Prosecutors said that in addition to the promise of a lucrative job, Foggo received lavish gifts from Wilkes, including meals, private jet flights, a Hawaiian vacation and a weeklong stay valued at $44,000 at a Scottish castle.
The two had been friends since the early 1970s, when they were on the same high school football team in Chula Vista. They were roommates at San Diego State University, and each served as best man at the other's wedding.
Many in the agency were stunned when Goss selected Foggo for the agency's third-ranking position. Foggo had never served as a case officer or an analyst -- the jobs that typically garner the most respect within the CIA. But as a procurement officer at a secret CIA post in Frankfurt, Germany, he was in a position to cultivate contacts with members of Congress and other influential officials who visited during overseas trips to war zones. Goss had served as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee before being named CIA director.
Goss' tenure as director was marked by clashes between his senior aides and longtime agency veterans, some of whom resigned in protest over what they described as disrespectful treatment.
The tumult became a distraction at the agency, which was already struggling to manage the demands of its pursuit of Al Qaeda and the spiraling violence in Iraq.
Foggo's legal troubles became a source of particular embarrassment in May 2006, when his CIA office and his home were raided by federal agents as part of a widening criminal investigation.
Agency veterans said they could not recall a case when the FBI had raided an office at CIA headquarters.
A CIA spokesman declined to comment on Monday's guilty plea, except to note that the CIA inspector general's office had initiated an internal probe and cooperated with the FBI investigation.
Current CIA Director Michael V. Hayden eliminated the executive director position after joining the agency in 2006.
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greg.miller@latimes.com
