Defense contractor's house of cards
By Dean Calbreath and Jerry Kammer
STAFF WRITER AND COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
May 28, 2006
Swirling with liquor, cigar smoke, bawdy jokes and spirited hands of poker, the gatherings were like an all-American night out with the boys.
But the parties – held for more than a decade in posh suites at the luxurious Watergate and Grand Westin hotels in Washington, D.C. – were anything but small-town Americana.
Participants included CIA agents, lobbyists, defense contractors and, occasionally, staffers and members of Congress. The cigars included the best that could be bought from Fidel Castro's Cuba. Some of the players arrived in Mercedes-Benz limousines hired by the host, Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes.
The poker games provide a window into the way Wilkes befriended powerful people, including former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who could help him get millions of dollars in federal contracts. Because of published reports that the hotel suites were sometimes visited by prostitutes – which Wilkes heatedly denies – the bribery scandal is now known in some circles as “Hookergate.” MORE...
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060528-9999-1n28poker.htmlWhy Did Goss Resign?
By Larry Johnson
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Saturday 06 May 2006
Yesterday's surprise announcement by Porter Goss comes on the heels of press stories that members of Congress received sexual favors from prostitutes allegedly procured by Brent Wilkes, an entrepreneur implicated in the bribery of Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Wilkes, we are told, hosted poker and hooker parties at the Watergate Hotel. Wilkes also happened to be an old high school buddy of the CIA's number three man, Dusty Foggo.
Speculation in the blogosphere suggested that Porter Goss selected Foggo because of his ties to Wilkes and may be implicated in the sexscapades. I'm told by a friend who used to work at the Agency that Goss, on this charge, is clean. In fact, Goss may be a victim, guilty only of selecting some lousy staff.
A former CIA buddy tells me that Porter's main problem, however, is a key staffer who is linked to both Brent Wilkes and the CIA's Executive Director, Dusty Foggo. My friend also said that it is highly likely that the Goss staffer did participate in the hooker extravaganza. Goss, politician that he is, probably recognized that even though he did not participate in the sexual escapades and poker games, his staffer's participation created a huge problem for him that would be difficult to escape.
There also is truth to the rumor that Goss was not happy with presiding over a CIA that had been rendered a co-equal with the Department of Defense intelligence units. Prior to the creation of the National Director of Intelligence, the CIA was the lead intelligence agency. No longer. Ironically, part of the impetus for the creation of the NDI was the perceived "failures" of the CIA with respect to 9/11 and Iraq. Recent revelations by retired CIA officers, such as Paul Pillar and Ty Drumheller, make clear that the CIA basically got it right on Iraq and was ignored by the Bush administration.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050606X.shtmlFBI probes Watergate prostitution allegations
Infamous hotel used by defense contractor to entertain lawmakers?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12634250/I wonder why we never found out what the FBI found out?
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