READ MORE: <\/strong>Former Test bowler says Aussie captain choice a 'no-brainer'<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The AP\u2019s investigation found Qatar sought an edge in securing hosting rights by hiring former CIA officer turned private contractor Kevin Chalker to spy on rival bid teams and key soccer officials who picked the winner in 2010. Chalker also worked for Qatar in the years that followed to keep tabs on the country's critics in the soccer world, the AP found.<\/p>\n The AP\u2019s investigation is based on interviews with Chalker\u2019s former associates as well as contracts, invoices, emails, and a review of business documents.<\/p>\n The surveillance work included having someone pose as a photojournalist to keep tabs on a rival nation\u2019s bid and deploying a Facebook honeypot, in which someone posed online as an attractive woman, to get close to a target, a review of the records show. Operatives working for Chalker and the Persian Gulf sheikhdom also sought cell phone call logs of at least one top FIFA official ahead of the 2010 vote, a review of the records show.<\/p>\n Chalker also promised he could help the country \u201cmaintain dominance\u201d over its large population of foreign workers, an internal document from one of Chalker\u2019s companies reviewed by the AP shows. Qatar \u2014 a country with a population of 2.8 million, of whom only 300,000 are citizens \u2014 is heavily reliant on foreign-born labor to build the stadiums and other infrastructure needed for the tournament.<\/p>\n Qatari government officials did not respond to requests for comment. FIFA also declined to comment.<\/p>\n Chalker, who opened an office in Doha and had a Qatari government email account, said in a statement provided by a representative that he and his companies would not \u201cever engage in illegal surveillance.\u201d<\/p>\n Chalker declined requests for an interview or to answer detailed questions about his work for the Qatari government. He also claimed that some of the documents reviewed by the AP were forgeries.<\/p>\n The AP reviewed hundreds of pages of documents from Chalker\u2019s companies, including a 2013 project update report that had several photos of Chalker\u2019s staff meeting with various soccer officials. Multiple sources with authorised access provided documents to the AP. The sources said they were troubled by Chalker\u2019s work for Qatar and requested anonymity because they feared retaliation.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The AP took several steps to verify the documents\u2019 authenticity. That includes confirming details of various documents with different sources, including former Chalker associates and soccer officials; cross-checking contents of documents with contemporaneous news accounts and publicly available business records; and examining electronic documents\u2019 metadata, or digital history, where available, to confirm who made the documents and when. Chalker did not provide to the AP any evidence to support his position that some of the documents in question had been forged.<\/p>\n Many of the documents reviewed by the AP outlining work undertaken by Chalker and his companies on behalf of Qatar are also described in a lawsuit filed by Elliott Broidy, a one-time fundraiser for former U.S. President Donald Trump. Broidy is suing Chalker and has accused him of mounting a widespread hacking and spying campaign at Qatar\u2019s direction that includes using former western intelligence officers to surveil FIFA officials. Broidy\u2019s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. Chalker\u2019s legal team has argued the lawsuit is meritless.<\/p>\n Former associates say Chalker\u2019s companies have provided a variety of services to Qatar in addition to intelligence work. His company Global Risk Advisors bills itself as \u201can international strategic consultancy specialising in cybersecurity, military and law enforcement training, and intelligence-based advisory services\u201d and its affiliates have won small contracts with the FBI for a rope-training course and tech consulting work for the Democratic National Committee.<\/p>\n Chalker worked at the CIA as an operations officer for about five years, according to former associates. Operations officers typically work undercover trying to recruit assets to spy on behalf of the United States. The CIA declined to comment and does not usually discuss its former officers.<\/p>\n Chalker\u2019s background in the CIA was attractive to Qatari officials, said former associates.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was part of his mystique. All these young wealthy Qataris are playing spy games with this guy and he\u2019s selling them,\u201d said one former associate, who like others interviewed by the AP, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retribution for revealing the spying efforts of Qatar.<\/p>\n The private surveillance business has flourished in the last decade in the Persian Gulf as the region saw the rise of an information war using state-sponsored hacking operations that have coincided with the run-up to the World Cup.<\/p>\n Three former U.S. intelligence and military officials recently admitted to providing hacking services for a UAE-based company, which was called DarkMatter, as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department. A Reuters investigation from 2019 reported that DarkMatter hacked phones and computers of Qatar\u2019s Emir, his brother, and FIFA officials.<\/p>\n Work abroad by ex-U.S. intelligence officials has not always aligned with U.S. interests. The United States was Qatar\u2019s biggest rival to win the 2022 World Cup, and former U.S. President Bill Clinton and other celebrities were part of the bid effort. One Global Risk Advisors document lists the United States as a \u201cthreat\u201d to Qatar while Russia, one of the U.S.\u2019s biggest geopolitical rivals and the host of the 2018 World Cup, was listed as an \u201copportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n The Sunday Times of London previously reported that unnamed ex-CIA agents helped Qatar\u2019s 2010 bid team. But the AP\u2019s investigation is the most detailed to date of Qatar\u2019s use of former U.S. spies and provides a rare look into the world of former Western spies working in the Gulf for autocratic governments.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a problem for U.S. national security,\u201d John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, a watchdog group that tracks cyber-surveillance companies. \u201cIt\u2019s a really dangerous thing when people who handle the most sensitive secrets of our country are thinking in the back of their mind, \u2018Man, I could really make a lot more money taking this technical knowledge that I\u2019ve been trained in and putting it in the service of whoever will pay me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n When Qatar was picked as the surprise winner in 2010, there was jubilation in the country. Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, a prominent Islamic scholar said he was \u201cfilled with joy\u201d at the announcement and said Qatar had humbled the United States.<\/p>\n But Qatar\u2019s successful bid has long been dogged by allegations of corruption. U.S. prosecutors said last year that bribes were paid to FIFA executive committee members to gain their votes for Qatar.<\/p>\n READ MORE: <\/strong>The Mole: Hughes could stay at Storm, despite 'ruckus' of last week<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n READ MORE: <\/strong>Win a PS5 and play FIFA 22 with Tim Cahill<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Qatar has denied wrongdoing but has also had to fend off allegations by labor watchdogs of worker abuses, and an effort by neighboring countries to isolate, weaken and embarrass it through an economic boycott and informational warfare.<\/p>\n Chalker has pitched his companies, including Global Risk Advisors, as an aggressive private intelligence and security agency Qatar needs to fulfill its ambitions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe time for half-measures is over and serious consideration needs to be given to how important the 2022 World Cup is to Qatar,\u201d one of Global Risk Advisors\u2019 project documents from 2014, which also promised a \u201cfull-court press utilising unique, non-traditional capabilities against a wide-ranging set of targets.\u201d<\/p>\n Chalker also promised the Qataris the use of I.T. and \u201ctechnical collection specialists\u201d as well as top field operatives with backgrounds in \u201chighly sensitive U.S. intelligence and military operations\u201d who could \u201cspot, assess, develop, recruit, and handle assets with access to persons and topics of interests\u201d on Qatar\u2019s behalf, company materials show.<\/p>\n He also emphasised aggression and discretion, saying his plans included \u201cpatsies,\u201d and \u201clightning rods,\u201d psychological operations, and \u201cpersistent and aggressive distractions and disruptions\u201d aimed at Qatar\u2019s enemies all while giving the country \u201cfull deniability,\u201d company records show.<\/p>\n \u201cThe greatest achievement to date of Project MERCILESS … have come from successful penetration operations targeting vocal critics inside the FIFA organisation,\u201d Global Risk Advisors said in one 2014 document describing a project whose minimum proposed budget was listed at $387 million over nine years. It\u2019s unclear how much the Qataris ultimately paid the company.<\/p>\n Records show Chalker sometimes subcontracted with Diligence, a well-known private investigative firm in London founded by former western intelligence officers.<\/p>\n Diligence conducted surveillance in 2010 on the U.S. bid team by having a fake photojournalist secretly report back on what was happening as FIFA officials toured stadiums in the U.S. and met with the officials from the country\u2019s bid team, a review of the records show. Tasked with getting close to one unnamed individual, Diligence use a fake Facebook profile of an attractive young woman to communicate with the target, records show.<\/p>\n Just ahead of the 2010 bid, Chalker tasked Diligence to obtain communications and financial records of FIFA officials Jack Warner and Chuck Blazer, a review of the records show. Blazer, a former top U.S. soccer official who pleaded guilty to FIFA-related corruption charges and worked as an informant for the FBI, died in 2017.<\/p>\n Diligence did not respond to requests for comment. Its Swiss affiliate recently settled a lawsuit with Ghanem Nuseibeh, a London consultant who said his mail was stolen and his emails were hacked after he wrote a report critical of Qatar hosting the World Cup. Diligence previously said in court records that it only conducted lawful surveillance on Nuseibeh.<\/p>\n David Downs, who was the executive director of the U.S. bid effort in 2010, said he\u2019s not surprised to learn that Qatar was spying on its rivals given how weak their bid was compared to others.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very telling that they would be hiring ex-CIA operatives to get inside information,\u201d Downs said. \u201cA lot of what they did was either bending the rules or outright breaking the rules.\u201d<\/p>\n Global Risk Advisor documents also highlight the company\u2019s efforts to win over Jordan\u2019s Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein, a key figure in the soccer world who ran unsuccessfully to be FIFA\u2019s president in 2015 and 2016. In a 2013 document, GRA recommended the Qataris give money to a soccer development organisation run by Ali, saying it would \u201chelp solidify Qatar\u2019s reputation as a benevolent presence in world football.\u201d<\/p>\n A representative for Ali said the prince \u201chas always had a direct good personal relationship with Qatar\u2019s rulers. He certainly wouldn\u2019t need consultants to assist with that relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n Qatar has a long history of providing favors and family benefits to key influencers within FIFA and European soccer.<\/p>\n Top European soccer official Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, paid a massive fine for failing to declare two Rolex watches on his return to Germany from Qatar in 2013 \u2014 two years after he suggested there were \u201cquestions about the Qatari World Cup.\u201d And the son of a top FIFA official, Belgium\u2019s Michel D\u2019Hooghe, was offered and accepted a job in Qatar shortly after the 2010 vote. A FIFA ethics investigator did not connect the job offer to Qatar\u2019s winning hosting rights and both Rummenigge, and D\u2019Hooghe have denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Swiss prosecutors are currently pursuing corruption charges against Jerome Valcke \u2014 FIFA\u2019s CEO-like secretary-general from 2007 to 2015 \u2014 in a case that involves his acquiring use of a Qatari-owned luxury villa on the Italian island of Sardinia.<\/p>\n Valcke, who has denied wrongdoing, oversaw or had input into all aspects of the soccer body\u2019s dealings for with Qatar for several years. He was listed as a \u201cpotential threat\u201d in GRA documents from 2013.<\/p>\n The Broidy lawsuit also alleges that Valcke was one of several FIFA officials Chalker targeted for hacking and surveillance. Valcke told the AP there \u201cwas no reason\u201d for Qatar to identify him in such a way and said he never felt \u201cany direct threats or pressure\u201d in his dealings with the country.<\/p>\n In early 2017, the Qataris sent a request that Chalker submit a proposal to provide staff for a cybersecurity unit, as well as training to protect the royal family, conduct intelligence work and provide security in other areas, emails and other records show.<\/p>\n Chalker signed a master services agreement, a copy of which was reviewed by the AP, with Qatar in August 2017. The signed agreement specified that Chalker\u2019s company could provide consulting on surveillance, counter-surveillance, and other areas to \u201cintelligence collection organisations.\u201d<\/p>\n Publicly available annual reports and balance sheets filed in Gibraltar show Chalker-owned shell companies saw large deposits that year and ended 2017 with about $46 million in funds.<\/p>\n The full scope of his work for Qatar is unclear but the AP reviewed a variety of projects Global Risk Advisors proposed between 2014 and 2017 show proposals not just directly related to the World Cup.<\/p>\n They included \u201cPickaxe ,\u201d which promised to capture \u201cpersonal information and biometrics\u201d of migrants working in Qatar. \u201cFalconeye\u201d was described as a plan to use drones to provide surveillance of ports and borders operations, as well as \u201ccontrolling migrant worker populations centers.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy implementing background investigations and vetting program, Qatar will maintain dominance of migrant workers,\u201d one company document said.<\/p>\n Qatar relied heavily on foreign workers to build stadiums and the necessary infrastructure for the tournament. It's faced criticism for how the workers have been treated and has not provided full details and data on worker deaths .<\/p>\n Another project, \u201cViper\u201d promised on-site or remote \u201cmobile device exploitation,\u201d which Global Risk Advisors said would deliver \u201ccritical intelligence\u201d and enhance national security. The use of such technology provided by private firms is well documented by autocratic countries around the world, including the Gulf.<\/p>\n In July 2017, a month after Qatar\u2019s neighbors cut diplomatic ties and began a years-long boycott of the country, Chalker authored a proposal for \u201cProject Deviant.\u201d It called for Global Risk Advisors to provide a robust spying and hacking training program for employees at Qatar\u2019s Ministry of Interior \u201cbased on the elite training undertaken by (Global Risk Advisors) officers from the U.S. military and intelligence agencies. \u201d Deviant included a 47-week \u201cfield operations tradecraft course\u201d that would include training on surveillance, disguises, interrogation techniques, asset recruitment, hand-to-hand combat, and other areas, a GRA proposal shows.<\/p>\n The 26-week \u201ctechnical operations tradecraft course\u201d promised to teach Qataris with just even just a basic IT background to become world-class hackers with the \u201cnecessary knowledge, skills and techniques to use highly restricted, cutting-edge tools to penetrate target systems and devices, collect and analyse bulk signals data, and to track and locate targets to ultra-precise locations,\u201d records show.<\/p>\n The Broidy lawsuit also alleged that Chalker provided similar training to Qatar, noting that former intelligence officers are typically prohibited from such skills with foreign governments.<\/p>\n Specific spying and hacking methods the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies teach their officers are classified and divulging techniques would be against the law. But there\u2019s no general ban on working for foreign governments, and distinctions are not always clear between what methods are classified and what are not.<\/p>\n \u201cThat line can be hard to draw when it comes to tradecraft that is commonly used,\u201d said Bobby Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law who specialises in national security issues.<\/p>\n Wealthy countries in the Gulf have proven eager to hire ex-U.S. intelligence officials. A private company started by retired Gen. Keith Alexander, who once led the National Security Agency, signed a contract in 2018 with the Prince Mohammed bin Salman College of Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Technologies. The country's leader \u2014 and the school's namesake \u2014 has been accused of using spyware against critics, journalists and others. Brian Bartlett, a spokesman for Alexander, said the contract has expired and was \u201cfocused on the development of the college\u2019s educational efforts and its cybersecurity curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n The CIA sent a letter to former employees earlier this year warning of a \u201cdetrimental trend\u201d of foreign governments hiring former intelligence officers \u201cto build up their spying capabilities,\u201d according to a copy of the letter obtained by the AP and first reported by the New York Times.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ask that you protect yourself and the CIA by safeguarding the classified tradecraft that underpins your enterprise,\u201d wrote Sheetal Patel, the agency\u2019s assistant director for counterintelligence.<\/p>\n US lawmakers too, are taking notice. Congress is advancing legislation that would put new reporting requirements on former U.S. intelligence officers working overseas.<\/p>\n Congressman Tom Malinowski, a Democrat from New Jersey, said it was \u201cabsurd\u201d that Qatar and the UAE had former U.S. officials working the front lines of their information war and said it\u2019s part of a broader problem about how influential those wealthy countries are in U.S. politics and policymaking.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much Gulf money flowing through Washington D.C.,\u201d he said. \u201cThe amount of temptation there is immense, and it invariably entangles Americans in stuff we should not be entangled.\u201d<\/p>\n For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
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