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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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February 26th,
2009 - Former CIA Exec Gets More Than 3 Years in Prison |
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Former CIA Exec Gets More Than
3 Years in Prison By Matthew Barakat Associated Press February 26, 2009 Alexandria, Va. - The
highest-ranking CIA officer ever convicted of a federal felony was sentenced
to more than three years in prison Thursday as part of a bribery and fraud
investigation that previously resulted in the conviction of a California
congressman. Kyle "Dusty"
Foggo, who as executive director held the CIA's No. 3 rank from 2004 to 2006,
had asked the judge to spare him jail time, citing his covert work on behalf
of the country over two decades at the CIA, including a supervisory stint in
Iraq after the Sept. 11 attacks. But U.S. District Judge
James Cacheris sentenced him to the 37 months prosecutors had sought for a
scheme they said revealed Foggo as a crass opportunist who wrapped himself in
a cloak of patriotism. Prosecutor Jason Forge said
Foggo took advantage of the nation's and the CIA's sense of urgency after the
Sept. 11 attacks. "It's no coincidence
that Mr. Foggo's fraud took place entirely in the aftermath of Sept.
11," Forge said. "One man's crisis is another man's opportunity,
and Mr. Foggo proved himself to be a very capable opportunist." Foggo plead guilty to a
single count of fraud last year as part of a plea bargain in which
prosecutors dropped 27 other counts. But the exact conduct for
which Foggo pleaded guilty is still somewhat murky. Prosecutors say the fraud
encompassed a years-long scheme in which Foggo's old friend, contractor Brent
Wilkes, showered Foggo with tens of thousands of dollars worth of gifts and
luxury vacations in exchange for steering multimillion-dollar contracts in
Wilkes' direction. They also say the fraud
includes Foggo's efforts to get his mistress hired by the CIA at a six-figure
salary for a job for which she was unqualified. The defense, though, has
construed the guilty plea more narrowly. In previous hearings, defense lawyer
Mark MacDougall has said the guilty plea boils down to misconduct over a
contract for a single pallet of bottled water. At Thursday's hearing,
Foggo, a San Diego native who now lives in Vienna, Va., told the judge he was
motivated to plead guilty in large part because he wanted to spare the CIA a
public trial in which he would have been forced to divulge government
secrets. "With my acceptance of
responsibility my secrets will be kept, and with that I am pleased,"
Foggo said. Prosecutors, though, said
that in the weeks before the plea bargain Foggo engaged in a tactic known as
"graymail," in which he threatened to needlessly delve into
classified information to scare the government out of pursuing a public
trial. MacDougall said much of
Foggo's work for the CIA remains classified, but it supports the notion of a
patriot who made sacrifices and risked his life for his country. "He was the man who
provided critical assistance to those who turned the tide of terrorism
back" in the months and years after Sept. 11, MacDougall said. Wilkes, Foggo's longtime
friend, was convicted and sentenced last year to 12 years in prison. Former
congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., who admitted taking
bribes from Wilkes, was sentenced to more than eight years. In court papers, prosecutors
said Foggo, had his crimes gone undiscovered, planned to retire from the CIA
and run for Congress in San Diego when Cunningham retired. CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield
declined to comment on Foggo's sentence, except to say that the CIA
cooperated fully with prosecutors in their investigation. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hSoMDsA5PakZOd1o1yx655Egw9ngD96JEUJ83 |