Pete Hoektra’s Exquisite Art of the Non-Answer

This Week had Terry Moran with Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan and a congressional panel with Representative Jane Harman, Sens. Susan Collins, Joe Lieberman and Representative Pete Hoekstra who is currently running for Governor in Michigan. You have to give it to Terry, for trying. Excerpted from the transcript.  

MORAN: One more note on politics, Congressman Hoekstra. Once upon a time, there was a tradition of solidarity in refraining from criticizing the president at the time the nation was under attack. Three days after this attempt to kill 300 people over the skies of Detroit, you sent out a fundraising letter, and I'd -- I'd like to read a portion of it so our audience gets the full flavor of it.

You said, "I have pledged that I will do everything possible to prevent these terrorists from coming to Michigan, but I need your help. If you agree that we need a governor who will stand up to the Obama-Pelosi efforts to weaken our security, please make a most generous contribution of $25, $50 or $100, or even $250, to my campaign." Given that tradition, that once was part of this country, are you proud of that, of fundraising off of a national crisis like that?

HOEKSTRA: Well, I've been leading on national security for the last nine years that I've been on the Intelligence Committee. You know, over the last two to three months, I've been very concerned about where there administration has taken us on national security issues.

The refusal to acknowledge that the Fort Hood attack was a terrorist attack...

MORAN: But I'm asking about raising money off the attempted murder of 300 people three days after it occurred.

HOEKSTRA: I -- I am proud of the role that I have played in making sure that America is safe.

MORAN: And raising money off it?

HOEKSTRA: I've been right on the facts all along on this -- on the recent attacks, the connections with Yemen. The -- the differences between this administration and myself have been purely substantive. They have been policy. I've been trying to drive this administration in a policy direction that keeps America safe.

I think if you listen to the language that we have heard over this -- this morning, with the guests that you've had on the program, we are now at a point where we have come back. We've got -- we've got some political disagreements or policy -- excuse me -- we've got some policy agreements, but we also have a recognition that this threat is real, it is imminent, and that we need to come together in a bipartisan basis to fix it.

MORAN: All right.

Ah, shame on you, Terry Moran! How dare you question that somebody who has been leading on national security for years?  Just because he’s running for governorship in a state with over 15% unemployment, raising funds off the attempted murder of 300 people three days after it occurred doesn’t mean he is an opportunistic loaf of bread ... or does it? We need more people like him who can scare us out of our wits; because if not him, who will? If not now, when?

No better time than now to say boo!

Espionage Conspiracy: Myers Couple Pleads Guilty

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The Department of Justice announced on November 20 that a former State Department Official and his wife have pleaded guilty in a 30-year espionage conspiracy:

A former State Department official and his wife have pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from their roles in a 30-year conspiracy to provide classified U.S. national defense information to the Republic of Cuba.[…]At a hearing before Judge Reggie B. Walton, defendant Walter Kendall Myers, 72, aka "Agent 202," pleaded guilty to a three-count criminal information charging him with conspiracy to commit espionage and two counts of wire fraud. His wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, aka "Agent 123," and "Agent E-634," pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging her with conspiracy to gather and transmit national defense information.

As part of his plea agreement, Kendall Myers has agreed to serve a life prison sentence and to cooperate fully with the United States regarding any criminal activity and intelligence activity by him or others. As part of her plea agreement, Gwendolyn Myers has agreed to serve a sentence of between six and seven and a half years in prison and to cooperate fully with the United States.

Both defendants have agreed to the entry of a monetary judgment against them in the amount of $1,735,054. The assets that will be forfeited to the government towards satisfaction of that judgment include: an apartment in Washington, D.C., a 37-foot sailing yacht, a vehicle, and various bank and investment accounts.

According to the plea agreements, factual proffers and other documents filed in court today by the United States:

Kendall Myers began working at the State Department in 1977 as a contract instructor at the Department’s Foreign Service Institute (FSI) in Arlington, Va. After living briefly with Gwendolyn in South Dakota, he returned to Washington, D.C., and resumed employment as an instructor with FSI. From 1988 to 1999, in addition to his FSI duties, he performed work for the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR). He later worked full-time at the INR and, from July 2001 until his retirement in October 2007, was a senior intelligence analyst for Europe in INR where he specialized on European matters and had daily access to classified information through computer databases and otherwise. He received a Top Secret security clearance in 1985 and, in 1999, his clearance was upgraded to Top Secret / SCI.

Gwendolyn Myers moved to Washington, D.C., in 1980 and married Kendall Myers in May 1982. She later obtained employment with a local bank as an administrative analyst and later as a special assistant. Gwendolyn Myers was never granted a security clearance by the U.S. government.

Read the whole thing here including the background of the case, the CuIS recruitment, and the undercover operation that lead to the couple’s arrest.

Related Post:Alleged Cuban Spies Fall for a Cigar

Related Item:Cryptome: USA v. Walter and Gwendolyn Myers Page

US Visas for $12,000 in Ukraine?

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The FBI Cleveland office has just announced the arrest and charges filed in a lengthy investigation involving members of a criminal organization that trafficked in fake documents and fraudulent US visas in Ohio and Ukraine.

The investigation was reportedly started in December of 2007 when information was received that individuals in the Cleveland Ukrainian community were involved in a scheme to bring foreign nationals to Cleveland, Ohio and help them fraudulently obtain real Ohio driver’s licenses for a fee, issued by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) by a Deputy Registrar working for this criminal organization.

The FBI says that an undercover FBI agent was able to fraudulently obtain a real Ohio Driver’s License in August of 2008 for $3000 from this criminal organization. The investigation showed that this criminal organization operated for at least four years, charging foreign nationals, most of whom are unlawfully present, between $1,500 and $3,000 for Ohio driver’s licenses, and Ohio state identification cards using either fraudulent documentation or none at all.

The FBI also says that during the course of the US-based investigation, the investigators in Cleveland discovered evidence that the criminal group in Ohio were working with criminal counterparts in Ukraine. Together, they fraudulently obtained United States non-immigrant visas for Ukrainian nationals who then traveled to Ohio and other points in the United States. The visas were obtained from the United States Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, allegedly through corrupt Ukrainian national employees of the US Embassy.The investigative team from Cleveland, the FBI’s Legal Attaché’s Office in Kyiv, and Diplomatic Security Service Special Agents assigned to the US Embassy in Ukraine investigated the Ukrainian criminal group jointly with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Organized Crime Department over the course of many months. The criminal group allegedly charged each visa applicant $12,000.00. As a result of the joint international investigation, seven members of the Ukraine-based criminal organization, including two Embassy employees, were officially detained today in Ukraine by investigators of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs for violation of Ukrainian laws.

I inquired from the press office of US Embassy Kyiv if they have an official statement, but zip, nada. Usually comes with the territory for bloggers in pjs, btw. From my experience, only the press office at US Embassy Kabul is accommodating. Even when they can't give you the info you want, they at least, take the time to write back. End of rant, moving on.

Read the whole thing here.

Related Item:Inspection of Embassy Kyiv, UkraineOIG Report Number ISP-I-07-17A | March 2007

Who's Storming Which Office to Sink Al Franken’s S.Amdt. 2588?

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Sam Stein at Huffington Post has just posted an update on Al Franken’s Senate Amendment that has now been called the Anti-Rape Amendment.

An amendment that would prevent the government from working with contractors who denied victims of assault the right to bring their case to court is in danger of being watered down or stripped entirely from a larger defense appropriations bill.

Multiple sources have told the Huffington Post that Sen. Dan Inouye, a longtime Democrat from Hawaii, is considering removing or altering the provision, which was offered by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and passed by the Senate several weeks ago.

Inouye's office, sources say, has been lobbied by defense contractors adamant that the language of the Franken amendment would leave them overly exposed to lawsuits and at constant risk of having contracts dry up. The Senate is considering taking out a provision known as the Title VII claim, which (if removed) would allow victims of assault or rape to bring suit against the individual perpetrator but not the contractor who employed him or her.[…]The second-longest-serving member of the United States Senate, Inouye is a veteran of WWII. The chairman of the Committee on Appropriations, he has received $294,900 in donations from the defense and aerospace industries over the course of his career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

According to the report, "[t]he defense contractors have been storming his office," said a source with knowledge of the situation.”

Read the whole thing here.

Ugh!!! I’ve just thrown my shoes at my computer screen. But that won’t help.

We can help! Please make time to contact Senator Inouye and tell him not to strip or water down the Franken Amendment, S.Amdt. 2588, from the defense appropriations bill. Call him in DC at Phone: 202-224-3934, Fax: 202-224-6747; in Honolulu at Phone: 808-541-2542, Fax: 808-541-2549; in Hilo at Phone: 808-935-0844, Fax: 808-961-5163. If you’re a HI voter, you can email him here.Call Capitol Hill and tell your senators to keep the Franken Amendment in the bill. Capitol switchboard phone: 202- 224-3121 to contact your senators. Here is Majority Leader Harry Reid’s Office contact numbers: Phone: 202-224-3542, Fax: 202-224-7327. If you’re a NV voter, you can also email Senator Reid here.

Related Post: Who Will Sink Al Franken's S. Amdt. 2588?

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• Franken's Anti-Rape Amendment May Be Stripped By Senior Dem, Sources Say (huffingtonpost.com)

Arrest in Kickback/Bribe Scheme on Iraq Reconstruction

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Former DOS program manager charged

Mary Beth Sheridan of the Washington Post reports on a former State Department program manager in Iraq who has been charged with accepting tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for steering contracts to Iraqi construction firms (WaPo |October 21, 2009):

The criminal complaint, unsealed Monday in U.S. District Court in western Texas, charged Richard Lopez Razo, 52, with illegal receipt of kickbacks and bribes and with wire fraud. He was arrested Friday in Sterling and later released on his own recognizance, court documents said.From 2005 to July 2008, Razo worked in Iraq as a logistics specialist for three U.S. companies, according to the complaint. It alleges that during that period he requested tens of thousands of dollars in bribes from Iraqi subcontractors for lining up construction contracts. The subcontractors sent some of the money to Razo's North Carolina bank account via wire transfers, according to the allegations.

Razo began work for the State Department as a provincial program manager in Iraq in September 2008, with oversight for reconstruction projects in the south, according to the court documents.

The news item posted in Huffington Post has additional details of the case here, including specific allegations in the 16-page affidavit executed by James Wray, a special agent with the SIGAR’s office. I'm trying to locate the unsealed complaint; DOJ has nothing online on this as of this writing.

* * *

Updated: From the State Dept DPB on October 21, 2009:

QUESTION: Ian, any reaction to the State Department official charged with taking kickbacks from reconstruction contracts in Iraq?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. I don’t have a reaction, per se, because we don’t want to really comment on an ongoing criminal investigation, which is what we’re talking about here. I can talk to you about what his status was with the Department of State. He had a temporary Civil Service appointment to the State Department that was limited to Iraq only and limited to a particular timeframe. And he began employment with the Department of State in July of 2008, and his employment terminated just last week.He was a provincial program manager on the Maysan Provincial Reconstruction Team in Iraq. And in this role, he would have had – he would have managed U.S. Government projects and programs designed to improve stability and security in Iraq. But beyond that, I really can’t say any more.QUESTION: Did the State Department play any role in the investigation?MR. KELLY: I can’t really comment on that, I’m afraid.QUESTION: Well, was he – what was the length of his contract? Did it run its course or was he --MR. KELLY: It – the contract ran out on October 16.QUESTION: So he wasn’t fired, in other words?MR. KELLY: No, because his contract ran out.

Who Will Sink Al Franken's S. Amdt. 2588?

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The H.R. 3326 Department of Defense Appropriations Act 2010 bill was passed by the House on July 30, 2009, and by the Senate on October 6, 2009. GovTrack’s last update on Oct 19, 2009 12:11pm indicates that the bill may now proceed to a conference committee of senators and representatives to work out differences in the versions of the bill each chamber approved. The bill then goes to the President before becoming law.

There were about 85 amendments proposed in this bill. One of those that has attracted a greater share of attention is Senator Al Franken’s S.Amdt. 2588: “To prohibit the use of funds for any Federal contract with Halliburton Company, KBR, Inc., any of their subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other contracting party if such contractor or a subcontractor at any tier under such contract requires that employees or independent contractors sign mandatory arbitration clauses regarding certain claims.” The Franken amendment passed: Yea-Nay Vote 68 – 30 with these Republican legislators voting “no.”

The amendment was prompted by this victim who was gang-raped in Baghdad. The victim according to Mother Jones was “forced into mandatory binding arbitration, a private forum where Halliburton would hire the arbitrator, all the proceedings would be secret, and she'd have no right to appeal if she lost.” It took three years just to get the court to agree that she can sue. Read more here.

Mr. Jefferson Sessions [R] of Alabama says, “The amendment would impose the will of Congress on private individuals and companies in a retroactive fashion, in validating employment contracts without due process of law. It is a political amendment, really at bottom, representing sort of a political attack directed at Halliburton, which is politically a matter of sensitivity. Notwithstanding, the Congress should not be involved in writing or rewriting private contracts. That is just not how we should handle matters in the Senate, certainly without a lot of thought and care, and without the support or at least the opinion of the Department of Defense.”

As if by speed mail, DOD came through with an opinion. Ryan Grim reports in the Huffington Post on the Department of Defense’s position on Franken’s anti-rape amendment:

"The DoD opposes the proposed amendment," reads a message sent from the administration to the Senate on October 6, the day the amendment passed by a 68-30 vote. "The Department of Defense, the prime contractor, and higher tier subcontractors may not be in a position to know about such things. Enforcement would be problematic, especially in cases where privity of contract does not exist between parties within the supply chain that supports a contract," reads the DoD note. "It may be more effective to seek a statutory prohibition of all such arrangements in any business transaction entered into within the jurisdiction of the United States, if these arrangements are deemed to pose an unacceptable method of recourse."

What? That sounds like a cracker bonbon!

RfR asks, “Whats the big deal?” and writes: “The 2010 Franken Senate Defense Appropriations Amendment overreaches into the business of private enterprise. Defense contractors are a part of the functioning free market; not the Federal Government. A handful of isolated assaults is no reason to summon the interference of the Federal Government and Congress. This amendment interferes with the privacy of companies and the ability of our defense contractors to effectively conduct the business of protecting America from terrorism.” Read here why RfR exists.

Yeah, right, of course. This is nothing but a political amendment and has nothing to do with protecting working people. Yes, enforcement would be problematic, wouldn't it? And expensive. They may have to add a few more millions on the government's tab. Oh, heavens! They may have to spend more time screening people before they send them off to work in the red zones!Holy mother of goat and all her crazy uncles!

The business of America is business, but at what cost? See that’s actually 30 out of 100 United States Senators who voted in favor of business interests over the rights and dignity of individual victims. Congress could pass laws cutting off highway funds to States which didn’t raise their drinking age to 21 but some legislators don't want to do anything about this because well, what if these companies don't want to work for the taxpayers anymore? Then what? Yep, where would they be if they can't bid on our lucrative contracts?

This makes me want to weep and throw my shoes at the somebodies. Really.

* * *

If Liz Were Queen posted yesterday that there is talk that the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) may allow this amendment to be stripped out or watered down. She also has a list of talking points in her site when talking to your representatives. Go, please call 202-224-3542 and tell the Majority Leader not to strip or water this down. Call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and tell your senators to keep the Franken Amendment, S.Amdt. 2588, in the defense appropriations bill.

Related Post:Oct 22: Who's Storming Which Door to Sink Al Franken's S. Amdt 2588?Congressional Record

• [Page: S10146] GPO's PDF
• [Page: S10147] GPO's PDF
• [Page: S10148] GPO's PDF

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Indictment on Kickback Scheme in Afghanistan

Second person indicted for alleged kickback solicitation over USAID security contract

USAID/Afghanistan’s Infrastructure ProjectPhoto from USAID/LBG Massoud Hossaini

This is an excerpt from the USDOJ October 8 press release:

Ryan Scott McMonigle, 37, of Ponca City, Okla., was indicted today for his alleged role in a scheme to solicit kickbacks in connection with the award of a security services subcontract to protect U.S. government personnel and contractors in Afghanistan, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division Christine A. Varney and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is the principal federal U.S. agency that extends assistance to countries that are recovering from disaster, are trying to escape poverty and are engaging in democratic reforms. The agency works to support long-term and equitable economic growth and advance U.S. foreign policy objectives.

In August 2006, USAID awarded a $1.4 billion contract known as the Afghanistan Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (the AIRP contract). The AIRP contract required the award of numerous subcontracts, including for the provision of security services to protect AIRP workers.

According to the indictment, McMonigle was employed from approximately February 2009 until May 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan, by Civilian Police International, a Virginia-based company that provides law enforcement training internationally. The indictment alleges that McMonigle, Bryan Lee Burrows and others conspired to solicit kickbacks from security vendors in return for favorable treatment for those potential bidders in connection with the award of a subcontract to provide security services to protect USAID personnel and contractors in Afghanistan operating under the AIRP contract.

McMonigle is charged with one count of conspiracy to solicit a kickback and one count of aiding and abetting the solicitation of a kickback.

Burrows pleaded guilty on Sept. 2, 2009, to conspiring with others to solicit kickbacks from the security vendors in return for favorable treatment for those potential bidders in connection with the award of a security services subcontract.

If convicted, McMonigle faces up to 10 years in prison on the kickback solicitation charge and an additional five years in prison on the conspiracy charge, as well as a fine of $250,000 for each charge.

Read the whole thing here.

Related Items:

• DOJ: Press Release | September 2009: Oklahoma Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Solicit Kickbacks in Connection with Government Contract in Afghanistan | Bryan Lee Burrows, 42, of Wagoner, Oklahoma | Read file
• DOJ: Antitrust Division Filing: August 2009 | United States v. Scott "Max" Anthony Walker and Ryan Scott McMonigle | Read file
• Affidavit in Support of Criminal Complaint and Arrest Warrant | Read file

USAID Contractors Plead Guilty

Two separate cases within 8 days

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On September 2, an Oklahoma man pleaded guilty today for his role in a scheme to solicit kickbacks in connection with the award of a private security services subcontract to protect U.S. government personnel and contractors in Afghanistan. The man identified by DOJ as Bryan Lee Burrows, 42, of Wagoner, Okla., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in the Eastern District of Virginia to one count of conspiracy to solicit a kickback.

In August 2006, USAID awarded a $1.4 billion contract known as the Afghanistan Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project (the AIRP contract). The AIRP contract required the award of numerous subcontracts, including for the provision of security services to protect AIRP workers. According to court documents, from approximately February 2009 through May 2009, Burrows was employed in Kabul, Afghanistan, by Civilian Police International, a Virginia-based company that provides law enforcement training internationally. Burrows admitted that he conspired with others to solicit kickbacks from private security vendors in return for favorable treatment for those potential bidders in connection with the award of one or more subcontracts. According to court documents, the subcontracts provided for private security services to protect USAID personnel and contractors in Afghanistan operating under the AIRP contract.

On September 9, Delmar Dwayne Spier, the chief executive officer and managing director of United States Protection and Investigations, LLC (USPI), pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to conspiracy, major fraud and wire fraud arising from an alleged scheme to defraud the United States. His wife, Barbara Edens Spier, the president and owner of USPI, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States in connection with U.S.-sponsored rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan.

From the DOJ press release:

According to court documents, USPI, a Houston-based security firm, was a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) based on a USAID contract with the Louis Berger Group Inc. (LBGI) as part of the Rehabilitation of Economic Facilities Program (REFS Program). The REFS Program was developed by USAID to provide a broad range of assistance to the people of Afghanistan. Under the USAID contract with LBGI, LBGI constructed a variety of infrastructure improvements, including electrical facilities, health facilities, schools and irrigation systems. USPI provided security at many LBGI construction sites.

According to court documents, the USPI subcontract was a cost-reimbursement contract, which required LBGI and ultimately USAID to reimburse USPI for all incurred expenses and pay USPI a fee equivalent to a percentage of its incurred expenses.

Delmar Dwayne Spier, 73, of Houston, admitted in his plea before U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer today that from June 2003 through July 2007, he defrauded the United States by obtaining reimbursement for inflated expenses purportedly incurred by USPI for rental vehicles, fuel and security personnel. Delmar Dwayne Spier and Barbara Edens Spier, 60, also of Houston, admitted before Judge Collyer today that they conspired with USPI employees to fabricate invoices from fictitious companies to obtain reimbursement from LBGI and ultimately from USAID to cover USPI’s inflated expenses.

The Spiers’ plea agreements require them to forfeit $3 million in proceeds that can be traced to the fraud. The conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The charge of wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The charge of major fraud carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and a $1 million fine. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled for either defendant.

Delmar Dwayne Spier and Barbara Edens Spier were initially indicted, along with former USPI employees William Felix Dupre and Behzad Mehr, on Sept. 30, 2008. Dupre is scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 10, 2009.

In a Mother Jones article profiling the Spiers' company, USPI, Daniel Schulman quoted a contractor saying that "Everyone's accountable in the end." Schulman concludes that "there's a big difference between being accountable and being held to account. The latter comes only after you've been caught."

More to come?

Donald Gambatesa, Inspector General, U.S. Agency for International Development who recently testified at the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs hearing on “Afghanistan and Pakistan: Accountability Community Oversight of a New Interagency Strategy” says that his office has opened 44 investigations that have resulted in 8 indictments, 9 arrests, and 3 convictions, and that savings and recoveries have totaled $87 million.

The State Department’s OIG office says that during fiscal year 2009, its Middle East Investigative Branch’s investigations in Afghanistan include: Six (6) open investigations and four (4) preliminary inquiries, covering alleged criminal violations such as Fraud, False Statements, Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Sexual Exploitation of a Third Country National, Unlawful Arrest/Detention, Reprisal, Assault, Embezzlement, Kickbacks, International Traffic in Arms violations, Human Trafficking, and Federal Acquisition Regulations violations.

Related Item:Mother Jones (7/27/09): The Cowboys of Kabul by Daniel SchulmanHow a pair of bankrupt Texas grandparents cashed in on Afghanistan's contracting bonanza

US Embassy Kabul: POGO Story Day 4

MSNBC is reporting that the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said Friday it had fired eight guards following allegations of lewd conduct and sexual misconduct in their living quarters. Two other guards had resigned, the embassy said in a statement. See the coverage here. I have not seen the official statement; will post it when I find it.POGO has also issued a statement on the ArmorGroup guard firings here.Updated: Statement from US Embassy Kabul dated September 4 added below:

September 4, 2009U.S. Embassy Statement on Local Guard ForceThe U.S. Embassy has taken further steps to investigate the unacceptable behavior of the employees working for Armor Group North America under contract to the Department of State:-- Ten guards seen in the offensive photos are leaving the country today; eight were terminated and two resigned.-- The entire Senior Management Team of Armor Group North America in Kabul is being replaced immediately.-- The Embassy Security Office continues its interviews of every one of the Armor Group guards.-- The team from the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has arrived in Kabul and has begun a full investigation.In addition, the Embassy takes this opportunity to urge all employees of all contractors working for the U.S. Government in Afghanistan to report any employment issues to the hotline of the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction: (website: www.sigar.mil\fraud, e-mail: hotline@sigar.mil, phone: +93(0)700107300).We will continue to take every possible step to ensure the safety and security of U.S. Embassy personnel, while respecting the values of all Afghans, Americans and contract employees and visitors from other countries.

The POGO story also continues to make it into the Daily Press Brief, so the interest on this story has yet to dissipate. As of September 4, three investigations has been reportedly started: 1) by SIGAR, 2) by Management/DS, and 3) by the US Embassy Kabul. A regular OIG inspection is reportedly going to be conducted at the US Embassy Kabul within the next couple of months, too. I don't know why they're not conducting a unified investigation here. Are those supervisors and guards going to be interviewed three times by three different teams conducting three investigations resulting in three reports?

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US Foreign AID: Developmentally Disabled?

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Remember Senator Leahy calling USAID “a check-writing agency” in Ken Dilanian’s article in USA TODAY? Well, here is Ken Silverstein, the Washington Editor for Harper's Magazine in this month’s issue:

"Staff and budget cuts, which began in the 1980’s and accelerated under the Bush Administration, transformed USAID from an agency that ran its own development projects into a pass-through for taxpayer money to private companies and nonprofits, many of which seems to exist only to garner government contracts.”

Nothing more than a check-signing agency? A pass-through as in "transit"? Why not a water trough, given all the goats and cows that drink from it?

Ken Silverstein pens Developmentally Disabled: Why foreign aid to Afghanistan stays in America in the September issue of the magazine. It is a shocking catalog of what has been done in the name of development. And he’s only talking about Afghanistan, where $7.9 million billion has been allocated in the last 7 years and where he said “much of this money […] never made it to Afghanistan, largely because half of all USAID funds end up being spent on American companies.”

According to this piece, USAID hired a contractor in 2002 to conduct an assessment of Afghanistan’s infrastructure need, “essentially allowing the company to determine the need for projects on which it would later bid.” It seems that road building is a popular project in Afghanistan. Silverstein writes that 20% of USAID funding in the country is allocated to road building. So I went and look it up. Here is the lowdown: in FY2002 - FY2006 Obligations, roads accounted for 24% of the money in Afghanistan. But in FY2007 - FY2008, roads accounted for 30% of the total budget request – just $763 million and change. In fact, according to SIGAR's report to Congress, USAID is overseeing the Ring Road project, which is working to rehabilitate the Afghan roadway system. When completed, approximately 60% of Afghans will live within 50 km of the Ring Road. As of September 2008, more than 1,650 miles of road had been constructed or rehabilitated with support from USAID.

Of course, no one expects USAID employees to actually do the building of roads; it’s not an inherent government function. So the professional road builders were called in, just like the school builders were called in, as well as experts in power, alternative agriculture, democracy, rule of law, etc. etc. etc.

This will make you cringe as a taxpayer; cover your eyes if you don't want to get mad:

Some items Silverstein cited in this article would make any taxpayer cringe, understandably and may make you want to throw shoes at your computer monitor:

• The Kandahar-Kabul-Heart highway was a project originally estimated at $155 million. By the time it was completed, a year later than contracted, it cost $730 million.
• A nonprofit group contracted to build 60 schools and clinics completed nine and 19 months later, the company had “pulled all of its officials […] before USAID’s Office of Inspector General could audit the project.”
• Silverstein calls “Technical Assistance” a code for “near-mandatory consulting programs.” USAID consultants can earn up to $1,000 a day, and the total annual cost of one contract employee can reach $500,000.
• Tragicomic results: Silverstein says that experts sent did not bother to confer with counterparts on the ground. A company was contracted to rebuild Afghanistan’s agricultural economy including repair and upgrade of the irrigation canals in Helmand Province. Helmand, of course, is the world's largest opium-producing region, responsible for 42% of the world's total production. Silverstein concludes that “in effect, USAID helped finance a surge in the world’s heroin supply."

The last item is too funny; if only it does not make me want to bang my head on my newly painted wall and scream waaa!

And that’s not even the best part – Silverstein writes that “Many firms responsible for the problems in Afghanistan continue to win contracts” and that one company is actually is hiring for the position of “chief of party” for an anticipated USAID project. No language proficiency in Dari or Pashto, or experience in the region needed. But apparently the company had the good sense to require fluency in English. {Oh, holy mother of goat and all her fancy nephews!}Harper’s Online is only available to subscribers. You may read the issue highlights here (see page 2) or if you have a subscription to Harper’s you may access the full article here (see page 68).

As an aside - SIGAR told Congress in July it is examining how USAID provides oversight of contracts for Afghanistan reconstruction. Auditors are reviewing USAID’s current contract files as well as prior work done by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the USAID Office of the Inspector General (USAID OIG), and the Commission on Wartime Contracting concerning USAID contract oversight and project requirement issues. Its auditors are also reviewing the contracts that U.S. agencies have with one of the companies mentioned in Silverstein’s report. The audit, which is assessing the agencies’ oversight of the contractor as well as contractor performance, is scheduled for completion during the third quarter of 2009.Who has the cojones to clean this up?

I supposed if you follow the money, and you look under enough rocks you would eventually end up at the root cause of this problem. You might even be able to bring some of that money back and start reconstruction at home, you know. But I just don’t know who has the cojones to clean this up.

Would Secretary Clinton’s QDDR help do the job?

President Obama has recently signed Presidential Study Directive authorizing a U.S. government-wide review of global development policy. The review is co-chaired by National Security Advisor Gen. Jim Jones and the chairman of the National Economic Council Larry Summers according to this report. Review is not action, but it's a good place to start providing that they allow themselves to look at the brutal facts, the numbers game and who's feeding from this trough.

Updated: SIGAR info added.

What do you do with fraudulent naturalizations?

Michael Matza of Philliy.com (August 24) writes about how Citizenship exemption can be abused. Quick excerpt below, read the whole thing here:

Tunisian-born Sofian Khlifi, 34, is a knowledgeable man, college-educated, fluent in Arabic, French, Italian, and English - the type who, presumably, could pass the simple, brief test for U.S. citizenship.

In 2002, five years after arriving in Philadelphia, Khlifi began the process of naturalization. But the consultant he hired to help him apply, Broomall businessman Habeeb Malik, had a curious idea for greasing the skids. He took Khlifi to an osteopath in Media who, after 15 minutes, concluded he had "mental retardation, anxiety disorder, and depression. With a diagnosed learning disability, Khlifi could have become a citizen without having to take the test.

How many immigrants used the shortcut has not yet been determined. However, a federal jury already has found Malik, Ira Weiner, and another Philadelphia-area physician, Thongchai Vorasingha, guilty of naturalization fraud for participating in evaluations of at least a dozen applicants falsely labeled mentally disabled. In court documents, investigators said Weiner had told them he saw up to 150 immigrant clients in three years.

The three, set to be sentenced in October, "exposed a vulnerability" in immigration law, said Andrew McLees, who supervises investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Philadelphia. "They cheated to get naturalization, which is the golden ticket."

For this golden ticket, all the applicants needed to do was pass the civics and English portion of the test.

For the civics test, an applicant will be asked up to 10 questions from the list of 100 civics questions and answers. Applicants must answer correctly at least six of the 10 questions to pass the civics test. On the English test, there are three components: speaking, reading, and writing. USCIS says: “An applicant’s ability to speak English is determined by the USCIS Officer from the applicant’s answers to questions normally asked during the eligibility interview on the Application for Naturalization, Form N-400. Modifications were made to the reading and writing tests. The sentences included on the new reading and writing tests will not be made publicly available. USCIS released reading and writing vocabulary lists containing all the words found in the new English reading and writing tests. Applicants can use the vocabulary lists to study. Applicants must read 1 out of 3 items correctly to pass the reading test. Applicants must write 1 out of 3 items correctly to pass the writing test.”

Yep, the test is so tough that some applicants pay off somebody to say that they're not right on the head, so they need not have to take the test. Jeez! I mean, the USCIS naturalization test page is here.The July 21 press release from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) screams:

3 convicted in naturalization scheme | ICE and USCIS work together to stop fraud (reprinted in full below):

PHILADELPHIA - Two doctors and a business man were convicted today for their role in a naturalization fraud conspiracy after an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Dr. Habeeb Malik, 60, of Broomall, Penn., Dr. Ira Weiner, 59, of Narberth, Penn., and Dr. Thongchai Vorasingha, 73, of Wallingford, Penn., were convicted July 20 by a federal court jury on charges they conspired to make false statements in applications to become U. S. citizens and committed fraud in connection with the applications. Malik was also convicted of filing false tax returns that failed to report hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxable income.

According to court records, Malik owned The Foundation of Human Services in Broomall which purported to assist foreign individuals in becoming naturalized U. S. citizens. As part of the scheme, Malik would refer clients to Weiner and Vorasingha who would "examine" the clients and then complete a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) waiver form N-648.

The N-648 waiver is a Medical Certification for Disability Exceptions. The form is intended for applicants for U.S. citizenship who seek an exception to the English and civics testing requirements for naturalization "because of physical or developmental disability or mental impairment."

The waiver forms falsely stated that the applicants suffered from various permanent maladies that impaired their ability to learn English when in fact the doctors knew that the applicants did not suffer from any of these ailments and were not eligible for the waiver. Malik charged his clients approximately $2,000 for this service and paid Weiner and Vorasingha approximately $120 for the "examinations."

"This conviction is the direct result of close coordination between ICE and USCIS," said John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of ICE's Office of Investigations in Philadelphia. "What we have been able to do together is expose a conspiracy to defraud the government and put a stop to individuals seeking to exploit our nation's immigration system. This case should put others on notice that ICE and USCIS will continue to work together to combat fraud and restore integrity to our nation's immigration system."

The conviction is the result of an investigation by ICE special agents assigned to the Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force and was conducted in coordination with USCIS.

Weiner and Vorasingha face up to three years in prison. They will be sentenced on October 21 and October 22 respectively. Malik faces up to four years in prison and will be sentenced on October 20. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorneys Michael Bresnick and Richard Zack.

The funny thing is – there’s no mention on what they're going to do with the naturalized applicants (who I presumed are now, American citizens with punched golden tickets) who availed of these folks’ friendly services.Really - if ICE and USCIS want “to restore integrity to our nation's immigration system,” they can start with these individuals, yes? I see that the revocations of naturalization under INA 340(d) are judicial proceedings. But man, isn't that why the taxpayers have U. S. Attorneys working for them.

7 FAM 1230 APPENDIX D REVISED INA 340 (CT:CON-286; 03-18-2009) says that “a. The revised INA 340(a) (8 U.S.C. 1451(a)) reflects that naturalization may be revoked on the ground that the certificate of naturalization was illegally procured or was procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation.”

I'm not a lawyer -- but if an applicant paid these guys $2,150 to get off having to take the naturalization test, and there’s supporting papers that says the exception was due to “physical or developmental disability or mental impairment" when the applicant is actually of able mind and body -- tell me again that such action is not willful and not a misrepresentation.

In a Jeopardy round this would be -- What is the “rule of law”? That’s also Question 12 in the civics booklet, Learn About the United States: Quick Civics Lessons for the New Naturalization Test.

Related Items:

• 7 FAM 1200 Appendix D Fraudulent Naturalization
• USA v. HABEEB MALIK, IRA WEINER, THONGCHAI VORASINGHAGrand Judy Indictment (The Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
• USA v. Ira Weiner: Motion for Severance

US Embassy Cashier Gets 72 Months for Stealing US$488,954

Image by SqueakyMarmot via Flickr

In Singapore

This one from Sujin Thomas of The Straits Times, Singapore | August 19:

"A FORMER consular cashier at the US Embassy wanted money to renovate her flat, cover her partying expenses and other extravagances.

So Hasrinah Hassan, 35, pocketed various sums of money over six years, totalling US$488,954 ($709,935.67) through fraudulent refunds of consular fees which were paid to the US government. These fees were for the settlement of visas, passports and other services and Hasrinah's job was to ensure that they were properly accounted for.

An embassy staff member made a police report on April 2 when discrepancies on processed refunds emerged. On Wednesday, Hasrinah, 35, was jailed six years in a district court for three charges of criminal breach of trust. "

Read the whole thing here.

Back in June this year, a former employee at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti was sentenced to 18 months in prison for stealing more than $800,000 from the Department of State. That one was an embassy cashier; this one in Singapore was a consular cashier. The culprit in Haiti was running his scheme for almost five years (2003-2008) before he got caught. The one in Singapore pocketed money for over six years (2003-2009) before she was reported to the police. Why?

In the case of the embassy cashier in Haiti, he would have been supervised by the Financial Management Officer (if there was one). If the absence of an FMO, the embassy’s financial management operation would have come under the Management Officer’s responsibility. The Courthouse News Service says that the disbursement of funds from Washington into the Haitian bank accounts functioned with so little oversight that Jean Saint-Joy was able to pursue his simple scheme for five years before he was found out. It also provided the following details:

Saint-Joy admitted that from 2003 until 2008, while working at the embassy, he submitted documents to Citibank and Haitian-based Sogebank, falsely claiming he needed cash advances to pay the embassy's vendors for legitimate expenses. Saint-Joy said the embassy needed cash because during political unrest vendors accepted only cash payments. The banks advanced the money without requiring a written agreement from the embassy.

Citibank and Sogebank deposited U.S. dollars and Haitian Gourdes into Saint-Joy's cash advance account but Saint-Joy never recorded the transactions in the embassy's accounting system. Saint-Joy submitted more than 100 fraudulent replenishment requests to the Global Finance Services division of the State Department for the Citibank and Sogebank accounts.

In the case of the consular cashier in Singapore, she would have been supervised by the Accountable Consular Officer; ideally a mid-level officer. However, it would not be totally uncommon to see an entry level officer with ACO duties.

The OIG inspected US Embassy Singapore in 2005 and wrote:

Embassy Singapore's management controls are effective. Duties are appropriately separated and spot checks of staff work generally performed. The competency of American and FSN staff and the absence of endemic corruption in Singapore reduce control environment risks. These factors, however, should not lead American managers to become complacent. OIG counseled embassy management on the continued importance of management control procedures. OIG found that some duties were not assigned to individuals at a senior enough level, and the embassy was quick to correct these designations during the inspection. Full report here.

The Singapore case makes two just in 2009. Makes you wonder how this could have happened.

#1. Were there systemic holes in the management controls that have not been previously identified? Daily reconciliations, check; spot checks, check; magic wand ???

#2. Was an at cone, at grade Consular Officer tasked with ACO duties failed to do his/her job?

#3. Did the mid-level staffing deficit made it necessary to appoint an entry-level officer as ACO? Having no prior experience, and/or in the absence of local standard operating procedures (SOP) on ACO work, the officer might not have fully recognized the ins and outs of his/her duties. (My favorite Consular Officer never gets home before 6 pm. He’s out there accounting for consular stuff. Every single work day).

#4. Were entry level officers placed on rotational ACO duties? No matter how smart those ELOs may be, the culprit is often more knowledgeable and has more experience. Short-term officer rotation program ranging from 3-6 months in various consular sections including collateral duties also makes it hard for officers to get into the nitty-gritty of their jobs. If it takes you at least 3-6 months to learn your job, how do you really learn it if your entire unit assignment encompasses exactly 6 months? By the time you’ve learn enough to do your job reasonably well, you’re on to the next rung in the consular obstacle course.

The court records for either case, appears unavailable online as far as I could tell. If you know more, let me know.Finally this -- the US Embassy consular cashier in Singapore used the money to renovate her Woodlands flat and to pay for trips to Bangkok, Australia, Japan and the United States with her family. She also spent on car accessories, high-end cosmetics, perfumes, branded handbags and mobile phones. Police seized - besides cash and other items - a Prada bag and a Louis Vuitton wristlet bag.

Can you really afford a Prada bag on an FSN$$ salary? Red flags! One must not only be present but be also attentive to red flags. And to paraphrase Holmes badly -- When you have checked out the red flags, whatever red remains, however badly that red bleeds, must be the truth.

Okay, while you’re thinking about management controls, see Madam Le Consul’s list of Consular Requirements That We Might Miss (check out side bar).

Human Trafficking Right in a US Neighborhood

Wisconsin MDs Forced Woman to Work as Domestic Servant for 19 Years

The State Department has just released its 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report on 175 nations. It is the most comprehensive worldwide report on the efforts of governments to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons. The stories are deplorable, the numbers are staggering:

Victims of Trafficking
(UN International Labor Organization Estimates)

• 12.3 million adults and children at any time, in forced labor and sexual servitude
• 1.39 million victims of sex trafficking, both national and transnational
• 56% of forced labor victims are women and girls

State says that “The past year, marked by the onset of a global financial crisis, has raised the specter of increased human trafficking around the world. Two concurrent trends – a shrinking global demand for labor and a growing supply of workers willing to take ever greater risks for economic opportunities – seem a recipe for greater forced labor of migrant workers and commercial sexual exploitation of women in prostitution.”

In some places of the world, people have been living a life of daily economic crisis for years that working overseas, despite the risks, would seem like winning the "lottery."

Earlier this month, DOJ reported that Jefferson Calimlim Sr. and his wife, Elnora Calimlim, both medical doctors in Milwaukee, Wisconsin were each re-sentenced to 72 months in prison for forcing a woman, Erma Martinez, to work as their domestic servant and illegally harboring her for 19 years in their Brookfield, Wisconsin residence.

According to evidence presented at trial, Jefferson Calimlim Sr. and his wife recruited and brought the victim from the Philippines to the U.S. in 1985 when she was 19 years old. In September 2004, federal law enforcement officers responding to a tip removed the victim, then age 38, from the Calimlim’s residence through the execution of a federal search warrant. The victim testified that for 19 years she was hidden in the Calimlim’s home, forbidden from going outside and told that she would be arrested, imprisoned and deported if she was discovered.

Almost 20 years of one’s life gone – just like that.

If you read the victim’s story here, you may find that she was a victim twice over; victimized first by her employers in the United States, and second by the relatives in her home country who depended on her for everything. There is judicial remedy for the first; there is none for the second.

Her salary paid for the education of all her younger siblings, from costumes in the Christmas pageants to college computer programs. The dutiful daughter paid for her father's blood pressure medicine and her mother's tumor operation and for plots of land. She paid for a water buffalo to pull a plow on the farm, and later a Honda tractor. Martinez's mother gave her choices about where her money went: Did she want her brothers studying to be police officers or nurses? Did she want to buy dresses for her nieces for Christmas? And almost every letter came with a request for more."Your father, Glen and Nonoy Kee are also asking that you buy them a watch and a set of necklace, ring and earrings for me. My earrings have lost its shine and some of the stones have come off."

According to the 2009 TIP Report, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) certified 286 foreign adult victims in FY 2008, and issued eligibility letters to 31 foreign minors. Forty-five percent of the 286 certified adult trafficking victims were male, a notable increase from the 30 percent adult male trafficking victims certified in FY 2007 and the six percent adult male trafficking victims certified in FY 2006. Certified victims came from 40 countries. Primary countries of origin were Mexico (66), Thailand (56), Philippines (46), Korea (12), and China (8). Certification and Eligibility Letters allow human trafficking survivors to access services and benefits, comparable to assistance provided by the United States to refugees.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) provides two principal types of immigration relief authorized by the TVPA: (1) continued presence (CP) to human trafficking victims who are potential witnesses during investigation or prosecution, and (2) T non-immigrant status or “T-visas,” a special self-petitioned visa category for trafficking victims. In FY 2008, DHS/ICE’s Law Enforcement Parole Branch approved 225 requests for CP and 101 requests for extensions of existing CPs. DHS U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued 247 T-visas to foreign survivors of human trafficking identified in the United States and 171 T-visas to their immediate family members. As part of the assistance provided under the TVPA, the Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration funds the Return, Reintegration, and Family Reunification Program for Victims of Trafficking. In calendar year 2008, the program assisted 105 cases. Of these cases, two trafficking victims elected to return to their country of origin, and 103 family members were reunited with trafficking survivors in the United States. Since its inception in 2005, the program has assisted around 250 people from 35 countries.

18 Months for Theft of More Than $800,000

Former U.S. Embassy Haiti Employee Jean G. Saint-Joy Sentenced

This came from DOJ yesterday: A former employee at the U.S. Embassy in Haiti was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for stealing more than $800,000 from the U.S. Department of State.

Jean G. Saint-Joy, 44, aka Gary Saint-Joy, aka Garry Saint-Joy, a citizen of Haiti, was also ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina to pay restitution in the amount of the theft. Saint-Joy pleaded guilty on Feb. 5, 2009, in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Saint-Joy admitted that beginning in approximately 2003 and continuing until early 2008, he engaged in a scheme to embezzle funds from the State Department. According to court documents, Saint-Joy was employed as a cashier by the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from approximately 1995 until July 2008. As part of this scheme, Saint- Joy admitted he submitted and caused to be submitted false and fraudulent documents to the State Department claiming that he required reimbursement for the payment of legitimate embassy expenses.

According to court documents, Saint-Joy illegally obtained approximately $428,639 from the State Department as a result of the scheme. Saint-Joy also admitted he provided and caused to be provided false and fraudulent requests for cash advances from the embassy’s cash advance accounts with two banks in Port-au-Prince. According to court documents, Saint-Joy illegally obtained approximately $50,000 from one account and approximately $371,627 from the other account. The total amount of Saint-Joy’s theft was approximately $849,000.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Ethan H. Levisohn and Marc Levin of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section, which is headed by William M. Welch, II. The case was investigated by the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of State.

Cute Alpacas for Visas and Some Corruption News

A group of cute alpacas
From Wikipedia, licensed under cca 2.5

Despite economic troubles in the U.S., some Chinese still go to great lengths to get there. Gady Epstein of Forbes.com in Your Alpaca For A Visa? (04.23.09, 06:00 PM EDT) writes about a couple of Chinese who had posed as livestock farmers interested in buying at least 40 to 50 alpacas from a Tennessee farmer so they could get a credible letter of invitation to visit his farm and be approved for visas. He writes that “the going rate for a full-service visa package, including fake documents, coaching for your visa interview and help landing a job once you're in the U.S., is as much as $15,000 to $17,500, and for that, a customer may end up as, say, a cook in a Chinese restaurant, working 70 to 80 hours a week for less than $2,000 a month. Who wants to go to that kind of trouble to seek that kind of opportunity?”

Probably the kind who did not want to sneak through the drug-cartel infested southern border? I mean -- think about it, why would anyone want to crawl through a tunnel where who knows what you might see, or who might be shooting at you -- if there is another option? Alpacas are the other option. Or emus, wild wilkworms or nanotech spiders; heck, could be anything with a creative twist that has not been heard of before ...

The bad news for scam artists and their friends is that DS special agents who conducts visa and passport fraud and related crimes are still on the job despite demands for their services in Iraq and elsewhere. DS-assisted arrests rose for the fourth consecutive year, achieving a 23 percent increase over 2007.

Extracted from DS 2008 Year In Review

In related news in the world of scams and corruption …

A federal jury returned a guilty verdict against HASMUKH PATEL, 54, of McDonough, Georgia, on a dozen counts related to a fraud and bribery scheme and a conspiracy to encourage and induce aliens to come to and reside in the United States on April 13, 2009. Patel, a former Immigration Adjudicator with Citizenship and Immigration Services (DHS/CIS) was convicted on 12 counts.

According to United States Attorney Nahmias and the information presented in court: Witnesses testified that from March of 2005 through August 2007, PATEL took actions to bring a foreign national couple to this country based on fraudulent work visas. PATEL was found guilty of submitting fraudulent visa applications to the Department of Labor and to the Department of Homeland Security. As part of the scheme, a witness testified, he paid PATEL $100,000 to bring his brother and sister-in-law into the United States. PATEL had stated in the visa application that the foreign national woman would work in his home, caring for his wife, but she never did. Evidence at trial established that the couple instead went to Brunswick, Georgia, to work in the family convenience store. PATEL wrote a series of checks to the visa recipient to make it appear that the woman worked in his home, when she did not.


Witnesses from the United States Consulate in Mumbai, India, testified that PATEL called the consulate to vouch for the veracity of the visa application, informing a consular official he was employed by the Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Service. Consular officials later alerted investigators that the defendant was attempting to bring in another couple on the same type of temporary work visa. The evidence showed that PATEL also accessed his DHS computer to see if he or a visa recipient were under investigation. Read the whole thing here.

Still over at DHS this time with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement -- Former Deputy Assistant Director of International Operations at DHS/ICE, GERARDO CHAVEZ, was sentenced recently to 90 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to make forfeiture of various assets. Chavez, age 46, of Clifton, Va., pleaded guilty on Nov. 6, 2008 to accepting bribes in exchange for official acts and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and money laundering.

According to court documents, from August 2003 to August 2007 while serving [at the American Embassy] in Caracas, Venezuela, as a Supervisory Special Agent and Attaché for ICE (formerly U.S. Customs Service), Chavez used his official position to steer $2.8 million in sole source U.S. government contracts to Caracas-based Blindajes Del Caribe (Blincar). The contracts were to purchase and armor 4-wheel drive vehicles to be used by U.S. law enforcement and government personnel throughout the South America and Caribbean region. Chavez received kick-backs totaling $172,000 from the owner of Blincar and anticipated another $87,000 from the scheme prior to its being uncovered by U.S. government law enforcement agents. Read more here.

In the CentreView Southern Edition, the Judge was quoted as asking about Chavez’s motive. Chavez with voice breaking said, "There’s nothing I can say to change what I did; I committed a crime. The money is all gone."

"Why did you do it?" the judge asked again. Replied Chavez: "I think I was in a place where, unfortunately, I got carried away, being there in that environment." More from the community newspaper:

Crying, Chavez said, "I lost my career — something I did well for 23 years. I lost my law-enforcement retirement, my home, car, wife, kids. I’ve disgraced my family — which is the worst part. I know you’re obligated to send a message to others. I only ask that you leave me hope to be reunited with my kids within a reasonable amount of time. There’s no excuse and no explanation." "When we lose the honest services of our public servants, we lose a great deal," said [Judge] Ellis. He also noted that these vehicles "were not really well-armed," after all.

Addressing Chavez, the judge commented on his "remarkable career" and called him a person of intelligence and ability. But, he said, "Public corruption is truly a cancer on the body politic, and we need a sentence that stands as a beacon, a deterrent and a warning to other public officials that corruption will not be tolerated."

Federal prosecutors apparently also listed as an aggravating factor the fact that Chavez approved 325 preferential procedures for expediting U.S. visas applied for by business friends and as favors.