Ex-U.S. Intelligence Officers Admit to Hacking Crimes in Work for Emiratis

They were among a trend of Americans working for foreign governments trying to build their cyberoperation abilities.

WASHINGTON — Three former American intelligence officers hired by the United Arab Emirates to carry out sophisticated cyberoperations admitted to hacking crimes and violating U.S. export laws that restrict the transfer of military technology to foreign governments, according to court documents made public on Tuesday.

The documents detail a conspiracy by the three men to furnish the Emirates with advanced technology and to assist Emirati intelligence operatives in breaches aimed at damaging the perceived enemies of the small but powerful Gulf nation.

The men helped the Emirates, a close American ally, gain unauthorized access to “acquire data from computers, electronic devices and servers around the world, including on computers and servers in the United States,” prosecutors said.