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.'' =========================================================== E Pluribus Unum - http://home.megalinx.net/~eplurib/home.html P.O. 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