Political Skullduggery

The case of corrupt defense contractor Mitchell Wade is hardly unknown to regulars to this blog. See Cunningham Pre-Sentencing Memo Brings Bad News, CIFA: A Money Pit, The Odious Rep. Katherine Harris, Time For "Dukestir" To Pay The Piper, Wade's MZM Skullduggery Revisited, et al.

Today brings the news that the Pentagon is shutting down the intelligence center that was created as part and parcel of Wade's largesse.

The Pentagon has decided not to renew a contract with a company caught up in the scandal involving former House member Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.), forcing the closure of an intelligence center in Virginia that grew out of a 2003 "earmark" in legislation by Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. (R-Va.).

The Defense Department decided in early June to terminate the Foreign Supplier Assessment Center (FSAC) in Martinsville, Va., according to a statement from the Pentagon yesterday. The reason, according to the statement, was that "the U.S. government has other entities that provide similar services." ...

When it opened in 2004, the center had the task of checking on the ownership of foreign companies that had contracts with Pentagon agencies. Yesterday's Pentagon statement listed four other government entities that provide those services, including the Intelligence Community Acquisition Risk Center and the National Security Agency....

The original contract went to MZM Corp., whose former president, Mitchell Wade, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bribery and election contribution fraud. In his plea agreement, Wade acknowledged being told by congressional staff members that Goode had put an earmark for several million dollars in the defense bill for the FSAC facility. MZM was subsequently sold, and the contract went to Athena Innovative Solutions Inc. Athena did not respond yesterday to a request for comment.

Court papers associated with Wade's guilty plea said that "Representative A," identified as Goode, received $46,000 in contributions from Wade that were disguised to appear as if they had come from MZM employees in 2003 and 2005. That was part of about $90,000 Wade and his workers contributed to Goode overall.