Cunningham and the CIA. Something that I believe I was the first to report is now getting a lot of attention. The fact that alleged co-conspirator #1 in the Cunningham case, defense contractor Brent Wilkes, is best friends since junior high days with the #3 guy at the CIA, Dusty Foggo. Apparently, the CIA Inspector General is now investigating the matter, including whether there were any contracting improprieties resulting from the friendship. Here's where the IG can start. Check out whether the CIA gave any contracts to a company called Archer Logistics, which is nominally owned by Wilkes' nephew and former ADCS executive and Wilkes-owned Group W Advisors lobbyist, Joel G. Combs. (What's also notable, given the extent prosecutors have shown that Cunningham was able to bully and cajole officials in the Defense Department and Intelligence community to request contractual services from those who bribed Cunningham, is that the chair of the Appropriations committee, Jerry Lewis, has not seen fit to launch a formal investigation. Lewis may have his reasons for not wanting these matters to be investigated).

The larger point I raised in this piece should also not be missed: the security implications, and counterintelligence implications, raised by the Cunningham case:

... Viewed as a corruption case, the Cunningham matter has an arc that suggests the possibility of more high-profile indictments to come. But looked at from a counterintelligence angle, it is even more disturbing. The case is still more worrying if it is turned around, and focused not only on the congressman for sale, but on the defense contractors and foreign-linked financiers who cultivated Cunningham -- and potentially other lawmakers -- precisely because of their position on the Intelligence and Appropriations Committees.

Cunningham has admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes from two men who sought and received not only U.S. government contracts, but particular types of contracts. They were awarded defense and intelligence contracts, including counterintelligence and counterterrorism programs so sensitive their precise details are confined to those with security clearances. [...]

It is clear that companies belonging to Wilkes and Wade received a few hundred million dollars in sensitive defense and intelligence contracts. Who is investigating whether such companies should be performing such controversial tasks as conducting domestic surveillance on peace groups for the Defense Department? Who is investigating whether MZM and its successor Athena Innovative Solutions should be evaluating which foreign companies supply weapons to the Pentagon -- when MZM may have gotten the initial contract through dubious means? [...] In short, who is investigating the counterintelligence implications of this case to protect against potential breaches of U.S. national security?

One place someone might want to look: Cunningham's trips to Saudi Arabia, and what they were all about. I know for a fact that the half of this has not yet been reported.

Update: If this rumor is true, that Wilkes will testify about not just Cunningham, one can expect that he will have a lot to say, about Doolittle and Lewis in particular.

Posted by Laura at March 4, 2006 10:06 AM