Lucy Ramirez is the name Bill Burkett

Bill Burkett

Bill Burkett was the CBS source in the Killian documents affair of 2004. He retired as a Lieutenant Colonel from the Texas Army National Guard....

 gave at one point as his source for the Killian documents

Killian documents

The Killian documents controversy involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972–73...

, which purported to relate to George W. Bush

George W. Bush

George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....

's service in the Texas Air National Guard

Texas Air National Guard

The Texas Air National Guard is the air force militia of the U.S. state of Texas and a component of the Texas Military Forces...

, and which were used in CBS News

CBS News

CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...

 coverage of the George W. Bush military service controversy

George W. Bush military service controversy

George W. Bush's National Guard service was an issue in the 2000 presidential campaign and in the 2004 presidential campaign. A controversy centered on questions of how George W...

. Burkett originally claimed that he obtained the Killian documents from a Texas National Guardsman named George Conn but later admitted to CBS News that Conn was not the source and that the source was a Lucy Ramirez. There has been no corroborating proof offered that the source actually exists or, if she does, that her name is Lucy Ramirez.

The lack of proof of Ramirez's existence has cast doubt on Burkett's version of "Killian" events in various reports. "Burkett now maintains that he was alerted to the documents by a woman named Lucy Ramirez, who contacted him after seeing him on television and has subsequently disappeared."

As quoted in the Washington Post:

"Where did the documents come from? We are told Bill Burkett informed CBS that a woman named 'Lucy Ramirez' arranged a drop of the documents to him. We are also told that Burkett declined to cooperate with the panel. And that's that. But what of Lucy Ramirez? Who is she? What was her role? Does she even exist? We don't know. Ramirez is referenced seven times (on pages 35, 210, and 211). Here is the report's final mention of her: '[CBS News, after the story aired] sent personnel into the field to attempt to find Ramirez and thus possibly to confirm the new account. This effort proved unsuccessful.' Exit Lucy Ramirez, stage left.

(The above Washington Post article drew details from the Daily Standard.)

According to CNN.com:

"Burkett's attorney, David Van Os, said Tuesday that a woman who called herself Lucy Ramirez contacted Burkett to tell him about the documents, which were subsequently hand-delivered to him in March by an unidentified man during a trip to Houston.

In order to protect Ramirez from being traced as the source of the memos through DNA on the documents, Burkett then burned the original documents after making copies of them, Van Os said. He later gave the copies to CBS News, identifying someone other rather than Ramirez as the source.

CNN has not been able confirm Burkett's scenario of how he came to be in possession of the documents. Van Os also said that he did not see the original documents.'

External links

• "CBS backs off Guard story" - 21 September 2004 - USA Today
• "Killian Memo Update" - 21 September 2004 - Washington Monthly
• "Civil war at 60 Minutes" - 22 September 2004 - New York Daily News