Deep Background

Terrorism charges filed against arms dealer

Deep Background — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:32:00 GMT

By Jim Popkin, NBC News Senior Investigative Producer

The Justice Department today announced it is charging accused international arms dealer Viktor Bout with conspiracy to kill Americans and terrorism-related charges.

Federal prosecutors in New York unsealed an indictment against Bout for allegedly conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Colombian insurgent group the FARC, which the U.S. has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The prosecutors allege that the weapons were to “be used to kill Americans in Colombia.”...(read more)

FBI: No Marilyn Monroe sex film

Deep Background — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:23:00 GMT

By Jim Popkin, NBC News Senior Investigative Producer

The FBI does not have a pornographic home movie of actress Marilyn Monroe in its files and never did, FBI officials tell NBC News. Document analysts at the FBI have completed a manual search of FBI records and found no evidence of the film.

“The records show no indication we ever had such a film,” said David Hardy, who organized the search and is chief of the FBI Record/Information Dissemination Section. Hardy said six or seven FBI analysts spent a total of “32 man hours” reading through paper documents at the FBI’s records center in Alexandria, Va., and did not find anything indicating that the FBI has or ever had a Marilyn Monroe sex film.

The FBI’s fruitless search casts doubt on claims by New York memorabilia dealer Keya Morgan, who told countless media organizations on April 14 that the FBI had obtained a copy of the sex film in the 1960s. Morgan told NBC News and other networks and newspapers that nine FBI agents and the late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover himself had spent weeks poring over the film, trying to establish the identity of the man who supposedly engaged in a sex act with Monroe in the 15-minute black-and-white movie.

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Report questions actual number of Iraqi troops

Deep Background — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:13:00 GMT

By Aram Roston, NBC News Producer

The Pentagon's Iraqi goal posts have apparently moved again. According to a federal report released today, the Pentagon has decided that Iraq needs a security force of up to 646,000 Iraqi troops to successfully battle the insurgency. That seems to be a dramatically larger number than previous estimates. In September 2007, the Pentagon estimated Iraq needed only 390,000 troops. And then as recently as March 2008, the Pentagon said only 580,000 Iraqi troops were needed. (U.S. policy has been to train Iraqi troops to fight the insurgency, so that American forces can ultimately leave.)

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Teen boot camps under scrutiny

Elizabeth Chuck — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:20:00 GMT

Boot camps for troubled teenagers are in the spotlight after a congressional panel looked at allegations of death or abuse at the camps. Watch the NBC News investigation here: ...(read more)

Pentagon funds aid polygamous sect

Deep Background — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 01:34:00 GMT

By Tim Sandler, NBC News Investigative Unit

As a child-abuse investigation continues at a polygamous compound in Texas, NBC News has learned who helped fund the controversial sect.

It was the U.S. Department of Defense.

Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by NBC News show that the Pentagon awarded contracts of at least $1.5 million to two Utah-based companies owned and operated by senior officials of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS. The contracts, issued from 1998 to 2006, were for aircraft parts and other military equipment.

The Pentagon contracts were awarded to Utah Tool & Die and Western Precision, Inc., which operated in Utah. The president of Western Precision was Wendell Nielsen, described in multiple media accounts as a senior official in the FLDS religious sect, whose West Texas compound was raided by police earlier this month as part of a wide-ranging child-abuse investigation. Neilsen disappeared with church leader Warren Jeffs after Jeffs was put on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list in 2003. Jeffs, the sect's "prophet," was convicted last year on two counts of rape as an accomplice.

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NBC News Investigation: Can insurgents buy U.S. military uniforms online?

Deep Background — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 21:19:00 GMT

By Lisa Myers, Rich Gardella and the NBC News Investigative Unit

The Government Accountability Office issued a report today revealing that undercover government investigators have been able to buy sensitive military goods online, including night-vision goggles, body armor and even plane and helicopter parts.

The report also mentioned another item GAO investigators were able to buy online from sellers on eBay -- infrared tabs worn on combat uniforms by U.S. troops.

"Enemies," the report states, "could use [infrared] tabs to pose as a friendly fighter during night combat, creating confusion on the battlefield and putting troops at risk."

The GAO's findings match the surprising results of a recent NBC News investigation. NBC News discovered that combat uniforms and special equipment designed to protect U.S. troops in war zones are widely available for sale, potentially endangering U.S. soldiers' lives.

Clintons' wealth skyrockets by 5,600 percent

Deep Background — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:44:00 GMT

By Andrea Mitchell and the NBC News Investigative Unit

Hillary and Bill Clintons' wealth has skyrocketed a staggering 5,700 percent since President Clinton left the White House, according to their newly released tax records.

In Clinton’s last full year in office, 2000, he and Mrs. Clinton earned $357,026. Last year, their estimated total income was $20.4 million. That is an increase of 5,700 percent.

Most of the Clintons’ newfound wealth comes from lucrative speeches and books. In the seven years since the Clintons left the White House, President Clinton has earned $51.8 million in speeches around the globe. The president’s book royalties total $29.5 million for that same period, and Senator Clinton’s book payments total $10.4 million, the Clinton campaign reported today.

It’s a remarkable turnaround for a couple that faced $12 million in legal fees when they left the White House, in the wake of the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals. Since that time, the new records show, the Clintons have raked in more than $109 million in total gross income--and made charitable contributions of more than $10 million.

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NBC News Exclusive: Political ties to a secretive religious group

Deep Background — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:10:00 GMT

By Andrea Mitchell and Jim Popkin, NBC News

For more than 50 years, the National Prayer Breakfast has been a Washington institution. Every president has attended the breakfast since Eisenhower, elbow-to-elbow with Democrats and Republicans alike. “I am really proud to carry on that tradition,” President Bush said at this year’s breakfast. “The people in this room come from many different walks of faith. Yet we share one clear conviction: We believe that the Almighty hears our prayers -- and answers those who seek Him.”

Besides the presidents and first ladies--Bill and Hillary Clinton attended in 1997--the one constant presence at the National Prayer Breakfast has been Douglas Coe. Although he’s not an ordained minister, the 79-year-old Coe is the most important religious leader you've never seen or heard.

But Doug Coe is well known to scores of senators in both parties--and many faiths--including Sam Brownback, Mike Enzi, Mark Pryor and Bill Nelson. They go to small weekly Senate prayer groups that Coe attends. Participants tell NBC News that so have senators John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, which those campaigns confirm.

Senator Clinton’s participation is surprising to observers who have investigated Coe’s group, called The Fellowship Foundation, which critics have described as a secretive organization populated mostly by conservative Republicans. ...(read more)

2006 airliner bomb plot revealed

Deep Background — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:41:00 GMT

By Pete Williams, NBC News Justice Correspondent

New details of the 2006 plot to bomb transatlantic flights headed to the U.S. from London are emerging in a London courtroom, as the men accused of planning the attacks go on trial. The new information reveals that the plotters had given considerable thought to how to make their attacks as devastating as possible.

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Tampa church directed staffers to make political contributions

Elizabeth Chuck — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 02:07:00 GMT

Updated April 4, 2008 6:35pm

By the NBC News Investigative Unit

A Tampa megachurch under scrutiny by Senate investigators directed church staffers to make political contributions to a Republican gubernatorial candidate, according to documents obtained by NBC News.

A month-long NBC News investigation also found information indicating that the church's pastor, Randy White, seems to have lied about a business transaction in a deposition made under oath, and misrepresented his religious academic credentials.

Without Walls International, a megachurch founded by televangelists Randy and Paula White, is one of six tax-exempt religious ministries the Senate Finance Committee is examining, amid allegations some of the ministers misused church funds to enrich themselves. Last month, NBC News reported the results of its investigation into some of these allegations.

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