The Biggest D.C. Spy Scandal You Haven’t Heard About (Part One)
While Fai’s arrest was noted by many press outlets and a smattering of articles appeared in the subsequent days, within a week the story virtually vanished from the establishment media.
The New York Times reported on Fai’s arrest, and the following day published an article announcing denials by Burton and his congressional colleagues that they had any knowledge of Fai’s ties to Pakistani intelligence. The last mention in the newspaper of the matter was less than a week later, when they reported that the FBI had attempted to arrest Fai several times, only to be stymied by the State Department and the CIA, who wanted to avoid heightening tensions with Pakistan. And except for a two-sentence mention on the New York Times India blog, the matter then disappeared from their pages entirely.
The Fai arrest got the same treatment from the Washington Post, which ran two stories and a short blog post in the days following Fai’s arrest, and later made short mention of his guilty plea. The paper has published nothing since.
The only full-scale treatment of the Fai matter and his influence on Capitol Hill was an October 2011 investigative piece by ProPublica researchers published by The Atlantic that outlined Fai’s background and lobbying efforts, as well as the extensive evidence compiled by the FBI in the case.
One might have at least expected a flurry of reporting when Fai pled guilty and was later sentenced to two years in prison, Alas, no. Nor was there any discussion of the 26-page Statement of Facts signed by Fai where he admitted in detail to his crimes outlined in FBI Agent Linden’s July 2011 affidavit.
The ambivalence about one of the biggest foreign intelligence influence operations on Capitol Hill in our lifetimes extended to Capitol Hill itself. No handwringing, no committee hearings or investigations, no press conferences by members of Congress explaining exactly how they had been duped for 20 years.
The Hill also made short work of the Fai affair, merely noting his arrest, guilty plea, and sentencing. No in-depth reporting, no stonewalling by congressional spokesmen, and certainly no chasing down members of Congress in the halls asking for comment.
About the only response from Congress was a two-paragraph press release from Rep. Burton’s office claiming he knew nothing, and promising to turn over the amount received by Fai to the Boy Scouts. In a brief interview with Rep. Joe Pitts by Lancaster (PA) Online, Pitts said in response to Fai’s arrest: “It never appeared to me that Dr. Fai was a lobbyist for Pakistan.” With respect to Fai’s attempt to influence him, “it didn’t work”.
In recent months I’ve conducted briefings for congressional staff and members of Congress on the Fai matter, and without exception have been met with blank faces and surprised stares.
So was the 20-year illegal lobbying effort by Ghulam Nabi Fai on behalf of Pakistan’s intelligence service really much ado about nothing? Was Rep. Pitts right that Pakistan’s influence operation on Capitol Hill “didn’t work”?
Or might there be something larger at work? Could it be that there’s more to the story of Ghulam Nabi Fai and the Kashmiri American Council than what you read in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Hill?
The story of Pakistan’s two-decade influence operation in the heart of Congress, the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon is the biggest Capitol Hill spy scandal you’ve never heard about.
In Part Two, I’ll tell you the reason why.
Hey lets take these “infiltration of US Government” stories one at a time. I am not interested right now in the has been Pakistani’s who have fallen out of favor anyway with Obama because they are always trying to make him look bad. I am more interested in the Muslim Brotherhood who is infiltrating our entire nation with the help of the current administration and of course the usual congressional brainless drones that protect these punks like Uma you know who and Keith Ellison. Why has the number of mosques in the USA doubled since 911? Why do most of them have radical leadership from Egypt? Why do we put up with this crap when you cannot carry a bible into these hell hole countries that generate this fanatcial scum?
So forgive me for yawning unless your mission is to fill up the air waves so we don”t actually pursue the Muslim Brotherhood story and the real threat–at least for the moment.
Tommy, fair-enough, it’s not the biggest story, but it’s a good bust, you gotta give’em that, fella.
I remember a book published during the throes of the Cold War with the striking title, “You can trust the Communists (to be Communists)”. It seems that many politicians as well as naive adults continue to believe that people with a particular ideology can be or are different from those they regard as extreme or fringe elements to that group.
I cannot remember the arguments of the book but the title gives us a stark warning which we need to apply to the kind of people Poole writes about, “You can trust the Muslims (to be Muslims).” They are quite happy to use taqiyya, that is concealment or deception, to further their ideological and religious aims. Are the extreme, radical Muslims simply an aberration or do they perhaps reflect a consistent understanding of taking the teaching of the Qur’an to its logical conclusion?
I recall the observation of a student from a Christian family who boarded with and became a good friend to a Muslim family. He noticed that the young people, who were at first critical of much of Islam, changed their views when they married and settled down in family life. I wonder if it is not the “bad” or “disloyal” Muslims, the ones who do not take their Qur’an seriously, that non Muslims find to be decent people? It appears that those who are faithful to the Qur’an are actually those who want Sharia Law with all its horrible practices.
Some will jump on my comments and say that religion is the problem in our world and that secularism is the solution. Others will say that religion is a good thing and advocate tolerance towards Islam. Both ignore the real problem. Good Muslims, “good” because they rigorously adhere to the Qur’an and the teaching of Islam, are the most dangerous and biggest threat to those who reject their teaching. In contrast the most dangerous “Christians” are those who abandon the teachings of the Bible. Those who take to heart the teaching of Jesus Christ strive eagerly to love God wholeheartedly and to show a caring and compassionate love towards their neighbors and even their enemies.
Would be interested to hear your comments on this….
“…Dr. Fai begins a two-year imprisonment term on July 10, 2012 for violating certain tax laws related to non-profit organizations. On March 30th he was sentenced to two-year imprisonment for conspiracy and violations of certain tax laws. Although initially charged under the FARA [Foreign Agents Registration Act] as an unregistered agent of Pakistan, Dr. Fai was never convicted on this allegation, which seemed clearly intended to support negotiations the U.S. and Hillary Clinton were engaged in with India at the time, according to Paul Barrow, Director of United Progressives and the Director of American Affairs for the International Council for Human Rights and Justice.
During the hearing Dr. Fai’s attorney Nina Ginsburg stated: “Judge, I think (Assistant U.S. Attorney) Mr. Kromberg’s arguments to the Court are appalling. [Federal investigators] have a lot of words that were captured in intercepts, 20 years of intercepts, hundreds of thousands of interprets, and **Mr. Kromberg cannot stand in front of this Court with one example of a statement, a public statement by Dr. Fai, a writing by Dr. Fai, a position taken at a conference he sponsored, not one, not one word, that is anything that could be characterized as propaganda for the Pakistani government.”***
He took a plea deal, which is why the FARA charges were dropped. If you read the FBI affidavit, there’s no doubt that they could have proved their case if they decided to move forward. The USG wanted this case to go away, and the State Dept and CIA actively obstructed the FBI prior to his arrest.
As for his attorney’s statements, that’s a flat-out lie contradicted by the 26 page Statement of Facts (linked in the article) that her client signed as part of his plea deal where he admitted he was the ISI’s stooge. The FBI said that 80% of Fai’s statements were verbatim from the statements prepared by his ISI handlers based on the thousands of emails between Fai and his handlers.
The fact remains that Fai is in federal prison and he fully admitted to his crimes.
Thanks for the reply and insight. Why were State and the CIA so keen to sweep it under the rug?
Thank you for this one, buried in plain view for years. Lots of blanks to fill in, BUT…
Congressional Pakistan Caucus…annual Kashmir Peace Conference on Capitol Hill…twenty years of infiltration. WTF, WTFF? The FBI did us proud here, by all accounts.
Ding-dong Dan Burton’s defense was ‘Who knew?’, which in the real world doesn’t even add up to plausible denial — and is a good measure of arrogance, contempt, vanity and credulity. Starting point: You should have known, you dope.
Off with his head. And the heads of all his horses.
Yes, as poster says, you can indeed ‘trust Muslims to be Muslims’. And, at the bottom of the barrel, you can trust Pakistanis to be Pakistanis. For some reason, nearly one billion Indians are allowed to say so regularly, but we aren’t. How racist.
Dan Burton is clean. If anything sinister happened, it happened outside of his knowledge, period. The larger question goes more to the idea of loose campaign donations and where they come from. Republican and Democrat politicians have to raise significant campaign funds to be elected or reelected. It’s clear that anyone who has the mind to donate with the intention of gaining influence can. Of anyone in Congress, Burton can’t be bought. This isn’t Abramoff. But someone went to prison and rightfully so.
Clean? You can’t possibly know that. What we do know is that many don’t share your whitewashed view of Burton. He’s a thirty-year trougher with plenty of dirt stuck to him, though he passes the country-club test that soothes some: former real estate and insurance salesman, Freemason, hated Clinton, etc.
But remember: this is the pontificating toad who railed about moral purity during the Clinton/Lewinsky mess who then turned out to have had at least one extramarital affair that produced a child; who helped screw up the Whitewater investigation by relying on bad/untrustworthy evidence; who put his daughter on the campaign payroll as ‘office manager’ and promptly paid her more than $140k in campaign funds; and (personal favorite) who said “I take full responsibility for all the mistakes” during the Webster Hubbell doctored tapes scandal — and then fired a staff member instead of resigning himself. Great guy, huh?
One can go easily go on, but the point is clear. The good news, AFAIK, is that he’s sticking to his plan to retire asap, so he’s about to become irrelevant — unless, perhaps, faced with a plea bargain. What, exactly, does the FBI know?
You seem to believe, or at least hope, this is all moot and the door is closed. We’ll see.
You know we have been going through some quite difficult times w/r to our supply lines for Afghanistan through Pakistan over the past year or so. It seems to me that instead of putting this guy in jail we should have used some “smart diplomacy” to make use of back channels to help resolve the supply lines issues. But maybe that’s me just using simplistic, red neck thinking.
Be careful, Mr. Poole, or you may find yourself facing the wrath of John McCain for implicating his Shugah Pie Huma…..
Just one thing to remember, the ISI is Al Queda.
That’s all we need to know.
I can understand why Obama/Hillary haven’t held them to account, but Bush?! He knew better!
Pakistan needs to pay for Al Queda and the deaths of our citizens and soldiers. Wazeristan should be a free fire zone where the ROE are anyone with a weapon dies, and the CIA should be crawling all over Pakistan. If they get in our way, they need to pay, hard.
We should be strengthening our ties with India very publicly.
The Paks need to be put in a very tight vice.
Their duplicity needs to be punished severely.
The lack of direct action against pro Al Queda Pak elements show just why Obama is such a disaster as commander in chief. Same goes for clueless Hillary.
It’s embarrassing how incompetent these two fools are.
I agree. Let’s let all foreign agents such as American Israel Public Affairs Committe register with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
AIPAC takes neither money nor direction from Israel. Thus they don’t fit the definition of foreign agents under FARA and don’t need to register. Just because you don’t agree with the position of this organization advocating for a strong US-Israel relationship doesn’t make them foreign agents.
All you need do is look at their Wikipedia entry to see that assertion doesn’t hold water. They were founded as a firewall for the American Zionist Committee, which *was* required to file under FARA. An Air Force Colonel has gone to jail for passing secrets to AIPAC employees for crying out loud. Usually, spies are considered “foreign agents.”
I don’t think they’re the worst offenders, as Israel is at least ostensibly an ally, though it is grotesque that they get away with it in broad daylight.
China (China Open Shipping company) and Saudi Arabia (everyone standing next to Bandar bin Sultan) are arguably worse. The list is long: Georgia runs a particularly ham-fisted operation, Taiwan is pretty overt sometimes. Even our friends the South Koreans have dirty hands.
We all know of the infiltration by the Islamist, but how many know what Islam truly is and what they intend? Everyone should read John Daniels book, ‘THE COMING: A TRUE STORY OF HORROR’, @ amazon.com. though written as a work of fiction, I fear this is indeed a prophetic vision of our future.
FAA Documents Raise Questions About Safety of Drones in U.S. Airspace BY G.W. SCHULZ, 08.14.12
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/08/faa-documents-raise-questions-about-safety-of-drones-in-u-s-airspace/
I plain don’t get it, what did anyone possibly think the Kashmiri Council was gonna be all about? Shocked, I tell you, shocked. Not.
Silent Running Russian attack submarine sailed in Gulf of Mexico undetected for weeks, U.S. officials say
http://freebeacon.com/silent-running/
How does this differ from say, Conservative Friends of Israel and Labour Friends of Israel? Can’t see the difference myself. Lobbyists are lobbyists. Why single out the Pakistanis?
From the sound of it it looks like we were intercepting all those ISI messages. Maybe that’s why we kept him around so long – with a tap on his phone.
No wait, that would be competent. Strike that.
Of course Burton insists that “he knew nothing.” Just look how far his cronies in the Republican leadership were willing to go with Congresswoman Bachmann and the other 4 signatories when they requested a review of Muslim Brotherhood penetration inside the USG in just the same way as Pakistani ISI (and Turkey,and …). Easier to disgrace concerned (and correct) colleagues.
They work hard to ensure that they “know nothing” so they can sleep at night taking money by those who seek to penetrate them in furtherance of undermining our national security. And they are penetrated (yes, paint the visual picture).
After all, its not like we have troops in combat in that part of the world … oh, yes, I guess we do. As with Pakistan, so with the Muslim Brotherhood in America. Its easier to trow your fellow Members to the wolves to ensure you never know than to have a f@%$-ing clue. Just listen to the YouTube clips. As they say in Blazing Saddles, their tongues are as smooth as a $20 …
So seductive! Just like the MB! How is it that the was allowed to catch the Pakistani’s? As the new counterintelligence standard is that “nice” overcomes all evidentiary questions regarding being under foreign influence or engaging in espionage, one wonders whether the FBI could pull it off since the new “Huma” standard. Remember, when senior Republicans viciously attacked Bachmann, those knifing her in the back had nothing more concrete to say abut Huma than that she was “nice” – you know, just like the Pakis and the MB. Come to think of it, maybe they don’t want to know how duplicitous they have been and that IS why they want to throw peers under the bus. What’s national security when there is PAC money to be had!
The corruption is in precisely the fact that they take the money having also taken active measures not to know! Bachmann shows how far they will go to ensure blissful ignorance. I just hope, for their sake, that the survivors of killed American troops don’t do the math on this!
EE
For the last 20 Years!!! That means 1992, years before Pakistan tested and compiled their A Bombs. And unlike Iraq and Iran, the U.S. public didn’t know anything about it before hand. Now we are engaged in Pakistan to protect those A Bombs from falling into terrorist hands. Any connection?? Mr. Poole, I know you are very careful (and accurate) in your reporting but there appears to be a lot more worth pursuing. Thank you for your efforts so far.
When you have the best government money can buy it’s always on sale.
How many other foreign governments are “spreading the wealth” to get their share of the spoils from the United States.
Change alright…
Pakistani, in this case is synonymous with muslim, which is synonymous with terrorist. Any intrusion by the obvious America hating, Osama sheltering, foreign aid begging Pakis should be embarrassing enough for us to see a host of resignations in our so called security people.
But it’s easier to kill the story than find a job if you’re a total incompetent.
As the story goes: “All Fai had to do was register his organization with the attorney general under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)”.
Whatever happened to the old “equal protection under the law” concept?
Why isn’t the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act(FARA)? There is no doubt they get their marching orders from Israeli leaders. If you don’t realize this you undoubtedly believe in the tooth fairy and the easter bunny!
Reading an excellent book, Descent into Chaos by Ahmed Rashid, about our bungling Afghanistan and Pakistan. Shows total duplicity of Pakistan and the ISI.
I love this kind of stuff.
The ISI is considered by spy geeks as the #1 intelligence agency on the planet. ISI has never been penetrated.
We convoy massive amounts of material through Pakistan to support our troops in Afghanistan. We need to deal with the Paks.
The spy world is incredibly murky. We got a small look into it with Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson affair/Yellow-Cake affair. Everybody chooses the version of the facts that most suits their objective/point-of-view.
Back in the 70′s Morris Childs was big hitter in CPUSA. Every year he would go to the Soviet Union to confer with Soviet Leadership and advise them about the inevitable decline of Capitalism in the USA. The only trouble was that Morris Childs was spying on the Russians for the FBI. Morris gave a peek behind the scenes to US politicians who were negotioating with the Russians.
Could Mr. Fai be a double agent getting a light 2 year jolt at “club fed” as to square things up for past transgressions.
All this stuff is like a 3-D chess game. Look forward to part 2.
He picked the wrong party. If he had just donated a larger sum to the dumbocrats, this would not even be a story. Even better, he should have been one of the owners of Maobama’s house in Chicago.