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

[Pegita]

Whatcha saying here, habs ... you think Doug is his own double agent? He's the source/journalist? Just thinking, and questioning outloud, as it were ..

[MJY1288]

Hell, this story could go far with unnamed sources, the only limit is imagination

[Ethyl]

Y'know, the story of WHO this guy is--& who he "Works for," & What Sort of "Operations" he has been involved in over the past 20+years-- Might be worth a Long Investigative "Piece," or even a Book!

IMHO-----GO FOR IT!!

You're good @ "What You Do;" NAIL THIS GUY!!

I Think you'll bring a LOT of "Bad Actors" down if you can trace this phoney's "Handlers!"

Doc


By the way, why did Doug Thompson post this and promptly leave, not even defending himself in further posts??? Where are ya Doug?

[ninenot]

Particularly given that the perp in the story "seems to know a lot about LosAlamos.."

Depending on the meaning of "a lot"---that's not exactly common knowledge.

An ex-Congressional staffer??

[habs4ever]

Bingo! I hope he comes forth and proves me wrong, but as I have learned, he is the CEO of this operation, so he will be overseeing this investigation himself.

[harrowup]

...To my mind the Wilkinson character is no better than the New York Times "unnamed administration officials" that I have complained about for years.

Padding a resume and self-sourcing is not limited to Jason Blair and Bob Woodward.

There are far too many self-appointed journalists and former Congressional staffers who enjoy the nudge nudge wink wink game...and then they like to boast of their inside sources who always work for one collection of spooks or another.

Cons are smart enough to know how easy it is to keep a spook confidential. There happen to be a couple of other self-appointed 'journalists' and 'insiders' of very dubious vetting waxing informed on this very thread...they make the puffer toad look like a piker.

[PhiKapMom]

You and me both! This whole thing smells big time. I appreciate the fact he posted this but something here is really wrong.

To not check even a known source when they claim to have been at a White House meeting with the President on such a sensitive issue that has caused the President to be trashed all over is rotten.

The original article had the word "LIE" used and now today we have this bombshell! Makes you wonder how many anonymous sources quoted by the Washington Press Corps could be tied to this guy.

I have known instances where the media has quoted anonymous source as something leaked from the White House when I was certain what was said was not the truth and no one in the White House would have said this. Some of it had to do with CIA information.

Just how far has this Mr. Wilkinson or whatever his name gone and just who is paying the bills. My guess would be that it went back to Reagan at least. Now my tinfoil is really on -- I have never bought into the fact that Clinton just appeared on the scene either in 2002 and then got the nomination. He had to be doing a lot of work under the radar to get that nomination with the people he had lined up to help him. Can we say Dixie Mafia at work? I know -- I have gone over the edge!

Maybe some members of the media need to take a refresher course in "Ethics in Journalism" if they ever had it the first time around!

[SevenofNine]

Yeah come on Doug defend yourself post this just LEAVE COME ON JUST COME ON DOWN and tell who your sources are come on

[William McKinley]

I think you are right.

Check this thread out, especially what Registered found

[Pegita]

Thanks again, habs ... to say this will be interesting, is putting it mildly ...

[MJY1288]

The only way to stop this bogus reporting is if enough of us send letters to people who will expose them for what they are.

That's why I'm drafting a letter to Sean Hannity and others now. I also plan on calling C_Span, Rush, Sean Hannity's radio show, and anyone who will listen.

If we do this, the liars will be exposed and their websites and publications will be recognised for what they are.... FRAUDS

[piasa]

Makes you wonder how many anonymous sources quoted by the Washington Press Corps could be tied to this guy.

Bingo

[lepton]

There are a LOT of hucksters out there, trading on the Special Forces/SEAL/CIA mystique. You weren't the first to get rolled, and a lot of folks will get rolled after you.

DITHF? :)

[William McKinley]

Could be.

My gut says he is not the rat here. My gut tells me he got used.

You don't have to buy what my gut says though. The world is better when there is a whole lot more of the 'verify' part of 'trust but verify'.

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

As I am reading and getting caught up, I've grabbed my sketchpad and pencils.

[Miss Marple]

Yep. I want quotes from actual people, verifiable statistics, actual events.

If I had wanted to, years ago when I signed on to this place I could have dropped hints that I was some sort of insider. I could have provided enough color to lend authenticity. Then when everyone was used to me and trusted me, I could have deliberately planted stories from "inside sources" to advance my own agenda, whether left, right, or center.

I think we need to be a little more discerning of unnamed or unverified sources.

[Scenic Sounds]

My gut tells me he got used.

Twenty years? ;-)

[FreeReign]

...how refreshing to find a journalist who actually admits his mistakes and goes on the record to correct them.

It would be more refreshing to find a journalist who rarely uses unnamed sources.

[Doug Thompson]

QUOTE
_________________________________________________________

By the way, why did Doug Thompson post this and promptly leave, not even defending himself in further posts??? Where are ya Doug?
_________________________________________________________

I'm here (and have been off and on throughout the evening). Sorry you missed the posts that can be found throughout the thread. But I also run a web site that requires constant attention.

As for answering each and every question, I can't. There have been over 300 posts here.

For those who fully read, and accepted, my apology: thank you.

For those who cannot accept it, that is your right and I understand.

I will find out more about this guy but I will also listen to my lawyer because this is now a legal matter and if I don't listen to his advice, I shouldn't be paying him.

When I am able to publish more information on whoever this guy is, I will do so, but it will be published on Capitol Hill Blue. My first responsibility is to the readers there.

I chose to come on FR tonight and publish the column as soon as it was written because there was so much talk about it yesterday and because it was William McKinley who first raised issues that led to me discovering that I had been had. I thank him for that.

But I cannot please all of you, nor will I try. I will continue to publish my web site. Those who like what I do will read it. Those who do not like it will go somewhere else. It's a big Internet out there and there's plenty for everyone.

When I have something to report, I will be back. Until then, thanks for listening.

Doug