华盛顿邮报 数百名美国退役军人为外国政府工作(2)

President Trump's fired national security adviser¹, Michael Flynn, just a short time ago, cutting a deal at a plea agreement hearing in federal court in Washington, D.C. General Flynn pleading guilty to lying to the FBI, admitting he misled investigators² about his interactions with the former Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.

特朗普总统解雇了国家安全顾问迈克尔·弗林，就在不久前，弗林在华盛顿联邦法院的认罪协议听证会上达成了一项协议。弗林将军承认向联邦调查局撒谎，承认在与前俄罗斯大使谢尔盖·基斯利亚克交往的问题上误导了调查人员。

When that became news back in 2017, 2018, at The Post, we just wondered, "Well, this is something we didn't even realize."

当这在2017年、2018年成为《华盛顿邮报》的新闻时，我们在想，“嗯，这是我们甚至没有意识到的事情。”

It hadn't occurred to most people that retired³ military personnel had to apply for permission before they could accept gifts or even travel expenses from foreign governments.

大多数人都没有想到，退役军人在接受外国政府的礼物甚至差旅费之前，都必须申请许可。

So we were curious how common this was, and who were people working for it?

我们很好奇这种情况有多普遍，为外国政府工作的人是谁?

Were there other people working for the Russians or the Chinese or what?

还有其他人为俄国人，中国人或其他国家的人工作的吗?

So we put in some public-records requests under the Freedom of Information Act with each of the armed forces -- the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines -- and the State Department.

我们根据《信息自由法》向各武装部队——陆军、海军、空军和海军陆战队——以及国务院提出了公开记录的要求。

And long story short, it took us a long time to squeeze those records out of the government.

长话短说，我们花了很长时间才从政府那里要到了这些记录。

We had to file two lawsuits⁴ under the Freedom of Information Act in federal court, and we finally compelled the Armed Forces and the State Department to release a whole bunch of records, about 4,000 pages worth.

我们不得不依据《信息自由法》向联邦法院提起两项诉讼，最终我们迫使武装部队和国务院公布了一大堆记录，大约有4000页。

And that's why it took so long to get our arms around it, because the government, frankly⁵, had tried to keep this information from becoming public.

这就是为什么我们花了这么长时间才了解这件事，因为坦白地说，政府曾试图阻止这些信息公开。

Who are the people we're talking about?

我们说的这些人是谁?

Are we talking about a handful of high-profile names?

我们说的是几位知名人士吗?

Are we talking about a couple dozen people? How many?

我们说的是几十个人吗? 有多少人呢?

Well, more than 500 since 2015.

自2015年以来，有超过500人。

And those are ones who got permission, got approval to do this.

这些人得到了许可，得到了许可去做这件事。

There's probably an equal number who didn't bother to get their paperwork stamped, didn't bother to get permission.

可能有同样数量的人没有在他们的文件上盖章，没有获得许可。

This is a law that's not really enforced very strictly⁶.

这是一项执行并不严格的法律。

So, one finding of our investigation⁷ was that more than half of the people who seek federal permission to work for foreign governments are going to work for one country, and that's the United Arab Emirates.

我们调查的一个发现是，寻求联邦许可为外国政府工作的人中，超过一半将为一个国家工作，那就是阿拉伯联合酋长国。

That's one of the Persian Gulf⁸ sheikhdoms that their whole economy really is based on contracting and outsourcing.

这是波斯湾酋长国之一，他们的整个经济实际上是建立在承包和外包的基础上的。

To have that number of people, more than 280 since 2015, going to work for the Emirati government, they're working as advisers⁹, as contractors¹⁰, and really doing the same thing they did for the United States.

自2015年以来，有超过280人，为阿联酋政府工作，他们是顾问，是承包商，做的事情和他们为美国做的一样。

They're helicopter mechanics.

他们是直升机机械师。

They're working on Patriot¹¹ missile batteries.

他们正在研制爱国者导弹电池。

You know, they're teaching people how to fly certain aircraft.

他们教人们如何驾驶特定的飞机。

1 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

2 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

5 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

6 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

7 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。

8 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。

9 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

10 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 patriot   

n.爱国者，爱国主义者

参考例句：

• He avowed himself a patriot.他自称自己是爱国者。
• He is a patriot who has won the admiration of the French already.他是一个已经赢得法国人敬仰的爱国者。