A senior Navy intelligence official, David W. Landersman, has been indicted on theft and conspiracy charges, the Washington Post reports, connected to an ongoing federal investigation into the covert production and shipment of illegally manufactured rifle silencers.
Landersman is the former senior director of intelligence for the Navy’s Plans, Policy, Oversight, and Integration (PPOI) Intelligence Directorate, which the Post describes as “an obscure Pentagon office that dabbled in covert programs.”
Last year, a bankrupt California hot-rod mechanic and a civilian Navy intelligence official, Lee M. Hall, were found guilty on federal conspiracy charges stemming from the investigation. The mechanic is Landersman’s brother, and the official used to work for Landersman at PPOI.
Prosecutors allege that Landersman helped arrange the $1.6 million defense contract for his brother to manufacture 349 untraceable rifle silencers (that only ended up costing $10,000 in parts and labor). Hall helped arrange the delivery.
All of that is shady enough, but it gets weirder. From an earlier Post story on the investigation:
Hall later told another Navy official that the silencers were intended for Navy SEAL Team 6, the elite commando squad that killed Osama bin Laden. But representatives for SEAL Team 6 told agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that they had not ordered the silencers and didn’t know anything about them.
Although the purpose of the silencers was never established, the trial featured a constant undercurrent of intrigue with carefully couched references to classified projects and black operations. Many filings in the case were placed under seal. At the request of military officials, participants at the trial were prohibited from making overt references to the Navy SEALs .
The exact purpose of the silencers remains hazy, but court filings and pretrial testimony suggest they were part of a top-secret operation that would help arm guerrillas or commandos overseas.
Oddly, too, Hall and the civilian Landersman—despite having been convicted last fall—still have not been sentenced, without explanation.
“Many filings in the case were placed under seal,” the Post reports. Haha. You don’t say!
Photo via Shutterstock. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.