House of Saud's hospitality

"To deflect criticism from the kingdom’s conservatives, since 1996, Saudi Arabia has reduced the visible signs of its military cooperation with the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence services. It was thanks to lobbying from Prince Bandar bin Sultan that Saudi Arabia allowed the CIA to build new infrastructure in the country to carry out the secret raids in Yemen. The interior minister, Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, was initially opposed to the project, but former head of Saudi intelligence Prince Turki al-Faisal lobbied hard to allow the CIA to build its new base, arguing that allowing a permanent djihadist fighting force to operate freely in Yemen would threaten the kingdom’s survival." (thanks Sultan)