美国国家公共电台 NPR--Retired General investigated in illegal foreign lobbying investigation

Retired¹ General investigated in illegal foreign lobbying investigation²

Transcript³

An FBI probe into illegal foreign lobbying has reportedly targeted a retired four-star general who led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and is now president of a Washington think tank.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The FBI has reportedly seized the electronic data that belongs to a retired four-star general as part of a probe into illegal foreign lobbying. You may have heard of him, former Marine⁴ General John Allen. He led U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan and now heads one of Washington's most influential⁵ think tanks, the Brookings Institution. Now a federal court filing says Allen made false statements and withheld⁶ incriminating documents about lobbying conducted by the Persian Gulf⁷ nation of Qatar. That's according to the Associated Press, which obtained the court filing. AP correspondent Alan Suderman is one of the reporters that broke this story and joins us now.

Good morning, Alan.

ALAN SUDERMAN: Good morning.

FADEL: So what's at the heart of this investigation?

SUDERMAN: Well, this is a really fascinating investigation. It's had a lot of twists and turns. And there's loads of interesting details and dynamics⁸ at work. But at the heart of it, federal prosecutors⁹ are looking at whether General Allen, who, like you said, is super well-connected in D.C. - he's a Washington heavyweight...

FADEL: Yeah.

SUDERMAN: ...A former four-star general, president of Brookings. They're looking at whether he knowingly broke the Foreign Agents Registration¹⁰ Act, which is a law that basically prohibits people from helping¹¹ foreign governments to try and influence U.S. policy unless they register with the Justice Department.

FADEL: Now, you...

SUDERMAN: So...

FADEL: Sorry. Go ahead.

SUDERMAN: What they've really zoomed¹² in on is this month, you know, in June 2017, right when Qatar and its neighbors got into this - you know, this big diplomatic crisis erupted in the Gulf. And so they're looking at what General Allen did in that month and the weeks right after that crisis. And we know this - one of the things that's really interesting about this case is, you know, the level of detail we've gotten is because the search warrant that the FBI and law enforcement officials applied¹⁴ for and got a judge to sign off on to get some of these records was posted online on, you know, the public courts database, seemingly in error, because when we asked prosecutors about it, it immediately disappeared. So...

FADEL: Interesting.

SUDERMAN: ...You know, General Allen has not been charged. But you have all this super-specific level of detail that's come out in this case, you know, thanks in large part to this document being posted.

FADEL: What specifically does this court filing accuse former General Allen of doing himself?

SUDERMAN: Well, what's really striking in this document is really just the level of detail. One thing that really stuck out was this meeting that General Allen had in Qatar with the ruling emir and other top officials. And prosecutors, say at this meeting, General Allen is basically giving the Qataris a roadmap for how to influence U.S. policy. He's telling them, sign a deal to buy F-15 fighter jets. He's telling them to leverage¹⁵ the fact that Qatar hosts a major U.S. military base there.

And then one of the things that really strikes out is, according to prosecutors, General Allen is telling the Qataris to use the full spectrum¹⁶ of information ops. And prosecutors are saying they - that an American diplomat¹³ who attended this meeting took notes on what was said. And part of this - you know, this part of the conversation, he's talking about black and white ops, which, you know, generally means, like, covert¹⁷ and overt¹⁸ operations. So it's a really striking allegation.

FADEL: Just before we let you go, I do want to ask what General Allen has said about the accusations¹⁹ against him.

SUDERMAN: He has declined to comment on these new filings. And he - but previously²⁰, when we've talked to him about this, he's denied ever working as a Qatari agent and said that his efforts in Qatar were really just motivated to prevent a war in the Gulf that would put U.S. troops at risk.

FADEL: Thank you so much. AP correspondent Alan Suderman.

1 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

2 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

6 withheld   

withhold过去式及过去分词

参考例句：

• I withheld payment until they had fulfilled the contract. 他们履行合同后，我才付款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• There was no school play because the principal withheld his consent. 由于校长没同意，学校里没有举行比赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

8 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

9 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

10 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 zoomed   

v.（飞机、汽车等）急速移动( zoom的过去式 )；（价格、费用等）急升，猛涨

参考例句：

• Traffic zoomed past us. 车辆从我们身边疾驰而过。
• Cars zoomed helter-skelter, honking belligerently. 大街上来往车辆穿梭不停，喇叭声刺耳。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

14 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

15 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

16 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

17 covert   

adj.隐藏的；暗地里的

参考例句：

• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。
• The army carried out covert surveillance of the building for several months.军队对这座建筑物进行了数月的秘密监视。

18 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

19 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

20 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。