Follow us on social

Mbs-egypt-mbz

In dark foreign influence ops, time to take down chess masters as well as pawns

The DOJ just charged a man in New York with spying on critics of Egyptian President al-Sisi. But what about the guys pulling the strings?

Analysis | Washington Politics

On Thursday the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrest and indictment of a Manhattan man, Pierre Girgis, for allegedly spying on critics of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, at the behest of Egyptian officials. “This indictment begins the process of holding him accountable for his actions in contravention of our laws and values,” explained an Assistant Attorney General.

Noticeably absent from the announcement—or any public commentary from DOJ or the Biden administration writ large, for that matter—is how the unnamed “Egyptian officials,” who were the masterminds of this illicit influence operation, will be held accountable. Unfortunately, this omission is not an exception: Allowing foreign powers to meddle in America without serious consequences is the new, dangerous normal. 

When the U.S. government discovers an illicit influence operation, the operatives in the U.S. are, appropriately, apprehended and held to account, but the architects of these illicit operations face little, if any, consequences for their actions. In short, we punish the pawns and leave the chess masters unchecked. 

Egypt is just the latest authoritarian government to orchestrate an illicit campaign in America and go unpunished. 

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), for example, has repeatedly been caught running illicit influence operations in the U.S. Last summer the FBI indicted Tom Barrack and his alleged co-conspirators for “unlawful efforts to advance the interests of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the United States at the direction of senior UAE officials.” In 2019 DOJ indicted Andy Khawaja and seven others for funneling a total of more than $5 million in illicit campaign contributions into U.S. elections at the behest of UAE officials, including UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ). The UAE was also behind a $2.5 million covert campaign in 2017 run by George Nader and Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy to convince members of Congress to take a tough stance on Qatar.

In all these instances, the pawns—like Barrack, Khawaja, and Nader—were held accountable, but the high ranking UAE officials—like MBZ—were not punished for masterminding these attacks on American democracy. 

The same has been true for Saudi Arabia’s meddling in America. In 2019, two former Twitter employees were charged with spying on Twitter users critical of the Kingdom. The Saudi Embassy has been accused of operating a ring of “fixers” that help Saudi citizens flee the U.S. when they’re accused of crimes, including rape, murder, and child pornography. Despite near universal outrage for the Saudi regimes heinous murder of U.S. resident and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, it took more than two years for the U.S. to to punish anyone involved. Even then, the so-called “Khashoggi ban” punishments doled out by the Biden administration in early 2021 stopped short of punishing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the intelligence community determined was ultimately responsible for authorizing the murder. 

Just as with Egypt and the UAE, the pawns in Saudi Arabia’s misadventures were punished while the chess masters behind them faced no consequences, free to stay at the table and keep playing toward the same, dangerous endgame. This incomplete approach to punishing authoritarian misdeeds has created an environment where malign foreign actors are emboldened to meddle in America. The pawns in these illegal activities can be easily replaced. When a Pierre Girgis or George Nader is taken off the board, Egypt and the UAE can easily seek out the next opportunist willing to do their dirty work.

The Biden administration’s approach is a marked improvement from President Donald Trump, who publicly invited malign actors like China and Russia to meddle in American politics. However, President Biden’s failure to punish all of the “government officials” running these operations all but guarantees we will continue to see more of these attempts to covertly influence the U.S. political process.

It’s well past time that our government took these attacks on our democratic institutions seriously, and established real disincentives–including asset seizures and other punitive measures–to discourage malign foreign actors from ever beginning illicit influence operations in the U.S. Continuing to only punish the pawns, not the malign foreign actors directing them, will lead to continued attacks on democracy in America.


Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ((State Department photo by Ron Przysucha)), Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Shutterstock/360b) and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed ( WAM/Handout via REUTERS)
Analysis | Washington Politics
Nuclear missile
Top image credit: Zack Frank

Put this nuclear missile on the back of a truck — but we still don't need it

Military Industrial Complex

Last week, analysts from three think tanks penned a joint op-ed for Breaking Defense to make the case for mobilizing the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program, a pivot from one exceedingly costly approach to nuclear modernization to another.

After Sentinel faced a 37 percent cost overrun in early 2024, the Pentagon was forced to inform Congress of the cost spike, assess the root causes, and either cancel the program or certify it to move forward under a restructured approach. The Pentagon chose to certify it, but not before noting that the restructured program would actually come in 81 percent over budget.

keep readingShow less
Maduro, Trump
Top photo credit: Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro (Shutterstock/stringerAL) ; President Donald Trump (Shutterstock/a katz)

Why we need to take Trump's Drug War very seriously

Latin America

Donald Trump has long been a fan of using the U.S. military to wage a more vigorous war against drug cartels in Latin America. He also shows signs of using that justification as a pretext to oust regimes considered hostile to other U.S. interests.

The most recent incident in the administration’s escalating antidrug campaign took place on October 3 when “Secretary of War” Mike Hegseth announced that U.S. naval forces had sunk yet another small boat off of the coast of Venezuela. It was one of four destroyed vessels and a total of 21 people killed since late September. The administration claims they were all trying to ship illegal drugs to the United States.

keep readingShow less
Israel Gaza deal
Top photo credit: United States and Israel flags are projected on the walls of the Old city of Jerusalem in celebration after Israel and Hamas agreed to the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Gaza, October 9, 2025. REUTERS/Sinan Abu Mayzer

Will this deal work? Netanyahu has gamed everything his way so far.

Middle East

Two years into the Gaza conflict and perhaps on the cusp of a successful phased ceasefire, what can we say?

On the basis of media reporting about Yahya Sinwar’s strategic rationale for attacking Israel on October 7, 2023, it seems that he believed Israel was on the brink of civil war and that the impact of a large-scale assault would severely erode its political stability. He believed that Hamas’s erstwhile allies, especially Hizballah and Iran, would open offensives against Israel, which, in combination with Hamas’s invasion, would stretch the nation’s military capabilities to the breaking point.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.