Ex-US intelligence chief signed deal to train Saudi hackers months before Khashoggi killing: report

Former US National Security Agency (NSA) chief Keith Alexander signed a deal in 2018 with a Saudi cyber institute headed by the man who would orchestrate the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, The Intercept revealed on Monday. 

IronNet Cybersecurity, the company founded by Alexander, signed a deal with the Prince Mohammed bin Salman College of Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence, and Advanced Technologies in July 2018. 

The agreement was to train the next generation of hackers for Saudi Arabia’s rulers to counter the Kingdom’s enemies in the digital sphere. 

Saud al-Qahtani, a close aide to Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, headed the Saudi cyber institute. The deal was part of a series of measures taken by the Kingdom to step up its cyber capabilities, and coincided with moves against its foreign critics. 

Keith Alexander, a board member to Amazon and the former head of the NSA, signed a cyber warfare hacker training deal with the Saudi official who orchestrated the Jamal Khashoggi slaying just months later https://t.co/b2bnj0Q9PH

— Lee Fang (@lhfang) September 26, 2022

Al-Qahtani reportedly orchestrated the horrific murder of Jamal Khashoggi - a resident of the United States - only a few months after the agreement was signed. 

Khashoggi, who was then a columnist at the Washington Post and a critic of the government, received threatening messages from Saudi officials, including one from Qahtani, according to The Intercept.

He was then lured to Istanbul where a team dispatched by Qahtani killed and dismembered the journalist. 

The agreement between al-Qahtani and IronNet is not listed on the company’s website, according to the report, and the extent of the relationship between Alexander’s company and the Saudi cyber security school is unclear. 

Al-Qahtani has repeatedly played the role of enforcer for bin Salman.

In 2017, he played a key role in capturing senior members of the Saudi royal family and imprisoning them at the Ritz Carlton hotel, where they were forced to pledge loyalty to the Crown Prince. 

The same year, he participated in the interrogation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri after he was 'kidnapped' by Riyadh. He also participated in the torture of human rights defender Loujain al-Hathloul. 

Senior members of the United States government have invested in the Kingdom despite its abysmal human rights record.

The son-in-law of former President Donald Trump is known to have a close relationship with the Saudi crown prince, and has reportedly received huge investments from the Kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund.