"I don't think he is that smart."
I've always thought he was being used by these people. I originally thought he cooked it up with them, but after the way he acted the following year, I started to wonder if THEY were the ones fooled by him--if he was going on about his trip to them and saying that he'd reported there was nothing, etc. And then they got burned when it turned out what he actually reported.
Kerry and fat teddy come straight to my mind on who would instigate something like that.