Investigation: The CIA's No. 3 Has a Friend in the Spotlight

March 6, 2006 issue - As logistics chief at the CIA's main base near Frankfurt, Germany, Kyle (Dusty) Foggo sat at the crossroads of agency operations. Operatives and VIPs passed through, and former top spies say Foggo was customarily on hand to greet them. After Porter Goss took over as CIA director, many agency veterans were astonished when the former House intel chair chose Foggo, a midranking bureaucrat, to become CIA executive director, the agency's third-ranking official, responsible for day-to-day operations. Insiders attributed his rise to his mastery of office politics. But Foggo's glad-handing has raised awkward questions. Federal prosecutors have accused (as an unindicted co-conspirator) one of Foggo's closest friends, San Diego businessman Brent Wilkes, of participating in a scheme to bribe Randall (Duke) Cunningham, the GOP congressman from San Diego who resigned his seat after pleading guilty to federal corruption and tax charges.

Wilkes ran a network of companies that did business with defense and intel agencies, and according to two sources familiar with the investigation, who requested anonymity because the probe is ongoing, Foggo's name has surfaced in the federal inquiry. At the same time, NEWSWEEK has learned, the CIA inspector general's office has opened its own investigation into Foggo's relationship with Wilkes. This inquiry is sufficiently serious that Congress was notified about it in writing.

Foggo and Wilkes are old buddies. Pals in San Diego say that between assignments overseas, the genial, hefty Foggo was a conspicuous presence at Wilkes's parties. In a court document made public last week, prosecutors charged that former representative Cunningham, whom prosecutors asked a judge to imprison for 10 years, hit up an unnamed "Co-conspirator No. 1"—identified as Wilkes by government and defense sources—for $525,000, which Wilkes allegedly agreed to hand over in return for $6 million worth of government contracts. Wilkes has not been charged with any wrongdoing, and his lawyer declined to comment. But last week a D.C. businessman, Mitchell Wade, ID'ed in Cunningham court documents as "Co-conspirator No. 2," pleaded guilty to corrupting both Cunningham and unnamed Defense Department officials. So far, no proof has emerged that Wilkes, whose companies did a lot of business with the Pentagon, also did business with the CIA. A source close to Foggo, declining to be ID'ed while talking about the case, said Foggo had no knowledge of the criminal inquiry and had not been contacted by investigators. Paul Gimigliano, a CIA spokesman, told NEWSWEEK: "It is stand-ard procedure for the inspector general to look into assertions that mention agency officers. That should in no way be seen as lending credibility to any allegation." Gimigliano added that Foggo had "overseen many contracts," all of which were "properly awarded and administered."
—Mark Hosenball and Jamie Reno


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