The post you are reporting:
insider trading.......?.............what a can of worms..........
Tory MP Mark Pritchard, the al-Qa'ida hunter, and a £154-an-hour contract that could become a security issue
MP receives fees from US intelligence firm while holding security positions in Parliament
Ali Soufan could be a character out of the hit TV series Homeland. One of the FBI's most senior al-Qa'ida hunters, he was deeply involved in chasing down the masterminds of 9/11, the Nairobi embassy bombings and the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. His Lebanese background and fluent Arabic made him a prized special agent in US intelligence gathering and interrogation operations.
Now, he runs a lucrative private intelligence organisation in New York, the Soufan Group, which advises multinational companies and governments on geopolitical situations and security risks around the world.
His company, staffed by a senior coterie of fellow ex-FBI special agents, prides itself on getting the inside track on global security issues - intelligence which it then sells to its well-heeled clients.
It has now emerged that Mr Soufan has been paying a British MP with heavy involvement in the Government's defence and intelligence operations as well as with Nato, as an adviser at a rate of more than £2,000 a month for 13-and-a-half hours' work.
Mark Pritchard, the Conservative MP for The Wrekin in Shropshire, has received fees from Mr Soufan totalling nearly £27,000 in the past year, according to his register of members' interests.
While his income and work for the company has been declared to parliament, the paid position leaves open the question whether elected politicians involved in national security should be permitted to work for companies who could use such information for commercial gain.
Meanwhile, information gleaned and contacts made on foreign trips in his capacity as an MP, such as a May visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo where he met former leaders of the M23 rebel group, could be seen as valuable to potential Soufan Group clients such as mining and oil companies.
The region is one of the most lucrative for private intelligence companies due to the wealth of untapped mineral resources combined with corruption, security and political risks.
Mr Pritchard threatened to sue the Daily Telegraph this month over allegations about his commercial interests.
Soufan Group's website boasts of having Mr Pritchard on its books, saying he is "a member of the UK delegation to the Nato Parliamentary Assembly, and is also a member of the UK National Security Strategy Committee." It notes that he holds a variety of defence, security and intelligence related positions within Parliament.
Hansard reports that he has asked questions in Parliament about the armed services, Afghanistan and peacekeeping operations. One such question involved suggestions about Nato's capabilities in Istar, or intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance.
