FBI Suspends Lab Whistleblower

[Robalini@aol.com]

Thanks to Paul Watson for forwarding this to me.

>From eplurib@megalinx.net Mon Jan 27 20:16:54 1997

 01/27/1997 20:06 EST

 FBI Suspends Lab Whistleblower

 By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
 Associated Press Writer

 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The FBI has suspended a scientist-agent
whose charges led to a still-secret Justice  Department report critical
of some FBI crime lab workers. A Republican senator said Monday
the suspension  ``appears to be a reprisal.''

 The FBI also took action regarding other employees criticized in the
secret report, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Three or four employees were transferred out of the FBI lab but not
suspended, these officials said.

 The agent, Frederic Whitehurst, once an FBI crime lab supervisor,
was put on administrative leave with pay Friday afternoon and
barred from entering any FBI building, even as a guest, according to
a letter from Acting Lab Director Donald W. Thompson Jr. The FBI
took Whitehurst's badge and gun, said Whitehurst's lawyer, Stephen
Kohn.

 The action came just days after FBI Director Louis J. Freeh
received a report from the Justice Department's inspector general
that officials said criticizes the work of some FBI lab employees and
a report from a special investigative counsel who looked into an
alleged press leak by Whitehurst.

 Thompson's letter said only that Whitehurst was suspended
``pending our review of information in the possession of the
Department of Justice'' and added that the move ``does not indicate
that you have engaged in any inappropriate conduct.''

 FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the bureau would have a statement
on the matter later.

 Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of a Judiciary
subcommittee on administrative oversight, wrote Freeh on Monday
to demand that FBI officials appear Tuesday in his office to justify
the action against Whitehurst.

 ``Recently, a Department of Justice official knowledgeable about
the IG's investigation told me privately that Dr. Whitehurst had done
a service for his country in bringing forth his information,'' Grassley
wrote.

 ``The action taken by the FBI implies that he is being punished for
`committing truth.' It appears to be a reprisal for his disclosures,''
Grassley wrote.

 Kohn said that after Whitehurst's allegation about lab misconduct
became known ``he became a lighting rod for other employees to
funnel information to the inspector general.'' Kohn said FBI officials
became ``very, very angry'' when they received the inspector
general's report and learned that ``Whitehurst funneled information
directly from other FBI employees to the inspector general and the
investigation mushroomed beyond what they had expected.''

 Kohn said that was why Whitehurst, once rated by the FBI as its top
expert on bomb residues, was barred from entering FBI buildings
and from getting information from other employees.

 The still-secret inspector general's report is being reviewed by FBI
officials to determine whether any lab employees will be disciplined.

 The inspector general hired a panel of outside scientists to evaluate
the work of the lab after Whitehurst alleged in late 1995 that a pro-
prosecution bias and mishandling of evidence may have tainted
crime lab work or testimony on several high-profile federal cases.
These include the World Trade Center bombing, the mail-bomb
killing of a federal judge and a civil rights lawyer, and the Oklahoma
City federal building bombing.

 Prosecutors have decided not to use at least one lab employee as a
witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case and in a bank robbery
case in Ohio, sources said Monday, apparently to prevent defense
attorneys from using the inspector general report to undermine any
testimony by the employee.

 Stephen Jones, counsel for Timothy McVeigh, who is charged in the
Oklahoma City case, has deposed Whitehurst and indicated he may
be called as a defense witness.

 Nearly a year ago, Whitehurst was called to an interview by Special
Investigative Counsel Joseph C. Hutchison, who was brought here
from the Connecticut U.S. attorney's office to conduct the leak
 investigation.

 Hutchison wrote Whitehurst's lawyers that ``there is substantial
reason to believe that your client ... is responsible for the
unauthorized release of work-related information to Jeff Stein,'' a
freelance writer who produced an article intended for publication in
Playboy magazine.

 At that time, Carl Stern, then Justice Department spokesman, said
Playboy wrote the department to check the article's facts, which
allowed officials to learn that the article would contain information
and allegations about FBI employees that are protected from public
release by the Privacy Act.

 Stern said, ``There is no criminal investigation looking into the
conduct of Frederic Whitehurst. There's an administrative inquiry in
connection with the leak of Whitehurst's communications with the
department to a writer from Playboy magazine.'' 
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