Aberration in the Heartland of the Real: The Secret Lives of Timothy McVeigh

by Wendy S. Painting

For eight years, Whitehurst, considered the FBI’s most highly qualified bomb residue and explosives expert, had continued to tell his superiors about ongoing corruption within and mismanagement of the lab, which, he said, adversely affected the conclusions and testimony given by FBI Lab experts in over fifty-five cases, including the aforementioned. However, rather than correcting the problems, the FBI dismissed Whitehurst (described by his superiors in one performance evaluation as “the most outstanding forensic chemist in the lab’s explosive trace unit”) from his position, subjected him to various forms of harassment and ordered him not to speak to his former co-workers or attorneys about the allegations. When his superiors failed to take action, Whitehurst publicly exposed the crime lab and in doing so, instigated the IG to conduct an investigation. The Chief of the crime lab gave false testimony to Congress and FBI Director Louis Freeh concerning Whitehurst’s allegations and the events leading to his suspension.