Late March 2004-May 2004: CIA Recalls Intelligence Reports Based on Information Provided by Curveball

The CIA recalls more than 100 intelligence reports that were based on information provided by Iraqi defector Curveball. A notice to CIA stations around the world states: “Discrepancies surfaced regarding the information provided by… Curveball in this stream of reporting, which indicate that he lost his claimed access in 1995. Our assessment, therefore, is that Curveball appears to be fabricating in this stream of reporting.” The CIA now believes that Curveball’s descriptions of the make-believe trailers were based on various piece of information that he obtained through Internet research and what his former co-workers refer to as “water cooler gossip.” [Los Angeles Times, 11/20/2005]