The timeline of a leak and a controversy

2002

February: Vice President Dick Cheney asks whether Iraq sought uranium from Niger.

Feb. 12: The CIA sends Joseph Wilson to Niger.

March 9: Wilson's report finds little evidence for such claims.

Aug. 26: Cheney says: "We now know that Saddam [Hussein] has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons."

Oct. 5-6: CIA Director George Tenet persuades the White House to remove the uranium claim from a Bush speech.

2003

Jan. 28: President Bush's State of the Union message cites a British report that Iraq sought uranium.

March 7: U.N. nuclear agency finds uranium documents are "not authentic."

March 20: U.S. invades Iraq.

July 6: Wilson goes public on his Niger trip and findings.

July 7-8: Administration sources tell columnist Robert Novak about Wilson's CIA wife.

July 7: White House admits to mistake in citing uranium claim.

July 11: Karl Rove tells Time's Matthew Cooper that Wilson's wife arranged the Niger trip.

July 14: Novak column unmasks Valerie Plame.

July 30: CIA asks Justice Department to investigate leak of agent's identity.

Sept. 16: White House says suggesting Rove leaked her identity is "ridiculous."

Sept. 29: White House spokesman says leaker will be fired.

Sept. 30: Wilson endorses John Kerry for president.

Dec. 30: Patrick Fitzgerald named special prosecutor.

2004

Jan. 23: Weapons inspector David Kay says there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

July 10: Senate panel faults prewar intelligence and calls Wilson's report inconclusive.

Nov. 2: Bush wins re-election.

2005

Feb. 15: Court orders journalists Judith Miller and Cooper to cooperate with grand jury.

July 6: Miller refuses to testify and is jailed; Cooper agrees to testify after getting permission from his source, Rove.

July 18: Bush says leaker will be fired if a crime was committed.

Sources: Times reporting, news media reports, White House and Senate documents