FBI Director Kash Patel signed bilateral security agreements with Qatar on Tuesday, in a move that is drawing renewed scrutiny to potential conflicts of interest surrounding his past lobbying for the Gulf emirate, the details of which he has failed to disclose.

During a meeting in the Qatari capital of Doha, Patel signed two memorandums of understanding with his counterpart “to advance mechanisms of security cooperation and coordinate efforts in training, the exchange of information and capacity-building,” according to Qatari state media.

“This step underscores the depth of the strategic partnership between the State of Qatar and the friendly United States of America, and bolsters our joint efforts in securing the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the minister of interior and head of the country’s Internal Security Force, who met with Patel on Tuesday, said in a social media post.

Neither Patel’s visit to Doha nor the agreements with Qatar have been publicly announced by the FBI. 

The security pacts follow an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in September pledging security guarantees if Qatar comes under attack — even as the Gulf state has faced criticism for hosting Hamas leaders and ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Patel, whose brief tenure leading the FBI has been mired in ethics controversies, drew scrutiny during his confirmation over undisclosed consulting for the Qatari government — provoking accusations that he improperly avoided registering as a foreign lobbyist.

Patel, who has said he will keep his consulting firm, Trishul, dormant during his time at the FBI, has not clarified what his contracts with Qatar had entailed.

In an ethics disclosure, Patel stated that he had “provided consulting services for the Embassy of Qatar” as recently as November 2024, and would recuse himself from any government work related to his former client for a period of one year after the work had concluded — unless granted authorization to do otherwise.

While the one-year buffer expired last month, Patel received a waiver in March allowing him to work on Qatar matters weeks after he had been confirmed by the Senate. The document did not specify the nature of his engagement with his former client.

Patel is among several top Trump administration officials who previously lobbied for Qatar, but his work in particular has raised red flags because of unresolved questions stemming from his past engagement with the Gulf state — which he is now more actively courting in spite of continuing ethics concerns.

The FBI did not respond to a request for comment regarding Patel’s visit to Doha on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal kicked off its Tech Live conference in Qatar on Tuesday, underscoring a deepening partnership between the publication and the controversial Gulf state that has raised ethical questions among media watchers over possible conflicts of interest as well as an ideological incongruence with the traditionally conservative, pro-Israel bent of its editorial page.

The exclusive summit, making its debut in the Middle East, will continue to be held in Doha, the Qatari capital, for the next five years, according to an initial announcement from Dow Jones, which publishes the Journal. The event, gathering over 200 executives and other business leaders at the Waldorf Astoria “for three days of conversations, networking and curated experiences” focused on topics ranging from media to the cryptocurrency industry, is sponsored by the state-owned Qatar Airways, among a handful of other companies.

Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, who spoke at the event on Tuesday in an onstage discussion with Dow Jones’ CEO, Almar Latour, said in a social media post that the conference “represents a key platform to discuss technology’s role in business and advance Qatar’s digital standing.” 

Sheikh Jassim bin Mansour Al-Thani, the director of the Government Communications Office of the State of Qatar, also joined the Journal’s Tech Live event in Napa Valley, Calif., in early November.

“With the MENA region’s growth and increased role in tech — especially at the intersection of AI and the energy sector — we are delighted to be partnering with Qatar,” Latour said in an announcement last year touting the new relationship.

In addition to signing a multiyear agreement with Qatar to host its tech summit — whose attendees include Serena Williams, Alex Rodriguez and Washington, D.C. sports magnate Ted Leonsis — Dow Jones recently opened an office in Doha’s Media City as part of an effort to “strengthen its operations throughout the Middle East.”

The Journal’s advertising department, meanwhile, has run a series of online posts sponsored by Qatar and promoting investment in the Gulf state, though the publication notes in a disclaimer that “the news organization was not involved in the creation of” the paid content.

Still, the newspaper’s growing embrace of Qatar has drawn the attention of media critics who have aired strong reservations about partnering with a regime that has faced scrutiny over a long record of human rights abuses, press censorship and hosting Hamas leadership before and after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. 

Even as other media outlets have likewise joined forces with Qatar, the Journal‘s relationship stands out in particular because its conservative editorial page has frequently turned a skeptical or jaundiced eye toward the Gulf monarchy — which one contributor called “a theocratic monarchy that is Hamas’s main financial and diplomatic sponsor” in an August opinion piece.

In an October article casting doubt on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump vowing to protect Qatar if it comes under attack, the editorial board also reminded its readers that the country “is a benefactor of Hamas that took the terrorists’ side against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.”

“It is fair to say that Qatar plays both sides,” the board added. “This is useful at times, but it is far from the typical profile of a state receiving U.S. guarantees.”

Qatar has in recent years significantly expanded its partnerships with U.S. media companies including Bloomberg and CNN, the latter of which is sponsoring the Doha Forum that begins this weekend, after the network previously inked a deal with the Gulf monarchy to launch an office in Media City, which the emirate describes on its website as a “global hub for media companies” and other related businesses.

Sources have told Jewish Insider that the Media City deal includes an annual fee of several million dollars that Qatar will pay to CNN. The network has said that “anything related to CNN editorial content is fully controlled and funded by CNN and entirely independent,” noting the agreement “centers on the provision of facilities and technical support for” the new operation.

It is unclear if Qatar agreed to pay the Journal or Dow Jones to host the tech conference or open the office in Doha. Representatives for Dow Jones did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, nor did the Qatari government. 

Qatar has also invested in conservative media, part of an expansive lobbying effort to burnish its image in the United States that otherwise includes funding higher education and ongoing outreach to federal lawmakers.

The Journal’s news reporters, for their part, had previously  extensively documented Qatar’s influence efforts in the United States.