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Brent R. Wilkes
Brent Roger Wilkes (born May 21, 1954), is an American entrepreneur, defense contractor, civic leader. Wilkes became well known for his involvement with the Duke Cunningham defense contracting scandal and was indicted for his involvement in this scandal on February 13, 2007. He was indicted on new charges which superseded the previous ones on May 10, 2007. Wilkes was convicted on all 13 counts on November 5, 2007. On March 27, 2008, the Court of Appeals ordered him released on bail pending appeal, finding in part "that the appeal raises a 'substantial question' of law or fact likely to result in reversal, a new trial or a sentence not including a term of prison". On January 6, 2009, after serving eleven months in federal custody, the last six months at Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island, Wilkes was released, pending appeal. Wilkes lost his appeals and he is currently serving prison time at Bastrop Federal Correctional Institution. He is scheduled to be released on Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Defense Contractor
The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and servicing of military material, equipment, and facilities. Arms-producing companies, also referred to as arms dealers, or as the military industry, produce arms for the armed forces of states and for civilians. Departments of government also operate in the arms industry, buying and selling weapons, munitions and other military items. An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition - whether privately or publicly owned - are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination. Products of the arms industry include guns, artillery, ammunition, missiles, military aircraft, military vehicles, ships, electronic systems, military communications, night-vision devices, holographic weapon sights, laser rangefinders, laser sight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Improvised Explosive Device
An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechanism. IEDs are commonly used as roadside bombs, or homemade bombs. IEDs are generally done in these terrorism operations or in asymmetric unconventional warfare by insurgent guerrillas or commando forces in a theatre of operations. In the Iraq War (2003–2011), insurgents used IEDs extensively against U.S.-led forces and, by the end of 2007, IEDs were responsible for approximately 63% of coalition deaths in Iraq. They were also used in Afghanistan by insurgent groups, and caused over 66% of coalition casualties in the 2001–2021 Afghanistan War. IEDs were also used frequently by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka during the Sri Lankan Civil War. Background An IED is a bomb fabricated in an improvised manner ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Department Of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism, border security, immigration and customs, cyber security, and disaster prevention and management. It began operations in 2003, formed as a result of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, enacted in response to the September 11 attacks. With more than 240,000 employees, DHS is the third-largest Cabinet department, after the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. Homeland security policy is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council. Other agencies with significant homeland security responsibilities include the Departments of Health and Human Services, Justice, and Energy. History Creation In response to the September 11 attacks, President George W. Bush announced the establishment of the Office of Homelan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are shaped by the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay, which provide habitat for much of its flora and fauna. The capital of the Commonwealth is Richmond; Virginia Beach is the most-populous city, and Fairfax County is the most-populous political subdivision. The Commonwealth's population was over 8.65million, with 36% of them living in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The area's history begins with several indigenous groups, including the Powhatan. In 1607, the London Company established the Colony of Virginia as the first permanent English colony in the New World. Virginia's state nickname, the Old Dominion, is a reference to this status. Slave labor and land acquired from displaced native tribes fueled the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watergate Hotel
The Watergate complex is a group of six buildings in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Covering a total of 10 acres (4 ha) just north of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the buildings include: * Watergate West (2700 Virginia Avenue NW), cooperative apartments. * Watergate 600 (600 New Hampshire Ave NW), office building. * Watergate Hotel (2650 Virginia Avenue NW). * Watergate East (2500 Virginia Avenue NW), cooperative apartments. * Watergate South (700 New Hampshire Avenue NW), cooperative apartments. * Watergate Office Building (2600 Virginia Ave NW), the office building where the Watergate burglary happened. Built between 1963 and 1971, the Watergate was considered one of Washington's most desirable living spaces, popular with members of Congress and political appointees of the executive branch. The complex has been sold several times since the 1980s. During the 1990s, it was subdivided and its component buildings and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act, the commission describes its duties as "to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections." The commission was unable to function from late August 2019 to December 2020, with an exception for the period of May 2020 to July 2020, due to lack of a quorum. In the absence of a quorum, the commission could not vote on complaints or give guidance through advisory opinions. As of May 19, 2020, there were 350 outstanding matters on the agency's enforcement docket and 227 items waiting for action. In December 2020, three commissioners were appointed to restore a quorum; however, deadlocks arising ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ARMPAC
Americans for a Republican Majority (also ARMPAC) was a political action committee formed by former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and directed by Karl Gallant. On July 7, 2006 ARMPAC reached an agreement with the Federal Election Commission to pay a fine of $115,000 for various violations and to shut down operations.PAC Tied to DeLay Is Fined, Shutting Down AP, July 20, 2006 It filed its termination papers on April 24, 2007. , , May 1, 2007 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Blunt
Roy Dean Blunt (born January 10, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator for Missouri, a seat he was first elected to in 2010. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 33rd Missouri Secretary of State (1985–1993) and U.S. Representative for Missouri's 7th congressional district (1997–2011). Born in Niangua, Missouri, Blunt is a graduate of Southwest Baptist University and Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University). After serving as Missouri Secretary of State from 1985 to 1993, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Missouri's 7th congressional district in 1996. There, he served as Republican Whip from 2003 to 2009. Blunt successfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010. The next year, he was elected vice chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. Blunt, who is the dean of Missouri's congressional delegation, was elected to serve as Policy Committee chairman in November 2018 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Rudy
Tony Charles Rudy (born May 3, 1966) is an American politician. He served in the office of U. S. Representative Tom DeLay ( R- TX) from approximately 1995 to 2001, and rose to be his deputy Chief of Staff. Rudy then began working with Jack Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig. Rudy was implicated in the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal as unindicted co-conspirator "Staffer A". In 2006, Rudy pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with investigators. Tom DeLay ("Representative #2") and Bob Ney ("Representative #1") are identified in the plea.Susan Schmidt and James Grimaldi"Lawmakers Under Scrutiny in Probe of Lobbyist: Ney and DeLay Among the Members of Congress Said to Be a Focus of Abramoff Investigation" ''Washington Post'', November 26, 2005."Star Rainmakers: The Hill's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ed Buckham
Edwin A. Buckham is Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. He is a longtime congressional staffer and former lobbyist. He served as chief of staff to then Majority Whip Tom DeLay from approximately 1995 to 1998. Buckham had run the House Republican Study Committee in the early 1990s, while Tom DeLay was the Committee's Chairman, where Buckham hired Jim Backlin, also of Maranatha Campus Ministries, now Vice President for Legislative Affairs for the Christian Coalition previously run by Ralph Reed. He was a lobbyist for the American Traffic Safety Services Association from 2004-2005. Buckham is a lay (non-ordained) evangelical minister, who served as an elder of the Washington D.C. chapter of the controversial and politically active church, Maranatha Campus Ministries, then later as a deacon of a small church in Frederick, Maryland. Abramoff scandal Most of the $3.02 million in revenues of the U.S. Family Network came from clients of Jack Abramoff. $ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Strategy Group
Alexander Strategy Group was an American lobbying firm involved in the K Street Project, founded by Ed Buckham and his wife Wendy. Buckham is a former chief of staff of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and the firm openly promoted its access to DeLay. Its chief lobbyist was Paul Behrends, who became Dana Rohrabacher's aide. In January 2006 the firm was shut down. Buckham said that it was fatally damaged by publicity about the ongoing federal investigation into the actions of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Clients In 2004 the firm had US$8.8 million in revenues, with prominent clients such as Amgen, BellSouth, Eli Lilly and Company, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, R.J. Reynolds, Koch Industries, Microsoft, Time Warner, Enron, and the United Parcel Service. Other notable clients included Blackwater Security Services, the employer of the contractors killed in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004, and PerfectWave, the defense contracting firm owned by Brent R. Wilkes, under investigation for bribin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Texans For A Republican Majority
Texans for a Republican Majority or TRMPAC (pronounced "trimpac") is a general-purpose political action committee registered with the Texas Ethics Commission. It was founded in 2001 by former Republican Texas U.S. Rep. and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. History TRMPAC was founded on September 5, 2001, with the goal of naming a Republican Speaker in Texas and promoting the Republican party's agenda within the state. John Colyandro was selected by Jim Ellis and Tom DeLay (R-Texas) to be executive director. Colyandro selected Dallas businessman Bill Ceverha as treasurer. Lawsuit A lawsuit brought against TRMPAC and Bill Ceverha as Treasurer brought by five Democratic candidates resulted in a court order to pay $196,600 in damages and attorney fees. Ceverha later stated that the case had cost him in excess of $850,000. Ceverha subsequently filed for bankruptcy. The case against the other two parties named in the suit, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis has been stayed pending th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
