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A new joint policy brief by The Sentry and Justice For Myanmar exposes how the Myanmar military junta is attempting to evade international sanctions and manufacture false legitimacy by rebranding its executive, legislative and judicial structure and engaging lobbyists in the United States to further the effort.
As the military prepares to stage a sham election while continuing widespread atrocities against civilians, the brief warns that the junta is exploiting gaps in sanctions regimes to maintain access to international political and financial systems. The brief calls on the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand and other like-minded governments to urgently update and expand sanctions to close these loopholes and target the junta’s international enablers.
On 31 July 2025, the junta dissolved the already-sanctioned State Administrative Council (SAC) and replaced it with a newly created body, the State Security and Peace Commission (SSPC). Despite the change in name, the SSPC is led by the same senior military figures, performs the same functions, and remains firmly under the control of junta leader and military commander Min Aung Hlaing.
“Nothing has changed except the letterhead,” said Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for Justice For Myanmar. “The junta’s rebranding is a deliberate attempt to evade sanctions and create a fraudulent narrative around its sham election, while it continues to slaughter civilians with blanket impunity.”
The brief documents extensive overlap in senior figures between the SAC, the SSPC and the National Defence and Security Council (NDSC), noting that nearly all SSPC members are current or former senior military officers who are already sanctioned in at least one jurisdiction. Since the SSPC’s establishment, the military has continued indiscriminate airstrikes, shelling and mass arrests with impunity.
Alarmingly, within days of the rebranding, two US lobbying firms — DCI Group AZ, LLC and the McKeon Group — entered into contracts with junta-controlled entities. According to filings under the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the firms agreed to provide public affairs and lobbying services aimed at influencing the US government on behalf of Myanmar’s military junta.
“The junta is racing to reinvent its image and is enlisting foreign enablers to normalize its rule,” said Justyna Gudzowska, Executive Director of The Sentry. “Providing political services that ultimately benefit a military junta responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity carries serious legal, ethical, and reputational risks.”
The brief warns that unless sanctions lists are updated to include the SSPC—either as an alias of the SAC or as a newly designated entity—international actors may unknowingly do business with the junta or, in more troubling instances, be given the cover of plausible deniability. This risk is especially acute in the lead-up to the junta’s planned sham election, which has already been condemned by the European Union.
The Sentry and Justice For Myanmar urge governments to:
- Immediately designate the SSPC under existing Myanmar-related and Global Magnitsky-style sanctions regimes
- Apply coordinated, multilateral targeted network sanctions against enablers of the junta
- Strengthen sanctions enforcement and investigate potential violations
- Publicly denounce the junta’s sham election and reject its results, and refuse any form of recognition or support
The brief also calls on private sector actors, including professional service firms and financial institutions, to terminate any dealings with junta-controlled entities and to exercise enhanced due diligence when engaging with Myanmar-related clients.
“Sanctions must evolve as the junta adapts,” said Yadanar Maung. “Without decisive action now, the military junta will continue to launder its crimes through rebranding, lobbying and international complicity while waging a campaign of terror against the people.”
