Grassley, Warren introduce plan to monitor retired military members working for foreign governments

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley and Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren introduced a plan on Wednesday to require public reporting on retired military service members working for foreign governments.

"The Department of Defense is letting too many retired military officers trade their military service and experience to foreign governments for cash – creating serious risks to our national security," Warren said in a press release. "This system needs serious transparency and accountability – and my bipartisan bill will do just that by requiring public reporting on service members working for foreign governments and putting real penalties in place if they break the law."

The lawmakers pointed to the constitutional requirement that retired military servicemembers receive congressional approval prior to receiving compensation from a foreign government. Prior to that, however, the State Department and the relevant armed forces secretary must sign off. The pair cited investigations contending that the State Department had provided a rubber stamp in the vast majority of such cases.

The Retired Officers Conflict of Interest Act, would impose more stringent requirements to secure approval, create civil penalties for those who do not report their employment by a foreign government, and require the government to publicly report on the approvals for former military officers. It would further mandate the creation of a searchable database to document former military personnel working on behalf of foreign governments.

Grassley suggested that retired military personnel working for foreign governments unreported could constitute a security concern and contended that the nation must crack down on the practice.

"It’s no surprise that foreign governments would wish to capitalize on the knowledge and expertise of retired U.S. military members, but it’s critical to our national security that we be judicious in how we allow other countries to leverage their skills and experience," he said. "Unfortunately, we’ve seen that the current safeguards aren’t sufficient. This bipartisan proposal seeks to improve compliance through additional transparency and new penalties."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on Twitter.