Thread by @gumby4christ

What exactly was Mayor Pete doing at "a safe house in Iraq" when he worked for McKinsey in 2007?

Apparently, Buttigieg actually traveled to both Iraq and Afghanistan while working for McKinsey. Interestingly, his stint at McKinsey (2007-2010) overlaps with his time as a Naval Intelligence officer. (2009-2017). abcnews.go.com/Politics/mckin…

McKinsey had a contract with a DOD org called the Task Force on Business and Stability Operations, which, per ABC, "had a primary objective to foster economic and job growth in the aftermath of -- and effectively during -- the conflicts there."

In practice, this meant opening up Iraq and Afghanistan to foreign corporations to raid these countries' natural resources. One striking example of the TFBSO's work: helping Kate Spade to source raw materials for their luxury handbags in Afghanistan. mccollum.house.gov/taxonomy/state…

TFBSO granted McKinsey an $18.6 million contract to expand into Afghanistan in 2009. (Previously they'd only been in Iraq.) But the only evidence of McKinsey's work that could be found was a single 50-page report about Herat province. abcnews.go.com/Politics/mckin…

So what was McKinsey being paid for? And what exactly was @PeteButtigieg doing for McKinsey in Iraq and Afghanistan? He won't tell us, claiming he's bound by a decade-old NDA.

So we know McKinsey was deeply involved in Herat Province in Afghanistan. Could just be a coincidence, but Buttigieg was also stationed in Herat for part of his 7-month tour in the country. b.3cdn.net/uchicago/f7294…

The timeline for this part of Mayor Pete's life is odd. In 2008, he volunteered with the Obama campaign AND also worked for Pat Bauer's IN gubernatorial campaign. In Sept. 2009, he enlisted in the Naval Reserves. All while still working for McKinsey.

He didn't quit McKinsey until 2010, when he left to run for Indiana state treasurer.

Just found a file of research on Buttigieg I compiled this summer when I had the ill-fated nation that I might actually write up an article on him. Will try to tweet some of it out later today--mostly has to do with his time as a Naval Intelligence officer

Despite Buttigieg constantly credentialing himself as a TROOP, he's been remarkably unwilling to discuss the details of his military service, even with military publications like Task & Purpose. Why? taskandpurpose.com/pete-buttigieg…

Buttigieg enlisted in the military through the Navy Reserve’s direct commission officer program, a spooky rich-kid affirmative action program that places most recruits in either intelligence or public affairs. news.yahoo.com/amphtml/for-po…

Other alumni of this same resume-sweetener program include a bunch of Trump officials (Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus, Robert Wilkie, Morgan Ortagus, Charles Summers) and the children of pols and spooks (George P. Bush, Jimmy Panetta, and Hunter Biden—kicked out for smoking crack).

Alumni of this little-known program have held "senior positions in every national security community that matters in Washington": Congress; think tanks; high-level civilian Pentagon jobs; State; Homeland Security; defense contractors; the intelligence agencies; White House & NSC

Per an alum quoted in the Yahoo article, this program has created a vast network within govt: “I used that network when I was a special assistant at DoD and I had to call my counterpart at CIA. You know why it was so easy? They were a frickin’ Navy reserve intel officer with me.”

According to that same source, "A lot of Navy reservists in the intel community had been deployed to Guantanamo." news.yahoo.com/amphtml/for-po…

In his time in the Naval Reserves, Pete served about 9 months of active duty, 6 of which were in Afghanistan. There, he primarily worked with the Afghan Threat Finance Cell. thehill.com/homenews/campa…

Pete was a so-called "dirt sailor," meaning he was commissioned to an Army-style post in the middle of Afghanistan. Meaning, he was there to serve an intelligence function, not to do traditionally "Naval" sorts of things.

The AFTC reported directly to both the US ambassador and the ISAF commander (the head of the NATO mission in Afghanistan). But the unit was led not by a military officer but by a DEA agent and coordinated closely with IRS, DHS, FBI, DIA, and the RCMP. sigar.mil/pdf/lessonslea…

ATFC was ostensibly set up "to improve the targeting of the insurgents’ financial structure" and specifically to disrupt the drug financing of the Taliban. (Keep in mind, of course, that Afghanistan's opium production sky-rocketed as a direct result of the 2001 US invasion.)

According to Pete himself, while at AFTC, "'I was in the military element. And then we were working with everybody across the civilian spectrum in the intelligence community'—the CIA, NSA and Defense Intelligence Agency." newsweek.com/pete-buttigieg…

Pete is fond of saying he went "outside the wire" 119 times while stationed in Afghanistan, frequently serving as a driver and armed escort for his commander. But what was he actually doing? southbendtribune.com/news/local/but…

Curiously, the area on Buttigieg's DD-214 that describes his job was left blank. abc57.com/news/fact-chec…

Here's an interesting nugget. Newsweek quotes Pete's former commander, Edwin Exum, effusively praising him for his upright good-guyness. Turns out, Exum was formerly the Officer in Charge, Linguist Operations, at Guantanamo. newsweek.com/pete-buttigieg…
linkedin.com/in/edwinexum/