Posted on 03/19/2002 12:08:31 PM PST by DainBramage
bod>WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department harshly criticized the FBI's failure to turn over thousands of pages of documents to Timothy McVeigh's lawyers until days before his scheduled execution, but found no evidence that FBI agents meant to hide information.
The 192-page report by the Justice Department inspector general's office, an independent investigative arm of the agency, said the vast majority of the mislaid or destroyed paperwork contained no significant or new information for McVeigh's defense team. However, it acknowledged that even the IG's lengthy investigation had difficulty determining whether all destroyed documents had been disclosed.
The report blamed human error, not inadequate computer systems at the FBI.
"This shines a light on a problem that needs to be addressed," said the inspector general, Glenn A. Fine. "The glamorous part of the job is to investigate and find the perpetrators. An equally important part of the job is to handle the evidence."
Fine recommended disciplinary action for four FBI supervisors for what he called a "significant neglect of their duties." Three of them discovered problems with FBI documents as early as January 2001, but no one notified FBI headquarters, Justice officials or the chief prosecutor in the McVeigh trial until five months later, the report said.
That time lag "created a firestorm of criticism (and) made it appear that the FBI was hiding documents until the last moment," the report said. FBI officials told investigators they did not report the situation sooner because they were unsure about the scope of the problem and did not want journalists to find out.
"That's not a good enough reason not to tell your supervisors at headquarters or the prosecutor about this potential problem," Fine said. "Just to keep it to themselves, that's a significant neglect."
Convicted in the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people and injured hundreds more, McVeigh had been scheduled to be executed on May 16 of last year. But the delayed turnover of documents resulted in an extraordinary delay in his execution until June 11. Most of the documents in question were created by the FBI in April and May 1995.
"The American people have a right to have confidence in our justice system," Attorney General John Ashcroft said. "The FBI has already begun to update technology systems, improve information management and provide more effective and timely accountability."
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said Tuesday the bureau has been making major changes to retrain employees on document handling and make records management a priority.
"There can be no doubt about the accuracy, completeness and proper disclosure of the records we compile during our investigations and used by prosecutors in support of prosecutions," Mueller said.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, one of the FBI's toughest critics in Congress, said the report showed that "documents were mishandled, procedures were ignored and when mistakes were discovered, supervisors in the field covered them up and managers in headquarters promoted those responsible."
The FBI supervisors identified by the inspector general as most at fault include Danny Defenbaugh, the inspector in charge of the bombing investigation and currently the special agent in charge of the FBI's Dallas office; and Mark White, a supervisory special agent also in Dallas.
The inspector general also recommended discipline, to a lesser degree, for William Teater, a squad supervisor for the FBI unit responsible for parts of the investigation, and for Richard Marquise, who became head of the Oklahoma City office in 1999.
Teater "should have done more to ensure that someone was making the necessary decisions" and that Marquise should have investigated more thoroughly after receiving e-mails from Teater indicating problems with documents, the report said.
It does not specify what disciplinary action was recommended for any of those identified.
The report also praised two Oklahoma City FBI employees, Linda Vernon and Peggy Richmond, for recognizing in January 2001 that a problem existed and notifying their supervisors.
Promoted anyway.
The significant information was the fact that information was being withheld. Gives doubt to the claim that what was withheld was all the evidence and files collected.
"Okay, we promise, this time this is all of it. "
No consequences, no accountability.
It probably took the FBI a long time to blank out all information of middle eastern looking men being seen around the bombing site prior to the explosion. Ah yes.....can't have a foreign terrorist attack on billy's watch. Bad for legacy building.
SMOKE AND MIRRORS!!! A diversion of Clintonian dimensions! These four guys have fallen on their swords for the sake of the Agency and will be rewarded once the dust settles.
The FBI knew about the threat to OK; they've had agents/informants on the inside of every militia unit ever since the commie threat shifted. They knew and Washingotn knew. They withheld 10,000 documnets from McVeigh's defense most of which proved/hinted at the fact that they could have prevented the explosion. At the last minute they gave up 3,000 documents and took the hit. These four are now paying the price that the Agency should otherwise be accountable for. Index their names; in 3 or 4 years, each will have a plum job in the government or a job that the government influences.
Then again it's sorta like all those FBI background files in the White House vault.
Then again it's sortof like those Whitewater files found in the trunk of that car in the junk yard.
Then again...
"These are the last of them. HONEST!"
Okay and I'm ROTFLMAO for the last time.
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrre I am.
"The 192-page report by the Justice Department inspector general's office, an independent investigative arm of the agency, said the vast majority of the mislaid or destroyed paperwork contained no significant or new information for McVeigh's defense team.
Just think about it. They're actually maintaining that they have knowledge concerning the contents of "mislaid" and/or destroyed documents (they know that they contained no significant or new information). How would such a thing be possible?
Are copies available? Did someone write up a nice summary before they lost the documents? Did someone read them before they were lost or destroyed and has offered an opinion on the contents of the documents? The article doesn't say. But it does say that the Justice Department (using some mechanism unknown to most human beings) knows the contents of thousands of destroyed or mislaid documents - even though the documents don't exist.
Just for the sake of argument, even if the Justice Department does have access to summaries, testimony, how exactly would they know that any of it's accurate when the documents themselves have been... destroyed? Such a position is ridiculous.
And then there's this, which is even more confusing.
"However, it acknowledged that even the IG's lengthy investigation had difficulty determining whether all destroyed documents had been disclosed."
So, there we have it. They know the contents of thousands of destroyed and/or mislaid documents, but they're not exactly sure as to whether or not they've actually accounted for all of them. With logic like that, it's no wonder we're still dealing with Middle Eastern terrorists killing Americans in broad daylight.
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