Joseph A. Wilson consistently told reporters he'd seen the forged documents from Niger and noted that the names and dates on them were wrong and therefore he knew they were inauthentic. He testified in the same vein to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI). When the Committee noted that we had not received those documents until eight months after his Mission, Wilson changed his testimony. As the members who filed an Additional Views Report observed, that statement made under oath was also at odds with the facts. From the Additional Views report of the SSCI:

The former ambassador told Committee staff that he, in fact, did not have access to any of the names and dates in the CIA's reports and said he may have become confused about his own recollection after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported in March 2003 that the names and dates on the documents were not correct. Of note, the names and dates in the documents that the IAEA found to be incorrect were not names or dates included in the CIA reports.

It would thus appear that he did have access to the names and dates in the CIA reports, which means either (a) he had unauthorized access to classified CIA documents, received 8 months after his Mission or (b) he saw them before the CIA did.

Peter Fitzgerald, call your office.

Clarice Feldman   10 26 05