WASHINGTON - The FBI is investigating whether the No. 3 official at the
CIA improperly intervened in the award of contracts to a businessman who has been implicated in a congressional bribery scandal, a law enforcement official said Monday.
CIA Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo already was under investigation by the agency's inspector general in connection with his relationship to San Diego businessman Brent Wilkes.
The FBI recently opened its own probe of Foggo, a longtime and close friend of Wilkes, the official said, speaking only on condition of anonymity because the investigation is under way.
Foggo has decided to retire from the CIA following the resignation last Friday of CIA Director Porter Goss, an intelligence official said Monday, also speaking on condition of anonymity. The official noted that new CIA directors have traditionally chosen their own executive directors, who run the agency's day-to-day operations.
Is it me, or is there a connection between the FBI probe on Foggo, and CIA Director Porter Goss' retirement? There certainly has been plenty of speculation in the liberal and progressive blogosphere about Foggo's relationship with Wilkes, and the prostitution scandal involving Duke Cunningham and possibly more congressional Republicans. It is almost as if the Republicans are trying to nip this scandal in the bud, before it also explodes and causes havoc with the Bush White House. Considering the details:
Last week, the CIA released a statement on Foggo's behalf in which he denied any improprieties. "Mr. Foggo maintains that government contracts for which he was responsible were properly awarded and administered," the agency said.
This is your standard PR denial of any wrongdoing by Foggo. Continuing on:
Wilkes has been described in court papers as an unindicted coconspirator in a plot to bribe then-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now serving a federal prison term for taking $2.4 million from government contractors.
FBI agents also have been looking into whether Wilkes supplied Cunningham with prostitutes, limousines and hotel suites. Foggo sometimes attended poker parties at the hotel rooms, but he said there was nothing untoward about his presence.
"If he attended occasional card games with friends over the years, Mr. Foggo insists they were that and nothing more," the CIA statement said.
So Foggo insists that he "attended occasional card games with friends" in hotel rooms. Mr. Foggo--why are you attending card games in hotel rooms? Are you saying that you or your friends can't have poker parties at your place--or your friends' places? Or were you playing "strip poker" in those hotel rooms with some prostitutes?
But this is more than just Hookergate here. Consider this:
[L]awmakers raised questions Monday about Department of
Homeland Security contracts to Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc., the Arlington, Va., company at the center of the prostitution investigation.
Company attorney Michael York said in an interview last week that the company and its president, Christopher Baker, are cooperating with the federal investigation, but he denied any company involvement in improper or illegal activities. York did not immediately return a call for comment on Monday.
Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee sent a letter Monday to the department's inspector general questioning whether Shirlington Limousine was qualified to get the two contracts it was awarded by the department, one for $3.8 million in April 2004 and another for as much as $21 million over five years in October 2005.
And now let's go back to the CIA PR-statement of denial:
Last week, the CIA released a statement on Foggo's behalf in which he denied any improprieties. "Mr. Foggo maintains that government contracts for which he was responsible were properly awarded and administered," the agency said.
The Department of Homeland Security awarded two contracts for around $24.8 million over five years to a Shirlington Limousine that is at the center of this prostitution ring. The company president--Christopher Baker--is cooperating with the feds in this scandal. Is it not ironic that this Shirlington Limousine, which is embroiled in the prostitution ring, was also awarded fat DHS contracts--and that the CIA is claiming that Foggo "properly awarded and administered" government contracts? What government contracts did Foggo award and administered? Was Shirlington Limousine one of the bidders that Foggo awarded DHS contracts to? If so, then there is an interesting connection between Foggo's possible awarding government contracts to Shirlington Limousine, when he was attending hotel poker parties with prostitutes that may have been supplied by Shirlington Limousines. Or did Foggo also give his DHS stamp of approval for defense contracts with Wilkes? According to the AP story, Wilkes supplied Cunningham with "prostitutes, limousines[by Shirlington?] and hotel suites" and that Foggo attended these parties. If Foggo awarded DHS contracts for Shirlington Limousines, or even for Wilkes' companies, then that just shows another layer of corruption--this time inside the Department of Homeland Security. Instead of keeping the country safe from possible terrorist attacks, the Republicans inside the Congress, and the CIA were enriching themselves and their corporate interests. And if Foggo was involved, then you have to wonder how much did Porter Goss know of this scam?
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