Remember Brent Wilkes, the alleged Duke Cunningham briber who spread hundreds of thousands of dollars around Capitol Hill and won tens of millions of dollars in earmarks over the past decade?
By 2000 or so, he was on the verge of becoming persona non grata with the Pentagon, because his company’s work was so shoddy and unneccessary, and its billing was rife with problems. Lucky for Wilkes, his longtime pal Dusty Foggo was rising to prominence in the CIA — as a contracting manager.
Only one CIA contract with one of Wilkes’ outfits has been confirmed: a deal to deliver water to CIA operatives in the Middle East, worth a few million dollars.
But another deal between the agency and Wilkes was in the works when the Cunningham scandal blew up: to provide air transportation services. In an upcoming American Prospect, Laura Rozen reports that it was likely bigger than anyone had previously expected:
Wilkes was in negotiations in early 2005 to receive a [large] CIA contract, worth a few hundred million dollars, to operate a covert âproprietaryâ airline. A source tells the Prospect that under this arrangement, âThird-party [airline] companies would be purchased, brought under the new [Wilkes] corporate umbrella, and staffed with new Agency pilots.â
So, Wilkes was going from flying Tom DeLay and Dennis Hastert around the U.S., to flying around dozens of secret detainees around the world? That’s a real step up.
