The Pengtagon has made it official: The Counterintelligence Field Activity is no more.

It’s being rechristened the Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center and put under the authority of the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Effective August 3, all CIFA personnel and its contractors will start reporting to DIA. CIFA was run by a civilian, but the DCHIC will be run by a  two-star general who reports to Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, the head of the DIA.

In the business world, this would be called a merger and there would be all sorts of talk of synergies. The DIA has its own human intelligence or HUMINT service, which brought us the infamous Iraqi informant known as Curveball who sold a bunch of bs in the hopes of getting a Green card.

But the truth is that CIFA’s days were numbered ever since its director and his deputy resigned in the wake of the Randy “Duke” Cunningham scandal. Duke helped create CIFA, and then allowed it to become a playground for his Rolls-Royce supplier and personal antiques shopper, Mitchell Wade.

But that’s not to say that CIFA is a bad idea. DoD counterintelligence is an important job. Just look at all the spy cases that came out of the Defense Department like the Walker spy ring, Jonathan Pollard, Ronald Pelton, and so on. Somebody needs to guard the henhouse.

It appears that the new agency has authority that CIFA never did. It is being granted “administrative and management oversight of national security investigations (e.g., espionage) and related activities conducted by DoD CI organizations.” Contrast that with CIFA, which was a “single coordination focal point” for these matters. Whatever that means.

Just got back from court. For the Cunningham junkies: The judge shot down Brent Wilkes’ request to have his secret admirer bail him out of prison.

For the rest of you: Wilkes, a former defense contractor, was sentenced in February to 12 years for bribing former Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham with hookers, cash, and meals at DC’s Capital Grille. But Wilkes has been eating daily specials at Terminal Island FCI in San Pedro for weeks because he can’t come up with $1.4 million in collateral to secure release.

Some unnamed person was willing to bail Wilkes out, but only if he or she can shield their identity from the public. The judge, Larry Burns, said no. Either you step up and say “I’m with Brent the consequences be damned” or Wilkes stays in the clink. Larry stressed that he’s not trying to make Brent’s life hell, even though he did call him a lying sack of shit who’s an “economic danger” to the community. Whatever that means.

The reporters there asked me if I knew who this person is. I have no idea.

Wilkes’ attorney did offer a clue. He talked about how a person at a “publicly-traded company” might have obligations that go beyond him or herself. Such a person has “fiduciary” duties. Here’s the legal definition of a fiduciary duty:

A fiduciary duty is an obligation to act in the best interest of another party. For instance, a corporation’s board member has a fiduciary duty to the shareholders, a trustee has a fiduciary duty to the trust’s beneficiaries, and an attorney has a fiduciary duty to a client….

A person acting in a fiduciary capacity is held to a high standard of honesty and full disclosure in regard to the client and must not obtain a personal benefit at the expense of the client.

Any ideas out there?

Rep. Mark Souder, a Republican from Indiana who looks like Radar O’Reilly from M*A*S*H*, has just introduced a bill with the noble goal of preventing another Duke Cunningham.

Souder wants members of Congress, federal candidates, and top admininstration officials to disclose the mortgages they hold on their castles, mansions, compounds, and beach homes. “Transparency,” Souder says, “is fundamental to public trust.”

He took the first step by disclosing that he has eight years left on his mortgage, owes $75,000 and is paying 6.875 percent interest.

As insanely greedy as Duke was, even he would have thought twice before listing that he owed $0 on a $2.55 million mansion he had bought the previous year. But what prompted this wasn’t Duke, but the low-cost loans two senators got from the “Friends of Angelo” program. Souder and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, one of the wealthiest representatives, are calling for a House investigation.

It’s a good first step, but the bill doesn’t go far enough. A survey by Politco.com found more than one of four senators have no mortgages.

How about requiring members of Congress to disclose the values of their homes?

The story of Duke’s clemency application seems to have  touched a nerve. I was on KUSI-TV this morning to discuss the Cunningham pardons. People seem to be outraged at the possibility that Duke might wriggle off the hook.

Well, I don’t think there’s much chance of that. George W. Bush has granted clemency a total of SIX times since he took office. Yes, one of those cases was Scooter Libby. But the rest were nobodies, small-time drug dealers you’ve never heard of. By contrast, Clinton granted clemency 61 times — half of which came on his last day in office.

But the bigger problem — and the more meaningful one for Duke — is the huge backlog of 2,300 cases that is overwhelming the system. The Justice Department’s Office of Pardon Attorney, which has to review and make a recommendation on each request, is drowning in paper. There are thousands of people equally, if not more deserving of clemency than Cunningham.

So, who’s representing Duke? It’s not Cunningham’s criminal attorneys at the firm of O’Melveny & Myers, as I’ve previously noted. But who is? And why?

I’m assuming here that Duke didn’t file his own application. It’s possible, but unlikely. As Duke’s former commanding officer pointed out, the man can’t write a simple declarative sentence.

Hiring an attorney at $500/hour is tough for an ex-congressman who had to forfeit all his ill-gotten gains and owes a $1.8 million fine. Then again, he is still collecting his congressional pension.