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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNunes scandal makes this even more suspicious than when I posted it 2 weeks ago. Russia connection?
I first posted this two weeks ago and it didn't get much interest. It's from July 2015 National Review, but in light of yesterday's events, I think it has new relevance:
House Intel Chair Devin Nuness One-Man War on the Pentagon
The powerful Republican is battling the DoD to move a massive intelligence complex to an isolated island in the Azores, at a reported extra cost of $1.2 billion. Why?
Air-traffic controllers waved off the plane carrying Representative Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) and several congressmen from the House Intelligence Committee as it descended toward the single runway at Lajes Field, a sleepy U.S. Air Force base perched along a windswept Azores island 1,000 miles from the European mainland. High winds sweeping in from the sea prevented the plane from landing, and the delegation was hastily diverted to an airstrip on a neighboring island 80 miles away.
After months of wrangling with the Defense Department, Nunes and his fellow lawmakers had come to Lajes last May to urge American officials to reverse a planned downsizing of the base. The lawmakers wanted Pentagon officials to instead move a massive, strategically vital intelligence center planned for the United Kingdom to the isolated mid-Atlantic base. The officials objected, citing a cost increase of $1.2 billion and serious operational and logistical concerns, including the bases single runway and the areas inclement weather, which the congressmen had experienced just the day before.
An after-action report from a Defense Department engineer shows that the group from Washington wouldnt take no for an answer. A few of the members and staffers were very confrontational, the report reads. One quote that was repeated several times was, This is going to happen . You better jump on board the train or you are going to get run over by it.
The incident was another skirmish in the increasingly nasty war between Nunes and his allies in Congress and a group of top Pentagon officials over the fate of the obscure airbase. As chairman of the powerful Intelligence Committee, Nunes has brought the full weight of his influence to bear on the issue, inserting provisions in four separate defense bills that would stop work on the planned U.K. base and accusing the DoD of lying about the intelligence complexs Lajes price tag. Recently, the House Oversight Committee opened an investigation into how the military calculated the estimated cost of basing the project in the Azores.
snip
Pentagon officials qualms with Nuness plan go beyond its price tag. Some worry that an additional delay in the facilitys construction would make it harder to monitor Russian activity in Europe, and most are loathe to relinquish a close intelligence-sharing relationship with the British. There are routine meetings that occur on an almost daily basis between American and British intelligence agents, one official explains.
snip
Lots more suspicious stuff:
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421842/devin-nunes-pentagon-fight-lajes-air-force-base
Kittywampus post today on same subject; another older article but different source and info:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=8837272
tblue37
(65,336 posts)Justice
(7,185 posts)It is very strange. I know a fair bit about that area - Nune's doing it in part for his constituents many of whom come from Azores and because they treat him like royalty.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)apparently Russian aggressn and Islamic terrorism in Africa doesn't concern Nunes
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/22/us/who-gain-who-loses-republican-health-plan.html?_r=0
Sculpin Beauregard
(1,046 posts)Looks like many Rethugs have been playing a very long game.
Glimmer of Hope
(5,823 posts)blm
(113,045 posts)He's a well paid member of Team Trump Traitors.
rainbow4321
(9,974 posts)Yet if you look up that winery all the articles are about the 2 people who started it up and are running it, including a CA lawyer. NOTHING about Nunes at all.
So if his total net worth is invested in that winery, why no mention of him? Clearly he is not one of the owners. And going by the website, the current owners seem like they are doing quite well for themselves and wouldn't need his entire net worth of 50k.
And how exactly are he and his family living in CA (or anywhere) if his ENTIRE net worth goes to that place?
With him lobbying FOR Portugal to get ALL of the US intel based on that island, shouldn't he be registered as a foreign agent like the other guy had to do with Russia?? He seems to fancy himself as a drumf jr the way he has tried to bully the intel agencies and the Pentagon to move all the intel resources in Portugal (his family's homeland) and OUT of the UK. One quote had him saying about the Pentagon/intel agencies say how expensive it would be to move them there as saying "one of us is lying and it's not me".
benld74
(9,904 posts)Using tax dollars
Traitors
Maraya1969
(22,478 posts)frightening.
Great catch here. Thanks for posting. The more we can keep these things in the bright light of day the better.
Amaryllis
(9,524 posts)Marcuse
(7,479 posts)were intercepted, then his uncool panic is understood. Also, from whom did Nunes get the info? Whistleblower? Wikileaks? I could even see the FBI "leaking" disinfo to Nunes in order to watch his reaction.
I linked to this article yesterday and recalled seeing it somewhere before - probably your old post. Thanks.