“Nine Fingers” and the Third Man

Justin Rood at TPM Muckraker posted an interesting story yesterday, explaining why the Bush Administration’s explanation for Porter Goss’s sudden departure from the CIA looks increasingly lame. Here’s another piece of evidence suggesting that the CIA chief’s dismissal was wholly unexpected: one of Goss’s top aides traveled to Iraq just days before his boss was let go and had absolutely no idea of what was coming down the pike. “The turf-battle line is purely a cover story,” said a former CIA official I spoke with. “The reason they had to act now was because they were scared about what’s going to come out about [the Cunningham scandal].”

Goss has no direct role in the Cunningham affair, at least nothing that has been definitively reported, but several key people close to him do. They include Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, whom Goss had picked to fill the number-three slot at the CIA and who resigned yesterday, and Brant Bassett (nickname “Nine Fingers”), previously a CIA official and senior staffer on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence when Goss was chairman.

Foggo is closely tied to Brent Wilkes, the San Diego defense contractor who is alleged to have bribed Cunningham and provided him with prostitutes. Foggo has admitted he was at some of Wilkes’s now-infamous parties at Washington hotels—though he denies any knowledge of the prostitutes—and the CIA and law enforcement authorities are carefully examining his relationship with the defense contractor. Newsweek has reported that Foggo, Cunningham, and Bassett/“Nine Fingers” attended a Wilkes poker party at the Westin Grand Hotel.

I’ve learned that Bassett’s role in the broader story may be more involved than that. Two former CIA officers told me that Foggo, Bassett, and a third man—a CIA official close to Goss, whose name I learned but am withholding because he remains undercover—have been friends for years and worked together overseas. According to these two sources, Bassett and the undercover officer (whom Goss brought up to the 7th Floor at Langley when he took over the CIA) positioned Foggo to be picked by Goss for the number-three slot.

Perhaps more importantly, I’m told that Bassett, like Foggo, has connections to Wilkes. Bassett was born in 1949 and raised in the San Diego area (home turf to Wilkes, Foggo, and several other players in the Cunningham affair), where he attended Escondido High School. According to two sources, Bassett and Wilkes know each other and have ties that go beyond the merely social. Bassett has been deployed by the CIA to various overseas assignments and has seen duty in Mexico and Germany, among other places; he previously used State Department and United States Information Agency cover.

Foggo, said my sources, is considered a competent administrator, if not a shining star. “He’s a great logistics guy,” one former intelligence official told me. “He makes the trains run on time. If you need something delivered to Afghanistan, he can make it happen.” But Foggo has apparently gotten into personal trouble at the agency on a few occasions (see Jason Vest’s April 28 post at the POGO blog, which refers to those matters), and one important, not-yet-answered question is: why would Goss name Foggo, a man whom he knew to have a checkered past, to such a high position at the CIA?

So now two of Goss’s close associates, Foggo and Bassett, have a lot of explaining to do about their relationship with Brent Wilkes—”the pivotal figure in the Cunningham affair. And just today, TPMMuckracker pointed out that Gen. Michael V. Hayden, President George W. Bush’s nominee to replace Goss, once hired the services of MZM, the firm owned by Mitchell Wade; Wade has admitted to bribing Randy “Duke” Cunningham. Maybe a coincidence, but definitely an odd one.

Update, 5:47 PM: TPM Muckraker has now reported that Bassett received a $5,000 consulting fee from Brent Wilkes; I had heard of this and have just obtained documentation on the fee. See page 2 of this financial disclosure form (PDF) filed by Bassett when he was on the Hill.

Update May 10, 12:30 P.M.: Time Magazine has now followed up on this story.

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