2LT International News

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The hiring of Loretta Lynch, a former attorney-general in the Obama administration, by a Chinese drone company, which came under U.S. government scrutiny over its alleged ties to China’s military, has caused concerns among transparency advocates and some members of Congress.

Running the U.S. Department of Justice from 2015 to 2017, Lynch is now a partner at law firm Paul, Weiss.

Last July, she wrote a letter to a senior Defense Department official on behalf of SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd., asking that her client be removed from a list of sanctioned Chinese military companies.

Under U.S. law, advocating for foreign clients is legal, and lawyers have a public disclosure exemption.

Those concerned have highlighted gaps in the law that allow lawyers and lobbyists, including former officials, to avoid disclosing their advocacy for companies possibly subject to U.S. sanctions.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) has a list of exemptions, including for commercial activities and legal representation.

The Department of Defense said that work by a former leading U.S. law enforcement officer on behalf of a company poses “threats to national security.”

U.S. agencies have also warned about companies linked to China’s Communist Party and lawmakers are pushing to tighten FARA’s disclosure requirements.

DJI supported biometric surveillance and tracking of Muslim Uyghur minorities in China.

Jim Risch, the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the law needs reforms due to the blurry lines between many Chinese companies and the Chinese government and to prevent former members of the U.S. government from effectively lobbying on their behalf.

“It is appalling that former senior U.S. officials use their connections to serve the interests of US adversaries,” Risch stressed.

However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other free speech groups responded that broadening disclosure requirements could hinder legally protected free speech.

In a letter to the Justice Department in 2022, the ACLU and 13 other groups wrote that problems with the law could “enable selective enforcement for bad faith or malicious reasons.”

Congress is responsible for deciding reforms to FARA, and several bipartisan bills to close its loopholes have been proposed.

One proposal made last year in the House and Senate could require retroactive FARA registration by anyone who acts as an “agent for a foreign principal.”