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Robert A. Shaheen (born 1933) is a retired American businessman of Syrian descent who worked in Saudi Arabia starting in the early 1960s. Born in Canton, Ohio, Shaheen was employed as a high-ranking officer in operations owned by Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian businessman involved in the international arms trade, representing Lockheed, Northrup, and Raytheon—United States defense systems contractors.
Shaheen was the youngest of nine brothers and sisters. His parents immigrated to the United States during the Great Depression. When he was three years old, his father died, leaving his mother, who could not speak, read, or write English, to care for the family of nine children. For his part, he began selling newspapers at a corner movie theater at the age of six. He earned a degree in political science from Mount Union College in 1955. After serving in the US Army as a classification and assignment specialist, he began graduate studies at Georgetown University. Shaheen is known as a polyglot. [1] While at Georgetown, he was recruited [ citation needed ] by the United States government in 1960 to move to Saudi Arabia. [ citation needed ] After serving in that capacity [ citation needed ] for two years, and during that period, he met Khashoggi.
In 1962, he began working as a high-ranking official to Adnan Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian businessman. [2] Shaheen spent the next 25 years with Khashoggi, establishing close personal relationships with the Saudi royal family and other Middle Eastern leaders and businessmen. Shaheen was president of Khashoggi's Triad Corporation. [3] Khashoggi was commissioned by the late King Saud to help organize the Ministry of Defense protect their oil fields. In that capacity he brought in Lockheed, Northrup, Raytheon and General Electric and others as defense contractors.[4] Khashoggi and Shaheen opened the door for American, Asian, and European companies to enter business relationships in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Khashoggi and Shaheen negotiated "some of the most lucrative, and highly publicized deals of the 1970s and 1980s." [4] Shaheen, who acted as Khashoggi's gatekeeper, was described as "charming" and a "brilliant organizer and people-mover". [5] Shaheen was known for wearing a three-piece business suit regardless of the climate or location. [1]
He has been featured with Khashoggi in many books, as well as a four-part TV series, and several television programs: Sixty Minutes , The Weekend Report, Good Morning America , and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous . Books include: The Kingdom by Robert Lacey; Saudi Arabia Today by Peter Hobday; The Game Player by Miles Copeland; Money Rush by Andrew Duncan; Is My Armour on Straight by Richard Berendzen; The Deadly Payoff by Michel Clerc;The Marshall Plan by Jack Sheehan; The Pirate (book and TV series) by Harold Robbins; Vanity Fair , Serving the Superwealthy by Jamie Johnson.
Shaheen lives in Boca Raton, Florida, with his wife Patricia Shaheen. He is the father of four daughters and one son.
The Saudi Arabian Armed Forces (SAAF), also known as the Royal Saudi Armed Forces, is part of the military forces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It consists of the Royal Saudi Army, the Royal Saudi Navy, the Royal Saudi Air Force, the Royal Saudi Air Defense, and the Royal Saudi Strategic Missile Force. The King of Saudi Arabia is the Supreme commander-in-chief of all the Military Forces and forms military policy with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior. The five Armed Forces are among eight military forces of Saudi Arabia, with the others including the Royal Saudi National Guard, the Royal Saudi Guard Regiment and the Royal Saudi Border Guards.
Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em Fayed, commonly known as Dodi Fayed, was an Egyptian film producer and the eldest child of the businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. He was romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997.
The Raytheon Company was a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007. Raytheon was the world's largest producer of guided missiles. In April 2020, the Raytheon Company merged with United Technologies Corporation to form Raytheon Technologies, which changed its name to RTX Corporation in July 2023.
A war profiteer is any person or organization that derives unreasonable profit from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term typically carries strong negative connotations. General profiteering, making a profit criticized as excessive or unreasonable, also occurs in peacetime. An example of war profiteers were the "shoddy" millionaires who allegedly sold recycled wool and cardboard shoes to soldiers during the American Civil War. Some have argued that major modern defense conglomerates like Lockheed Martin, Mitsubishi, Boeing, BAE Systems, General Dynamics, and Raytheon fit the description in the post-9/11 era. This argument is based in the political influence of the defense industry, for example in 2010 the defense industry spent $144 million on lobbying and donated over $22.6 million to congressional candidates, as well as large profits for defense company shareholders in the post-9/11 period.
Trireme Partners LLP was a US limited partnership venture capital company that invested in technology, goods, and services related to Homeland Security. The name "Trireme" was taken from a Greek warship designed with three banks of rowers.
Adnan Khashoggi was a Saudi businessman and arms dealer known for his lavish business deals and lifestyle. He was estimated to have had a peak net worth of around US$4 billion in the early 1980s.
The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of bribes and contributions made by officials of U.S. aerospace company Lockheed from the late 1950s to the 1970s in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft.
Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist, dissident, author, columnist for Middle East Eye and The Washington Post, and a general manager and editor-in-chief of Al-Arab News Channel who was assassinated at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October 2018 by agents of the Saudi government at the behest of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Samira Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian progressive author, as well as the founder of Al Sharkiah magazine. She was the sister of the Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi. She was the first wife of Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed and the mother of filmmaker Dodi Al-Fayed. She died of a heart attack in 1986 at the age of 51.
Bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States began in 1933 when full diplomatic relations were established and became formalized in the 1951 Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement. Despite the differences between the two countries—an Islamic absolute monarchy, and a secular constitutional republic—the two countries have been allies ever since. The core logic underpinning the relationship is that the United States of America (U.S.) provides military protection of the Kingdom in exchange for a reliable oil supply from the Saudis, pricing of oil in U.S. dollars, and Saudi support for American foreign policy operations across the world. Ever since the modern relationship began in 1945, the U.S. has been willing to overlook some of the kingdom's domestic and foreign policy aspects such as Wahhabism, its human rights, and alleged state-sponsored terrorism as long as it maintained oil production and supported American national security policies.
The Arms Bazaar: From Lebanon to Lockheed is an investigation and anatomical study of the international arms trade by Anthony Sampson (1926–2004).
Maxwell Milton Rabb was an American lawyer who served in various positions as an advisor to U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and later as Ambassador to Italy under President Ronald Reagan.
Moosa Bin Shamsher is a Bangladeshi businessman and the chairman and chief executive officer of DATCO Group. The main purpose of the group is to export labor from Bangladesh to other countries. His other identity is an international arms dealer.
Roy M. Furmark was an American businessman who played a role in the Iran-Contra affair in a number of ways, including acting as a link between CIA Director William Casey and Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi, who financed the arms deal at the center of the affair. In 1986 the Los Angeles Times reported that Furmark had known Casey and Khashoggi for about 20 years.
Emad Khashoggi is a French-Saudi businessman and the head of COGEMAD. He initiated the Château Louis XIV development project in Louveciennes, France.
Soheir Khashoggi is an Egyptian-born Saudi Arabian novelist.
Muhammad Khaled Khashoggi (1889–1978), also spelled as Mohamed Khaled Khashoggi, was a Saudi medical doctor. He was King Abdulaziz Al Saud's personal physician.
On May 20, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud signed a series of letters of intent for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to purchase arms from the United States totaling US$110 billion immediately, and $350 billion over 10 years. The intended purchases include tanks, combat ships, missile defense systems, as well as radar, communications and cybersecurity technology. The transfer was widely seen as a counterbalance against the influence of Iran in the region and a "significant" and "historic" expansion of United States relations with Saudi Arabia.
Nabila Khashoggi is an American businesswoman.
Sheikh Riad A. Khashoggi born in Medina was the first industrial engineer in Saudi Arabia capable of designing heavy duty industrial factories as well as being a scholar and an author. He designed and founded Saudi Steel, the first steel factory in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Steel soon became the largest factory in the Arabian world. His partners in Saudi Steel were Sheikh Omar al Saggaf, Foreign Minister and best friend; and Sheikh Kamal Adham, Head of the Saudi CIA and brother-in-law of Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.