FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CIV

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1998 (202) 616-2765

TDD (202) 514-1888

U.S. REACHES AGREEMENT WITH FORMER FBI LAB SUPERVISOR

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The federal government agreed today to pay Frederic Whitehurst, a former supervisor in the FBI's crime laboratory, $300,000 for attorney's fees and damages in exchange for Whitehurst dropping all pled and unpled claims against the government based on any events through today's date, the Department of Justice announced. The agreement states that the government does not admit liability on any of Whitehurst's claims.

The agreement also expedites the processing of some of the material Whitehurst sought under the Freedom of Information Act, the Department said. Whitehurst will drop his request for other material and will not make any FOIA requests of the FBI for three years.

The agreement would dismiss a complaint Whitehurst filed in March 1996 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., and provides for the parties to move for the court to vacate a February 5, 1997, order in Whitehurst's lawsuit.

The United States also agreed to post Whitehurst's future response to a report by the Office of Inspector General of his allegations on the Internet as long as the OIG report is posted. Whitehurst's response is subject to the FBI's prepublication process to protect national security interests and confidential law enforcement material.

The Department praised the work of the mediators who worked on a pro bono basis to achieve the settlement. The mediators were appointed under the district court's mediation program.

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