Cunningham Probe Could Reach CIA

Randy "Duke" Cunningham's dirty dealings with several defense contractors may also involve the CIA office in charge of contracting.

A new article by Jason Vest at GovExec.com details concerns within the CIA that Cunningham may have used his position on the House Select Committee on Intelligence in the same manner that he exploited his seat on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Vest writes:

According to past and present CIA officials interviewed over the past month, CIA executive director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo--whose career duties have encompassed letting CIA contracts--has had a long, close personal relationship with two contractors identified (though not explicitly named) in court papers as bribing Cunningham: Brent Wilkes of the Wilkes Corp., whose subsidiaries include defense contractor ADCS; and former ADCS consultant Mitchell Wade, until recently president of defense contractor MZM, Inc. It is a relationship, the CIA officials say (with some putting a particular emphasis on Wilkes), that has increasingly been of concern.

Foggo is currently the third ranking official at the Agency, his earlier career history being:

Foggo belonged to the DA's Management General Services unit, whose personnel, while not case officers who directly recruit and oversee spies, nonetheless received the same training as covert-action oriented Directorate of Operations officers.

MGS officers ran operational support programs in the field, a critical job directly below the agency's station chiefs. MGS officers had unique powers, including sole access to and oversight of a station's funds, as well as handling a station's accounting and contracting.

"The MG guy is the station's contracting authority, and is responsible for acquiring whatever a station needs to function, and to keep it running---the glue the holds it all together and gets anyone anything they need," says a veteran logistics officer.

While most federal government contracts are openly solicited, competitively bid and have their details publicly available, by virtue of its mission the CIA is not subject to the same rules. MG officers in particular have historically had great leeway.

This is a really good article.

Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire has also done great work on the Cunningham corruption story.