by MichaelZuo »

thrill wrote: post #32
MichaelZuo wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not seeing how 'security agreements' can guard against them deciding to just stay in Saudi Arabia with the patronage of the princes.

Expatriates would still be subject to not disclosing national secrets. It's not like they're former second-rate steak salesmen.

Subject by whom? The Saudi Arabian government has their own agenda. And obviously the U.S. government cannot enforce laws or policies in Riyadh.

Re: Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

#35

Post by pjc50 »

melling wrote: post #17
edgefield wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps not unusual, but ethical? That’s a different matter. A former US general working for a theocratic, monarchy with a deeply concerning history on human rights raises some serious red flags in my mind.

I often wonder how people can not understand the world in which we live? Didn’t President of the United States just go to Saudi Arabia and ask them to produce more oil. Have we not supplied them weapons for decades? Does the world use 100 million barrels of oil a day? Let’s go throw something on a famous painting and maybe that’ll stop. Still waiting for the batteries and all the renewable energy to solve the problem…

> We’ve been trying to get off oil since the 1970’s

Some have, but for most people and most countries it's simply far too cheap and convenient to not do that. Until there's an oil shock or a war. The oil money also pays for a lot of anti-renewables lobbying.

Re: Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

#36

Post by atlasunshrugged »

adolph wrote: post #31

Even awesomer is heading up Washington "institutions" like Brookings while taking a foreign paycheck. https://www.vox.com/23166516/scandal-john-allen-brookings-th... The court filing alleges that Allen had been tapped by two unregistered representatives of Qatar — a business executive named Imaad Zuberi and a former US ambassador to the UAE, Richard Olson — to advocate on Qatar’s behalf. (That Olson used the email ad…

Agh, and he probably thought he was just so clever with that email too. Ex-military officials should stick to joining the boards of defense conglomerates that their former friends and colleagues are going to spend billions of dollars with.

Re: Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

#37

Post by edgefield »

melling wrote: post #17
edgefield wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps not unusual, but ethical? That’s a different matter. A former US general working for a theocratic, monarchy with a deeply concerning history on human rights raises some serious red flags in my mind.

I often wonder how people can not understand the world in which we live? Didn’t President of the United States just go to Saudi Arabia and ask them to produce more oil. Have we not supplied them weapons for decades? Does the world use 100 million barrels of oil a day? Let’s go throw something on a famous painting and maybe that’ll stop. Still waiting for the batteries and all the renewable energy to solve the problem…

I sleep well at night. How about you?

Re: Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

#39

Post by Philorandroid »

Maursault wrote: post #16

Chances are good these US ex-military are not loyal to Saudi Arabia. They're only doing it for the money, not fanatical idealisms. We have the Logan Act and Espionage Act to protect us, and we benefit from these activities through income taxes.

Law is only a paper veneer to keep honest people honest. Legal acts do about as much to deter desertion and security leaks as speed limit signs keep people from speeding.

Re: Retired U.S. generals, admirals take top jobs with Saudi crown prince

#40

Post by bell-cot »

Bad optics, certainly. Both for the U.S. and for the DoD retirees working for not-so-savory governments.

OTOH - certain foreign governments paying top dollar to employ a bunch of military big shots from the U.S. does not say good things about their local talent pools. And the situation may look less-than-inspired to what talented young locals there are.

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