Former Marine General John Allen has stepped down as president and CEO of think tank the Brookings Institution effective Sunday, according to a resignation letter posted to Twitter by a Politico reporter. His departure comes in the midst of an ongoing FBI inquiry into his alleged involvement in an illegal lobbying campaign on Qatar’s behalf.
Allen wrote in his letter that he “leave[s] the institution with a heavy heart” but that his departure was “best for all concerned in this moment.”
Brookings confirmed Allen’s departure in a posting on its own website on Sunday, stating that Ted Gayer would serve as acting president until the end of the summer and that information about the search for a replacement would be “forthcoming.”
Another letter, written by the co-chairs of the think tank’s Board of Trustees, thanked Allen for “his contributions to Brookings, including his leadership in successfully guiding the institution during the pandemic, as well as his many years of service and sacrifice for our country.”
Allen had been president of the think tank since 2017 and was placed on leave last week after the FBI seized his electronic data and the nature of the allegations against him became public in a federal court filing supposedly made “in error,” according to the AP. The filing, a federal search warrant application, was removed from public view after the press agency requested comment from federal authorities.
The former general, who led US and NATO forces in Afghanistan during the Obama administration, allegedly provided a “false version of events” when interviewed by federal agents about his work lobbying for Qatar in 2020, failed to produce emails in response to a grand jury subpoena, and may have “willfully” violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, according to the warrant application.