Imprisoned Cunningham outlines depths of corruption to FBI

[cascadiance]

Source: San Diego Union Tribune (SignonSandiego.com) - Copley News Service

By George E. Condon Jr. and Marcus Stern
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

8:53 p.m. July 17, 2007

WASHINGTON – In two days of prison interviews with federal agents this year, disgraced former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham described a level of corruption on his part more extensive than previously known and dealt a potentially devastating blow to the defense being waged by one of the defense contractors alleged to have bribed him.

The interviews were conducted in February at the federal prison near Tucson, where the longtime Republican congressman is serving an eight-year and four-month sentence after admitting to accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion.

According to an 11-page FBI summary of the sessions, obtained by Copley News Service, Cunningham was very much the initiator of his corrupt actions, demanding bribes, accepting envelopes with cash and displaying an insatiable appetite for more money, more cars, more drink, more fine food and more expensive goods.

Cunningham's answers are bad news for Brent Wilkes, president of Poway-based ADCS Inc., who is fighting bribery charges against him. They set the stage for what could be a dramatic courtroom showdown between the former North County congressman and his longtime benefactor.

Read more: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/20070717-2053-bn17dukebribe.html

---

Folks, it looks like Brent Wilkes may be in big trouble now. It sounds like the Dukestir is now talking, and amongst other things is saying that the yacht that Brent Wilkes claims he bought from Cunningham was not sold to Wilkes, but was made to look that way to cover the bribes he was giving Cunningham.

When you couple this with the "sealed" records of Cunningham's buddy Kontogiannis guilty plea bargain and reports that current Democrat House Intelligence Committee chair Sylvester Reyes was sitting on a report on Cunningham, something big smells like it's about to break, and that it might affect both sides of the aisle! More than $1 million of bribes are documented now.

There's tons of new details here about Cunningham getting a Glock handgun against DC laws from Wilkes, his complaints about the kinds of hookers Cunningham got versus Wilkes, etc.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2921099&mesg_id=2921099

I think we might be starting to see why the Justice Department was so interested in taking down Carol Lam!

[MagickMuffin]

1. I was just about to post this

Here's some more good info:

TPMmuckraker has an eleven page transcript. And the 75 page FBI affidavit. What's also interesting about Duke-Stir singing is this happened in February of this year. Would this have happened before Carol Lam got fired for doing her job???

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003712.php

[cascadiance]

2. She left office the day after Valentine's day...

I know, because I worked with Progressive Post on the idea that got her a big batch of flowers on Valentine's Day...



http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070216/news_1m16lam.html

[MagickMuffin]

4. That is so KEWL

Just finished reading Duke-Stirs transcript. Boy, what a RACKET he had going....

Cunningham was told by Wilkes that he was hiding money in a bank account in Panama that could be used to make payments to him.
When asked if he was aware of any wrongdoing by other members of Congress, Cunningham said that Wilkes had hosted fundraisers for Tom Delay and Jerry Lewis. Cunningham also stated that he had observed Wade and Katherine Harris having meals together.

Hmmmm, Tom BugBoy DeLay, now Where oh where have I heard that name....:rofl:

[0007]

13. Was the real reason the administration got rid of U.S. Attorney

Carol of Lam San Diego, is that she had the goods on Jerry Lewis?

[MagickMuffin]

27. I think Ms. Lam's firing probably has 3 BIG reasons why

Kyle Dusty Foggo, former #3 @ CIA; Dusty's lover Brent Wilkes; and Rep Jerry Lewis....

Let me explain why I call Dusty and Brent lovers. They have known each other since jr. high, they each name their kids after each other and they are each others beneficiaries. Just think about that for moment. Instead of leaving their assets to their families they instead chose to give it to each other. I just think that is kinda creepy....

And it is a really good thing Duke-Stir decided to dish, because Carol was already on her way out. Duke-Stir dished it up on Feb. 5, and she was gone Feb. 15.....

Now the BIG question is: What has happened to the investigation since then???

[L. Coyote]

32. There were various reasons why the Rs would want Lam out.

1.) Cunningham's corruption. This fast-breaking investigation led to near the top in DC.

2.) Tenet Healthcare's Medicare fraud case. Lam had prosecuted this one personally, trying to jail a CEO (a huge Republican NO-NO).

3.) As the Republican Congress members had insinuated, including with false information released, Lam was not prosecuting enough coyotes. This one is a cover-up for the real reasons, and, as such, is a useful indicator of complicity.

The time line has some interesting events to consider in relation to these reasons:

FROM: SCOOP Michael Collins: US Attorney Carol Lam Hit List As Early As 2005? -- PLUS Bilking Billions $$$
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1077370

Unlike other USA firings, where election (voter fraud) issues are known and happily spun to the fore, in the San Diego case the debate continues over the reason(s). Corporate fraud charging overlaps on the same days in the timeline of the Sampson e-mail. Less than Wiley, Eagar Republicans have gone overboard promoting the "Coyote" excuse for Lam's firing, including at hearings, where the most complicitous predators in her besmearment were comical in their obvious ineptitude meep, meeping that melody.

================================
TIMELINE:
June 2003 - Barry Weinbaum, CEO Alvarado Hospital (owned by Tenet), indicted for conspiracy to violate the federal statutes
Oct. 2004 - Leonard Senerote, Michael Uhl and Michael Snipes dismissed on No TX USA office
Feb. 2005 - Lam's name first appears on a firings list
Mar. 2005 - Leonard Leo e-mail
Oct. 2005 - 18 Republican lawmakers criticize Lam's handling of immigration cases (letter signed by Cunningham while under investigation).
Mar. 2006 - Bush signs the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act.
Apr. 2006 - Second mistrial in Lam's illegal-kickback trial of Alvarado execs.
May 05, 2006 - CIA director Porter Goss resigns unexpectedly.
May 10, 2006 - Lam notifies DoJ she planned to serve search warrants on Kyle Foggo, who resigned two days earlier as No. 3 official at the CIA.
May 10, 2006 - HHS announces forthcoming termination of Medicare payments to Alvarado/Tenet
May 11, 2006 - Kyle Sampson e-mails deputy White House counsel William Kelley, re "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam ....
May 11, 2006 - LA Times reports Cunningham probe expanded to House Appropriations Chair Jerry Lewis (R-CA).
May 12, 2006 - FBI agents seizes records from Foggo's CIA offices and his suburban Vienna, Va.
May 17, 2006 - Tenet Healthcare Agrees to Divest Alvarado Hospital. Tenet will not lose Medicare money, civil settlement with the federal government.
May 18, 2006 - Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) provides false information to AP that Lam has prosecuted only 6% of 289 suspected immigrant smugglers.
Jul 31, 2006 - London Times quotes Prakash Sethi "GPOs extract extra profits of $5 billion to $6 billion" illegitimately
Dec 07, 2006 - Michael Battle, director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, calls seven U.S. Attorneys to ask for their resignations.
Dec 13, 2006 - AAG McNulty curbs USAs' prosecutorial powers, centralizes corporate fraud charging decision making.
Feb 15, 2007 - Carol Lam resigns as U.S. Attorney for San Diego just days after filing indictments in public corruption case.

[cascadiance]

35. And she actually DID prosecute Golden Gate Fence company

For hiring illegals to build the border fence. And she was going after the folk that were leading that company, not just "prosecuting the illegals" and dumping them across the border. Their statements when she was going after them that "This is why we need a guest worker program" coupled with other aspects of this case is something that Bushco didn't want to see repeated in other immigration cases. They wanted token immigration cases prosecuted in ways to satisfy the xenophobic congress critter types and their constitutencies that really don't do that much to go after employers, who are paying Bushco to allow them to import cheap foreign labor one way or the other.

The Golden Gate Fence Company prosecution didn't fit in the way they wanted immigration cases prosecuted, even though most of the rest of us would have felt it was dealt with appropriately.

[L. Coyote]

41. Cunningham signed the letter/complaint against her immigration record while under

investigation. There was a concerted effort against her early on, before the firings, on the part of the corrupt Republicans under threat by her investigations when they started. This is why it seems the Sampson e-mail related to Medicare fraud and cutting off all Fed paymewnts to Tenet. Also, Tenet paid former RNC chair Gillespie $360,000 as a lobbyist in the midst of this, raising the question, "Was someone paid to fire Lam?

[ClayZ]

3. K and R

[calimary]

5. Get thee to the Greatest Page!

Dunno if anybody caught a special on the History Channel a few days ago called "Dogfights" about fighter jocks. Prominently featured and interviewed throughout the program was our own Mr. Top Gun himself, randy "duke" cunningham, talking about the perils and joys of flying those muscle jets. Amazing juxtaposition with what we all know happened to him since that documentary was produced. He's no hero, but at least in that one, he got to play one on TV.

And yeah, that's certainly why we've seen the Justice Department go after Carol Lam. A) She dared to bring down one of THEIR people. B) They wanted to make sure her highly effective expertise could not claim the scalps of any more of their friends. They did it as much to shortcircuit her investigation's progress as for any other reason. And probably, considering how petty and vindictive these assholes are, there was probably a bit of retaliation in play here, too.

[Bitwit1234]

14. I'll always believe the only reason the republicans

spent so much money on trying to find something on President Clinton is he DARED to beat old Pappy Bush for president. The republicans went after him for one reason and one reason only SPITE. Nobody is ever going to tell me any difference.

[Auntie Bush]

17. And that spiteful person went after Saddam for that very reason. At least up there with

stealing his oil and supplying big oil companies with military protection.

[calimary]

61. I think you're EXACTLY correct. They're nothing but a bunch of sore losermans.

Poor sports. The NERVE of that damned Clinton to deprive our blessed poppy of his due. Who the heck invited HIM, anyway??? Who does he think he is, turning OUR KING out of his rightful throne room!!!!

Man-oh-man - I've said it before and I'll say it again. World's Biggest Entitlement Program: NOT welfare. Not even corporate welfare. Not Social Security or Medicare or food stamps. It's the entitlement that all republi-CONS seem to be born with - that THEY and THEY ALONE have permanent dibs on the White House and as much of the rest of the power quotient as they can grab. They simply feel that they're entitled to the Oval Office and all supremacy everywhere. Period. Why? Because. Because they just do. That's just the way things are. The "way things ought to be," as their demi-god limbaugh once blathered in print. They think it belongs to them, that they have some sort of divinely-decreed claim to it. And they resent the hell out of whichever Democrat comes along and beats them out of it.

The ULTIMATE spoiled sports. ALL the Clinton era was for these mean-spirited, snot-nosed, arrogant, greedy, bullying schmucks - was one eight-year-long grudge match. They were spoiling for a fight with him the minute he was declared the winner by the networks in November 1992. They never intended to play fair. They never intended to try to work with him or get along or reach some sort of detente. They were determined NOT to play ball with him, ever. Like a bunch of spoiled two-year-olds. They were simply determined to be world-class infantile piss-ants. And these were the same assholes who, at the end of 2000, declared in all smugness that "the adults are back in charge."

FUCKERS.

My sense of utter revulsion grows by the hour.

[deacon]

6. No wonder Lam was fired. Jaw-dropping stuff...incredible. n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

7. I've thought from the start that Carol Lam was the thing that triggered

the firings.

[L. Coyote]

21. Carol Lam was investigating Republican crimes on several fronts.

Check this archived thread for the Medicare angle:

30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x877011

And all the Foxes have been assigned their favorite hen house:

[truedelphi]

24. Thank you for posting that n/t

[robinlynne]

28. Please please provide a link ot the source of this chart, so we can show it to other

people! (who won't ven look uless the original source is apparent...)
thank-you!

[salin]

8. when Wilkes falls he takes down Foggo - and, if I recall, another Congressman

was it Lewis who also had Wilkes dealings?

[leveymg]

10. Yes, Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA), former head of the Approp. Comm, who

handed out millions in goodies to other GOP Congressmen through his leadership PAC. That money was provided primarily by a giant, corrupt Israeli-based hedge fund, Cerberus-Gabriel, which operated several defense U.S. contractors as cash-cows, with MZM and ADCS as junior partners in a huge bribery and kickback scheme. See, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x377023

The Greeks were also in on the act. This item from the Copley article:

"For the first time, investigators shed light on what Kontogiannis expected to get from Cunningham – help on a potential sale of fighter jets to his native Greece."

This isn't just about corruption, it's about wholesale foreign influence peddling with the GOP and falsification of intelligence. Privatization has allowed Cheney and his gang to replace the career CIA with private intelligence contractors, such as MZM and ADCS, and false intel has supported BushCo's push to sustain an endless series of Long Wars in the Middle East.

When CIA Counter-Proliferation Division (which had Valerie Plame as a manager) refused to confirm Bush-Cheney's unfounded assertions that Iraq was attempting to acquire Niger Yellowcake and importing aluminum tubes to build uranium enrichment centrifuges, the White House turned to Wade's MZM and Wilke's ADCS to produce false intel estimates. The CIA officer who headed the mission to Jordan to check out the aluminum tubes was Valerie Plame. The CIA asset who traveled to Niger to check out the yellowcake story in 1999 (following a visit by AQ Khan) and then again in 2002 was Ambassador Wilson.

The outing of Plame, which followed Richard Armitage's 06/01/01 outing of Khan's network, that had been penetrated by CIA-CPD, was all about destroying the career CIA so as to pave the way for military action against the so-called "Axis of Evil" countries. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/8/14653/71820

[L. Coyote]

22. JERRY LEWIS: The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer

The USA that got away in timely fashion with a great new job and a huge signing bonus, has more to do perhaps with Jerry Lewis than Carol Lam.

===================
L. Coyote - May-06-07 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x831278#832151
22. JERRY LEWIS: The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer

The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer
By ADAM COHEN = Published: May 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04fri4.html?bl&ex=1178596800&en=3362241afe12880d&ei=5087%0A

There is yet another United States attorney whose abrupt departure from office is raising questions: Debra Wong Yang of Los Angeles. Ms. Yang was not fired, as eight other prosecutors were, but she resigned under circumstances that raise serious questions, starting with whether she was pushed out to disrupt her investigation of one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress.

If the United States attorney scandal has made one thing clear, it is that the riskiest job in the Bush administration is being a prosecutor investigating a Republican member of Congress. Carol Lam, the United States attorney in San Diego, was fired after she put Randy Cunningham, known as Duke, in prison. Paul Charlton, in Arizona, was dismissed while he was investigating Rick Renzi. Dan Bogden, in Nevada, was fired while he was reportedly investigating Jim Gibbons, a congressman who was elected governor last year.

Ms. Yang was investigating Jerry Lewis, who was chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Ms. Lam and most of the other purged prosecutors were fired on Dec. 7. Ms. Yang, in a fortuitously timed exit, resigned in mid-October.

Ms. Yang says she left for personal reasons, but there is growing evidence that the White House was intent on removing her. Kyle Sampson, the Justice Department staff member in charge of the firings, told investigators last month in still-secret testimony that Harriet Miers, the White House counsel at the time, had asked him more than once about Ms. Yang. He testified, according to Congressional sources, that as late as mid-September, Ms. Miers wanted to know whether Ms. Yang could be made to resign.

................

.......The way to put to rest the questions about Ms. Yang’s suspicious departure, and the firings of the other prosecutors, is to require that Ms. Miers, Mr. Rove and other White House officials tell what they know, in public and under oath.

[L. Coyote]

23. crooksandliars "A $1.5 million signing bonus sure sounds like a payoff ..."

U.S.A. Investigating Rep. Jerry Lewis Quit To Work For Lewis’ Own Defense Team
By: Logan Murphy - May 5th, 2007
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/05/05/usa-investigating-rep-jerry-lewis-quit-to-work-for-lewis-own-defense-team

.......

A $1.5 million signing bonus sure sounds like a payoff to me. It's not known how Yang's departure affected the investigation, but as the NYT article points out, if the investigation is still moving forward it may likely be due to the intense scrutiny of Congress and the media. There appears to be strong evidence that Harriet Miers wanted Yang fired to stop the investigation of Lewis and that Yang may have been tipped off that she was on the chopping block.

=====================
http://www.commonblog.com/tag/Ethics%20in%20Government

Debra Wong Yang of L.A. Yang was the prosecutor in charge of the federal investigation of Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA). She resigned her post in mid-October of 2006; the "purge" of the other prosecutors came on December 7.

And here's where it gets murky. Yang said she was leaving for personal reasons, but she took a very well-paying job at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a Republican-affiliated firm that, oddly, was also defending Lewis in Yang's investigation. They gave her a $1.5 million signing bonus.

That doesn't sit right. Yang was on the White House's list of prosecutors being talked about. If she thought she might lose her job, it makes sense that she would look for a position elsewhere. However, it's also possible that Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher offered her a job with a compensation package she couldn't resist - conceivably (and conveniently) stalling the Lewis investigation.

Whatever the case, this is yet another instance of possible impropriety for investigators to look into....

[Rosa Luxemburg]

31. where does Ms Harris fit into all of this

and MZM Inc?

[L. Coyote]

33. Harris is a member of the White Collar Mafia faction of the Republican Party

and in the thick of this cabal.

FROM: L. Coyote - May-12-07 06:32 AM - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x831278#872202
84. Rep. KATHERINE HARRIS (R-FL, former) relationship with felonious Mitchell Wade

Former Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.)
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Members_of_Congress_under_investigation#Former_Rep._Katherine_Harris_.28R-Fla..29

Katherine Harris is under investigation by both the Justice Department and Defense Department for her relationship with Mitchell Wade, the former head of a defense company who pleaded guilty to a series of criminal bribery offenses in February 2006. Wade made $32,000 worth of illegal contributions to Harris' House campaign in 2004. In addition, he paid for at least two dinners with her at a Georgetown restaurant in 2004-2005 that totaled roughly $6,000. Later, Wade requested that Harris help secure $10 million in federal money for a company project of his in Sarasota, Fla. Federal officials have subpoenaed records from Harris' U.S. Senate campaign office and interviewed several of her former staffers. Harris was defeated in her Senate bid by Democrat Bill Nelson in the November 2006 elections.

===================================
Harris Requested Funds At Behest of Contractor
By Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 4, 2006; Page A06
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/03/AR2006030301836.html

Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) has acknowledged that she requested last year that $10 million in federal funds be set aside for a Navy intelligence program in her district at the request of Washington contractor Mitchell J. Wade, who pleaded guilty last week to bribing another House member.

Harris, who gained notoriety as secretary of state in Florida during the contested Bush-Gore presidential race in 2000, is running for the Senate this year. News media in her home state have been focusing on her dealings with Wade since prosecutors disclosed last week that she was the unwitting recipient of $32,000 in illegal campaign donations from Wade in 2004...............

n court filings as part of Wade's plea for bribing convicted former representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), prosecutors said Wade had had dinner with Harris early last year and discussed another fundraising event and possible funding for an unnamed Navy counterintelligence program.......

Last year, she first requested five defense projects totaling $15.8 million. A month later, she wrote another letter to Reps. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the senior members of the panel, adding the Wade project. It was for Naval Criminal Investigative Service airborne capability, which she placed third on her list of funding priorities. She said it was "to support counterintelligence and combating terrorism missions." .........

=====================================
Katherine Harris Caught Up in Bribery Scandal
Campaign Donations From Defense Contractor Under Scrutiny
By MITCH STACY, AP
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/katherine-harris-caught-up-in-bribery/20060303035709990014

TAMPA, Fla. (March 3) - U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris said Thursday she did not knowingly do anything wrong in her associations with a defense contractor who prosecutors say illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign in 2004. ......

He also admitted making illegal campaign contributions in the names of MZM employees and their spouses to Harris and Rep. Virgil Goode, R-Va. Prosecutors said Harris got $32,000 from employees who were reimbursed by Wade. .................

[cascadiance]

37. Probably another person that's very much in this is Virginia's Virgil Goode...

... you know the guy that felt congress critters shouldn't swear on the Koran?

Along with Harris and Cunningham, he was one of three congress critters that received the most donations from MZM. Were there any mentions of Goode in this document? I've not had time to look through it yet.

[leveymg]

38. Well that places Harris into two of the biggest GOP cess pools - here's more

http://bigbrassballs.wordpress.com/tag/congresswoman-katherine-harris/


CIA Nominee Hayden Linked to MZM
May 9th, 2006

From The TPM Muckraker:

While director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Michael V. Hayden contracted the services of a top executive at the company at the center of the Cunningham bribery scandal, according to two former employees of the company.

Hayden, President Bush's pick to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA, contracted with MZM Inc. for the services of Lt. Gen. James C. King, then a senior vice president of the company, the sources say. MZM was owned and operated by Mitchell Wade, who has admitted to bribing former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with $1.4 million in money and gifts. Wade has also reportedly told investigators he helped arrange for prostitutes to entertain the disgraced lawmaker, and he continues to cooperate with a federal inquiry into the matter.

King has not been implicated in the growing scandal around Wade's illegal activities. However, federal records show he contributed to some of Wade's favored lawmakers, including $6000 to Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) and $4000 to Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL).

Before joining MZM in December 2001, King served under Hayden as the NSA's associate deputy director for operations, and as head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.

King worked at NSA Headquarters in Ft. Meade, Maryland, in 2004 and 2005, both sources told me. "King was out there working on same floor as Hayden," one former employee with firsthand knowledge of the arrangement said. "He was doing special projects for Hayden as an MZM employee." Neither former employee knew details of King's work for Hayden; one said he thought he was doing "special projects" for the director, while the other speculated it was "high-ranking advisory work."

The NSA did not immediately respond to my request for comment. Hayden left the NSA in April 2005 to take the post of Deputy Director of National Intelligence. The DNI office referred my call on the matter to the NSA.

As an MZM employee, King was involved in a number of controversial projects. In 2002, he was a key adviser to the team creating CIFA, the Pentagon's domestic surveillance operation. In 2004, he was one of three MZM staffers who worked on the White House Robb-Silberman Commission, which recommended expanding CIFA's powers.

NSA is home to its own controversial project, of course — the post-9/11 warrantless domestic wiretapping operation known as the "terrorist surveillance program." There is no indication that King has been involved in that project.

"I don't see anything nefarious" about King's work for Hayden, one employee told me, although he conceded he did not know what projects King worked on. "I think Hayden needed help."

King became president of MZM when Wade left the company in June 2005, following revelations he bribed Cunningham to win lucrative federal contracts. The company has since been sold and renamed Athena Innovative Solutions. It did not return my call for comment.

No Comments » | MZM Inc., Mr. Mitchell Wade, Mr. (General) Michael Hayden, Mr. James King, Congresswoman Katherine Harris, Congress Virgil Goode, Mr. Porter Goss, Duke Cunningham Bribery Case, GOP Corruption, CIA, Bush Administration, GOP Scandals, Government Corruption, NSA | Permalink
Posted by Douglas Shaftoe


Common Cause Asks DOJ For Harris Investigation
May 2nd, 2006

From Yahoo! News:

A congressional watchdog group asked the Justice Department on Monday to investigate whether Rep. Katherine Harris (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., attempted to obtain a $10 million appropriation for a defense contractor in return for his financial support.

Common Cause filed a complaint with the Justice Department, citing information provided by contractor Mitchell Wade, as part of a plea agreement in the bribery case of convicted former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif.

Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said the department does not comment on, or confirm, criminal investigations.

Harris is a two-term House member who is running for the Senate. However, she is best known as the state official who certified President Bush's 537-vote win in Florida in the disputed 2000 presidential election.

Wade, former president of MZM Inc., admitted making $32,000 in illegal contributions to Harris' 2004 campaign for the House.

Harris said she did not knowingly do anything illegal and said she would donate the money to charity.

Wade said that he and a "Representative B" — later identified as Harris — had dinner in Washington in early 2005. The contractor said they discussed the possibility of Wade's company hosting a fundraiser for the lawmaker — and the possibility of Harris obtaining funding for a Navy counterintelligence program in her district.

The Common Cause complaint said that after the dinner, Harris sent a letter to the chairman and ranking member of a House subcommittee requesting funding for the counterintelligence program.

Harris' office said in a news release that the request was for $10 million.

Federal law prohibits public officials from corruptly seeking or receiving anything of value in return for being influenced in the performance of any official act.

Harris is trying to unseat Sen. Bill Nelson (news, bio, voting record), but statewide polls show her trailing the Florida Democrat by double digits. National Republicans have openly criticized her campaign and have tried to court other GOP candidates to challenge Harris in the primary. The filing deadline for the primary is May 12.

[L. Coyote]

40. Is it time for an updated redux of this thread?

Eleven Members of Congress Now Under Investigation, PLUS ten former members
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x831278

[leveymg]

43. It gets even worse - MZM exec was Hayden's Deputy, Hayden investigated MZM

Can you say, "Conflict of Interest"? On top of that, Laura Rozen reported that several staff members of the Siberman-Robb Commission that investigated the "intelligence failure" involving work contracted to MZM by NGIC leading up to the invasion of Iraq were, in fact, MZM employees. Should we be surprised this story all but disappeared after it was investigated in-house?

Negroponte to Review Intelligence Changes
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/01/AR2005070101976.html
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 2, 2005; Page A18

Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte will review changes made at the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) to address criticism by a presidential commission in March that found there was "gross failure" in the center's analysis of Iraqi arms in 2002, said Gen. Michael V. Hayden, Negroponte's deputy.

Two NGIC analysts, who since 2002 have received annual performance awards, judged in September 2002 that the aluminum tubes that Iraq was purchasing were "highly unlikely" to be used for rocket motor cases because of their "material and tolerances," according to the report of the president's commission on intelligence. The NGIC finding, which the commission termed "completely wrong," bolstered a CIA contention that the tubes were meant for nuclear centrifuges and were evidence that Saddam Hussein was reconstituting a nuclear weapons program.


The NGIC said it discovered its errors before the president's intelligence commission started its review, and as a result "instituted changes to training and procedures to improve analytic products," according to an Army statement delivered in answer to written questions from The Washington Post.

The two civilian analysts responsible for the tube analysis "were instrumental in developing that training and procedure improvement," the Army statement said.

Hayden told reporters Wednesday that the NGIC and two other intelligence agencies cited by the presidential commission -- the Defense Intelligence Agency Humint Service, which handles human intelligence, and the intelligence community's Center for Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation and Arms Control (WINPAC) -- would be held accountable for mistakes on prewar intelligence.

"They are doing their own look, and we will do our own," said Hayden, who added that the NGIC's activities fall under the DNI's purview. The House and Senate intelligence committees have also opened inquiries into the NGIC, according to congressional sources.

The NGIC has a staff of 900 full-time scientists, engineers, intelligence analysts and soldiers, with most of them at a relatively new facility near Charlottesville. It provides analyses of foreign armies, including scientific and technical work on their weapons.

Meanwhile, the NGIC has also been in the spotlight as a result of a controversy involving MZM Inc. MZM is a research company whose government contracting business has come under scrutiny after it was disclosed that its president, Mitchell J. Wade, purchased the California home of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) for $1.6 million, but shortly thereafter sold it, taking a $700,000 loss.

Cunningham, a subcommittee chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and a member of the Defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, lived on a yacht owned by Wade docked in the Capital Yacht Club on the Potomac River.

A federal investigation is underway covering the Wade-Cunningham house sale, which the congressman last week acknowledged showed "poor judgment."

On Oct. 18, 2002, MZM got the first of what would grow to be a series of orders for NGIC work. This initial one was for a seven-week, $194,000 study analyzing a computer program concept called "FIRES," according to material provided by the Pentagon. FIRES was a program first suggested by an NGIC employee who believed that if U.S. operatives around the world collected blueprints of important buildings worldwide, an important intelligence database could be developed.

At the time, the NGIC's senior civilian employee and executive director was William S. Rich Jr. Rich had been the top civilian official at the NGIC since its inception in 1994. In September 2003, Rich retired from the NGIC and thereafter went to work as senior executive vice president for strategic intelligence for MZM, according to former NGIC colleagues and Pentagon documents. Rich has not returned telephone calls, and MZM has refused to comment on its NGIC work.

Other NGIC employees have been hired by MZM. The former sergeant major at the NGIC, George A. Peeterse, is an MZM vice president. Contacted by telephone at home last week, Peeterse declined to discuss MZM or the NGIC. "We have been told to refer all questions to MZM headquarters in Washington," he said.

[leveymg]

45. Here's what Laura Rozen concluded about MZM-NGIC and the Plame case

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003244.html

SNIP

What begins as an article about a gross example of conflict of interest -- MZM hired the son of the executive director of the Army's National Ground Intelligence Center two months after MZM was awarded an NGIC contract and shortly before it got a far bigger one -- further down reveals that NGIC is at the center of the infamous Iraq aluminum tubes controversy. The NGIC claimed wrongly the tubes must be for a nuclear centrifuge. As Pincus wrote:

SNIP

So is this all about conflict of interest, corruption, bribery, contracting improprieties? Or is there something else going on here? It's not clear. But guess what. The CIA hired a contractor in September 2002 (the month before the NGIC gave MZM its first orders) who also claimed the tubes were for a nuclear centrifuge, eRiposte pointed out to me in the email. Who was that contractor? The Senate Select Intelligence report has redacted it. Here's what eRiposte writes:

...I wanted to bring this to your attention because one of the issues I was planning to discuss in my ongoing series on WMDgate related to the deliberate fabrications and/or misrepresentations by CIA/NGIC on the aluminum tubes issue using a mysterious contractor to “bolster” their claims. The Senate (SSCI) report points out that in September 2002 CIA hired a contractor who conveniently “confirmed” the fraudulent tubes-as-centrifuges story for the CIA (and NGIC).

Here’s the Senate Report on this mysterious contractor:

---------
( ) Contributing to the CIA's analysis for the extensive September intelligence assessment was an analysis performed by an individual from DELETED who were working under contract with the CIA at the time to provide broad-based technical advice DELETED. The CIA WINPAC analyst, DELETED, requested in September 2002 that they perform an analysis of the tubes. SENTENCE DELETED

( )The contractors told Committee staff that the CIA provided them with a stack of intelligence data and analysis on the Iraqi aluminum tube procurements on September 16, 2002. All of the information was provided by the CIA and the contractors told Committee staff that they did not discuss the data with any agencies other than the CIA. They were provided with NGIC's analysis of the tubes, but said they were not briefed by nor did they ask to speak to NGIC or DOE analysts. One contractor said, "This was internal to the agency." One of the contractors said before joining DELETED he had been given a tutorial on 81-mm rockets by a DOE analyst, but said that the conversation was "pretty meaningless to me because the rest of the issue had not bubbled up at that point." A DOE analyst told Committee staff that he also discussed the issue with the contractor in May of 2001. The contractor produced a paper on September 17, 2002, one day after receiving the information, that said the team concluded, "that the tubes are consistent with design requirements of gas centrifuge rotors, but due to the high-strength material and excessively tight tolerances, the tubes seem inconsistent with design requirements of rocket motor casings." The report referenced NGIC's analysis that the material and quantity of the tubes were inconsistent with rocket motor applications. The report said that while the dimensions "possibly" were suitable for rockets, the tolerances were too stringent and the pressure test requirements were too high.
...

It's obviously unproven. But the implications are truly frightening. Could a contractor accused of bribing US government officials have contributed to the corruption of the intelligence by which the US went to war? I don't know who the contractor was, but it would seem this is a subject worthy of investigative scrutiny.

[leveymg]

47. And, here are some more conclusions

MZM: Private One-Stop Shop for Domestic Dirty-Tricks
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/3/23/8418/64300
by leveymg
Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 05:04:18 AM PDT
Corrupt MZM defense contractor doing its own oversight?.

It's the entrepreneurial offspring of the commercialization of intelligence. We now see private contractors bribing Congressmen, operating spy agencies, and staffing the commissions charged with investigating their own abuses. Behold, the one-stop shop for political dirty-tricks.

It has emerged in recent years amidst the mania for gov't outsourcing of counter-terrorism, particularly information technology services related to electronic surveillance. Private DoD and Homeland Security contractors have a vested interest in locating and amplifying "threats". This creates a monetary temptation for tailoring the intelligence product to match the expectations of government clients, including the outright falsification of intelligence.

Take, for instance, Wade Mitchell's MZM, a corrupt defense contracting firm tied in with the Cunningham bribery scandal, which recieved millions to develop surveillance technologies for the Pentagon's new domestic spy agencies. TPM Muckraker reports the following disturbing developments:

MORE below

* leveymg's diary :: ::
*

On background, it should be noted that Laura Rozen's War&Piece column of December 11, 2005, "Wade, Wilkes and Bad Intelligence?" identified Mitchell Wade's MZM defense contracting firm as a culprit in faulty intelligence generation that led to the invasion of Iraq. http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003244.html

A source cited by Rozen identified MZM as the private contractor cited for support of an errant CIA Iraq WMD assessment used to justify the Bush Administration's argument for war. An MZM analysis erroneously concluded that aluminum tubes ordered by Saddam Hussein were intended for use in a clandestne nuclear fuel enrichment progam that didn't exist. Now, Rosen comes up with the extraordinary find that consultants working for MZM and other intelligence contractors staffed the Robb-Silberman Commission that investigated the faulty Iraq WMD findings.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Did MZM, Other Companies Staff Bush Intel Panel?
By Justin Rood - March 22, 2006, 9:26 AM
At War and Piece, Laura Rozen finds more indicators that MZM's contracts with the White House were for three professional staffers on the Robb-Silberman WMD commission. http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003879.html

First, the MZM contracts list their "place of performance" as Arlington, VA -- where the commission's offices were -- not Washington, D.C., where the White House is known to be. Second, Rozen found similar arrangements between the White House and other intelligence contractors, including Booz-Allen Hamilton and SAIC. Laura and I have both confirmed various staffers worked for SAIC.

Those companies have increased their intelligence business in recent years, thanks to U.S. spy agencies struggling to spend even greater budgets on new hires and new technology.http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/...

Further down in Rood's Blog we see that Mitchell Wade's MZM has received some $16 million in contracts to conduct domestic spying, as well as a quarter million from the White House for unspecified "intelligence" activities, along with funding related to an Iranian exile group.

Mitchell Wade, former CEO of MZM Inc., pleaded guilty to several conspiracy and bribery charges a few weeks ago in connection with the Cunningham scandal. But a little-noticed piece of his history goes into one of the most sensitive domestic spying operations we have heard of to date: the Pentagon's Virginia-based Counterintelligence Field Activity office (CIFA).

Wade got over $16 million in contracts with CIFA by bribing Duke Cunningham, who forced earmarks in to Defense appropriations bills on his behalf. Furthermore, Wade's second-in-command was a consultant to the Pentagon on standing up the operation.

In its brief life -- it was created in 2002 -- CIFA has had trouble keeping its nose clean. Despite the ink that's been spilled on the center, little is actually known about what it does, and how MZM serviced it.

Here's what we know: After the 9/11 attacks, the Pentagon used its massive budget and urgent sense of mission to push into areas of intelligence it had once left to others. Domestic intelligence was one of those areas. DoD created CIFA in 2002 to become a joint center for "force protection" intelligence work at DoD, mainly anti-terrorism.

What's "force protection?" Pentagonese for "carte blanche." In encompasses protection for bases, troops and equipment. And the water supply. The electrical grid. Highways. Contractors, their suppliers -- the list goes on. Which leaves CIFA with a mandate to gather information on, well, just about anything and anybody it wants. http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001103.php ; http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/cats/mitchell_wade/


One wonders what safeguards, if any, might be built into a system where oversight is performed by the business partners of private sector CIA, DHS and DoD security contractors? This problem goes far beyond the old "revolving door" of executive exchange between DoD and defense contractors. In an environment where warrantless spying is commonplace, how much confidence are we supposed to have in the integrity and efficacy of such counter-terrorism entrepreneurs? As the MZM affair shows, they appear to be tailor-made for partisan graft and political dirty-tricks.

2006. Mark G. Levey

[Rosa Luxemburg]

50. Looks like we haven't drained the swamp yet

there's a lot down there. The FBY must be kept busy!

[leveymg]

51. And, finally, emptywheel's take on all this

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2006/07/aluminum_tubes_.html

[Rosa Luxemburg]

52. This corruption needs stamping out

[L. Coyote]

53. INCREDIBLE. Could the Lies to Go to War link Bush with Cunningham's bribes?

"...it'd be easier to get the assessment you want from a contractor like MZM, who is dependent on a synergistic system of bribery for its work?"

If this is who provided intelligence on the aluminum tubes, There are some very large questions about how the lies were fabricated to attend to, and how high up the command chain the contacts with those paying out bribes goes. Cunningham was not producing the faulty intelligence! Bush was.

[leveymg]

54. I think emptywheel is pretty close. But, I would argue the decision to

prosecute the contractors that provided falsified Iraq WMD intel has been kept as quiet as possible because of the obvious political implications for the GOP. The Abramoff case involves many of the same people in Congress and the White House. As I pointed out, the Walter Reed Army Hospital privatization scandal and Franklin-AIPAC spy case are connected, as is NSA warrantless surveillance. See, www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/10/21556/5045; http://www.nogw.com/download/2006_abramoff_nsa.pdf

Rather than go after them directly for what is essentially an espionage and foreign vote buying conspiracy, related but lesser bribery and corruption charges were handed down. Most of the investigation was conducted by the DIA to prevent leaks. The US Attorneys who hesitated to go along, most notably Carol Lam, were fired or offered a golden parachute. This was masked by a broader partisan purge of the USA corps.
Fitzgerald agreed to limit his prosecution to Libby, but could have indicted many in the White House and State Dept, starting with Armitage, Grossman, Hadley, Rove, Rice, Cheney and perhaps, Bush.

The major corporte media has done a magnicent job of damage control. All that we'll hear about in the msm are the sex and fraud aspects. But, the facts speak for themselves.

[salin]

56. Rozen's work is great. Thanks so much for

adding this info to this thread. It can be so hard to keep track of how these corruption scandals are really interconnected rather than "isolated bad apple" events that the corporate media would have us believe.

[cascadiance]

58. Were David Burtt or Joseph Hefferon mentioned in these reports?

They were the two leaders of CIFA that resigned simultaneously for "personal reasons" on the same day about a year ago. I think emptywheel later noted that it had been determined that a big database that sounds like it included domestic espionage data in it was purged not long before they left.

Here's the WA Post article that documents their leaving earlier inauspiciously, and relatively quietly underneatht he MSM radar screen:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/09/AR2006080901700.html

[bjobotts]

48. Too Convenient. Eventually be fired anyway so take the 1.5million

..."Whatever the case, this is yet another instance of possible impropriety for investigators to look into...."

Possible impropriety? Could it be more obvious. My only question is how much inside info did she divulge about what and where the Jerry Lewis investigaion had or was going to her new bosses. Yang figured she'd be fired anyway (look what they were doing to Lam) and would not find a deal this good again, so WTF.

More scrutiny should be on Jerry Lewis's activities now than ever before...at least maybe it will once we can get rid of a DoJ that thinks it serves at the pleasure of the president.

Look at what the GOP has done to our country with their shameless activities.

[cascadiance]

36. Also note Carol Lam's "timely job offer" as well...

Shortly after she left the U.S. Attorney's office, just about the time when Rahm Emmanuel was suggesting that a remedy would be to hire Lam back under contract to complete her investigations she was in process of working on, Qualcomm came forth with a sweet job offer to Lam.

Note that Qualcomm has Brent Scowcroft on their board. Brent Scowcroft also has heavy ties and is part of both AIPAC (Israeli "lobbyist" group) and ATC (Turkish "lobbyist" group). Arguably these lobbyist groups are doing as much or more to lobby for the defense industry on Capitol Hill as they are to lobby for those country's "interests" that they are supposedly affiliated with.

My guess is that with the CIA connections in Washington, the depths of this conspiracy reach REAL deep, and as I noted before, is one reason why Sibel Edmonds isn't being asked to testify by Henry Waxman's committee either. Much like the Intelligence Committee chair is also trying to cover up documents on Cunningham as the other article I point to here shows.

Folks, we are only hearing the tip of the iceberg, that is being filtered by whichever entity is in power to try and water it down so that it doesn't affect "their house". But that makes it just that much harder for all of us to assess the full scope and depth of what really is happening. It's good that this document is coming out now though. At least more transparency is happening that will be harder for them to undo or coverup in some other way, and will make it harder for them to shut down other investigations/hearings when we connect the dots with what's in here.

[AntiFascist]

29. K&R!! K&R!! The truth about the WOT may be unraveling n/t

[progressoid]

9. Hey CNN! ABC! CBS! NBC! Wanna get some cred back? How about an in depth investigative report!

Anybody? :shrug:

[EVDebs]

12. NBC had this stuff a yr ago and nothing in news since...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1363696&mesg_id=1364051

The "others" in the CIA and congress are setting up roadblocks

[whistle]

11. This is why Scooter Libby needed to spend his full sentence in prison

....the weasel would have been talking his head off. Congress needs to be indicting these BushCo bastards as hard as they can!

[originalpckelly]

16. Well that's why he never went, uh duh.

That man was told he wasn't going to jail before that trial even started, he was way too happy leaving.

[havocmom]

19. Yep. Put them in prison and they would LOVE to spend time talking to FBI

cuz the alternative is hangin' in the yard with people they just don't want to associate with ;)

'I'll talk! I'LL TALK! Just don't make me go out and play in the yard with those other guys....'

[originalpckelly]

15. "Somewhat embarrassed on this occasion because he had some difficulty in completing intercourse."

"Insisted there were no prostitutes at Wilkes' Washington poker games, but said Wilkes hired prostitutes for him during a Hawaii vacation. Cunningham was miffed that Wilkes got the 'younger and cuter' prostitute and said he was 'somewhat embarrassed on this occasion because he had some difficulty in completing intercourse.' On the next night, Cunningham again had a prostitute but said he 'did not have sex' with her 'because he felt guilty about his behavior.'"

[AndyTiedye]

26. Another Repiggie Who Can't Get It Up, Huh?

[va4wilderness]

18. K&R n/t

[L. Coyote]

20. K&R. It's the ones in jail already that will bring more down. But, can we trust the FEDS?

The number of people in jail talking, and others providing evidence, keeps growing.

Recently, two former Doolittle aides were identified as talking with Fed investigators.

But, can we trust that today's Justice Department is doing their job fully. Remember how Sen. McCain's committee investigated Abramoff. It was all about white-washing the truth and covering up the reality. The DoJ fired USAs for a reason or several, seemingly to keep a lid on charging Republican corruption on all fronts, from Medicare fraud to Defense contracting bribery.

[truedelphi]

25. There ois a reasonthat Jonathan turley says that * has

Destroyed the Dept of Justice.

The FBI has been politicized - probably ten times more than what occurred under Nixon.

[AntiFascist]

30. Take this together with all the FBI - al Qaeda (hijacker) connections...

and we could have a real big problem, gut feelings and all.

[cascadiance]

57. It's also seeming more reports now that it is also hard to trust all Dems on this too...

Read this article that just came out an hour ago from "The Hill" which talks about debate within the Intelligence Committee on whether this was something we should know about or not... My bet is that there's pretty WIDE spread corruption involved in this mess. It's going to be really hard to get a FULL understanding of what went on any time soon due to this piecemeal approach that both parties are taking to releasing information to the public:

From:

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/dems-split-on-cunningham-report-2007-07-19.html

Dems split on Cunningham report

By Jonathan E. Kaplan
July 19, 2007
Five Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee were on the losing end of a vote last month to make public a declassified report on jailed Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.).

Democratic Reps. Rush Holt (N.J.), Anna Eshoo (Calif.), Jan Schakowsky (Ill.), Alcee Hastings (Fla.) and John Tierney (Mass.) voted to make the 23-page report public, while seven of their Democratic colleagues voted the other way.

The Los Angeles Times obtained a copy of the report earlier this week and reported that the committee vote occurred.

The media account left committee Democrats privately speculating as to which lawmaker leaked the report.

The vote and subsequent leak triggered a bitter dispute between Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the committee.

...

[pacalo]

34. I just read through the 11-page FBI report.

Very interesting reading about how Wilkes pampered Cunningham like a king.

It seems that others had their hands in the cookie jar, too...

Cunningham was told by Wilkes that he was hiding money in a bank account in Panama that could be used to make payments to him. When asked if he was aware of any wrongdoing by other members of Congress, Cunningham said that Wilkes had hosted fund raisers for Tom Delay and Jerry Lewis. Cunningham also stated that: he had observed Wade and Katherine Harris having meals together.

[leveymg]

39. If you "dig" Jerry Lewis, here's a gold mine:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/cats/jerry_lewis/

[L. Coyote]

42. Do we need a bigger, better FAN, before all the S**T hits. Looks like a real storm

is brewing on the horizon for these guys. Thanks for that great link.

[huckleberry]

44. posted on USA Today website too!

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/07/documents-show-.html

[Parche]

46. Oh Please Implicate Darrell Issa

[alcibiades_mystery]

49. Note how they start yapping soon after arrival at federal prison

As Scooter no doubt would have done, had Bush used his plenary power to obstruct justice.

[kineneb]

55. so lovely when the caged birds sing in the summer

let us hope the Cunningham bird keeps singing...

[tridim]

59. Abramoff too..

Remember him?

The depth of the GOP crime machine is just staggering. It'll take 50 movies and 10 mini-series to explain it all.

[Bravo Zulu]

60. oops

[kineneb]

62. better than "I, Claudius"!

BFEE makes the Roman emperors look tame...

[L. Coyote]

63. Kick for Conyers and the Dems on the House Judiciary

Today again, the rotten Rs used the immigration issue against Carol Lam. I'm Googling for the names of the Rs who wrote the letter, and viola, this thread pops up. Too many of these corrupt guys to remember all the names off-hand.