Text of CIA Director George Tenet's statement
excerpt:
In an effort to inquire about certain reports involving Niger, CIA's counter-proliferation experts, on their own initiative, asked an individual with ties to the region to make a visit to see what he could learn.
I like George Tenet. I think he knows who sent Wilson.
I hope Wilson's called before this g.j. Wifey, too.
Me, too!
Because this report, in our view, did not resolve whether Iraq was or was not seeking uranium from abroad, it was given a normal and wide distribution, but we did not brief it to the President, Vice-President or other senior Administration officials. We also had to consider that the former Nigerien officials knew that what they were saying would reach the U.S. government and that this might have influenced what they said.
In the fall of 2002, my Deputy and I briefed hundreds of members of Congress on Iraq. We did not brief the uranium acquisition story.
~snip~
In other words, Wilson's "report" was useless and President Bush, VP Cheney, and other WH officials weren't even told about it. Congress wasn't told either.