BREAKING: Conned big time "CIA Witness" to White House Lying about Intel story found to be FRAUD

Capitol Hill Blue ^ | July 9, 2003 | Doug Thompson

[Doug Thompson]

Damn, I hate it when I've been had and I've been had big time.

In 1982, while I was working for Congressman Manuel Lujan of New Mexico, a man came up to a me during a gathering in Albuquerque and introduced himself as Terrance J. Wilkinson. He said he was a security consultant and gave me a business card with his name and just a Los Angeles phone number.

A few weeks later, he called my Washington office and asked to meet for lunch. He seemed to know a lot about the nuclear labs in New Mexico and said he had conducted "security profiles" for both Los Alamos and Sandia National Labs. Lujan served on the committee with oversight on both labs and he offered his services if we ever needed briefings.

We already had nuclear experts on the committee, on loan from the Department of Energy, and we never used Wilkinson for briefings but we kept in touch over the years. He said he had served in Vietnam with Army Special Force, worked for Air America, later for the FBI and as a consultant for the CIA. He said he had helped other Republican members of Congress I called some friends in other GOP offices and they said yes, they knew Terry Wilkinson.

"You can trust him, he's one of the good guys," one chief of staff told me. When I left politics and returned to journalism, Wilkinson became a willing, but always unnamed, source.

Over the last couple of years, Wilkinson served as either a primary or secondary source on a number of stories that have appeared in Capitol Hill Blue regarding intelligence activities. In early stories, I collaborated his information with at least one more source. His information usually proved accurate and, over time, I came to depend on him as a source without additional backup.

On Tuesday, we ran a story headlined "White House admits Bush wrong about Iraqi nukes." For the first time, Wilkinsson said he was willing to go on the record and told a story about being present, as a CIA contract consultant, at two briefings with Bush. He said he was retired now and was fed up and wanted to go public.

"He (Bush) said that if the current operatives working for the CIA couldn't prove the story was true, then the agency had better find some who could," Wilkinson said in our story. "He said he knew the story was true and so would the world after American troops secured the country."

After the story ran, we received a number of emails or phone calls that (1) either claimed Wilkinson was lying or (2) doubted his existence. I quickly dismissed the claims. After all, I had known this guy for 20+ years and had no doubt about his credibility. Some people wanted to talk to him, so I forwarded those requests on to him via email. He didn't answer my emails, which I found odd. I should have listened to a bell that should have been going off in my ear.

Today, a White House source I know and trust said visitor logs don't have any record of anyone named Terrance J. Wilkinson ever being present at a meeting with the President. Then a CIA source I trust said the agency had no record of a contract consultant with that name. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, has ever heard of this guy," my source said.

I tried calling Terry's phone number. I got a recorded message from a wireless phone provider saying the number was no longer in service. I tried a second phone number I had for him. Same result.

Then a friend from the Hill called.

"You've been had," she said. "I know about this guy. He's been around for years, claiming to have been in Special Forces, with the CIA, with NSA. He hasn't worked for any of them and his name is not Terrance Wilkinson."

Both of his phone numbers have Los Angeles area codes but an identity check through Know-X today revealed no record of anyone named Terrance J. Wilkinson ever having lived in LA or surrounding communities.

His email address turns out to be a blind forward to a free email service where anyone can sign up and get an email account. Because it was not one of the usual "free" services like Hotmail, Yahoo or such, I did not recognize it as one (although you'd think that someone like me would have known better).

The bottom line is that someone has been running a con on me for 20 some years and I fell for it like a little old lady in a pigeon drop scheme. I've spent the last two hours going through the database of Capitol Hill Blue stories and removing any that were based on information from Wilkinson (or whoever he is). I've also removed his name, quotes and claims from Tuesday's story about the White House and the uranium claims.

Erasing the stories doesn't erase the fact that we ran articles containing informattion that, given the source, were most likely inaccurate. And it doesn't erase the sad fact that my own arrogance allowed me to be conned.

It will be a long time (and perhaps never) before I trust someone else who comes forward and offers inside information. The next one who does had better be prepared to produce a birth certificate, a driver's license and his grandmother's maiden name.

Any news publication exists on the trust of its readers. Because I depended on a source that was not credible, I violated the trust that the readers of Capitol Hill Blue placed in me.

I was wrong. I am sorry.

© Copyright 2003 by Capitol Hill Blue

[Lauratealeaf]

Pardon me RTC, for being selfish in my thinking and posting. I just want my boy home. Each and every death of an American trooper causes my heart to sink a bit more. I cannot express in words my anguish for those fallen troops and for their families.

God bless you and your son. I have friends in Iraq and know that the families are concerned and praying. Keep praying. They are fighting a great evil.

[EllaMinnow]

Here's GHW Bush's nomination of Wilson, dated May 13, 1992:

"Nomination of Joseph Charles Wilson IV To Be United States Ambassador to Gabon and Sao Tome and Principe
May 13, 1992
The President today announced his intention to nominate Joseph Charles Wilson IV, of California, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Counselor, to be Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to serve concurrently without compensation as Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe. He would succeed Keith Leveret Wauchope.

Currently Mr. Wilson serves as a member of the senior seminar at the Foreign Service Institute. From 1988 to 1991, he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, and as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Brazzaville, Congo, 1986 - 88.

Mr. Wilson graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara (B.A., 1971). He was born November 6, 1949, in Bridgeport, CT. Mr. Wilson is married, has two children, and resides in Washington, DC."

[PhiKapMom]

Thank you! I hadn't paid attention to it at the time!

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Did Bush appoint him at the incoming Clinton's request, as a courtesy since there was so little time left?

Do you really think that was likely? Bush appoints someone for Clinton? If I understand the process for nominating ambassadors and having them appointed, it isn't that difficult, is it?

Now, judges... that's a different matter altogether.

[EllaMinnow]

Who did Clinton replace Wilson with in Gabon? Any idea?

[PhiKapMom]

This is Wilson's biography! Note that he went to work for Foreign Service under Carter. Looks like a lot of the Carter appointees to Foreign service are turning out to be bad apples.

AMBASSADOR JOSEPH C. WILSON, IV

Ambassador Wilson is CEO of JCWilson International Ventures, Corp., a firm specializing in Strategic Management and International Business Development.

Ambassador Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from June 1997 until July 1998. In that capacity he was responsible for the coordination of U.S. policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. He was one of the principal architects of President Clinton’s historic trip to Africa in March 1998.

Ambassador Wilson was the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe, 1995-1997. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. From 1988 to 1991, Ambassador Wilson served in Baghdad, Iraq as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy. During “Desert Shield” he was the acting Ambassador and was responsible for the negotiations that resulted in the release of several hundred American hostages. He was the last official American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the launching of “Desert Storm.”

Ambassador Wilson was a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Service from 1976 until 1998. His early assignments included Niamey, Niger, 1976-1978; Lome, Togo, 1978-79; the State Department Bureau of African Affairs, 1979-1981; and Pretoria, South Africa, 1981-1982.

In 1982, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission in Bujumbura, Burundi. In 1985-1986, he served in the offices of Senator Albert Gore and the House Majority Whip, Representative Thomas Foley, as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Brazzaville, Congo, 1986-88, prior to his assignment to Baghdad.

Ambassador Wilson was raised in California and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972. He is a graduate of the Senior Seminar (1992), the most advanced International Affairs training offered by the U.S. Government. He speaks fluent French.

Ambassador Wilson holds the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, the University of California, Santa Barbara Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the American Foreign Service Association William R. Rivkin Award. Additionally, he has been decorated as a Commander in the Order of the Equatorial Star by the Government of Gabon and as an Admiral in the El Paso Navy by the El Paso County Commissioners.

He is married to the former Valerie Plame and has two sons and two daughters.

[PhiKapMom]

Here is the tie-in to the RATs from his own biography:

"In 1985-1986, he served in the offices of Senator Albert Gore and the House Majority Whip, Representative Thomas Foley, as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow."

[EllaMinnow]

"In 1985-1986, he served in the offices of Senator Albert Gore and the House Majority Whip, Representative Thomas Foley"

I think that Wilson should always be identified as "former aide to Al Gore" instead of "ambassador." It tells us all we need to know about his agenda.

[PhiKapMom]

Check out Wilson -- he worked for Gore!

[onyx]

BINGO! You've got him! Brilliant girl!

[PhiKapMom]

It sure does tell his Agenda. I found the biography and posted it without really reading it and then all of a sudden Gore's name popped out at me!

I couldn't believe it -- that is the tie-in with Wilson.

You are right -- from now on it should be "former aide to Gore" -- Ambassador is out!

[PhiKapMom]

This sure explains a lot! Guess I will go get some more ice for my Coke after this to celebrate!

[Wait4Truth]

Great work! Another piece of the puzzle found.

[onyx]

You're entitled to celebrate! Fabulous sleuthing!

[EllaMinnow]

" He speaks fluent French."

Sacre bleu!

[EllaMinnow]

[hoosiermama]

First, for those of us that have been in and out the last coupleof days will one of you list step by step what happened and post it on a thread for all. THe comments have gotten too combersome to weed through. People need the facts presently simply.

Second, I've been thinking there are four possibility with this Terrance J. Willenson fellow:
1, He doesn't exist; has never existed and is just a cop out by DT. Goal: DT is in CYA mode.
2. He exist and is a solo "con" artist. If so he has some major psychosis and this is not the only news agency he has conned. A police sketch of him should be circulated, and everyone who has had contact with him should come forward. The con is getting some "jollies" from his success/power!

3. He exists and is a member of an organized group. Most of the above applies that he would also hit on other agencies, but he would not be the only one doing so. There would be a ring of "sources" providing false information to many agencies. This should be a warning to all journalist. to get several sources and cross check the data. Goal: to destroy what "they" consider the opposition.


4. He is a "Paid" plant. (There may be others) SImilar to 3. but he is not actually one of them. (His life may be in danger or he may be the target of blackmail. OR He may be doing this for pay). In this senerio he is a pawn, manipulating the other pieces on the board. In this case, he may have actually tried to come forward or "retire" We may or may not find his body.

[PhiKapMom]

LOL!!! Thank you!

[hoosiermama]

Just got back! GREAT JOB!

[PhiKapMom]

Mine is on #4 and you are right about the body.

If I were Thompson, I think I would be hiring some bodyguards as well. He is dealing with some nasty folks here if this was a planted story.

With all the RATs coming out calling Bush a Liar -- I would say the story was a plant. And now knowing Wilson worked for Gore in the 80's makes me even more suspicious this is orchestrated.