Release Date 16 May 2017

As the United Nations is expected to announce Russian ambassador to the US as their new head of counter-terrorism, a UN expert from the University of Reading warns that this appointment could be "the biggest scandal since Watergate".

In an article published in the Conversation today, 'Russian in Trump national security scandal to be UN’s new anti-terror chief – just how murky can things get?', Professor Rosa Freedman explains how 'a man accused of being a spy by US intelligence agencies, and at the centre of this ongoing storm about national security and cyber-terrorism [is] set to take the most powerful global role in counter-terrorism'. 

Professor Rosa Freedman, Professor of Law, Conflict and Global Development at the University of Reading said:

"This could be the biggest scandal since Watergate, the US intelligence services say this guy is a spy, and yet he has been given this new job because that is the murky world of UN appointments. These types of appointments get promised to powerful countries who largely do not look at who is best for the job but rather appoint on nepotism. This wholly discredits the UN system, and the new Secretary General promised to address it but has not done so."

Image credit: Patrick Gruban, UN General Assembly, 2007. CC BY-SA 2.0.