The imprisonment of a former CIA executive director in a scandal is shaming for the U.S. intelligence community.
The imprisonment for three years of a former CIA executive director in a massive political corruption scandal is deeply shaming for the U.S. intelligence community.
The third most powerful man in the organisation, Kyle Foggo always claimed that his habitual use of prostitutes was so well-known that it posed no threat, but his colleagues were unaware that he was part of a well-connected regular poker game with pals, including a congressman, Randy Cunnngham, that also engaged in kickback schemes, including one that supplied bottled water to troops in Afghanistan, and another involving the employment of contractors at massively inflated fees.
A former CIA station chief in Honduras, Foggo suffered the humiliation of being arrested in his office at Langley and walked out of the building by the FBI. His guilty plea to charges of fraud, corruption, conspiracy and money-laundering was, he said, because he wanted to spare the Agency further embarrassment.
Cunningham is already serving a sentence of eight years, and the entire episode is deeply shaming for an organisation that should be focused on supporting the front-line troops and not exploiting their willingness to put their lives at risk.