FBI Accuses US General Turned Brookings Institution President of Secretly Acting As Foreign Agent

John Allen, a retired four-star US general who now serves as the president of the Brookings Institution, is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations for secretly lobbying on behalf of the Qatari government, lying to investigators about it, and attempting to withhold “incriminating” evidence, according to court documents.

Allen, a former Hillary Clinton advisor who currently heads the influential pro-NATO Brookings Institution think tank, commanded all US and NATO troops in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2013. As the one-time deputy commander of US Central Command, Allen interacted closely with Qatari leaders. Per the newly-released documents, he’s been peddling influence by engaging in illegal and highly lucrative lobbying efforts on behalf of foreign governments and companies for much of the time since.

According to the court filings, whose release the AP reports “appears to have been [made] in error” since it was “removed from the docket Tuesday after The Associated Press reached out to federal authorities about its contents,” Allen engaged in a variety of criminal activities alongside Richard G. Olson, a former US ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, and Imaad Zuberi, a disgraced business executive who began serving a 12-year prison sentence in 2021 following his felony convictions for major violations of lobbying, campaign finance and tax law.

The investigation has so far seen the confiscation of the retired four-star general’s electronic data, and a number of members of Congress have reportedly been interviewed as part of federal agents’ inquiries. A spokesman for Allen called law enforcement’s efforts “factually inaccurate, incomplete, and misleading,” and denied the Brookings Institution president received any compensation for what he called “efforts… to protect the interests of the United States and the military personnel stationed in Qatar,” claiming that “John Allen voluntarily cooperated with the government’s investigation.”

But according to Babak Adib, the FBI agent who filed the relevant search warrant application, “there is substantial evidence” that Allen’s violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act “were willful.” Per the FBI, Allen gave a “false version of events” and failed to disclose “that he was simultaneously pursuing multimillion-dollar business deals with the government of Qatar” while lobbying US officials on its behalf.

Much of the communications under investigation by the FBI were sent from Allen’s official Brookings Institution email address, according to the affidavit. In an email to staff explaining Allen’s suspension from the organization, members of the board of trustees reportedly claimed that “Brookings is not a subject of this investigation” and “has strong policies in place to prohibit donors from directing research activities.” The powerful think tank has reportedly received nearly $15 million dollars from the Qatari government in recent years but claims it no longer receives money from the Gulf state.

After Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt launched a blockade against Qatar for its continued diplomatic relations with Iran and supposed sponsorship of terrorism, then-US President Donald Trump initially appeared to side against Doha.

According to the affidavit, that’s when Allen jumped into action, pressuring then-National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster to convince the Trump administration to demand that all sides in the Gulf diplomatic crisis “act with restraint.” Apparently, that’s exactly what happened just days later, when then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson released a statement calling for the Saudis, the UAE, and others to “ease the blockade against Qatar” and demanding that “there be no further escalation by the parties in the region.”

While the investigation continues to play out in court, Allen may want to revisit the speech he gave before a Senate subcommittee in 2014 in which he claimed “the real fight” in Afghanistan “will be won by righteous law enforcement, a functioning judiciary and an unambiguous commitment to the rule of law.”