Pentagon silent on inquiry into Cunningham contracts

[NorthernSun]

By Otto Kreisher
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE - August 4, 2006

WASHINGTON – Eight months after former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham confessed to taking massive bribes in exchange for providing at least $230 million in questionable defense and intelligence contracts, the Defense Department inspector general still has not determined whether any of those projects were improper.

A spokeswoman for the Project on Government Oversight, which has been following the Cunningham scandal, said the group did not understand why the Pentagon inspector general could not determine the propriety of those contracts after eight months. The Foreign Supplier Assessment Center was being run by Athena Innovative Solutions, which acquired “selected assets” of MZM, including “all of the existing contracts,” in August 2005, according to a news release issued at the time by Athena's parent company, New York-based Veritas Capital

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060804-9999-1n4duke.html

[Tight_rope]

1. Of course the Defense Department inspector general can't determine

whether any of those projects were improper. The fucker is part of Bushco...Duh!

[gratuitous]

2. Oh! You expected us to follow through!

Geez, I know you guys asked about this eight months ago, but we never dreamed you'd come back looking for an answer. Okay, just a second. {Sound of papers riffling} All done. Yep, every contract was totally proper and in order. Happy? All square now? Good. Now, leave us alone.

[donkeyotay]

3. Tight-lipped?

"...officials have been tight-lipped about the status of other taxpayer-funded work that may have been tainted, including a secret counterintelligence program . . . Projects cited in the documents included ... a top-secret program called CIFA, or Counterintelligence Field Activity; the Defense Joint Counterintelligence Program, which is part of CIFA"

So the military and the CIA and the GOP have made hash of the constitution. Big deal. Don't get tight-lipped or investigate or ask tough questions. We weren't using our civil rights anyway. 9-11 changed everything.

[donkeyotay]

4. This must be the Friday news dump

To recap, the CIA was caught using the GOP to earmark taxes for military contracts and no one cares. If the military/intell/republicannutjob complex was spying on us, what are the chances they also use their skills in rigging elections?

Who cares?

[donkeyotay]

5. And don't forget Abramoff and White Oak Technologies

They were CIFA, too.

[mom cat]

6. Stone walling.

[rodeodance]

8. its the Sen. Roberts model (phase II)

[mom cat]

9. Good one!

[rodeodance]

7. “If one exists, it would be improper to comment,” (no comment )

......This week, the Pentagon announced that it would not renew one contract related to the scandal. But officials have been tight-lipped about the status of other taxpayer-funded work that may have been tainted, including a secret counterintelligence program. In fact, although several other Defense Department public affairs personnel and a congressional press aide have said in the past that an investigation into the Cunningham-linked contracts was being conducted, the inspector general's spokesman said yesterday that “as a matter of policy, we do not confirm or deny the existence of ongoing investigations.”

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“If one exists, it would be improper to comment,” Army Lt. Col. Brian Maka said. “Obviously, if one does not exist, there would be nothing to say.”

There also have been no formal findings presented by the House panels on which Cunningham served while he channeled taxpayer dollars to two companies that gave him at least $2.4 million in cash, antiques and other gifts.

[ShockediSay]

10. they say WHA-A-A-A-??? nt

[chill_wind]

11. MZM goes everywhere, including direct ties to the White House.

This iceberg goes wide and deep.

see also:
Rose Siding
Tue Jul-11-06 05:54 PM
MZM Worked Prewar Iraq Intelligence

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=221719

Among topics and revelations touched on there:


Did MZM, Other Companies Staff Bush Intel Panel?
By Justin Rood - March 22, 2006, 9:26 AM

White House Linked to Mitch Wade Iran Group?
By Josh Marshall - March 7, 2006, 11:20 AM

Rolling Stone - ROBERT DREYFUSS Apr 18, 2006
The Pentagon's New Spies


Intelligence Center, Contractor MZM on Cozy Terms
By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 17, 2005; Page A07

"Now, during 2004, the Federal Procurement Data System lists 444 procurement contracts for the Executive Office of the President (that's the official name for what we colloquially refer to as 'the White House'). Most of those contracts are what you'd expect for a large office complex -- computer services, shipping, office supplies, etc.

But three stand out: three contracts, for a total of $254,437, for unspecified "intelligence services."

Those three contracts were awarded to Mitchell Wade's MZM, http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000045.php

Search Results:
March 22, 2006, 09:34 AM EDT
More signs that those mysterious White House MZM contracts were tied to the president's private Iraq intel commission....

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/000045.php

March 17, 2006, 10:40 PM EDT
The story continues to unfold. Jonathan Landay tonight in Knight-Ridder: "A Pentagon intelligence agency that kept files on American anti-war activists hired one of the contractors who bribed former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif., to help it collect data on...

We won't get even a remotely serious investigation under a Republican controlled WH, Pentagon and Congress. Forget it.

(italics and bold-face mine)

[chill_wind]

12. kicking. nt