The Brookings Institution placed its illustrious president on administrative leave Wednesday amid a federal probe into his role in an illegal lobbying campaign on behalf of Qatar. Retired Gen. John Allen—who directed U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan before taking charge at the prestigious think-tank in 2017—has also had his electronic data seized as part of the federal investigation. Allen is suspected of lobbying the Trump administration on behalf of the Qatari government during a diplomatic crisis in 2017 in which neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf imposed sanctions on Qatar for allegedly supporting Islamist extremists. The retired general, who reportedly makes over $1 million a year in his role at Brookings, has not been charged with any crimes. In an affidavit supporting a search warrant, an FBI agent claimed there was “substantial evidence” that Allen had broken a foreign lobbying law and even hidden “incriminating” documents.
