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Democrats’ report faults Rick Perry’s role in talks about nuclear sales to Saudis

By ERIC WOLFF

Energy Secretary Rick Perry and DOE officials have met regularly with executives from a consulting firm with close ties to the Trump administration seeking to sell civil nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia, according to a report released today by the House Oversight Committee.

Committee Democrats say they fear that the administration is allowing the founders of IP3, an energy consulting firm with close ties to former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, to sell nuclear technology to the Saudis with no non-proliferation safeguards. DOE plays a key role in allowing such sales, and Perry, who often pitches U.S. energy technology abroad, comes up frequently in the committee report, among other high-ranking Trump administration officials.

"With regard to Saudi Arabia, the Trump Administration has virtually obliterated the lines normally separating government policymaking from corporate and foreign interests," the report says. "The documents show the Administration’s willingness to let private parties with close ties to the President wield outsized influence over U.S. policy towards Saudi Arabia."

The report cites emails indicating IP3 had at least two meetings with Perry, including one with Perry and President Donald Trump, and multiple meetings with other DOE officials or members of Trump's transition team between November 2016 and June of this year. On March 27, 2018, IP3 met at DOE to discuss its partnership with a South Korean nuclear firm that uses U.S. nuclear technology, and in a June 15, 2018 internal email, company officials referred to "ongoing meetings" with DOE.

In emails cited by the report, IP3 executives wrote about pressuring the Trump administration to let the company sell the Saudis civil nuclear technology, repeatedly saying Perry had endorsed their plans. In addition, company executives said they were in regular meetings with DOE as part of their effort to arrange a consortium of U.S. firms and South Korean firms to build the plants. The collaboration was an effort to avoid forcing the Saudis to sign a so-called Section 123 agreement, a strict non-proliferation accord designed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, referred colloquially as the "gold standard."

"The gold standard conversation can be overcome if you discuss US, KSA cooperation across a broad range of agreements, not just the 123,” IP3 co-founder Rear Admiral Michael Hewitt wrote in a 2018 email to nuclear industry executives.

Perry met with IronBridge, an IP3 subsidiary, three weeks after taking his own oath of office, on March 23, 2017, according to calendars cited in the report. IP3 executives said in emails cited in the report that they regularly briefed Perry, and they later claimed they had the "full support" of Perry and former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in emails to other high government officials and colleagues.

IP3 officials continued to meet with Perry and DOE at least as recently as February, when they met with Perry and Trump.

DOE and IP3 said they followed all laws and protocols for nuclear discussions.

“The Department of Energy advances U.S. national security and economic interests by routinely engaging with industry stakeholders and our foreign counterparts who are seeking the peaceful use of nuclear energy and we do so in full compliance with established law and protocols," Kelly Love, deputy spokesperson for DOE said in a statement. "To not engage would cede this sector to Russia and China who do not operate with the same nonproliferation standards the United States maintains.”

In a separate statement Monday night, IP3 said company officials had not yet read the committee's report but said committee Democrats' conclusions were based on misunderstandings.

"Based on the press release issued by the Committee, we can emphasize that there are definitive rules for and strong oversight over the transfer of nuclear energy technology to foreign nations. There are apparently many misunderstandings regarding those rules, which the U.S. Department of Energy can clarify," the company said. "Unfortunately, there are conclusions in the Committee report (as described in the Committee press release) that link these misunderstandings with conspiracy theories and allegations to create an arbitrary and contrived story that doesn’t reflect the reality that occurred."

Perry is vocal about his support for U.S. nuclear energy technology. In a letter backing continued construction of the Vogtle nuclear plant in Georgia, DOE specifically cited the need to build reactors domestically to prove U.S. expertise "in international markets."

DOE has approved 37 "Part 810" authorizations for U.S. companies to discuss sale of civil nuclear technology overseas, including seven to Saudi Arabia.

The House Oversight Committee released its first report on this topic in February.

Republicans rejected Democrats' assertions in a rebuttal to the report.

"The evidence shows that in the early days of the Trump Administration, IP3 attempted to excite new senior officials — including Michael Flynn and K.T. McFarland — about its proposal to place the United States as the leader in developing civilian nuclear technology in the Middle East," the Republicans wrote. "Importantly, IP3 did not successfully convince the Trump Administration to take any action. Since then, the nuclear energy technology progress relating to Saudi Arabia has been the legal process initiated during the Obama Administration and undertaken by the energy companies with the appropriate approvals by several federal agencies."