---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 12:37:04 -0500 From: Marc Rotenberg <rotenberg@epic.org> To: rotenberg@epic.org Subject: From the Files - Freeh and Flight 800 Today the FBI ended the TWA Flight 800 criminal probe. The FBI's lead investigator James Kallstrom said that the FBI found "absolutely no evidence" that the tragedy was the result of a criminal act. But what was the FBI telling Congress after the incident occurred? The following expert from CNN is worth saving. Keep in mind that the FBI Director was simultaneously lobbying the Judiciary Committee for expanded wiretap authority. Marc.
From the CNN, July 20, 1996 [http://cnn.com/US/9607/20/twa.crash.probe/index.html]
U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who was among members of Congress briefed Friday by FBI Director Louis Freeh, said it looked "pretty darn conclusive" that either a bomb or a missile caused the explosion. "We're looking at a criminal act," Hatch said. "We're looking at somebody who either put a bomb on it or shot a missile, a surface-to-air missile." Hatch, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, told CNN he came to his conclusions after "various conversations" with government officials. "I won't go so far as to say it was terrorism, but there was sabotage here," Hatch said. "It looks like that." "It's very -- almost 100 percent unlikely -- that this was a mechanical failure," he said. "It looks pretty darn conclusive that it was an explosion caused either internally or externally that was caused by a criminal act." * * *