# Gulf intelligence services

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Gulf intelligence services," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gulf-intelligence-services/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's assessment of the intelligence services of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, which he worked with closely during his CIA career and rates uniformly excellent — highly trained, multilingual and experienced worldwide — with the Emiratis and Qataris the strongest of them and the Emiratis, in his ranking, the best of all.*

- **Scope:** The intelligence services of the Gulf Cooperation Council states
- **Kiriakou's overall verdict:** Very capable, highly trained, multilingual, widely experienced
- **Strongest:** The Emiratis and the Qataris
- **Best of all:** The Emiratis
- **Caveat he attaches:** "My information is dated. I left the CIA 22 years ago"

**Gulf intelligence services** are the one set of foreign services [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/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](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia) 22 years ago."*[1]

His judgement of the [Gulf Cooperation Council](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abraham-accords) 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."*[1][2]

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."*[2]

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.[3]

## See also

- [Abraham Accords](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/abraham-accords)
- [Israel-United States relations](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/israel-united-states-relations)
- [MOSSAD](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mossad)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 16:08. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=968s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/
2. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 16:40. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=1000s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/
3. John Kiriakou on Netanyahu's Private Meeting with JD Vance (2026-08-06), at 17:12. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF51y2a5Od0&t=1032s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-08-06-the-kiriakou-archive-john-kiriakou-on-netanyahu-s-private-meeting/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gulf-intelligence-services/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt