The only high-ranking intelligence official to have hitched his wagon to the Republican candidate, Flynn has already drawn criticism from the Democrats who have accused him of being Islamophobic or a secret Kremlin sympathiser. Since his eviction from the DIA in 2014, Flynn has made the most of a network of business contacts that today serve to help him keep Trump informed on the main international issues that have an impact on the presidential campaign.

Anti-Rohani connection 

As soon as he left the DIA, Flynn founded a consulting firm, the Flynn Intelligence (FIG) with his son Michael G. as his chief of staff. FIG was co-founded with Bijan R. Kian , a leading figure in the Iranian-American community opposed to the Islamic Republic, who became its non-executive vice-president. Kian is the man behind the Washington-based Nowruz Commission , named after the Iranian and Turkish New Year festival. The organisation’s membership is made up of most of the Washington-based figures from that part of the world. The first Nowruz festival was held at the White House in 2008 in the presence of George W. . A former member of the board of Export Import (Exim Bank ), Kian today chairs Green Zone Systems , manufacturer of a secure microchip. Kian is also an advisor to the big data company Levyx, which works closely with FIG.

Cyber networks 

Flynn has also become close to the firm Quaestor Federal , the former i3 ICS , headed by Phil Oakley , a former military intelligence analyst. Oakley also became the executive chairman of FIG in June 2015. Ross Holley , the managing director of Quaestor, also joined FIG at the same time. A firm that specialises in computer systems, Quaestor works with a number of companies that work with the US intelligence community, including the data mining giant Palantir, Signal Innovations (SIG), which was acquired by BAE systems in 2014, and Optensity, an open data processing company whose advisory board includes Bob Gourley , the former technical director of the DIA, and Fran Landolf , a former high-level official with the NSA. Flynn’s penetration in the cyber world is also conducted through a discreet subsidiary of FIG, FIG Cyber Inc, which was headed until July this year byJoe Kelly , who coordinated the 2009 White House Cyberspace Policy Review. He was also in charge of cyberspace coordination between member states of the Five Eyes surveillance alliance. At FIG Cyber Inc, Kelly was seconded by Mike Coomes , who worked in the office of the Pentagon’s chief information officers from 2010 to 2015.

Ex-CIA haunt

Flynn is also an advisor to the security company Patriot Defense (PDG), founded by the former CIA agent Todd Wilcox . Via this relationship, Flynn is touch with some key former National Clandestine Service officers. PDG is headed by Brian Scott, who for many years was the service’s specialist on the Arab World and counterterrorism. PDG’s Middle East director Charles Seidel  was also with the NCS while PDG executives David Vacala and Michael Ganski worked on the Slavic world at the CIA for a number of years.