Corruption Is Costing Americans
But We Can Fight Back and Win
Photo: Picryl
The revelations that Kristi Noem’s Agency Gave Her Donor a Lucrative Contract just before she left DHS is another in a flood of reports of the Trump Administration’s shady dealings. These dealings, common in particular to all autocracies, cost taxpayers as they undermine our democracy. But we can and need to fight back.
Along with fellow American diplomats, the FBI, Departments of Justice, Treasury, Commerce and other agencies, and with the help of American companies and others, I spent decades working to fight corruption abroad. Why? Because doing so was in Americans’ interests; it meant concrete, measurable gains for American taxpayers, for U.S. companies, and for our national security. Because corruption weakened governments and societies in partner countries. Because corruption meant U.S. companies lost export sales and other contracts they would have won otherwise. Because corruption could lead to foreign regulations that blocked exports of American farmers, manufacturers, and service providers. And corrupt foreign courts could mean contracts were not enforced or decisions and proceedings were slanted against Americans.
Little did I ever envision that, today, we would be awash in reports of corrupt political leaders right here at home. And just as I saw abroad, corruption at home is devastating our country and hurting our fellow citizens.
The Cost of Corruption
Corruption serves to prevent actions Americans rightly expect and need from their government, including those to protect their well-being. Corruption is a tool used by foreign governments to gain illicit access and influence in Washington. And, rather than working to benefit American citizens, who are effectively the stockholders of this operation, there is accusation after accusation and report after report of shady dealings and of misuse of public office, trust, and funds. As a recent Wall Street Journal article demonstrates, nontransparent, questionable deals are not helping America’s broader business sector or our country’s economy.
Following are a few of what seems to be an endless list of current examples:
The Kremlin-connected Russian oligarch paying for parties to celebrate the marriage of Donald Trump Jr.
The 747 given by the Qatari royal family to the President that has cost around $400 million of U.S. taxpayer money to refurbish, and it still may not be as safe as it needs to be for the President’s use.
The reports of hundreds of millions of dollars flowing to the Trump Enterprise.
The No-bid contracts replacing the usual competitive bidding procedures for granting government contracts that have led to fiascos such as the “refurbishment” of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, which was supposed to cost $1.5 million to $2 million but is now costing over $16 million and is still not done. (And the company given the no-bid contract by the White House has admitted it didn’t do the job right.)
The numerous reports of the Trump Enterprise earning over $3 billion since the President returned to office through crypto and other dealings raise questions that these personal financial dealings are influencing Administration thinking and policies on how to develop or control AI.
The questions concern whether White House and other figures may be using access to classified and other sensitive inside information to score profits by selling or buying stocks.
Corruption Can Be Fought
The constant stream of revelations can be numbing, making citizens conclude that corruption is just a fact of life, something we just have to accept, like rain. But it, as with any aspect of authoritarian rule, can be fought.
My experience showed me that fighting corruption demands persistence and our continued focus. And that a country’s citizens can, and do, win that fight.
Citizens’ determination can end illicit payments. Citizens can successfully fight companies or individuals paying for access or government deals, misappropriated government funds, or favors for politicians’ friends. Corrupt officials can be brought to justice and/ or thrown out of office; systems can be cleaned up, strengthened, and changed.
Citizen Engagement
First and foremost, citizens need to know about and pay attention to what their government leaders and officials are doing. Fortunately, the U.S. press and many other organizations are reporting regularly on malfeasance. Those reports need to be acted upon and, in that regard, what I saw fighting corruption elsewhere in the world might be helpful for combating what we see in the United States today.:
Citizens must continue to support an active free press and other bona fide watchdog organizations that report on corruption issues. And we must hold elected officials, civil servants, and other public servants accountable by speaking out at the local level and through their state and federal representatives to:
Insist on transparency in our government, in the actions of our officials. As Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote: “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants….”
Question officials on reports of suspicious government dealings, such as no-bid contracts or officials favoring one company or businessperson over another. Why did the government make an exception to established tendering procedures that other companies have followed for decades? Did new, pressing needs really justify going around established procedures? Is it a case of taxpayer dollars going to a politician’s friend?
Insist on officials following good contracting procedures so that taxpayers get the products and services needed at the lowest possible price. The public can also force systems to be strengthened when they fall short of this need.
Look to see if elected leaders and others are receiving outside payments on top of their official salaries, and if so, from whom and how much. Have they dissociated themselves from their old businesses and put assets in blind trusts to keep from benefiting or, appearing to benefit, from decisions they have to make for the country?
And when our representatives fail us on this issue, we look to the ballot box.
A central piece of U.S. diplomacy was encouraging the development and implementation of systems in other countries to make available to the public the terms of mining or oil exploration/production contracts to show exactly how much funding governments were receiving and how those funds were used. Doing so gave citizens greater confidence in their governments, and strengthened countries’ stability and democracy. At the same time, these reforms created a better operating environment for American companies and benefitted the Americans who work for them.
The models we often suggested abroad were the laws, regulations, norms, and procedures in the United States. Americans are luckier than many others in the world because these systems are in place; we don’t have to create them from scratch. But we do have to see that they are followed. As a Brennan Center report on fighting corruption states, “today’s moguls have influence over government undreamt of by the Rockefellers or Vanderbilts.”
It is time for citizens, who, after all, are the owners, the shareholders in our national enterprise, to act.
Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 450 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.