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sports Diaranson 24 november 2021

World Cup host Qatar used ex-CIA officer to spy on FIFA

(AP) — The tiny Arab na- fice in Doha and had a Qatari
tion of Qatar has for years government email account,
employed a former CIA said in a statement provided
officer to help spy on soc- by a representative that he
cer officials as part of a and his companies would not
no-expense-spared effort “ever engage in illegal sur-
to win and hold on to the veillance.”
2022 World Cup tourna-
ment, an investigation by The AP reviewed hundreds
The Associated Press has of pages of documents from
found. Chalker’s companies, includ-
ing a 2013 project update re-
It’s part of a trend of former port that had several photos
U.S. intelligence officers go- of Chalker’s staff meeting
ing to work for foreign gov- with various soccer officials.
ernments with questionable Multiple sources with autho-
human rights records that is rized access provided docu-
worrying officials in Wash- ments to the AP. The sources
ington and prompting calls said they were troubled by
from some members of Con- Chalker’s work for Qatar and
gress for greater scrutiny of requested anonymity because
an opaque and lucrative mar- they feared retaliation.
ket.
The AP took several steps
The World Cup is the plan- to verify the documents’
et’s most popular sports tour- authenticity. That includes
nament. It’s also a chance for confirming details of various
Qatar, one of the wealthiest documents with different with the FBI for a rope-train- Gulf for autocratic govern- show.
countries in the world, to sources, including former ing course and tech consult- ments.
have a coming-out party on Chalker associates and soc- ing work for the Democratic Records show Chalker some-
the world stage. cer officials; cross-checking National Committee. When Qatar was picked as the times subcontracted with
contents of documents with surprise winner in 2010, there Diligence, a well-known
The AP’s investigation found contemporaneous news ac- Chalker worked at the CIA was jubilation in the country. private investigative firm in
Qatar sought an edge in se- counts and publicly available as an operations officer for Sheik Youssef al-Qaradawi, London founded by former
curing hosting rights by business records; and exam- about five years, according a prominent Islamic scholar western intelligence officers.
hiring former CIA officer ining electronic documents’ to former associates. Opera- said he was “filled with joy”
turned private contractor metadata, or digital history, tions officers typically work at the announcement and Diligence conducted surveil-
Kevin Chalker to spy on rival where available, to confirm undercover trying to recruit said Qatar had humbled the lance in 2010 on the U.S. bid
bid teams and key soccer of- who made the documents assets to spy on behalf of the United States. team by having a fake pho-
ficials who picked the winner and when. Chalker did not United States. The CIA de- tojournalist secretly report
in 2010. Chalker also worked provide to the AP any evi- clined to comment and does But Qatar’s successful bid back on what was happening
for Qatar in the years that dence to support his position not usually discuss its former has long been dogged by al- as FIFA officials toured sta-
followed to keep tabs on the that some of the documents officers. legations of corruption. U.S. diums in the U.S. and met
country’s critics in the soccer in question had been forged. prosecutors said last year that with the officials from the
world, the AP found. The private surveillance busi- bribes were paid to FIFA ex- country’s bid team, a review
Many of the documents re- ness has flourished in the last ecutive committee members of the records show. Tasked
The surveillance work in- viewed by the AP outlining decade in the Persian Gulf to gain their votes for Qatar. with getting close to one un-
cluded having someone pose work undertaken by Chalker as the region saw the rise of named individual, Diligence
as a photojournalist to keep and his companies on behalf an information war using Chalker has pitched his com- use a fake Facebook profile of
tabs on a rival nation’s bid of Qatar are also described in state-sponsored hacking op- panies, including Global Risk an attractive young woman to
and deploying a Facebook a lawsuit filed by Elliott Broi- erations that have coincided Advisors, as an aggressive pri- communicate with the target,
honeypot, in which someone dy, a one-time fundraiser for with the run-up to the World vate intelligence and security records show.
posed online as an attractive former U.S. President Don- Cup. agency Qatar needs to fulfill
woman, to get close to a tar- ald Trump. Broidy is suing its ambitions. Just ahead of the 2010 bid,
get, a review of the records Chalker and has accused him Three former U.S. intelli- Chalker tasked Diligence to
show. Operatives working of mounting a widespread gence and military officials Chalker also promised the obtain communications and
for Chalker and the Persian hacking and spying campaign recently admitted to provid- Qataris the use of I.T. and financial records of FIFA
Gulf sheikhdom also sought at Qatar’s direction that in- ing hacking services for a “technical collection special- officials Jack Warner and
cell phone call logs of at least cludes using former western UAE-based company, which ists” as well as top field op- Chuck Blazer, a review of the
one top FIFA official ahead of intelligence officers to surveil was called DarkMatter, as eratives with backgrounds records show. Blazer, a for-
the 2010 vote, a review of the FIFA officials. Broidy’s law- part of a deferred prosecution in “highly sensitive U.S. in- mer top U.S. soccer official
records show. yers did not respond to re- agreement with the Justice telligence and military op- who pleaded guilty to FIFA-
quests for comment. Chalk- Department. A Reuters in- erations” who could “spot, related corruption charges
Chalker also promised he er’s legal team has argued the vestigation from 2019 report- assess, develop, recruit, and and worked as an informant
could help the country lawsuit is meritless. ed that DarkMatter hacked handle assets with access to for the FBI, died in 2017.
“maintain dominance” over phones and computers of persons and topics of inter-
its large population of foreign Former associates say Chalk- Qatar’s Emir, his brother, ests” on Qatar’s behalf, com- Diligence did not respond
workers, an internal docu- er’s companies have provided and FIFA officials. pany materials show. to requests for comment. Its
ment from one of Chalker’s a variety of services to Qatar Swiss affiliate recently set-
companies reviewed by the in addition to intelligence The Sunday Times of Lon- He also emphasized aggres- tled a lawsuit with Ghanem
AP shows. Qatar — a country work. His company Global don previously reported that sion and discretion, saying Nuseibeh, a London consul-
with a population of 2.8 mil- Risk Advisors bills itself as unnamed ex-CIA agents his plans included “patsies,” tant who said his mail was
lion, of whom only 300,000 “an international strategic helped Qatar’s 2010 bid and “lightning rods,” psycho- stolen and his emails were
are citizens — is heavily reli- consultancy specializing in team. But the AP’s investiga- logical operations, and “per- hacked after he wrote a report
ant on foreign-born labor to cybersecurity, military and tion is the most detailed to sistent and aggressive distrac- critical of Qatar hosting the
build the stadiums and other law enforcement training, date of Qatar’s use of former tions and disruptions” aimed World Cup. Diligence pre-
infrastructure needed for the and intelligence-based advi- U.S. spies and provides a rare at Qatar’s enemies all while viously said in court records
tournament. sory services” and its affili- look into the world of former giving the country “full de- that it only conducted lawful
Chalker, who opened an of- ates have won small contracts Western spies working in the niability,” company records surveillance on Nuseibeh.