Certain members of the House Appropriations Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence have been very naughty boys.
Federal prosecutors are reviewing records of two Washington, D.C., hotels where Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes rented suites as part of their investigation into whether prostitutes were involved as he tried to curry favor with lawmakers and CIA officials.
Wilkes, whom federal prosecutors have identified as a co-conspirator in the bribery case of former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, rented hospitality suites in the capital on behalf of his flagship company, ADCS Inc.
…Several of Wilkes’ former employees and business associates say he used the hospitality suites over the past 15 years to curry favor with lawmakers as well as officials with the CIA, where both Wilkes and Wade sought contracts.
Wilkes hosted parties for lawmakers and periodic poker games that included CIA officials as well as members of the House Appropriations and Intelligence committees. Cunningham, who sat on both committees, was a frequent guest, according to some of the participants in the poker games.
It gets even more interesting. The Director of Central Intelligence could be implicated. More on that, and on the poker games below the fold.
Department of Homeland Security
People who were present at the games said one of the regular players was Kyle Dustin “Dusty” Foggo, who has been Wilkes’ best friend since the two attended junior high school in Chula Vista in the late 1960s. In October, Foggo was named the CIA’s executive director – the agency’s third-highest position.
Good old Dusty Foggo. This guy is a character. His appointment was met with some skepticism within the agency.
The critical position of executive director–the person responsible for actually running the CIA day to day–is now going to a twenty-two-year agency veteran, but knowledgeable observers are less than optimistic about how the nominee, K. Dusty Foggo, will do, particularly with regard to fixing the agency’s very broken support functions. While Foggo has had ample field experience–his last overseas assignment was running the agency’s Germany-based forward logistics facility–his lack of senior headquarters-level posts may be inadequate preparation to run a 33,000-strong agency. “He hasn’t had a lot of give and take with the division chiefs or deputy directors, as well as equivalents at other agencies or on the Hill–at best, he’s not ready,” says one veteran. Some also note memorable overseas clashes between Foggo and DO officers and State Department personnel.
Now Foggo is under investigation, and it isn’t hard to figure out why.
Foggo, who occasionally hosted the poker parties at his house in northern Virginia, is under investigation by the CIA’s inspector general to determine whether he helped Wilkes gain CIA contracts.
…One of Wilkes’ companies, Archer Logistics, won a contract to provide bottled water, first-aid kits and other supplies to CIA agents in Afghanistan and Iraq. The company had no previous experience with such work, having been founded a few months before the contract was granted.
Critics familiar with the contract, valued at $2 million to $3 million, say the CIA overpaid for the work. The contract was approved by the CIA office in Frankfurt, Germany, where Foggo oversaw acquisitions. Foggo did not personally sign the contract, however, said unnamed CIA officials who spoke with Newsweek.
Now, let’s put this together. First let me add one more piece from Ken Silverstein and Harper’s Blog.
I’ve learned from a highly-connected source that those under intense scrutiny by the FBI are current and former lawmakers on Defense and Intelligence comittees — including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post.
Okay. We have one Dusty Foggo, previously a middle ranking logistics expert, who Porter Goss elevated to the number three position at Langley. Foggo had poker parties both at his home and at the hospitality suite where Duke Cunningham took his hookers. The poker parties involved CIA employees, and members of the Intelligence and Appropriations committees, “including one person who now holds a powerful intelligence post”. That person certainly sounds like Porter Goss.
The poker games have been described quite colorfully:
As to the festivities themselves, I hear that party nights began early with poker games and degenerated into what the source described as a “frat party” scene—real bacchanals. Apparently photographs were taken, and investigators are anxiously procuring copies. My heart beats faster in fevered anticipation.
And then there is the whole issue of the limousine company.
Wilkes, I’ve learned, even hired Shirlington as his personal limousine service.
It gets even more interesting: the man who has been identified as the CEO of Shirlington has a 62-page rap sheet (I recently obtained a copy) that runs from at least 1979 through 1989 and lists charges of petit larceny, robbery, receiving stolen goods, assault, and more. Curiously—or perhaps not so curiously given the company’s connections—Shirlington Limousine is also a Department of Homeland Security contractor; according to the Washington Post, last fall it won a $21.2 million contract for shuttle services and transportation support. (I tried to contact Shirlington but was unable to get past their answering service.)
It never ends with the Republicans and their culture of corruption. As for which Republican congressmen may be implicated in this scandal, it doesn’t look good for Appropriations member John Doolittle.