Follow us on social

Sue Mi Terry: Sometimes you get whacked by the revolving door

Sue Mi Terry: Sometimes you get whacked by the revolving door

Former CIA and White House Korea analyst — and wife of columnist Max Boot — was indicted for playing the influence game a bit too hard.

Analysis | Washington Politics

American Sue Mi Terry was indicted July 15th on charges of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, including failure to register as a foreign agent.

The indictment alleges that she worked as an unregistered foreign agent for the government of South Korea in exchange for luxury goods and other gifts. It also accuses her of receiving and deploying talking points from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) and providing that agency with inside information from an off-the-record discussion with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, amongst other allegations.

While the accused is presumed innocent, this case offers important lessons for whoever takes the Oath of Office as President of the United States next January.

Terry is typical of foreign policy influencers in and around Washington. Regarding North Korea, she advocated denuclearization as the preeminent goal, promoted sanctions, and cautioned against engagement with Kim Jong-un and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

But these policies have not kept the DPRK from achieving real nuclear capability, nor have they improved the human condition there. Widely regarded and cited in the indictment as a North Korea “expert,” Terry was a CIA analyst until 2008, then served on the National Security Council and National Intelligence. Since leaving government, she has been affiliated with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Council on Foreign Relations and at the Wilson Center, where she was Director of Korean industrial giant Hyundai Motor’s Korea Foundation Center for Korean History and Public Policy.

Terry and husband, Washington Post columnist Max Boot, both have ties to the Council on Foreign Relations. Boot is reported to have collaborated with her on a story spouting ROK NIS talking points. One of Sue Mi Terry’s friends is Jung Pak, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State who oversaw North Korea matters but suddenly resigned in early July. Pak’s departure is rumored to be connected to Terry’s legal troubles.

The case offers three significant lessons for the next President:

Lesson 1: US policy on North Korea has failed. Time for a new vector.

The absence of full-scale war on the Korean Peninsula is not “success”. Establishing an enduring peace, reducing the risk of nuclear or conventional conflict, and alleviating the suffering of the non-elites of the North Korean population are the proper measures. We have not made any progress on those fronts. Denuclearization should be the ultimate objective, but not at the exclusion of progress on other matters.

As a recommendation, the U.S. should make ending the Korean War a formal U.S. policy priority. The armistice that was signed in July 1953 was intended to be a temporary matter, replaced with a permanent peace treaty. The Geneva Convention of 1954 was the last focused attempt to reach such an agreement but failed miserably. The adversaries — formally the DPRK and the United Nations Command, but in practice North Korea, South Korea and the United States — remain in a state of war. Resolution is a necessary step to enable progress on denuclearization, human rights, and privation.

Lesson 2: Think tanks and affiliated experts are vulnerable to financial pressure from foreign entities

A footnote to the Terry indictment noted: “a "think tank," or policy institute, is a research institute that provides expertise and insight concerning topics such as global affairs to policymakers” and “often present themselves as independent sources of expertise.”

These organizations are big businesses. CFR’s 2023 annual report boasted of an endowment of $565 million and most if not all think tanks rely heavily on grants and gifts to operate. The gifts are often attributed to “anonymous” donors. For example, the Brookings Institution received from $2 million (minimum) to $6.3 million (maximum) from such donors from 2022 to 2023.

Furthermore, according to the indictment, Terry allegedly used a gift account for one of the three think tanks she has been associated with to mask the source of a $37,000 NIS payment. Strategically and on the tactical level, the presence of murky money can corrupt expertise and influence.

Many of these influencers migrate from think tanks to government and back again. In January 2021, Brookings announced that 19 of their experts had been selected to serve in high-level positions in the new Biden Administration. The list included Sue Mi Terry and Jung Pak. Then-Brookings President John R. Allen expressed his pride in the appointments, but Allen suddenly resigned the following year while under investigation for undue foreign influence himself.

The Justice Department did not charge Allen after the investigation — but the allegations were serious enough to merit a sudden departure.

The U.S. government should also require full disclosure of the source of gifts and donations to non-profit organizations which seek to influence U.S. foreign policy, as would be required if Congress passed legislation like the Fighting Foreign Influence Act. The government should also limit the number of individuals hired for senior positions, whose most recent employment was at a think tank with significant foreign government funding.

Using the Terry case as an example, the government should also strengthen vetting procedures for incoming foreign policy officials regarding potential foreign influence or affiliation.

Lesson 3: Foreign intelligence services, even friendlies, can present a threat to US interests

The indictment says Terry was compensated by the “ROK Government.” While technically accurate, that is a dangerous oversimplification. ROK NIS has been a free radical since its birth as the Korean Central Intelligence Agency in 1961. NIS and its predecessors have been alleged or proven to be involved in kidnapping, murder (in 1979 of ROK President Park Chung Hee), illegal surveillance, cyber crimes, bribery, and election interference.

Given its history, it should not be assumed that NIS — in this case or any other — is doing the bidding of its government rather than pursuing its own agenda.

ROK NIS may be a uniquely tawdry agency — but even our closest partners’ objectives do not always match ours. This case shows that our government officials — current and former — have become too comfortable with the presence of “friendly” spies in our midst, and improved safeguards are a must if the U.S. is to maintain sovereign independence in the formulation and implementation of foreign policy.

There needs to be an in-depth investigation of ROK NIS activity regarding U.S. officials and policy influencers, ideally with South Korean government cooperation. Also, a comprehensive threat assessment of the intelligence agencies of allied nations, with a briefing of the findings to the President and members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Furthermore, an unclassified version of this document should be made publicly available.

The Sue Mi Terry case is so much more than the luxury purses and high-end sushi cited in the charges. It is a compelling call for the next President of the United States to increase safeguards against undue foreign influence on U.S. policy, especially when that influence contributes to enduring failure.


Analysis | Washington Politics
POGO The Bunker
Top image credit: Project on Government Oversight

Bombers astray! Washington's priorities go off course

Military Industrial Complex

The Bunker appears originally at the Project on Government Oversight and is republished here with permission.


keep readingShow less
Trump Zelensky
Top photo credit: Joshua Sukoff / Shutterstock.com

Blob exploiting Trump's anger with Putin, risking return to Biden's war

Europe

Donald Trump’s recent outburst against Vladimir Putin — accusing the Russian leader of "throwing a pile of bullsh*t at us" and threatening devastating new sanctions — might be just another Trumpian tantrum.

The president is known for abrupt reversals. Or it could be a bargaining tactic ahead of potential Ukraine peace talks. But there’s a third, more troubling possibility: establishment Republican hawks and neoconservatives, who have been maneuvering to hijack Trump’s “America First” agenda since his return to office, may be exploiting his frustration with Putin to push for a prolonged confrontation with Russia.

Trump’s irritation is understandable. Ukraine has accepted his proposed ceasefire, but Putin has refused, making him, in Trump’s eyes, the main obstacle to ending the war.

Putin’s calculus is clear. As Ted Snider notes in the American Conservative, Russia is winning on the battlefield. In June, it captured more Ukrainian territory and now threatens critical Kyiv’s supply lines. Moscow also seized a key lithium deposit critical to securing Trump’s support for Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian missile and drone strikes have intensified.

Putin seems convinced his key demands — Ukraine’s neutrality, territorial concessions in the Donbas and Crimea, and a downsized Ukrainian military — are more achievable through war than diplomacy.

Yet his strategy empowers the transatlantic “forever war” faction: leaders in Britain, France, Germany, and the EU, along with hawks in both main U.S. parties. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz claims that diplomacy with Russia is “exhausted.” Europe’s war party, convinced a Russian victory would inevitably lead to an attack on NATO (a suicidal prospect for Moscow), is willing to fight “to the last Ukrainian.” Meanwhile, U.S. hawks, including liberal interventionist Democrats, stoke Trump’s ego, framing failure to stand up to Putin’s defiance as a sign of weakness or appeasement.

Trump long resisted this pressure. Pragmatism told him Ukraine couldn’t win, and calling it “Biden’s war” was his way of distancing himself, seeking a quick exit to refocus on China, which he has depicted as Washington’s greater foreign threat. At least as important, U.S. involvement in the war in Ukraine has been unpopular with his MAGA base.

But his June strikes on Iran may signal a hawkish shift. By touting them as a decisive blow to Iran’s nuclear program (despite Tehran’s refusal so far to abandon uranium enrichment), Trump may be embracing a new approach to dealing with recalcitrant foreign powers: offer a deal, set a deadline, then unleash overwhelming force if rejected. The optics of “success” could tempt him to try something similar with Russia.

This pivot coincides with a media campaign against restraint advocates within the administration like Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon policy chief who has prioritized China over Ukraine and also provoked the opposition of pro-Israel neoconservatives by warning against war with Iran. POLITICO quoted unnamed officials attacking Colby for wanting the U.S. to “do less in the world.” Meanwhile, the conventional Republican hawk Marco Rubio’s influence grows as he combines the jobs of both secretary of state and national security adviser.

What Can Trump Actually Do to Russia?
 

Nuclear deterrence rules out direct military action — even Biden, far more invested in Ukraine than Trump, avoided that risk. Instead, Trump ally Sen.Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), another establishment Republican hawk, is pushing a 500% tariff on nations buying Russian hydrocarbons, aiming to sever Moscow from the global economy. Trump seems supportive, although the move’s feasibility and impact are doubtful.

China and India are key buyers of Russian oil. China alone imports 12.5 million barrels daily. Russia exports seven million barrels daily. China could absorb Russia’s entire output. Beijing has bluntly stated it “cannot afford” a Russian defeat, ensuring Moscow’s economic lifeline remains open.

The U.S., meanwhile, is ill-prepared for a tariff war with China. When Trump imposed 145% tariffs, Beijing retaliated by cutting off rare earth metals exports, vital to U.S. industry and defense. Trump backed down.

At the G-7 summit in Canada last month, the EU proposed lowering price caps on Russian oil from $60 a barrel to $45 a barrel as part of its 18th sanctions package against Russia. Trump rejected the proposal at the time but may be tempted to reconsider, given his suggestion that more sanctions may be needed. Even if Washington backs the measure now, however, it is unlikely to cripple Russia’s war machine.

Another strategy may involve isolating Russia by peeling away Moscow’s traditionally friendly neighbors. Here, Western mediation between Armenia and Azerbaijan isn’t about peace — if it were, pressure would target Baku, which has stalled agreements and threatened renewed war against Armenia. The real goal is to eject Russia from the South Caucasus and create a NATO-aligned energy corridor linking Turkey to Central Asia, bypassing both Russia and Iran to their detriment.

Central Asia itself is itself emerging as a new battleground. In May 2025, the EU has celebrated its first summit with Central Asian nations in Uzbekistan, with a heavy focus on developing the Middle Corridor, a route for transportation of energy and critical raw materials that would bypass Russia. In that context, the EU has committed €10 billion in support of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

keep readingShow less
Syria sanctions
Top image credit: People line up to buy bread, after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, in Douma, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria December 23, 2024. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Lifting sanctions on Syria exposes their cruel intent

Middle East

On June 30, President Trump signed an executive order terminating the majority of U.S. sanctions on Syria. The move, which would have been unthinkable mere months ago, fulfilled a promise he made at an investment forum in Riyadh in May.“The sanctions were brutal and crippling,” he had declared to an audience of primarily Saudi businessmen. Lifting them, he said, will “give Syria a chance at greatness.”

The significance of this statement lies not solely in the relief that it will bring to the Syrian people. His remarks revealed an implicit but rarely admitted truth: sanctions — often presented as a peaceful alternative to war — have been harming the Syrian people all along.

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.