A group of former National Security Agency spies aided the United Arab Emirates in its efforts to surveil prominent Arab media figures in 2017, a new Reuters investigation found.
The nine former U.S. intelligence staffers and members of the U.S. military helped the monarchy spy on an Al Jazeera chairman and a BBC host, among other dissidents and political opponents of the UAE government, according to Reuters. The effort was called Project Raven and surveillance was conducted throughout 2017 when relations between Qatar and the UAE were tense.
The Americans helped the UAE hack the iPhones of at least 10 journalists and media officials whom they believed had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or the Qatari government.
The NSA and Department of Defense declined to comment on Reuters’ findings.
Read Reuters full report here.
