A Washington lobbying firm has signed an agreement worth $3 million USD per year with the regime Ministry of Information in Myanmar to help Naypyidaw rebuild relations with the U.S. government.
According to documents submitted under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the DCI Group signed the agreement with the regime ministry on July 31, the same day the regime in Naypyidaw nominally transferred power to an interim administration led by regime leader Min Aung Hlaing ahead of his election scheduled to begin in December.
Myanmar’s regime under Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a 2021 military coup that ousted the civilian-led Aung San Suu Kyi National League for Democracy (NLD) government.
Later that year an Israeli-Canadian lobbyist the regime hired to represent Naypyidaw in Washington, and other capitals, said he had stopped his work because U.S. sanctions on the Myanmar military prevented him from being paid.
The U.S. Treasury Department, the DCI Group, the U.S. State Department and Myanmar’s Washington embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment when asked if U.S. sanctions would affect the agreement between the regime ministry and the DCI Group.
The formation of an interim administration signals no change to the status quo in Myanmar, with Min Aung Hlaing holding on to all major levers of power as head of the new administration, acting president, and continuing in his role as chief of the armed forces.
Min Aung Hlaing has appeared eager to engage with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration after four years of isolation since he staged the 2021 coup.
When Trump threatened new tariffs on Myanmar’s U.S.-bound exports this month as part of his global trade offensive, he did so in a signed letter addressed personally to Min Aung Hlaing.
The regime leader responded by lavishing praise on President Trump for his “strong leadership” while asking for lower rates and the lifting of sanctions. He said he was ready to send a negotiating team to Washington, if needed.
“Trade, natural resources”
According to the FARA filing, the DCI Group “shall provide public affairs services to (the) client with respect to rebuilding relations between the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the United States, with a focus on trade, natural resources, and humanitarian relief.”
The filing was signed on Aug. 1 by DCI managing partner Justin Peterson, who served in the previous Trump administration, and another managing partner, Brian McCabe.
Reuters reported last year that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been investigating the DCI Group over its alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of its client Exxon Mobil’s biggest critics.
The DCI Group has said the allegations that it commissioned the hacking operation were false and that it directs all of its employees and consultants to comply with the law.
In 2008, two top aides to then Republican presidential nominee John McCain resigned after work they did with the DCI Group for a previous military regime in Myanmar came to light. Jim Murphy, a former DCI president and managing partner, served as Trump’s national political director during his 2016 campaign.
Regime media reported on Thursday that Myint Swe, who assumed the role of Myanmar’s president following the 2021 coup that jailed incumbent NLD President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, had died at a hospital in Naypyidaw earlier that day.
Myint Swe, a 74-year-old former army general, was placed on medical leave in July last year, with his largely ceremonial duties as acting president passed on to Min Aung Hlaing.
Engaging the regime would be a sharp departure for the U.S., given sanctions on the military and the violence committed against the Rohingya that Washington calls genocide and crimes against humanity.
Last month, the Trump administration lifted sanctions designations on several Myanmar military cronies and companies, but U.S. officials said this did not indicate any broader shift in U.S. policy toward Myanmar and was unrelated to the regime leader’s letter.
Last week, Reuters reported that the administration had heard competing proposals on ways to divert Myanmar’s vast supplies of rare earth minerals away from strategic rival China, although nothing had been decided upon amid major logistical and geopolitical obstacles.
Securing supplies of so-called heavy rare earths, used in high-tech weaponry, is a major focus of the U.S. administration in its competition with China, which is responsible for nearly 90 percent of global processing capacity.
REUTERS
