A private NSA contractor is doing quite well thanks in part to wealthy sheiks in the United Arab Emirates. What could possibly go wrong with that?

When the United Arab Emirates wanted to create its own version of the National Security Agency, it turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to replicate the world’s largest and most powerful spy agency in the sands of Abu Dhabi. It was a natural choice: The chief architect of Booz Allen’s cyberstrategy is Mike McConnell, who once led the N.S.A. and pushed the United States into a new era of big data espionage. It was Mr. McConnell who won the blessing of the American intelligence agencies to bolster the Persian Gulf sheikdom, which helps track the Iranians. “They are teaching everything,” one Arab official familiar with the effort said. “Data mining, Web surveillance, all sorts of digital intelligence collection.”

Milo Minderbinder

It's swell they got a blessing and great they're teaching the UAE everything. It sure sounds like plenty could go wrong though. Let's just hope what's good forMike McConnell is good for the country.