--- alias: - Near East - Mideast category: Region created: 2026-09-22 summary: 'The region from Egypt to Iran as it appears in the vault: the object of American nuclear intelligence, arms and hostage dealing, covert liaison clubs, and, latterly, of sovereign-wealth money for the well connected.' tags: - Place - MiddleEast - Israel - Iran - ArmsTrade updated: 2026-09-22 --- The Middle East enters the vault first as an intelligence target. U-2 flights "continued to monitor sensitive areas, including the Middle East, and by 1958, CIA photo interpreters observed significant activity at an Israeli Air Force practice bombing range south of Beersheba, which turned out to be the early signs of the [Dimona](/places/dimona/) nuclear reactor"; [Christian A. Herter](/people/christian-a-herter/)'s farewell briefing to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 6, 1961, discussed "the 'disturbing' new element in the Middle East related to Dimona," and [Carl E. Duckett](/people/carl-e-duckett/)'s work at the CIA "centered on assessing [Israel](/places/israel/)'s nuclear capabilities and the potential for nuclear proliferation in the Middle East." In the Kennedy White House [Myer Feldman](/people/myer-feldman/) "was authorized to monitor all State Department and [White House](/places/white-house/) cable traffic on the Middle East," to [McGeorge Bundy](/people/mcgeorge-bundy/)'s dismay; [Roswell L. Gilpatric](/people/roswell-l-gilpatric/)'s committee urged "nuclear-free zones in [Latin America](/places/latin-america/), Africa, and the Middle East, including Israel and [Egypt](/places/egypt/)"; and [Lyndon B. Johnson](/people/lyndon-b-johnson/) became "the first American President to supply Israel with offensive weapons." The [Committee for the Denuclearization of the Middle East](/organizations/committee-for-the-denuclearization-of-the-middle-east/), Israeli scholars who went public in April 1962, urged United Nations intervention. [Nikolai Bulganin](/people/nikolai-bulganin/) during Suez and [Leonid Brezhnev](/people/leonid-brezhnev/) during the [Yom Kippur War](/events/yom-kippur-war/) threatened Soviet intervention; the [USS Liberty](/events/uss-liberty-incident/) "had been monitoring Middle East communications traffic in international waters off the coast of Israel."[^1] ### Liaison and Clubs The [Office of Strategic Services](/organizations/office-of-strategic-services/) "conducted covert operations, resistance support, and psychological warfare across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia"; [MI6](/organizations/mi6/) "maintained liaison relationships with intelligence services across the Middle East"; the [SAVAK](/organizations/savak/)-[Mossad](/organizations/mossad/) relationship "was one of the most productive liaison partnerships in the Middle East during the Cold War." The [Safari Club](/organizations/safari-club/) of [Alexandre de Marenches](/people/alexandre-de-marenches/) existed "to continue covert anti-Soviet operations in Africa and the Middle East that CIA was temporarily unable to conduct openly under congressional scrutiny," with the Egyptian [Mukhabarat](/organizations/mukhabarat/) supplying Soviet-compatible weapons. Between 1967 and 1968 the [303 Committee](/organizations/nsc-special-group/) "considered 23 projects for Africa, 33 for Latin America, 15 for Europe, 14 for Asia, and 2 for the Middle East." [Kamal Adham](/people/kamal-adham/) "was considered one of the true inside power players of the Middle East"; [Bruce Berckmans](/people/bruce-berckmans/) of Wackenhut offered the CIA's domestic contacts "many useful contacts especially in Latin America and soon in the Middle East."[^2] ### Arms, Hostages and Software [Arif Durrani](/people/arif-durrani/) "admitted to supplying Iran with arms and stated that he was part of a joint operation conducted by the United States and Israel to release American hostages in the Middle East," and met [Oliver North](/people/oliver-north/) for HAWK parts; [Monzer Al-Kassar](/people/monzer-al-kassar/) "developed relationships with Western intelligence services beginning in the 1970s, providing information and facilitating contacts in the Middle East arms and narcotics markets," and the Interfor report on [Pan Am Flight 103](/events/pan-am-flight-103/) alleged "a CIA-protected narcotics pipeline out of the Middle East." Two members of the Middle East Collection 10 cell in Cyprus and Beirut, [Matthew Kevin Gannon](/people/matthew-kevin-gannon/) and [Charles Dennis McKee](/people/charles-dennis-mckee/), died on that flight; [Lester Coleman](/people/lester-coleman/) of the same unit swore that the DEA "was using its proprietary company, [Euramae Trading Company](/organizations/euramae-trading-company/), to sell [PROMIS](/programs/promis/) software to drug abuse control agencies in various Middle Eastern countries," with money from the [United Nations Fund for Drug Abuse Control](/organizations/united-nations-fund-for-drug-abuse-control/), and a Justice Department document of May 14, 1985, placed [Khalid bin Mahfouz](/people/khalid-bin-mahfouz/) beside Ghorbanifar and Khashoggi in "a covert plan to distribute espionage-modified PROMIS software in the Middle East." The Cabazon Arms venture of [Wackenhut Corporation](/organizations/wackenhut-corporation/) sought export markets in "the Contras in Nicaragua and nations in the Middle East." In the [October Surprise](/events/october-surprise/) story, [Gary Sick](/people/gary-sick/) built his case on "three years of interviews conducted in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East," and [Ben Barnes](/people/ben-barnes/) said in 2023 that he had accompanied [John Connally](/people/john-connally/) on a 1980 Middle East tour carrying the message that "Iran would receive a better deal from Reagan than from Carter."[^3] ### Money "The Middle Eastern investors are in control of Financial General Bankshares," a court of appeals noted in 1982, as [BCCI](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/) bought through [Stephens Inc.](/organizations/stephens-inc/) "for four Middle Eastern clients"; Talat Othman of Harken Energy "attended three White House meetings on the Middle East." [Jared Kushner](/people/jared-kushner/)'s White House portfolio "covered the Middle East policy that produced the Abraham Accords," and his Affinity Partners grew by 2026 "to approximately 6 billion dollars under management, nearly all of it from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth," Bloomberg reporting his "dual role" as fund manager and peace envoy. [Palantir Technologies](/organizations/palantir-technologies/)' chief told CNBC its technology "is being used in the Middle East war."[^4] [^1]: As cited on the linked pages: Hersh, Seymour M., *The Samson Option,* Random House, 1991; Ben-Menashe, Ari, *Profits of War,* TrineDay, 1992. [^2]: Troy, Thomas F., *Donovan and the CIA,* CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence; Trento, Joseph, *Prelude to Terror,* Carroll and Graf, 2005; Risen, James, *State of War,* Free Press, 2006; NSAM 303 and discoverlbj.org; Beaty, Jonathan, and S. C. Gwynne, *The Outlaw Bank,* Random House, 1993; CIA Domestic Contact Service case file 65805 (NARA 104-10291-10016/10017). [^3]: Beaty and Gwynne, *The Outlaw Bank;* Farah, Douglas, and Stephen Braun, *Merchant of Death,* Wiley, 2007; Henderson, Ian, *The Lockerbie Trial,* Palgrave, 2001; Seymour, Cheri, *The Last Circle,* TrineDay; House Judiciary Committee, *The INSLAW Affair,* H. Rept. 102-857; Webb, Gary, *Dark Alliance,* Seven Stories, 1998; Sick, Gary, *October Surprise,* Times Books, 1991; Unger, Craig, *Den of Spies,* Dutton, 2024; Barnes, Ben, interview, *New York Times,* March 18, 2023. [^4]: *Financial General Bankshares, Inc. v. Metzger,* 680 F.2d 768 (D.C. Cir. 1982); Truell, Peter, and Larry Gurwin, *False Profits,* Houghton Mifflin, 1992; Petzinger, Truell and Abramson, *Wall Street Journal,* December 6, 1991; "Kushner Disappoints Mideast Clients," *Bloomberg,* May 14, 2026; Senate Finance Committee inquiry into Affinity Partners; "Palantir, Israel Agree Strategic Partnership for Battle Tech," *Bloomberg,* January 12, 2024.