October 24, 2005 -- Another major espionage scandal brewing at the Pentagon? According to Pentagon insiders, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has been the focus of another espionage investigation. As with the espionage scandal involving former DIA analyst Larry Franklin and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the investigation of DIA has been plagued with external political pressure because of the issue of possible dual loyalties of the principal suspects. In the case of Franklin, the investigation involves American citizens with close ties to Israel. In the other DIA matter, Chinese-Americans are the prime suspects.
The Department of Defense, Department of Justice, DIA, Defense Security Service, and the National Security Agency (NSA) have all reportedly been involved in the cover-up of an investigation into the penetration of DIA's critical counter-terrorism elements, including Able Danger, by at least one individual suspected of links to Chinese (PRC) intelligence.
The Bush administration has actively downplayed the fact that U.S. intelligence has been penetrated by Israeli and Chinese intelligence agents. However, the White House spin machine has been successful in ensuring that the spy scandals are "managed" properly. In the case of AIPACgate, the spin machine malfunctioned as assuredly as it has with CIA Leakgate. Which brings us to the newly-named Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. See following article.
October 24, 2005 -- Paul McNulty as Deputy Attorney General. US Attorney for Eastern Virginia Paul McNulty has been described as a GOP foot soldier. However, while serving as US Attorney for Eastern Virginia, McNulty has been a thorn in the sides of the neo-cons. He aggressively investigated and indicted Israeli Pentagon spy Larry Franklin and two former top officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). His investigation of others involved in transmitting highly-classified intelligence to Israel continues.
However, what is not generally known is that, aside from AIPACgate, McNulty, like US Attorney for Northern Illinois (and Special Prosecutor in Leakgate Patrick J. Fitzgerald), aggressively pursued another case against a group of neo-cons involved in a criminal conspiracy.
As with Fitzgerald, whose investigation of Hollinger (the neo-con news conglomerate that owns the Chicago Sun Times, Daily Telegraph of the UK, and Jerusalem Post) and one of its principals, Richard Perle, McNulty focused on a neo-con cabal involved in a fraudulent US Air Force contract with Boeing to supply it with refueling tankers. The Principal Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and Management Darleen Druyun pleaded guilty to accepting employment from Boeing in return for giving Boeing favorable treatment for billions of dollars in contracts. Druyun served nine months in prison.
Fitzgerald and McNulty: Battling Neo-cons Together since 2002
A Senate Armed Service Committee investigation discovered that former Air Force Secretary James Roche, another leading neo-con and ally of Donald Rumsfeld, was actively favoring Boeing over a more competitive tanker proposal from Airbus Industries. Rumsfeld tried to make Roche the Secretary of the Army, but his nomination was withdrawn over the Boeing scandal.
Another reported focus of McNulty's investigation of the neo-con cabal at the Pentagon was one-time Chairman of the Defense Policy Board Richard Perle. Perle was a strong advocate for the Boeing tanker lease. In their investigation of the fraudulent Air Force-Boeing tanker deal, federal prosecutors also reportedly focused in on a $20 million investment by Boeing in Trireme Partners, LP., a venture capital firm run by Perle.
McNulty's team was very aggressive in pursuing the Air Force and Boeing principals and their associates. It was an investigation, like that against AIPAC, that did not earn McNulty any points with the neo-cons.
Patrick Fitzgerald is also focusing on Perle as a board member of Hollinger International Inc. Fitzgerald and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Hollinger's former chairman Lord Conrad Black for securities fraud. Hollinger Digital's $2.5 investment in Trireme is also reportedly part of the investigations. Perle was head of Hollinger Digital at the time. Fitzgerald recently indicted Hollinger principal and former Chicago Sun Times publisher David Radler, another leading neo-con, on fraud charges. Fitzgerald successfully "flipped" Radler who is now cooperating with federal prosecutors in the expanding case against other leading neo-cons.
Essentially, Fitzpatrick and McNulty have had the same group of "connected rooted aspens" (to paraphrase Scooter Libby) under investigation for a number of years. The promotion of McNulty to number two at DOJ and Fitzgerald's forthcoming major indictments are all indications that the White House is coming under "new management," management directed by Bush's father's team. The days of the neo-cons are truly numbered.