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A new report by the House Oversight Committee opened an investigation into whether efforts by former national security adviser Michael Flynn to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia may have violated US law.
According to the report, whistleblowers from within President Donald Trump’s National Security Council have told the House Oversight committee that Flynn’s plan to transfer sensitive nuclear technology to the Kingdom may be illegal.
The report provides a timeline and also alleges that “strong private commercial interests have been pressing aggressively for the transfer of highly sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia – a potential risk to US national security interests absent adequate safeguards.”
These private commercial entities could potentially profit in the billions as a result of constructing and operation nuclear facilities in the Kingdom. According to the sources, these actors have kept in close contact with POTUS Donald Trump and his administration and continue to do so.
The proposal to build nuclear plants across the Middle East was mostly backed by a group of retired generals who formed a company called IP3. According to the report, Flynn described himself in financial disclosure filings as an “advisor” to a subsidiary of IP3, IronBridge Group Inc., from June 2016 to December 2016 — at the same time he was serving as Trump’s national security adviser during the presidential campaign and the presidential transition.
The report quotes one senior Trump official as saying that the proposal was “not a business plan,” but rather “a scheme for these generals to make some money,” and added, “OK, you know we cannot do this.”
“The whistleblowers who came forward have expressed significant concerns about the potential procedural and legal violations connected with rushing through a plan to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia,” the report says.
“They have warned of conflicts of interest among top White House advisers that could implicate federal criminal statutes. They have also warned about a working environment inside the White House marked by chaos, dysfunction, and backbiting.”
The Oversight Committee, led by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., said its investigation of the plan “is particularly critical because the administration’s efforts to transfer sensitive U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia appear to be ongoing.”
More recently, according to the report, on February 12th, Trump met with nuclear power developers at the White House and discussed sharing of nuclear technology with countries in the Middle East and namely Saudi Arabia. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law is to go on a tour of Middle East capitals and discuss the economic portion of the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plan.
“Experts worry that transferring sensitive U.S. nuclear technology could allow Saudi Arabia to produce nuclear weapons that contribute to the proliferation of nuclear arms throughout an already unstable Middle East,” the report says.
The proposal, dubbed by its backers a “Middle East Marshall Plan,” involved IP3 International, which is short for “International Peace Power & Prosperity.”
According to various reports, cited by NBC, those involved in IP3 include Gens. Keith Alexander, Jack Keane and James Cartwright; former Middle East envoy Dennis Ross; George W. Bush homeland security adviser Fran Townsend; and Robert “Bud” McFarlane, who was one of Ronald Reagan’s national security advisers.
The report stated that whistleblowers told the committee that one of Flynn’s top aides, Derek Harvey — who was the senior director for Middle East and North African Affairs at the National Security Council from January to July 2017 — stated during the first week of the Trump administration that Flynn had already decided to adopt IP3’s nuclear plan and develop “dozens of nuclear power plants.”
A week after Trump was inaugurated, Harvey met in his office at the White House with a group of retired generals who work for IP3, including its co-founders, Keane and McFarlane.
Immediately after the meeting, Harvey directed the NSC staff to add information about IP3’s “plan for 40 nuclear power plants” to the briefing package for Trump’s call with King Salman.
Career staff warned that any transfer of nuclear technology needs to comply with the Atomic Energy Act. Furthermore, the US and the Kingdom would need to reach a “123 Agreement,” which would lay out how Saudi Arabia should comply with nonproliferation requirements.
“Harvey reportedly ignored these warnings and insisted that the decision to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia had already been made,” the report says. Both career and political staff inside the White House agreed that Harvey’s directive could violate the law.
According to whistleblowers, the National Security Council’s ethics lawyer determined that Flynn’s involvement could violate the criminal conflict of interest statute, the report says. As a result, NSC legal adviser John Eisenberg instructed NSC staff to cease all work on the plan.
Despite that Harvey continued to pursue the plan, even though Flynn was fired in February 2017, after lying to the FBI.
Finally, Flynn’s replacement, H.R. McMaster, ultimately ordered the council to cease all work on the matter, the report says. He fired Harvey, who is now a minority staffer for the House Intelligence Committee.
According to the report, the House Oversight Committee is sending requests for additional documents to the White House and the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, State, and Treasury, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA, and companies involved with this effort, including IP3, the Flynn Intel Group, ACU Strategies, and Colony NorthStar. The committee also wishes to interview the key people involved in promoting the plan to the White House.
