Richard Woolsey is a former member of the NID and the United States representative to the International Oversight Advisory. He was assigned by Robert Kinsey to investigate SG-1. His investigations were adversarial and condemning of SG-1 and the SGC as a whole. However, upon learning of Kinsey's association with The Trust, Woolsey went to General Hammond to seek his help in implicating Kinsey, saying that while he disaproves of how Hammond runs the SGC, he always does what he believes to be right. Woolsey was later appointed the United States ambassador to the International Oversight Advisory. (SG1: "Heroes, Part 2", "Inauguration", "Prototype")
When a pair of Wraith hive ships learned of the location of Earth, Woolsey was dispatched to Atlantis to review Elizabeth Weir's competence as leader of the Atlantis expedition. While there, he aggressively questioned each one of Dr. Weir's decisions, and made a poor impression on the expedition members (Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard expressed a rather strong desire to assault Woolsey). However, Woolsey's report concluded that Weir was qualified to remain as leader of the expedition with him even altering it somewhat so it put her in an even better light. (SGA: "No Man's Land", "Misbegotten")
He later returned to Atlantis to negotiate with the newly returned Ancients. They forced the team to leave the city but allowed him to stay on as a liasion. The Ancients quickly grew tired of Woolsey, and recalled General Jack O'Neill to help. Woolsey was there when the Asurans captured Atlantis, but managed to escape into a damaged section of the city with General O'Neill while the Ancients were murdered. He remained hidden with O'Neill and worried that he was going to die due to his inexperience. He later remained behind whilst O'Neill went to drain a Jumper Bay of water for the Atlantis team's rescue, and when the Asurans arrived to capture them, Woolsey put up a surprisingly good fight - as indicated by the number of shell-casings strewn around the area in which he was captured - but was captured and later interrogated. Unlike O'Neill he was unable to resist the mind-probe interrogation, and the Asurans got the team's plan from his mind. Later, the team used him as part of their plan, knowing he would have his mind probed again and would be unable to resist. This part of the plan worked, and the Asurans were caught off-guard by the real plan and were destroyed. (SGA: "The Return")
Later on, Woolsey returned to Atlantis to write a three-month review of Carter's command. He promised not to interfere this time, and admitted that his own personal review revealed that he could be overzealous with his job. He expressed distrust of the Wraith and attempted to take command of the base to force Sheppard to destroy the two Hive ships in orbit. Carter countermanded his order, and ultimately the two Hive ships destroyed each other. This experience caused Woolsey to realize that he was in the habit of including too much into his reports, and subsequently apologised to Carter, agreeing that he wouldn't report Carter's failure to fire Sheppard due to him acting upon a hunch. (SGA: "The Seer")
Robert Picardo (Richard Woolsey) joins the cast of Atlantis as a permanent character in Season 5 since he asumes command of Atlantis.
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