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In Raid of Foggo’s Home, Gumshoes Snag Vacay Snaps
Along with bank records and Cuban cigars, federal agents took family photo albums from “Dusty” Foggo’s Virginia home during a raid last week. That’s leading some to speculate that prosecutors are focusing on Foggos’ trips with longtime pal, defense contractor Brent Wilkes. Prosecutors suspect Foggo helped Wilkes secure contracts with the CIA, Foggo’s former employer. They’re also curious about how he got those Cuban cigars. (LA Times)

NSA killed system that sifted phone data legally
The National Security Agency developed a pilot program in the late 1990s that would have enabled it to gather and analyze massive amounts of communications data without running afoul of privacy laws. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, it shelved the project — not because it failed to work — but because of bureaucratic infighting and a sudden White House expansion of the agency’s surveillance powers, according to several intelligence officials. (Baltimore Sun)

Congress told 30 times about NSA programs
The Bush administration briefed select members of Congress 30 times on the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs since the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a declassified list released Wednesday. The declassified list shows that half the secret briefings were held in the past five months, after the New York Times revealed the NSA was spying on international calls in the USA without court warrants. Until then, only party leaders and senior members of the intelligence committees attended briefings on the “terrorist surveillance program” at the White House. (USA Today)
Here’s the list of lawmakers at those NSA briefings since ’01.

AT&T can’t silence whistle-blower
A federal judge denied AT&T’s request on Wednesday to force the Electronic Frontier Foundation to return documents the nonprofit organization received from a retired AT&T employee. The documents that former AT&T technician Mark Klein gave EFF earlier this year, and which the court has sealed, contain details of what EFF and Klein are alleging is a secret agreement between the telecommunications company and the National Security Agency to provide the government agency with illegal access to communications belonging to its customers. (Salon)

House, Senate Intel Panels Briefed on NSA
For the first time on Wednesday, the administration briefed the full House and Senate intelligence committees on the NSA’s no-warrant surveillance program. National Intelligence Director John Negroponte also declassified a list of 30 congressional briefings that have been held since NSA began the program after Sept. 11, 2001. Until Wednesday, the sessions had never included more than a dozen members at any given meeting, with 31 members briefed in all since the surveillance program began in October 2001, according to the newly declassified list. (AP, Reuters)

Hearing on CIA nominee expected to examine NSA program
General Michael Hayden will testify Thursday at his Senate confirmation hearing amid intense congressional interest in the National Security Agency’s warrantless spying program, which began while Hayden headed it. And some lawmakers also chafe at the way President Bush is changing the guard at the CIA. (KR, WaPo)

NSA Program Seemed to Focus on Long-Distance Calling
Parsing statements from various telecommunications companies, the New York Times concludes that the NSA program they cooperated with was concerned with gathering long-distance call data. (NYTimes)


FL’s Martinez Won’t Return $250,000 From Abramoff Fundraiser

Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) has given back $2,500 in direct contributions from former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, but he’s refusing to touch a quarter-million dollars Abramoff helped raise as co-chair of a 2004 fundraiser.

Martinez has not been accused of wrongdoing, bu the was no stranger to Abramoff’s machinations. When he was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Abramoff had enlisted Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) to help influence the Florida Republican. (Miami Herald)

Wilkes’ CIA Sweet Honey Pot
Reports Laura Rozen: “A source tells me that after Wilkes got the water contract from the CIA, his nephew Joel Combs, the ostensible proprietor of Archer Logistics, called up a third party to say that they had the means to ship pretty much anything into Iraq. The gasket was now open.” (War&Piece)

Abramoff Report Due Soon
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said Wednesday that their staffs were close to finishing a final report on the Indian Affairs Committee investigation into ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s bilking of his tribal clients. McCain said he wouldn’t yet reveal what legislative fixes the report will promote. And he cautioned that there would be no dramatic revelations in the final report, whenever it’s released, and that it would focus on the prime task of the committee’s investigators: following the money trail out of the tribes and into Abramoff and Scanlon’s complicated web of lobbying, consulting and PR firms, along with numerous nonprofits. (Roll Call)

Judge Rules Against Safavian on Eve of Trial
With his trial set to begin next week, David Safavian, the former Bush administration official accused of lying about his relationship with ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, was dealt a series of setbacks by a federal judge Wednesday. Judge Paul L. Friedman has ruled against an effort by Safavian to keep jurors from hearing allegations that he gave Abramoff confidential government information about one of Abramoff’s clients. Friedman also ordered that jurors can be told the full cost of a controversial Scotland golf junket that Safavian took part in during August 2002. (Roll Call)

Giuliani visit puts Reed’s campaign in the spotlight
Until last week, the only appearance advertised on Ralph Reed’s campaign Web site was a November 2005 fund-raiser featuring Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz. While other candidates beg for attention, Reed – one of two Republican candidates for lieutenant governor of Georgia – seldom advertises his non-stop appearances across the state. Communication with supporters is done via e-mail, phone trees and conference calls. On-the-record interviews are rare. Reed will take a more public approach today, when former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani comes to Atlanta to help the candidate build his $1.1 million campaign fund. In a break with precedent, reporters have been invited to attend. (AJC)

Ethics Panel Starts 3 Probes
The inquiries by the long-dormant House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, as the ethics panel is formally known, come after the Justice Department intensified corruption investigations of Ney and Jefferson, and after Cunningham pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes and was sent to prison. (WaPo)

Ethics Probes Ney, Jefferson
By precedent and its own rules, the ethics committee normally does not get involved in matters that are already under criminal investigation by a law-enforcement agency. However, with the large number of ethics and corruption allegations surrounding Members from both sides of the aisle, Hastings and Berman urged, and their eight colleagues on the committee agreed, that the ethics panel must take on some of these high-profile cases, even if the Justice Department acts against the lawmakers before House investigations are complete, according to GOP and Democratic sources. (Roll Call)

House ignoring pledge over pet projects
Just two weeks after the House passed a reform bill requiring lawmakers to attach their names to pet projects, GOP leaders are advancing spending bills containing billions of dollars in such parochial “earmarks” whose sponsors remain anonymous. (AP)

Congressional challengers call for earmark reforms
Recent controversy over earmarks and attempts at reform have forced candidates to take a position on earmarks. (The Hill)

McKinney backs measure praising Capitol Police
Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), who could face criminal charges for striking a Capitol Police officer at a security checkpoint in March, has signed on to a resolution commending the police force for its “courage and professionalism.” (The Hill)

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