A sweeping investigation published by The Washington Post on Tuesday after years of digging and legal battles with the U.S. government shows that at least 15 retired American generals and admirals have worked as paid consultants for Saudi Arabia's ministry of defense since 2016.

"Saudi Arabia's paid advisers have included retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, a national security adviser to President Barack Obama, and retired Army Gen. Keith Alexander, who led the National Security Agency under Obama and President George W. Bush," the Post reported, citing more than 4,000 pages documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filings.

The Post noted that it "sued the Army, the Air Force, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the State Department in federal court" in pursuit of the documents, which the outlet finally obtained after a protracted legal fight.