Myanmar’s military regime has signed a US$3 million contract with a Washington-based lobbying firm aligned with the Republican Party, marking its most direct attempt yet to re-engage with the United States following years of sanctions and diplomatic isolation.
The deal, between the junta’s Ministry of Information and DCI Group AZ, LLC—a public affairs firm with close ties to the Trump administration—aims to reshape US perceptions of the regime and potentially unlock financial assistance and investment in Myanmar.
Filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act on July 31, the contract outlines a one-year lobbying and media campaign aimed at “rebuilding relations between the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the United States, with a focus on trade, natural resources, and humanitarian relief.”
It is the largest lobbying agreement the junta has undertaken since seizing power in a coup four and a half years ago.
This is not the first deal that the DCI Group has signed in Myanmar. In the early 2000s, the firm was hired by former intelligence chief Khin Nyunt to improve the image of the regime then in power. That campaign ended when Khin Nyunt was ousted as part of an internal power struggle in 2004.
The firm now returns to represent a regime widely condemned for human rights abuses, economic collapse, and an ongoing civil war.
DCI’s client list includes other controversial entities, such as the authoritarian government of Azerbaijan and EN+ Group, a Russian aluminium giant that was previously under US sanctions. The firm also came under scrutiny for its 2024 contract with the European Union’s Washington office, which hired DCI to navigate the political landscape following Donald Trump’s re-election.
The Myanmar lobbying agreement was signed on July 4 by Justin Peterson, a DCI managing member and Trump-era appointee to Puerto Rico’s financial oversight board, and senior partner Brian McCabe.
The $3 million deal is split into two $1.5 million payments, with the first payment due on July 31, when the contract went into effect, and the second on or before December 31.
The agreement includes compliance clauses requiring both parties to certify that no sanctioned individuals or entities will benefit from the deal. It also contains indemnity provisions shielding DCI from legal liability for violations committed by the junta or its affiliates.
News of the contract comes just weeks after the Trump administration lifted sanctions on a number of individuals and entities linked to the Myanmar regime—a move denounced by Tom Andrews, the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, as “unconscionable.”
The news has sparked swift condemnation from Myanmar human rights activists, who accuse the junta of using stolen public funds to whitewash its crimes and gain international legitimacy ahead of an election process widely dismissed as a sham.
“Governments must reject this cynical charade and urgently ensure that sanctions apply to the so-called ‘State Security and Peace Commission,’ a body created to orchestrate a sham election that may circumvent sanctions on the State Administration Council,” said Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for the activist group Justice For Myanmar.
“The Myanmar military is spending millions of stolen funds to whitewash its atrocities and gain political legitimacy ahead of its sham elections,” she added.
“No amount of spin by D.C. lobbyists can wash the blood off the military’s hands. We condemn DCI Group’s decision to serve as an enabler for a junta that is committing crimes with total impunity.”
