Need To Know

Gerald Lechliter, the retired officer who traced Bush’s military record, has assigned himself a new task -- deciphering the Plame investigation.

By Greg Sargent
Web Exclusive: 11.16.05

Does anybody remember Gerald Lechliter?

In the home stretch of the 2004 presidential campaign, Lechliter, a retired army colonel from Delaware with a bit of spare time on his hands, wrote a 32-page analysis of George W. Bush’s military records that showed that Bush had shirked his duty. Lechliter sent it to The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof, who wrote a column, “Missing in Action,” that called Lechliter’s missive “the most meticulous examination I’ve seen of Mr. Bush’s records.” Lechliter helped revive the story, and his analysis was subsequently cited in publications all over the country.