{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Short description|American former CIA officer convicted of fraud}} {{Infobox person | name = Kyle Foggo | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Kyle Dustin Foggo | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1954|11|21}} | birth_place = San Diego, California, U.S. | education = | alma_mater = San Diego State University | occupation = CIA operative | years_active = | known_for = Fraud and honest services fraud conviction | criminal_charges = Honest services fraud, conspiracy, money laundering | criminal_penalty = 37 months in federal prison at Pine Knot, Kentucky | criminal_status = Released | spouse = | children = | parents = | relatives = | employer = Central Intelligence Agency | title = Executive Director | term = October 2004 – 2006 | predecessor = | successor = | module = | footnotes = }}

'''Kyle Dustin''' "'''Dusty'''" '''Foggo''' (born November 21, 1954), is a former American government intelligence officer.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nndb.com/people/125/000159645/ |title=Entry for Dusty Foggo |work=NNDB |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140401210610/http://www.nndb.com/people/125/000159645/ |archivedate=April 1, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> He was convicted of honest services fraud in the awarding of a government contract and sentenced to 37 months in the federal prison at Pine Knot, Kentucky.

The executive director (EXDIR, the number three position) of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) until 2006, Foggo was charged on February 13, 2007, with fraud and other offenses. This indictment was superseded and expanded with an indictment returned on May 10, 2007, charging fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in relation to his dealings with defense contractor Brent R. Wilkes. On September 29, 2008, Foggo pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment, admitting that while CIA executive director he steered a CIA contract to the firm of his lifelong friend, Brent R. Wilkes.<ref name="pleads guilty"/> In a pre-sentencing report filed by prosecutors in February 2009, Foggo was also described as having a record of on the job corruption and off the job assaultive behavior stretching back 20 years.<ref name=Barakat_presentancing>{{cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2009Feb25/0,4675,CIABribery,00.html |date=February 25, 2009 |title=Feds: Misconduct by CIA's Foggo spanned decades |first=Matthew |last=Barakat |agency=Associated Press |publisher=Fox News |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302120925/http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_wires/2009Feb25/0%2C4675%2CCIABribery%2C00.html |archivedate=March 2, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Biography == Foggo grew up in the San Diego, California, area and attended Hilltop High School and later San Diego State University.

After brief experience in law enforcement, Foggo entered the CIA through the Presidential Management Intern program and spent much of his career managing and awarding various contracts. Foggo began in what was then known as the CIA's Directorate of Administration (DA) which handled a significant portion of the agency's contracting. He spent most of his CIA career in Management General Services, but also did a stint in the Directorate of Science and Technology.

Foggo's early postings included stations in Europe and Latin America, including a position in Honduras in the 1980s where he worked with the US Ambassador to Honduras, John Negroponte, who would go on to become the Director of National Intelligence. Foggo was also chief of the CIA's support base in Germany, the base responsible for providing Middle East stations (including Iraq) with logistical support.

As EXDIR, he was responsible for executive management of the CIA bureaucracy. He was appointed, in October 2004, by then-Director of Central Intelligence Porter Goss over the objections of CIA staff.<ref name=NYTimes-2009-08-12> {{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/13foggo.html | title=Interrogation Inc.: A Window Into C.I.A.'s Embrace of Secret Jails | work=New York Times | date=August 12, 2009 | first1=David |last1=Johnston |authorlink=David Cay Johnston |first2=Mark |last2=Mazzetti |author-link2=Mark Mazzetti | accessdate=March 16, 2010 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803230131/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/13foggo.html | archivedate=August 3, 2017 | url-status=live | quote=Mr. Foggo, nicknamed Dusty, was known inside the agency as a cigar-waving, bourbon-drinking operator, someone who could get a cargo plane flying anywhere in the world or quickly obtain weapons, food, money — whatever the C.I.A. needed.}} </ref>

== Criminal investigation ==

Foggo was charged on February 13, 2007, with fraud and other offenses.

Foggo was also investigated by CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson for involvement in the Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham corruption investigation due to his personal and professional connections with Cunningham co-conspirator Brent Wilkes. Other agencies involved in the investigation include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the United States Attorney's Office in San Diego.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/washington/11cnd-foggo.html |title=F.B.I. Says House of Ex-C.I.A. Deputy Is Searched |author=Mark Mazzetti |date=May 12, 2006 |work=The New York Times |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430013719/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/washington/11cnd-foggo.html |archivedate=April 30, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Cunningham scandal involved defense contractors who paid bribes to members of Congress, and officials in the Defense Department, in return for federal contracts. Most notable among the recipients of the bribes was Cunningham, who pleaded guilty to receiving over $2.3 million in bribes. The primary defense contractors were Mitchell Wade (owner of MZM), who also pleaded guilty, and Wilkes (owner of ADCS Inc.). Wilkes was named as "co-conspirator #1" in Cunningham's plea agreement.

Foggo and Wilkes are longtime friends. They attended school together at Hilltop High School in Chula Vista<ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-02-27 |title=Ex-CIA official Foggo gets 37-month sentence |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2009/02/27/ex-cia-official-foggo-gets-37-month-sentence/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-02-13 |title=Ex-CIA Man Charged In Bribery Case - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ex-cia-man-charged-in-bribery-case/ |access-date=2025-03-11 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> and San Diego State University, served as best men in each other's weddings, and named their sons after each other.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060304-9999-1n4foggo.html |title=No. 3 CIA official investigated on ties to Wilkes |author=Dean Calbreath |date=March 4, 2006 |work=San Diego Union-Tribune |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309104122/http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/politics/20060304-9999-1n4foggo.html |archivedate=March 9, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Suspicions were raised when Foggo, a mid-level career manager, was promoted to be the number three official of the CIA. Investigations have centered on whether Foggo helped steer agency contracts to companies run by Wilkes. Specifically, one of Wilkes' corporations received at least one CIA contract to supply bottled water to CIA personnel in Iraq during the invasion in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2006/1/18/14621/8812 |date=January 18, 2006 |title=A New Case of CIA Waterboarding?|work=tpmcafe.com |author=Larry Johnson |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614165042/http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2006/1/18/14621/8812 |archivedate=June 14, 2006 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/02/06/national/w112205S50.DTL&type=politics |title=Water Deal Exposes Secret Iraq Contracts |work=SFGate.com |date=February 7, 2007 |author=Katherine Shrader |author2=Allison Hoffman |agency=Associated Press |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208235754/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2007%2F02%2F06%2Fnational%2Fw112205S50.DTL&type=politics |archivedate=February 8, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On May 8, 2006, ''Newsweek'' reported:

<blockquote>[A] source has told ''Newsweek'' that Foggo had acknowledged to associates that he may have tipped off Wilkes that CIA contracts were coming up for bid &mdash; an activity which, according to the source, Foggo said was neither improper nor illegal. The source is close to a group of poker players who took part in a 1999 game arranged by Wilkes and attended by Foggo, Cunningham and a nine-fingered former CIA officer named Brant Bassett, who worked for Goss when the outgoing CIA chief was House Intelligence Committee chair. Foggo denies giving Wilkes any such tip-offs, according to another source close to the outgoing CIA official; Bassett and lawyers for Wilkes and Cunningham had no comment.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.newsweek.com/changing-guard-110191 |title=CIA: As Hayden Named, Agency's No. 3 Leaves |author=Mark Hosenball |date=May 7, 2006 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615162541/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12689791/site/newsweek/ <!-- archive copy of newsweek url not working--> |archivedate=2006-06-15 |url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

The same day, the ''New York Daily News'' reported:

{{quote|The investigations have focused on the Watergate poker parties thrown by defense contractor Brent Wilkes, a high-school buddy of Foggo's, that were attended by disgraced former Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham and other lawmakers.

Foggo has claimed he went to the parties "just for poker" amid allegations that Wilkes, a top GOP fund-raiser and a member of the $100,000 "Pioneers" of Bush's 2004 reelection campaign, provided prostitutes, limos and hotel suites to Cunningham. ...

Wilkes hosted regular parties for 15 years at the Watergate and Westin Grand Hotels for lawmakers and lobbyists. Intelligence sources said Goss has denied attending the parties as CIA director, but that left open whether he may have attended as a Republican congressman from Florida who was head of the House Intelligence Committee.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/behind-goss-toss-w-alarmed-panel-sealed-top-spy-fate-article-1.636298 | author=Richard Sisk |location=New York | work=Daily News | title=Behind the Goss toss | date=May 7, 2006 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429212604/http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/behind-goss-toss-w-alarmed-panel-sealed-top-spy-fate-article-1.636298 |archivedate=2014-04-29 |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

On May 12, 2006, law enforcement officials executed search warrants on Foggo's house and office.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/13/washington/13foggo.html |title=C.I.A. Aide's House and Office Searched | author=Mark Mazzetti |author2=David Johnston | work=The New York Times | date=May 13, 2006 | page=A-10 |accessdate=November 27, 2006 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901085448/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/13/washington/13foggo.html?ex=1305172800&en=3fcfceb9c19a6b0e&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |archivedate=September 1, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> The same day, the Copley News Service reported that Foggo's home in Vienna, Virginia, had been raided by federal agents. The agents reportedly refused to answer questions about the purpose of the raid or what agency they represented.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060512-0906-foggo.html |title=Federal agents raid home of CIA's former No. 3 boss|author=Jerry Kammer |author2=Marcus Stern|work=San Diego Union-Tribune |agency=Copley News Service|date=May 12, 2006|archivedate=March 9, 2012 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309104129/http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/nation/20060512-0906-foggo.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

On February 13, 2007, Foggo and Wilkes were indicted by the US Attorney's Office in San Diego.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/documents/indictment_foggo_wilkes.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025204417/http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/documents/indictment_foggo_wilkes.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 25, 2007 |title=Indictment of Brent Wilkes and Dusty Foggo|date=February 13, 2007 |publisher=US District Court, District of Southern California}}</ref> Subsequently, Foggo pleaded "not guilty" to 30 counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Prosecutors dropped objections to moving the corruption case against the former CIA official from San Diego to Virginia. This indictment was superseded and expanded with an indictment returned on May 10, 2007, charging fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in relation to his dealings with defense contractor Brent R. Wilkes.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/state/20070511-1559-ca-congressman-bribery.html |title=New charges filed against former top CIA official, contractor |author=Allison Hoffman |date=May 11, 2007 |work=San Diego Union-Tribune |agency=Associated Press |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140430231446/http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/state/20070511-1559-ca-congressman-bribery.html |archivedate=April 30, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>

On September 29, 2008, Foggo pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment, admitting that while CIA executive director he steered a CIA contract to the firm of his lifelong friend, Wilkes.<ref name="pleads guilty">{{cite news|url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/20080929-1220-bn29foggo.html |title=Foggo pleads guilty to fraud |first=Debbi |last=Baker |work=San Diego Union-Tribune |date=September 29, 2008 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120014944/http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/politics/cunningham/20080929-1220-bn29foggo.html |archivedate=January 20, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In a presentencing report filed by prosecutors in February 2009, Foggo was also described as having a record of on the job corruption and off the job assaultive behavior stretching back 20 years.<ref name=Barakat_presentancing/> Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Forge, speaking for the prosecution, stated that Foggo's acceptance of responsibility was too vague to warrant having his sentence reduced, as Foggo did not "admit that he had betrayed his CIA comrades through his crimes" while repeatedly claiming he was a patriot who "sacrificed for them by accepting the prosecutor’s plea agreement".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stern |first1=Marcus |title=Disgraced Senior CIA Official Heads to Prison Still Claiming He’s a Patriot |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/disgraced-senior-cia-official-heads-to-prison-still-claiming-hes-a-patriot |publisher=ProPublica |access-date=22 September 2025}}</ref>

== Notes == {{reflist}}

== References == *[https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1684086&page=1 Exclusive: Top CIA Official Under Investigation], ABC News, March 3, 2006 *[http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=32916&dcn=todaysnews Contracting probe could extend to CIA] GovExec.com, December 4, 2005 *[http://archive.lewrockwell.com/walker/walker38.1.html The CIA: Dust, Fog, and Dusty Foggo] by Bill Walker, LewRockwell.com

{{authority control}} {{Cunningham scandal}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foggo, Kyle}} Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:American prisoners and detainees Category:San Diego State University alumni Category:CIA agents convicted of crimes Category:Criminals from San Diego Category:People from Chula Vista, California Category:People convicted of honest services fraud Category:People from Vienna, Virginia Category:Hilltop High School (Chula Vista, California) alumni Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government