Foreign agents paid handsomely by Middle Eastern autocrats to represent their interests before Congress have fielded dozens of in-person meetings, phone calls, and emails in Washington in recent months, hoping to win concessions for their benefactors as lawmakers debate the National Defense Authorization Act of 2026, Department of Justice records show. 

Between February and August of this year, foreign agents representing Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, and the Kurdistan Regional Government reported 19 phone calls, six in-person meetings, and nine email exchanges explicitly regarding the NDAA. The exchanges between congressional staff and foreign agents were followed by tweaks to the defense bill that aligned with the interests of the countries paying the agents.