Gulf intelligence services
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Gulf intelligence services are the one set of foreign services John Kiriakou assesses without qualification. Asked how capable the Gulf states are and how far they could stand on their own, he prefaced the answer with a caveat: "My information is dated. I left the CIA 22 years ago."

His judgement of the Gulf Cooperation Council services as a group is that they are "very, very good", "very capable officers, highly trained, multilingual, great experience in countries all around the world." He grounds it in direct dealings: "I worked very very closely with almost every one of those intelligence services and they were all excellent."

Within that group he ranks two above the rest, and one above the other: "really the best are the Emiratis and the Qataris. They're all good but the Emiratis and the Qataris are the best, with the Emiratis being the best of the best."

The capability assessment runs alongside a constraint. The Emirati relationship with Israel, he says, is "very complicated because it's multifaceted", energy, defence, trade, down to foodstuffs and clothing, which is why he expects the Emiratis to absorb provocations rather than break with Israel over them.

See also

- Abraham Accords
- Israel-United States relations
- MOSSAD
- John Kiriakou
