UAE paid tons of of U.S. veterans to construct up its navy

The most popular abroad job marketplace for retired U.S. service members is a tiny Persian Gulf nation that outsources a lot of its navy to overseas advisers and mercenaries.

Over the previous seven years, 280 navy retirees have sought federal authorization to work for the United Arab Emirates — way over for every other nation, based on paperwork obtained by The Washington Submit underneath the Freedom of Data Act (FOIA).

Those that have labored as navy contractors or consultants for the Emiratis embrace generals who made their mark combating U.S. wars within the Center East. Amongst them: retired Marine Gen. Jim Mattis, who was a navy adviser to the UAE earlier than he turned protection secretary within the Trump administration, the paperwork present.

The inflow of American veterans keen to promote their navy experience to a overseas energy — most with the consent of the Pentagon and the State Division — has helped the small however oil-rich UAE construct what many specialists regard as probably the most highly effective navy within the Arab world.

Jim
Mattis

Army adviser / UAE

Present all

• Secretary of protection, 2017-2019
• Commander, U.S. Central Command, 2010-2013

However for U.S. nationwide pursuits, the end result has proved a blessing and a curse. Whereas the Emiratis stay a detailed associate, their newfound navy muscle has emboldened them to ship troops into Yemen and Libya, inflaming civil wars in each international locations.

In the meantime, in Washington, Congress and human rights teams have turn out to be extra important of the UAE, together with for its determination this month to band with Russia and different members of the OPEC Plus cartel to curtail world oil manufacturing. As well as, the Justice Division has scrutinized the nation’s leaders for interfering in U.S. elections and politics.

“The Emiratis have gathered immense affect and so they punch means above their weight class, however they’ve used that to undermine U.S. overseas coverage when it comes to our help for the rule of legislation, democracy and counterterrorism,” stated Jodi Vittori, a professor at Georgetown College’s College of International Service and a retired U.S. Air Drive officer. “It’s arduous to see how this can be a good factor.”

Federal legislation prohibits retired navy personnel in addition to reservists from taking jobs or items from overseas governments with out approval from the State Division and the Pentagon. The aim is to stop veterans from turning into beholden to overseas powers or undermining U.S. pursuits. The legislation applies to retirees — usually outlined as those that served at the least 20 years and obtain a pension — as a result of they are often recalled to lively responsibility.

The armed forces and the State Division declined interview requests from The Submit. In a written response to questions, the State Division stated it judges job functions based mostly on whether or not they “would adversely have an effect on the overseas relations of the US.”

Requested whether or not the U.S. authorities had made it simpler for the UAE to intervene in Yemen and Libya by permitting the Emiratis to rent so many U.S. navy contractors, the State Division stated: “The UAE has lengthy been a significant U.S. associate on a variety of regional safety points. … We intend to proceed to assist them enhance their capabilities to defend their territory and are assured that our robust relationship will proceed.”

The 280 navy retirees recognized within the data are solely a partial accounting of People working as navy contractors within the UAE.

Analysts estimate that tons of of different U.S. veterans are employed by the Emirati authorities or state-owned corporations. People who served fewer than 20 years in uniform should not have to hunt federal permission to take overseas jobs, and the U.S. authorities doesn’t observe what number of work abroad.

The UAE is a federation of seven tribal monarchies that features the city-states of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. It has 1.1 million residents, about the identical as Rhode Island. But the nation launched an enormous navy buildup a decade in the past through the Arab Spring, when its royal households turned alarmed by the potential for home unrest and tensions with Iran.

Since then, the Emirati armed forces and government-owned protection corporations have employed American navy contractors of all stripes by providing double or triple what they earned at dwelling. The nation’s flashy, tax-free way of life is a significant draw, with ostentatious sights that embrace the world’s tallest constructing, an Arab department of the Louvre, indoor ski slopes, and merchandising machines that dispense bars of gold.

All of the wealth and glitz masks the UAE’s report of continual repression. Freedom Home, a pro-democracy group, ranks absolutely the monarchy among the many least free international locations on the planet. There are not any elections, no political events and no unbiased judiciary. Criticism of the federal government is banned. Commerce unions and homosexuality are outlawed.

In Washington, the UAE has dodged condemnation of its human rights report by binding itself to the Pentagon.

Emirati armed forces have fought alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan and in opposition to Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. The UAE permits the Pentagon to station 5,000 personnel at al-Dhafra Air Base and to berth warships at Jebel Ali, a deep-water Persian Gulf port. Since 2012, the nation has been the third-biggest purchaser of U.S. weapons, behind Saudi Arabia and Australia, based on the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute, which tracks world arms gross sales.

UAE officers stated their total partnership with the US has vastly benefited each international locations in commerce and safety.

“Over the past 50 years, no nation has performed as vital a job within the UAE’s progress and safety as the US,” Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE’s ambassador to the US, stated in an e-mail. “We’ve tapped into US experience in just about each space to construct know the way, to develop our economic system and to advance and defend our society.”

Emirati and U.S. officers, nevertheless, have obscured the extent of the UAE’s dependence on American navy contractors.

The Submit needed to file two Freedom of Data Act lawsuits to compel the U.S. navy and the State Division to launch paperwork about retired troops who work for the UAE and different overseas governments. Companies redacted the names of personnel aside from retired generals and admirals, saying that disclosure of their identities may result in “embarrassment and harassment.”

A navy machine guided by People

The paperwork reveal that the UAE has employed People to assist handle nearly each a part of its navy machine.

They function strategic consultants, plane mechanics, teacher pilots, drone operators, missile protection specialists, artillery trainers, radar specialists, cybersecurity advisers, logistics planners and upkeep supervisors. Most are U.S. Air Drive and Army veterans. About one-third are retired officers.

Many of the People secured jobs with a community of protection contractors managed by the UAE authorities. The biggest corporations are subsidiaries of Edge Group, a state-owned protection conglomerate that reviews $5 billion in annual income.

The UAE retains a lot details about its armed forces confidential, however analysts estimate that the UAE spends $22 billion a 12 months on protection, about the identical as Turkey. Based on the CIA, the Emirati armed forces have 65,000 troops on lively responsibility, just like Canada and Australia.

The Arab monarchy depends closely on foreigners to employees its armed forces, simply because it does to energy your entire economic system — immigrant employees outnumber Emirati residents by 9 to 1. Andreas Krieg, a professor of safety research at King’s School London, estimated that foreigners make up 40 % of the UAE’s uniformed personnel.

Apart from hiring People as civilian contractors, the Emirati navy fills its uniformed ranks with hundreds of mercenaries from different international locations. Many come from Pakistan, Oman and Yemen, whereas others are recruited from as far afield as East Africa and South America. A former Australian main common instructions the UAE Presidential Guard, main 12,000 elite troops.

Stephen
Toumajan

Normal supervisor / UAE Nationwide Search and Rescue Heart

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• Operations officer for aviation, Joint Particular Operations Command
• Aviation job pressure commander, Iraq

About the identical time, the UAE armed forces welcomed one other American into its ranks. Stephen Toumajan, a retired lieutenant colonel who served 20 years within the U.S. Army, turned the commander of a UAE particular operations aviation unit referred to as Group 18. He later took cost of the UAE’s Joint Aviation Command.

Federal rules prohibit retired navy personnel in addition to reservists from swearing allegiance to different governments or taking uniformed jobs in overseas armies. Those that violate the rule can face monetary penalties.

Toumajan has given conflicting explanations about whether or not he’s a uniformed officer within the UAE navy. He and the UAE authorities listing his title and rank on official web sites as “His Excellency Main Normal Workers Pilot Stephen A. Toumajan PhD.” He’s additionally depicted in pictures sporting a flight go well with adorned with an Emirati flag. But in 2018 he informed BuzzFeed News that he was working as a civilian contractor and had “not sworn allegiance to the UAE.”

U.S. Army officers investigated Toumajan’s affiliation with the UAE after he submitted a foreign-employment request to the Pentagon in 2014. Cynthia Smith, an Army spokeswoman, stated in an e-mail that officers decided Toumajan had violated the legislation “by accepting a overseas title and by sporting the navy rank of the UAE Armed Forces.”

However the Army didn’t dock Toumajan’s pension or in any other case penalize him as a result of it was unable to show that he had acquired any compensation from the UAE authorities, Smith added. She declined to elaborate or clarify the obvious discrepancy within the Army’s findings.

Toumajan didn’t reply to requests for an interview. Immediately, he serves as common supervisor of the UAE Nationwide Search and Rescue Heart and publicly touts his shut relationship with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the president of the UAE and a fellow navy pilot.

“He stated, ‘Include me, Steve,’ and I’m holding arms with Sheikh Mohamed,” Toumajan stated, based on a video of his discuss. “That was fairly unbelievable.”

‘Little Sparta’ retains a four-star common

Essentially the most outstanding American cheerleader of the Emirati armed forces is former protection secretary Jim Mattis, who refers back to the UAE as “Little Sparta” due to its prowess in warfare. The retired four-star Marine common commanded all U.S. troops within the Center East earlier than he ran the Pentagon through the Trump administration.

In a video testimonial posted in January to mark the UAE’s fiftieth birthday, Mattis fondly recalled first visiting the nation as a junior Marine officer in 1979. He additionally reminisced about constructing a “trusting relationship over a few years” with Sheikh Mohamed and praised the nation’s troops as “equal brothers in arms who knew the right way to struggle.”

What Mattis didn’t point out is that he beforehand labored for the UAE authorities.

It’s unclear how lengthy Mattis held the position. He returned to U.S. authorities service as President Donald Trump’s protection secretary in January 2017.

Mattis declined an interview request. Robert Tyrer, co-president of Cohen Group, a Washington consulting agency the place Mattis works as a senior counselor, stated in an e-mail that Mattis suggested the Emiratis on “the operational, tactical, informational and moral features” of navy operations.

Based on Tyrer, Mattis didn’t request or settle for fee from the UAE authorities apart from reimbursement for journey bills. “Constant along with his perception within the significance of moral conduct, he sought approval for his uncompensated exercise by a course of which might guarantee probably the most strong evaluate from the right officers within the U.S. authorities,” Tyrer stated.

He added that Mattis additionally didn’t obtain fee for taping the UAE birthday video. “Normal Mattis has nice respect for the UAE, a nation which has stood by the U.S. in quite a few battle and aid operations,” Tyrer stated.

Mattis served two years as Trump’s protection secretary. In March 2019, two months after leaving the Pentagon, he as soon as once more utilized for approval to just accept employment from the Emirati authorities, this time as a featured speaker at a convention on U.S.-UAE relations hosted by Sheikh Mohamed.

The convention was held in Could 2019 at Al Bateen Palace, a royal residence in Abu Dhabi. In his remarks, Mattis stated he turned down “99 %” of his invites for talking engagements however made an exception for the UAE and Sheikh Mohamed due to their shut relationship with the US.

“It’s broad sufficient, it’s deep sufficient and it’s robust sufficient to face up to any short-term challenges of any type, as a result of the underpinnings are simply that robust,” Mattis stated, based on a videotaped portion of his speech posted on-line by the UAE Embassy in Washington. “At any time when the going will get powerful, we have now discovered our militaries working alongside one another.”

In a best-selling memoir revealed 4 months after his Abu Dhabi speech, Mattis once more extolled Sheikh Mohamed and downplayed issues about human rights within the UAE and different international locations within the area.

“I continually needed to argue with these in authorities who needed human rights to be the singular criterion of our overseas coverage,” Mattis wrote, referring to his tenure as a four-star common through the Obama administration. “The Arab monarchies and strongman leaders weren’t reforming on the tempo our human rights idealists insisted upon. However these nations that had stood behind us after 9/11 had data much better than these of hostile, oppressive regimes like Iran and Syria.”

Mattis isn’t the one Marine common who went to work for the UAE shortly after leaving authorities service, based on the paperwork obtained by The Submit.

Charles F. Bolden Jr., a retired Marine main common and astronaut, served as NASA administrator through the Obama administration. In June 2016, he traveled to Abu Dhabi to signal a cooperation settlement between NASA and the UAE Area Company. He additionally delivered a lecture about NASA’s mission to Mars to an viewers of dignitaries, together with Sheikh Mohamed.

Charles F.
Bolden Jr.

Member, Area Advisory Committee / UAE Area Company

Present all

• NASA administrator, 2009-2017
• NASA astronaut, 1981-1994

In an interview, Bolden stated that the eight-member house advisory board has not met because the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and that he final traveled to the UAE for a board assembly in 2019. He declined to say how a lot the Emiratis have paid him.

“Some folks would say they had been beneficiant, others would say not even shut,” he stated. “That’s not the rationale I joined.” He famous that the UAE has an lively and bold house program. The nation launched an unmanned interplanetary spacecraft that started orbiting Mars in 2021.

International salaries and U.S. pensions

Whereas the Pentagon stored overseas pay packages for generals and admirals a secret, it disclosed salaries for lower-ranking officers and enlisted personnel.

These paperwork present that the Emiratis pay properly.

Retired American personnel who transfer to the UAE typically obtain five-figure housing and transportation allowances, whereas persevering with to gather their U.S. navy pensions, data present.

These with specialised expertise or superior levels earn probably the most. Sean Connors, a retired Navy commander, acquired federal permission in 2019 to take a $600,000-a-year job as a vp with Nawah Power Firm, a state-owned agency that constructed the primary civilian nuclear energy plant within the Arab world.

When Sheikh Mohamed based a Nationwide Protection School to teach UAE officers a decade in the past, the varsity went on a hiring binge and commenced recruiting navy lecturers from the US.

Thomas Drohan, a professor on the U.S. Air Drive Academy, was lured to the nation with a $240,000 wage and a $49,000 housing allowance, paperwork present. Daniel Baltrusaitis, a retired Air Drive colonel, moved to Abu Dhabi to turn out to be dean of the faculty, with a $338,000 wage and $53,200 in housing perks.

Former enlisted personnel working within the UAE also can make wonderful cash, with mechanics, welders and painters incomes $100,000 or extra yearly, data present.

The Emiratis rely on People to show them the right way to use an intensive arsenal of U.S.-built weaponry, together with F-16 fighter jets, Predator drones, Patriot missile batteries and THAAD missile interceptors. American mechanics additionally deal with the specialised tools whereas embedding with UAE navy models.

American navy experience might not come low-cost, however the contracting preparations are nonetheless a cut price for the UAE, based on Krieg, the King’s School professor.

The UAE “can rent folks for as little as 90 days, or just a few years, then don’t have any duty for them,” he stated, whereas American taxpayers proceed to bear the expense of their pensions and well being advantages.

Krieg famous that the U.S. authorities spends big sums to coach and educate its navy personnel throughout their lengthy careers in uniform, “and now you’re exporting it totally free to a overseas authorities. They only get the completed product.”

A recruiting workplace in Virginia

One of many foremost recruiters of U.S. expertise is Data Level Academic Guide LLC, an Abu Dhabi-based firm.

In 2010, Data Level established a subsidiary with an workplace in Alexandria, Va., and marketed scores of open jobs with the UAE navy as senior strategic advisers and planners. The positions had been tailor-made for lately retired U.S. Army generals and colonels, a lot of whom had been searching for work after serving within the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A number of retired U.S. generals signed fixed-term contracts with Data Level to maneuver to the UAE and work as navy consultants, The Submit discovered.

Others have stayed for longer. John MacDonald, a retired two-star Army common who served in fight in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been working in Abu Dhabi since February 2018 as a senior adviser to the UAE military, paperwork present.

Data Level supplies consulting companies for quite a few industries and has about 2,000 workers. Its chief working officer is John J. Prendergast III, a rear admiral who retired from the Navy in 2009 after a 30-year navy profession. He has labored for Data Level in Abu Dhabi since 2017, based on his LinkedIn profile.

The Navy stated it had no report of Prendergast making use of for authorization to work for Data Level or the UAE authorities. He didn’t reply to requests for remark.

One other Emirati protection contractor that employs droves of People is International Aerospace Logistics. Since 2015, data present, the state-owned firm has employed greater than 100 retired U.S. navy personnel, largely Air Drive and Army veterans with aviation backgrounds.

Some American veterans who work for the Emiratis achieve this as consultants based mostly in the US. In 2017, the UAE authorities retained Fairfax Nationwide Safety Options LLC, a small agency in Arlington, Va., to offer consulting companies.

In 2019, Todd Harmer, a retired U.S. Air Drive colonel, acquired federal authorization to work as a D.C.-based lobbyist for the UAE authorities. Paperwork present that he lobbied Congress to approve main arms gross sales to the UAE and that he acquired a $180,000 annual base wage from his employer, American Protection Worldwide.

Interventions and alleged abuses

With their navy capabilities boosted by American contractors and weapons, UAE leaders have turn out to be extra aggressive about intervening in conflicts removed from dwelling — typically with little regard for human rights.

In Libya, the UAE navy despatched its forces to help Khalifa Hifter, a insurgent commander making an attempt to grab management of the nation. In 2020, the Protection Division inspector common reported that the UAE authorities was serving to to finance the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary military near the Kremlin that has been accused of atrocities in Libya and elsewhere in Africa. The Wagner Group has additionally despatched forces to struggle on behalf of Russia in Ukraine and Syria.

The UAE is a longtime good friend of Saudi Arabia and has spied on dissidents on behalf of Riyadh. Emirati safety companies gathered intelligence about Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Submit contributing columnist who was assassinated by a Saudi hit squad in October 2018 for his criticisms of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In July, UAE officers arrested a onetime lawyer for Khashoggi as he was catching a connecting flight within the Dubai airport. Asim Ghafoor, a U.S. citizen who lives in Virginia and represents Arab dissidents, was detained on costs of cash laundering and tax evasion.

The arrest occurred whereas President Biden was visiting the Center East to satisfy with Arab leaders, together with Prince Mohammed. Ghafoor was launched a month later after protests by human rights teams and U.S. lawmakers.

Vittori, the Georgetown professor, stated that by arresting Khashoggi’s lawyer, UAE officers despatched an unmistakable message to Biden and members of Congress that the nation would proceed to crack down on political dissent.

“You couldn’t be extra clear in thumbing your nostril at the US,” she stated. UAE officers stated they investigated Ghafoor at Washington’s request, however U.S. officers denied asking for his arrest.

The UAE has developed superior surveillance and cyber capabilities to focus on dissidents, work aided by the hiring of former American and Israeli hackers and spies.

In September 2021, three former workers of the Nationwide Safety Company admitted to violating U.S. computer-fraud and export-control legal guidelines by engaged on behalf of DarkMatter, an Emirati cyberintelligence agency that hacked laptop servers in the US and spied on enemies of the UAE authorities in different international locations. The previous NSA cyber operatives agreed to pay $1.68 million in fines as a part of a deferred-prosecution deal.

U.S. officers have turn out to be alarmed by the variety of former intelligence officers who’ve taken jobs with overseas governments. Final 12 months, the CIA’s counterintelligence chief despatched an uncommon letter to retired spies, warning them to not promote their expertise to overseas powers.

But retired U.S. troops with backgrounds in intelligence and cyberwarfare have confronted no such restrictions. Amongst those that have taken jobs within the UAE are two retired U.S. Army colonels, based on their LinkedIn profiles.

Dennis McFarland, a former senior intelligence official on the Pentagon, took a job with Data Level as a lead adviser to the UAE authorities on cyber and intelligence issues in 2017. That very same 12 months, Data Level additionally employed Mark Benedict, a former senior Nationwide Safety Company official, to work as a cyberwarfare marketing consultant for the UAE armed forces.

Each declined to remark.