Al-Monitor Middle-East Lobbying email, Nov. 30: “Fresh off an unprecedented 63-37 Senate vote to move ahead with a bill to end US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen [MAP BELOW], [U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, Elizabeth] Warren sent letters to 23 current and former Saudi lobbyists
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck; MSLGroupAmericas Inc.; Hohlt Group Global LLC; Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP;Fleishman-Hillard Inc.; Hill and Knowlton Strategies LLC; Just Consulting LLC;Portland PR Inc.; Southfive Strategies LLC; SAPRAC Inc.; Capitol Media Group;Churchill Ripley LLC; McKeon Group Inc.; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP;Squire Patton Boggs LLP; November Team LLC; CGCN Group; and King &Spalding ■ 5:BGR; The GloverPark Group; The Harbour Group; The Gladstone Place Partners LLC; and Gibson,Dunn & Crutcher LLP
on Thursday demanding their unredacted contracts and details of their meetings with [*rump] administration officials...”
https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-seeks-answers-from-lobbying-firms-about-services-for-saudi-government
United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has sent letters to 23 U.S. lobbying firms, requesting information on the scope of their lobbying services for the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [KSA] or any Saudi government-affiliated entity. The senator's letters ask about the firms' past and present contracts for lobbying work on behalf of [KSA] and question whether the firms' relationship with the regime that assassinated journalist Jamal Khashoggi is consistent with American values.
Senator Warren wrote letters to 18 [firms currently or previously lobbying] for the [KSA], or otherwise remain registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) as representatives of [KSA] interests….
"This ongoing status as a representative of [KSA] interests raises questions about whether your firm prioritizes profit margins over basic human rights, and whether it is ethically and morally defensible for American lobbyists to be providing services to a repressive foreign regime that does not share America's values," wrote Senator Warren.
The senator also wrote letters to [5 firms] that have reportedly terminated all lobbying contracts with the [KSA] in order to confirm that these firms have ceased all [such lobbying] and have withdrawn, or intend to withdraw, their active registration with the federal government as representatives of Saudi interests.
"If the reports are accurate, the decision to terminate lobbying services for the [KSA] is a positive step toward reducing the corrosive influence of foreign governments and other special interests on our democracy," Senator Warren continued.
Senator Warren's letters follow her [August 2018] introduction of the Anti-Corruption and Public Integrity Act SEE BELOW a comprehensive bill that, among other ambitious measures, would prohibit American lobbyists from accepting compensation from foreign governments, foreign individuals, and foreign companies to influence U.S. policy.[emphasis added]
The legislation would effectively end American lobbying firms' work for the [KSA], and significantly diminish the outsized influence that these special interests have in Washington.
Senator Warren previously sent letters to Booz Allen Hamilton [BAH], Boston Consulting Group {BCG], and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd ...
...[BAH] reportedly trains the Saudi Navy as it continues the war with Yemen, also advises the Saudi Army, and has an agreement to protect the government's systems from cyberattacks. BCG reportedly advises Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's foundation [known as MiSK] and has a contract to help overhaul the Saudi Defense Ministry's procurement systems and improve its handling of finances and personnel. And Deloitte has a significant business presence in Saudi Arabia and remains a partner of Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative conference…
… requesting information on the scope of their services to the [KSA] or any Saudi government-affiliated entity,
and to McKinsey & Company [a worldwide management consulting firm] to request a full, transparent accounting of reports that McKinsey's work may have enabled the [KSA] to repress critics and commit other human rights abuses.
According to the New York Times, McKinsey prepared a report in 2015 on how the public perceives Saudi "economic austerity measures" that found that criticism of Saudi government policies was led primarily by three individuals allegedly named in the report. … [KSA] officials [later] reportedly arrested one of these critics, imprisoned two family members of the second, and shut down the Twitter account of the third.
"I am concerned ... “ SenatorWarren wrote [that circumstances] surrounding the 2015 report raise serious questions about whether [KSA] used information prepared by the firm to crack down on multiple critics of the regime, whether McKinsey should have reasonably known that an authoritarian regime would use such information to repress dissidents, and whether the firm should reconsider the consulting services it currently provides ... for ... [KSA]."
[McKinsey claimed the report] was an internal document based on public information and not prepared for any government entity [and] that it was never commissioned by [any KSA authority] to prepare a report of any kind or in any form to identify critics. However, McKinsey has previously touted its extensive work in Saudi Arabia, noting in a research document that [the firm] "started serving clients in [KSA] in 1957 and has had a dedicated focus there since 2000." In addition, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's observed in January 2016 that "McKinsey participates with us in many studies," and a Financial Times report during that same period described Saudi businessmen referring sarcastically to the [KSA]’s Ministry of Planning as the"McKinsey Ministry."
Al-Monitor queries whether Warren's letters are
A political stunt? Lobbyists are already required to publicly report most of the information Warren is seeking to the Justice Department. And the senator has no formal authority to compel them to answer her requests. Warren introduced long shot legislation to ban lobbyists from receiving compensation from foreign governments earlier this year.
Notably, the letters went out the day before Warren delivered a foreign policy address where she took several shots at the Saudis and their relationship with defense contractors. Warren, a possible Democratic contender for president in 2020, assailed Trump for his refusal to “halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia in part because he is more interested in appeasing defense contractors than holding the Saudis accountable.”{emph. added}
the most ambitious anti-corruption legislation since Watergate[, the] legislation contains six big ideas:
1. Padlock the Revolving Door and Increase Public Integrity by eliminating both the appearance and the potential for financial conflicts of interest; banning Members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, federal judges, and other senior government officials from owning and trading individual stock; locking the government-to-lobbying revolving door; and eliminating "golden parachutes".
2. End Lobbying as We Know It by exposing all influence-peddling in Washington; banning foreign lobbying; banning lobbyists from donating to candidates and Members of Congress; strengthening congressional independence from lobbyists; and instituting a lifetime ban on lobbying by former Members of Congress, Presidents, and agency heads.
3. End Corporate Capture of Public Interest Rules by requiring disclosure of funding or editorial conflicts of interest in rule-making comments and studies; closing loopholes corporations exploit to tilt the rules in their favor and against the public interest; protecting agencies from corporate capture; establishing a new Office of Public Advocate to advocate for the public interest in the rule-making process; and giving agencies the tools to implement strong rules that protect the public.
4. Improve Judicial Integrity and Defend Access to Justice for All Americans by enhancing the integrity of the judicial branch; requiring the Supreme Court follow the ethics rules for all other federal judges; boosting the transparency of federal appellate courts through live-streaming audio of proceedings; and encouraging diversity on the federal bench.
5. Strengthen Enforcement of Anti-Corruption, Ethics,and Public Integrity Laws by creating a new, independent anti-corruption agency dedicated to enforcing federal ethics laws and by expanding an independent and empowered Congressional ethics office insulated from Congressional politics.
6. Boost Transparency in Government and Fix Federal Open Records Laws by requiring elected officials and candidates for federal office to disclose more financial and tax information; increasing disclosure of corporate money behind Washington lobbying; closing loopholes in federal open records laws; making federal contractors - including private prisons and immigration detention centers - comply with federal open records laws; and making Congress more transparent….
{EMPHASIS ADDED}.
Among other news from the Al-Monitor email (redline indents added from wikipedia for clarification — skip if unneeded):
■ The new president of Houston-based Saudi Refining, Adel Alghamdi, has registered as a lobbyist for the Saudi Aramco subsidiary.
- [wik] FOUNDED — 1933 (as California-Arabian Standard Oil Company), 1944 (as Arabian-American Oil Company), 1988 (as officially Saudi Arabian Oil Company/Saudi Aramco). AREA SERVED — Worldwide. NET INCOME — US$ 34 billion (first ½ of 2017)[1]. OWNER — Govt of Saudi Arabia (100%).
Saudi Aramco ( أرامكو السعودية ʾArāmkō al-Saʿūdiyyah) ... is a national oil (and gas) company —“fully or in the majority owned by a national government [absolute monarchy. the House of Saud] . According to the World Bank, NOCs accounted for 75% global oil prod’n and controlled 90% of proven oil reserves in 2010.[1]—… one of the largest companies in the world by revenue, and [according to Bloom-berg News] the most profitable company in the world[5] [with] both the world's 2nd-largest proven crude oil reserves, at more than 270 billion barrels (4.3×1010 m3),[6] and 2nd-largest daily oil prod’n. [Its] financial data were leaked in April 2018 and ... the company could be valued at $1.2 trillion, significantly lower than the official figure of $2 trillion backed by Saudi officials.[8] [It] operates the world's largest single hydrocarbon network... Its 2013 crude oil prod’n [totalled] 3.4 billion barrels (540,000,000 m3), and it manages over 100 oil and gas fields in [KSA], including 288.4 trillion standard cubic feet (scf) of natural gas reserves. [It] operates the Ghawar Field, the world's largest onshore oil field, and the Safaniya Field, the world's largest offshore oil field…..[10]
■ Qorvis touted Saudi Arabia’s plan to rebuild Yemen’s Marib airport and the delivery of $60 million worth of diesel and mazut to generate electricity at Yemeni power stations.
- Possibly “Marib airport” refers to the small airport in the tiny town of Safer, 60km east of Marib city used by the KSA coalition to fly reinforcements in starting Aug 2015. It “was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Sabaʾ (Arabic: سَبَأ),[1][2] [which may be the biblical Sheba][3] … The town serves as a base for the state-run Safer Exploration & Prod’n Operations [and foreign companies in Yemen's energy sector]. The main gas pipeline south also runs through the town … The Yemen Oil Refining Company opened a refinery in Ma'rib in 1986, which produces 10,000 barrels (1,600 m3) of oil per day (2009). In Nov 2009, the company announced an agreement with [So.] Korea's Shinhan [Bank?] to expand and upgrade the refinery to produce 25,000 barrels (4,000 m3)/day.[16] Ma'rib is the start of the Marib-Ra's Isa oil pipeline (438 km (272 mi)), with a capacity of 200,000 barrels (32,000 m3) per day...[17]...“
■ The Saudi Embassy in Washington paid consultant Fahad Nazer $7,000 per month from May through October.
Also:
■ SCL Social Limited, another SCL Group company, was hired by Project Associates on behalf of the National Media Council of the United Arab Emirates to spread anti-Qatar ads on social media. SCL Social Limited was paid $167,000 for a week’s work in September 2017. The firm filed for bankruptcy in May.
■ The United Arab Emirates Embassy in Washington is sponsoring a “study tour” to the country for 13 participants in cooperation with Young Professionals in Foreign Policy, a Washington-based network of 20,000 emerging professionals around the globe.
■ The UAE emirate of Ras Al Khaimah paid Karv Communications $240,000 for work from April through September. The New York-based PR firm notably runs the emirate’s website, https://rakinfo.ae/.
■ Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism spent just over $10,000 in the six months through September promoting tourism to the emirate.
■ A bipartisan group of senators has asked the independent Government Accountability Office (GAO) to review the [*rump] administration’s process for granting exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs, Bloomberg reports. The issue is being closely watched by Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, all of which are lobbying for tariff exemptions, as have Turkish steel pipe giant Borusan Mannesmann and Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Global Aluminium.
And:
■ Reuters has a must-read investigation today on how Iran spreads disinformation around the world. [Reuters] found that a Tehran-based agency has fed propaganda through at least 70 websites to countries from Afghanistan to Russia. [“And American firms have helped.”]
The world is a complex place to live in. And we live in ‘interesting’ times.