Special Report - Inside the UAE’s secret hacking team of U.S. mercenaries

FILE PHOTO: An undated aerial handout photo shows the National Security Agency (NSA) headquarters building in Fort Meade, Maryland, U.S. To match Special Report USA-SPYING/RAVEN NSA/Handout via REUTERS

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two weeks after leaving her position as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. National Security Agency in 2014, Lori Stroud was in the Middle East working as a hacker for an Arab monarchy.

She had joined Project Raven, a clandestine team that included more than a dozen former U.S. intelligence operatives recruited to help the United Arab Emirates engage in surveillance of other governments, militants and human rights activists critical of the monarchy.