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PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS OF PETITIONER-DEFENDANT, TIMOTHY JAMES McVEIGH AND BRIEF IN SUPPORT MARCH 25, 1997

VI. PRIOR WARNING, ATF INFORMANTS, AND POSSIBLE "OTHERS UNKNOWN."

A. Elohim City.

Elohim City is a 240 acre compound near Muldrow, Oklahoma, consisting of
between 25 and 30 families. D.E. 2482 at 19. Elohim City is listed in the
publication Terrorist & Extremist Organizations In The United States at 109.
According to this publication, Elohim City preaches white supremacy,
polygamy and the overthrow of the government. Elohim City is also closely
aligned with the extremist The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord
(CSA) and has been known to store weapons for that group. D.E. 2482 at 19.

The spiritual leader at Elohim City is the Reverend Robert Millar. Elohim
City had a close association with the Christian Identity Movement and The
Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord which had its own grievance
against the United States government. See D.E. 2191 at 33. The federal
government conducted a raid on the CSA on April 19, 1985--exactly ten years
to the day prior to the Oklahoma City bombing. See Id. at 33-34; D.E. 2840
(Pretrial Conference: Volume m--Sealed, January 1997 at 181). Members of the
CSA now reside at Elohim City.

One of the members of CSA turned on the organization and testified at the
trial of Richard Snell in Arkansas. Snell was on trial with others on
charges of sedition--that they conspired to destroy the Murrah Building in
Oklahoma City with a rocket launcher in the early 1980s. Id. Snell was
convicted on unrelated capital charges, sentenced to death in Arkansas, and
was executed on the very day of the bombing in Oklahoma City--April 19,
1995. Id. One of his last statments [sic] before he was executed was,
"Governor, look over your shoulder, justice is coming." D.E. 3410 at 16
(Pretrial Hearing--SEALED--Not Provided to Defendant Nichols, March 10,
1997). (Information in public press reports). His body is buried at Elohim City.

The government has alleged in the Indictment that the Defendants used a
calling card, referred to as the Bridges' Spotlight card, as a means to
prevent calls from being traced. See Indictment at 2. Phone records of the
Bridges' Spotlight debit card reveal that a call was made from a motel in
Kingman, Arizona, to Elohim City minutes before a call was made to a Ryder
Truck rental store in Arizona. According to residents at Elohim City, the
caller asked to speak to an individual named Andy Strassmeir. Around the
same time from the same motel and again with the Bridges' card, nine calls
were placed to a National Alliance Office in Arizona. The National Alliance
is an organization headed by William Pierce, author of The Turner
Diaries--the book characterized by the government as the "blue print" for
the Oklahoma City bombing. See D.E. 2166 at 16.

In addition to the alleged phone call to Andy Strassmeir at Elohim City from
someone allegedly using the Bridges' calling card, Strassmeir acknowledged
meeting Timothy McVeigh at a gun show in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1993. D.E. 2331
(Exhibit "2" FBI 302 D-12993). Although Strassmeir stated that he was unsure
of the exact date of the meeting, he did recall that it took place sometime
between the start of the federal raid on the Branch Davidian compound in
Waco, Texas, February 28, 1993, and the conclusion of the standoff on April
19, 1993. Id. Strassmeir acknowledged that he attended gun shows with other
residents at Elohim City where he was living at the time. He stated that he
resided at Elohim City for approximately four years, leaving in August 1995.

Dennis Mahon, who now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Strassmeir says he met
Timothy McVeigh, ran "dial a racist" hotline and would often visit Elohim
City to engage in paramilitary training. D.E. 3123 (Exhibit "A"). As will be
detailed below, a confidential ATF informant has reported that Mahon and
Strassmeir discussed "targeting federal installations for destruction," such
as the Tulsa IRS Office, the Tulsa Federal Building, and the Oklahoma City
Federal Building. According to the ATF informant, Mahon and Strassmeir made
at least three trips to Oklahoma in November 1994, December 1994, and
February 1995. Id.

Elohim City also housed four of the six individuals arrested and charged
with a series of mid-western bank robberies which allegedly were made in the
name of "Aryan Revolutionary Army."[9] 

--------------------------------------

FOOTNOTES:
[9] Among the residents of Elohim City, two have a striking physical
resemblance to Timothy James McVeigh and another has a strong physical
resemblance to the person the government describes as John Doe No. 2. 
--------------------------------------

The four individuals arrested and charged in a series of mid-western bank
robberies described themselves as members of the Aryan Revolutionary Army.
The Grand Jury charged the gang of robbers were Richard Lee Guthrie, Jr.,
Kevin McCarthy, Scott A. Stedeford, Peter Langan, Mark Thomas and Michael
Brescia. D.E. 2191 at 17. Richard Lee Guthrie, Jr., committed suicide
(allegedly) in his jail cell in Ohio after entering a plea of guilty and
offering to cooperate with the federal government in the prosecution of the
remaining three. Two of the remaining six, Kevin McCarthy, Scott Stedeford,
have ties to Elohim City in that they lived there for several months as did
Brescia. Mark Thomas, the leader of the Posse Comitatus in Pennsylvania and
an Aryan Nations member, and who was close to two of the mid-west bank
robbers, was in Elohim City on the Thursday before the bomb attack on
Oklahoma City. D.E. 2191 at 34. Mark Thomas allegedly introduced the four of
them to each other in either Eastern Oklahoma or Western Arkansas in 1994. Id.

In the Winter of 1994, or the Spring of 1995, but in any event, before the
April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing, federal officials were actively
planning a raid on Elohim City. If Elohim City was aware of the raid, then
Carol Howe's information that they would strike first and attack the federal
government was a real potential. Elohim City knew, or at least strongly
suspected, there would be a raid because Rev. Millar admitted his fears and
apprehensions to two local sheriffs. Elohim City also had located a series
of "spotters" who would advise them of approaching suspect vehicular
traffic. Millar also complained of an increase in aerial over-flights of
Elohim City and the community also monitored police scanners.

Thus, in the weeks before April 19, 1995, Elohim City (1) was populated by
several individuals who later were indicted for armed bank robbery involving
the use of bomb threats; (2) was populated by individuals who previously had
engaged in armed confrontation with the federal government, exactly ten
years before; (3) had avowed it would not be another Waco and would stake
first in a "Holy War"; (4) knew that the federal government was actively
planning a raid; (5) was populated by people committed to its belief of
Christian Identity, including neo-Nazis with training manuals on how to make
ammonium nitrate bombs.

Finally, there was one other element present at Elohim City, the significane
[sic] of which has not been fully appreciated. It may be a far reach to make
a connection between Elohim City and the Oklahoma City bombing to Iraq or
Iran, but the reach is not far at all. Present at Elohim City was a German
national with a commitment to neo-Nazism and an individual who already had
demonstrated a willingness to break the law by overstaying his visa, and by
assuming the identity of another and driving through Eastern Oklahoma with
books in his car on how to make a bomb. Also present at Elohim City was
Dennis Mahon who once described himself as "the master of all disguises."
Mahon is a world traveler with extensive trips to Germany and efforts to
enter Canada and the United Kingdom. Mahon was the facilitator. Where does
all this leave Tim McVeigh? Is he a part of this? The evidence suggests not
and certainly the defense will contend that he is not. Tim McVeigh is the
classic example of the right man at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Eyewitnesses may place him at places, but the eyewitnesses' accounts are
variable and changing. What is missing is the physical evidence and other
evidence that ties him to the crime. Ideology is not proof of complicity or
involvement in terrorist attacks.

In addition, April 19 was the date of the execution of Richard Snell, soon
to be buried in Elohim City. The same Snell who had previously planned and
considered a rocket launched attack on the Murrah Building which would
destroy it. Thus, the persons responsible for the Murrah Building bombing
were alerted, ready, armed, committed, and poised to strike. And strike they
did. The government had knowledge from an informant plus knowledge it would
obtain from simple, ordinary analysis of the criminal intelligence available
to it. It conducted a somewhat superficial security search of the federal
property in downtown Oklahoma City and found nothing. When the bomb went
off, federal authorities were first stunned and then realized that they did
in fact apprehend the danger and had conducted a limited physical
inspection, but to admit such prior knowledge and such limited physical
search would be to face congressional inquiry and public outrage of such
ferocity that confidence in American government would be badly shaken. April
19, 1995, was December 7, 1941, the Pearl Harbor strike, and December 21.
1988. the bombing of Pan Am 103, all over again. 



B. Dennis Mahon. Andreas Strassmeir and Carol Howe.

1. Dennis Mahon.

Dennis Mahon is a virulent racist and avowed enemy of the U.S. government.
He is the No. 3 person in authority in the White Aryan Resistance movement
led by Tom Metzger. D.E. 2191 at 10. There are videotapes featuring Mahon,
in full Ku Klux Klan uniform, lighting a cross at a Klan recruiting trip in
Germany, and yet another videotape of Mahon firing a semi-automatic rifle
during paramilitary training for Klan members. Mahon conducted a "tour" in
Germany in order to recruit other right-wing extremists. The costs of the
trip were split between Mahon and his "German supporters." Mahon joked that
if he was fined the usual 1,000 Deutsche Marks (approximately $600) for
every time he gave the Nazi salute, he would owe 10,000,000 Marks,
explaining "I gave hundreds while I was there."

Mahon is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and has referred to the Oklahoma
City bombing as a "fine thing" and stated further, "I hate the federal
government with a perfect hatred . . . I'm surprised that this [the bombing]
hasn't happened all over the country." He has further been quoted as saying
that "all methods are legitimate to save your nation." D.E. 2191 (Exhibit "M").

The Iraqi government has given Dennis Mahon thousands of dollars over the
past six years. Mahon has admitted to receiving money from Iraq
approximately once a month and stated that "it's coming from the same zip
code where the Iraqi Embassy is, but they don't say it's from the Iraqi
Embassy." The money started arriving in 1991 after Mahon started holding
rallies protesting the Persian Gulf War. Mahon is a close friend of Andreas
Strassmeir, the ex-head of security at Elohim City and Mahon has lived at
Elohim City.

During Operation Desert Storm, Mahon produced several videotapes which were
distributed to public access television stations suggesting that the United
States' policy in Iraq was wrong. A defense attorney has interviewed Mahon,
and the defense received, through an intermediary, a tape recording that
Mahon had made to be given to our client. The intermediary felt that the
delivery of such tape recording was improper and was concerned about its
implications and forwarded it to the defense. The defense did not know
whether the purpose of this tape recording was to encourage the Defendant to
"sacrifice" himself for the eventual "justice" of the cause or was a subtle
threat intended to remind the Defendant that members of his family were
vulnerable.[10]

-------------------------------------

FOOTNOTES:
[10] The defense has no information that Mr. McVeigh was ever present at
Elohim City or ever met Dennis Mahon.
-------------------------------------

When the defense learned that Mahon and his brother had telephoned Germany
with orders to kill Strassmeir, the FBI was immediately informed. Mahon's
taped message goes on to say that Mr. McVeigh is "innocent by reasons of
entrapment," but that notwithstanding being innocent, he should accept the
sacrifice in order that justice may prevail. Mahon is a frequent participant
in gun shows. Mahon has been banned from the United Kingdom and from Canada
and was characterized as an international terrorist. A majority of German
terrorists have been trained in Palestinian camps in Jordan, South Yemen,
Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. D.E. 2191 at 11.

Nebraskan Gary Lauck who was arrested by German authorities for smuggling
terrorist manuals and Nazi propaganda to neo-Nazis in Germany, wrote a
20-page manifesto entitled, "Strategy, Propaganda and Organization." The
paper describes the integration of worldwide extremist groups into a tight
network and "military education with terrorist aims." Sources have informed
counsel that Lauck had frequent contacts with Islamic terrorist groups. He
was also an associate of Dennis Mahon.

In a book written by former German neo-Nazi Ingo Hasselback, which was
excerpted in the January 8, 1996, edition of New Yorker, he recalls how
Lauck offered connections to American neo-Nazi groups. He wrote, "Through
him I later became a pen pal of Tom Metzger, the leader of WAR, the White
Aryan Resistance, in southern California, as well as Dennis Mahon of the Ku
Klux Klan." 

After Lauck's arrest by German authorities, German and American neo-Nazi
groups found new ways to smuggle material into Germany using Sweden. Dennis
Mahon helped to establish a chapter of his "White Aryan Resistance" group in
Stockholm, Sweden. The German BKA has confirmed to German ARD television
that this pipeline exists. Before Lauck's arrest, in March 1995, Denmark had
been used as the smuggling point.

Mahon confirmed to ARF television that he brought German neo-Nazis to this
country for training. The interview was videotaped.

In the days immediately preceding April 19, 1995, when Elohim City was
preparing for the execution and funeral of Richard Snell, members of that
community placed numerous telephone calls to Mr. Snell's family, the
Arkansas Bureau of Prisons, the local undertakers, and a series of phone
calls were interspersed to Dennis Mahon's residence.

The defense has also acquired information from unimpeachable sources that
Dennis Mahon made statements to the effect of, "If a person wanted to know
about the bombing, then they should talk with Andy Strassmeir because he
knows everything." These same sources inform the defense that Mahon admitted
to him that he met James Nichols, the brother of Defendant Terry Nichols, in
Michigan. Bob Miles' (a Michigan leader in the White Supremacist movement,
now deceased) farm was only 62 miles from James Nichols' farm.

2. Andreas Strassmeir.

Andreas Strassmeir is a German national whose father is a well regarded and
successful politician in the Christian Democrat Coalition who recently
retired as Secretary of State for West Germany, but whose grandfather was a
founding member of the German Nazi party. D.E. 3123 at 14. Strassmeir was in
this country illegally on an expired visa on April 19, 1995. Id. (Exhibits
"F" and "H"). Subsequently, when Strassmeir became the subject of intense
media and defense scrutiny, his attorney, Kirk Lyons, a well-known North
Carolina lawyer whose principal clients are members of the most violent and
extreme wing of American politics, openly boasted that he had "spirited"
Strassmeir out of the country through Texas, Mexico and France, telling his
supporters that it would
be "easier to defend Strassmeir from Germany than from inside a federal
detention facility." Id. at 14 (Exhibit "H"). 

Strassmeir, who was originally presented to the press as a starry-eyed
German interested in American military history has now been identified as
the Chief of Security at Elohim City, an active participant in a Klan rally
in Texas, and having overstayed his visa in this country, having traveled on
false identity papers (he was arrested in Oklahoma by State Highway
Patrolman Vernon Phillips using the identity of Peter Ward) and a suspect in
multiple investigations concerning weapons violations, including making
weapons fully automatic. Id.

When Strassmeir, who is trained in terrorist tactics, was arrested on
February 28, 1992, near Elohim City, he was not only carrying false identity
papers, but also statements from foreign bank accounts, and a copy of The
Terrorist Handbook. D.E. 2191 at 12. The Terrorist Handbook states that its
purpose is "to show the many techniques and methods used by those people in
this and other countries who employ terror as a means to political and
social goals.... [A]ny lunatic or social deviant could obtain this
information, and use it against anyone.... [The publisher] feels that it is
important that everyone has some idea of just how easy it is for a terrorist
to perform acts of terror; that is the reason for the existence of this
publication." The table of contents includes chapters on low-order
explosives; high-order explosives, including how to build bombs from
fertilizer and fuel oil; ignition devices; advanced uses for explosives;
delay devices and explosive containers, including plastic containers. 

According to a May 19, 1995, newspaper article "witnesses allegedly
identified him [Strassmeir] at the end of April [1995] as one of the number
of men seen in Junction City, Kansas, when McVeigh was also there during the
days leading up to the bombing." D.E. 2191 at 12. One of the witnesses said
she contacted the FBI as soon as she was shown a photograph of Strassmeir by
a U.S. news organization investigating the Oklahoma affair.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, the author of this article, and Andrew Gimson, a
reporter in the Telegraph's Berlin bureau interviewed Strassmeir a total of
five times. Over the course of these interviews, Strassmeir revealed the
following:

A. Strassmeir was a former Lieutenant in Germany's elite Panzer Grenadiers,
similar to our Special Forces, and was trained in military intelligence.

B. He first moved to the United States in 1989 "because he was planning to
work on a special assignment for the U.S. Justice Department." According to
Strassmeir, "It never worked out."

C. A retired USAF Colonel, Vince Petruskie was helping Strassmeir at the DEA
and Treasury Department, but ultimately nothing came through. Interviews
with Petruskie by defense investigators confirm this.

D. Having failed to find a job in Washington, Strassmeir went to Texas where
he found work at a computer company, and where ". . . he seemingly drifted
into the subculture of the Klu [sic] Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, and the
extreme fringes of the Christian right.... He established himself as Chief
of Security (at Elohim City) in weapon training, he said."

E. Strassmeir "also claimed that he copper bottomed information about the
bombing but seemed torn over how much he felt able to impart" to the Telegraph.

F. Strassmeir said, "The ATF had an informant inside this operation. They
had advanced warning and they bungled it." "What they should have done is
made an arrest while the bomb was still being made instead of waiting until
the moment for a publicity stunt."

Counsel for Defendant McVeigh personally interviewed Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
in Washington, D.C., and confirmed each of these points. Mr. Evans-Pritchard
represented to counsel that Strassmeir strongly suggested to him that there
was an informant at Elohim City and that he was the informant. However,
Strassmeir would not expressly admit to it. The government has denied
Andreas Strassmeir was an informant employed by the United States.

Mr. Evans-Pritchard informed the undersigned counsel that as part of his
investigation into Strassmeir's background, Evans-Pritchard interviewed a
member of the Texas Light Infantry during the time Strassmeir was in Texas.
Certain members of the Texas Light Infantry began to believe that Strassmeir
was an ATF informant. Members of the infantry placed a "tail" on Strassmeir
and followed him one night. Strassmeir went into a federal building in which
was housed a local ATF office. On the doors of this particular federal
building, there were combination locks and in order to gain entrance, the
person had to punch in the correct combination. Evans-Pritchard reported to
counsel that the members of the Texas Light Infantry reported that they
watched while Strassmeir punched in the proper code, unlocked the door and
went into the building. D.E. 2191 at 14.

Counsel has been informed by a reliable source that FBI Director Louis Freeh
had invited a subject to accompany him on a trip to Italy and Germany in
late 1993, shortly after Mr. Freeh became director of the FBI. The subject
did in fact accompany Mr. Freeh first to Italy and then to Germany. Counsel
was told that Mr. Freeh specifically invited the subject to be present when
Freeh met with German internal security officials and that he agreed on the
condition that he would not write anything about what he heard.

The subject was present in the meeting in Germany in November 1993 (he
thought it could have been October, but was more positive about November),
and that the German security officials specifically mentioned Andreas
Strassmeir and said that he was "nation hopping" back and forth between the
United States and Germany and that he had been associated with neo-Nazis in
the United States and that they were very concerned about their activities.
Director Freeh replied that the FBI was aware of Strassmeir, and was
"monitoring" his activities, but that "because of the First Amendment, there
isn't anything we can do."

When Strassmeir's potential link to this case was discovered, a reporter
interviewed Dennis Mahon about Mahon's friendship with Strassmeir. When
questioned whether or not Strassmeir could be an informant, Mahon became
visibly upset. As information was traded, Mahon became more convinced that
Strassmeir had been providing intelligence on them. Mahon immediately got in
touch with a Avery important" man in Germany and requested that he determine
if Strassmeir could be an agent for the German government. The reporter
heard them state to this individual that if Strassmeir had double-crossed
them, "[Matron] wanted Andreas shot in both kneecaps and a confession
elicited from him, then hold a 30-minute trial and then execute him." D.E.
2191 at 16. The FBI was immediately informed of the information when defense
counsel learned it.

Despite government denials to the Court that Strassmeir has never been the
subject of the investigation of this case, defense counsel has obtained
documents--generated by the government--which indicate that he most
assuredly was. One official document, dated  January 11, 1996, from an
investigative assistant discussed Strassmeir and stated, "Subject is wanted
for questioning by FBI, Oklahoma City. Detain and notify [the FBI]," and
then giving the phone number, and "refer to FBI case number," and then
giving the Oklahoma City bombing case, and then concluding that "subject is
possibly armed and may be dangerous." D.E. 3410 (Pretrial
Hearing--Sealed--Not Provided to Defendant Nichols, March 10, 1997 at 18).
This document was generated months after the defense began requesting
information concerning Strassmeir and during the very time that the defense
was meeting with the District Court concerning Strassmeir. Id. 

In addition, the defense has now learned, belatedly through discovery and
through Howe herself, that ATF informant Carol Howe was sent back to Elohim
City after the bombing in an attempt to learn additional information about
Strassmeir, Mahon and others. Also, through discovery, the defense has
learned of significant official communication between the United States
government and its representatives in Germany concerning additional
information on Strassmeir and that Strassmeir has been the subject of
interest to the Counterterrorism Division of the Diplomatic Protective
Service of the Department of State in a document which we can only describe
as specifically bearing the Oklahoma City bombing investigation case number
and photographs of Strassmeir. See attached Exhibit "A" and "B" (Under Seal).

To say, in light of these documents and others filed under seal and not
otherwise identified in this public filing, that Mr. Strassmeir was "never
the subject of the investigation" is simply untrue. Strassmeir remained a
suspect and subject of the Oklahoma City investigation as demonstrated by
the fact that (1) Carol Howe was sent back to Elohim City where Strassmeir
lives, (2) cable traffic between an agency of the federal government and its
representatives in Germany clearly identify official interest in Strassmeir,
(3) his picture and other information was circulated by the Department of
State with respect to the Oklahoma City bombing, and (4) in January 1996, he
was considered to be "armed and dangerous" and was to be detained for
investigation and interview by the FBI. For the government to represent to
the Court, as it did that Strassmeir had never been the subject of the
investigation is not consistent with the known facts and mislead both the
Court and the Defendant. See (Scheduling and Rule 17.1 Conference--Sealed,
January 29, 1997, at 60, 68). Strassmeir not only was a subject of the
investigation and a suspect of official interest on two continents, but that
interest lasted at least from the middle of April 1995 to January 1996.


3. Carol Howe and the Bureau of Alchohol [sic], Tobacco and Firearms.

The defense investigation has accumulated a significant amount of
information aside from discovery which indicates that ATF informant Carol
Howe informed her agency handlers, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms, prior to April 19, 1995, that various residents of Elohim City
were planning an attack on Federal Buildings which included the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The defense believes that the
government received this information, and in fact followed up on it, in the
early morning hours of April 19, 1995. D.E. 3313 at 1.

Previous representations to the Court by government counsel that Mr.
Strassmeir "was never a subject of the investigation"[11] are inaccurate and
misleading at worse and economical with the truth at best as outlined above. 

---------------------------------------

FOOTNOTES:
[11] See Scheduling and Rule 17.1 Conference--Sealed, January 29, 1997, at
60, 68. 
---------------------------------------

The government in fact conducted an investigation of Mr. Strassmeir and Mr.
Mahon in the days immediately following the Oklahoma City bombing, and then
failed to follow through on the investigation, not because it was
unproductive, but because to pursue the investigation would in effect lead
back to the government's knowledge of prior warning. Defense counsel is of
the opinion that the government has engaged in a willful and knowing coverup
of information supplied to it by its informant.

As a threshold matter, counsel for Mr. McVeigh have requested, in writing,
that the government provide information concerning Dennis Mahon and Andreas
Strassmeir since February 15, 1996. See D.E. 1923 Exhibit "N" (letter to
Beth Wilkinson requesting specific information concerning various
individuals, but specifically naming Dennis Mahon and Andreas Strassmeir). 

On March 8, 1996, Mr. McVeigh filed a discovery motion, seeking specifically
intelligence information from the federal government and specifically
mentioning Dennis Mahon and Andreas Strassmeir. See D.E. 1079 at 7 18, 19.
Dissatisfied with the government's responses, counsel filed a Motion to
Compel Production of Discovery Material on August 27, 1996, again,
specifically referencing Dennis Mahon and Andreas Strassmeir. See D.E. 1921
Exhibit "C." 

On October 10, 1996, counsel for Mr. McVeigh amended the Motion to Compel
Production of Discovery Material, reiterating specific requests for
information concerning Dennis Mahon and Andreas Strassmeir. See D.E. 2265 at
34. Most recently, counsel addressed outstanding discovery requests in a
Supplemental Motion to Compel the Production of Discovery Information,
reiterating the previous specific requests for information concerning Dennis
Mahon and Andreas Strassmeir. See D.E. 2768 at 6-7.

In a nearly one-foot-thick pleading filed October 18, 1996, the government
responded to McVeigh's Motion to Compel the Production of Classified
Information, specifically including information the government possessed
concerning Dennis Mahon and Andreas Strassmeir. See D.E. 2331. Absent from
that pleading, and also from the information responsive to defense requests
for information concerning Dennis Mahon and Andreas Strassmeir, was Insert
No. E-427, a report of interview by the AFT, which concerned a confidential
ATF source named "Carol." See D.E. 3313 (Exhibit "D"). Counsel for Mr.
McVeigh has now learned that "Carol" is actually Carol Howe, an ATF
informant at Elohim City, who had an intimate relationship with Dennis
Mahon, who knew Andreas Strassmeir, and whom ATF Agent Angela Finley
interviewed on April 21, 1995--two days after the bombing.

This particular Insert was brought to our attention by government counsel
during the in-chambers conference of January 29, 1997. See Reporter's
Transcription (Scheduling and Rule 17.1 Conference-Sealed) at 65, no docket
number assigned [hereinafter "Tr. _"]). Government counsel indicated to the
district court that this Insert had been disclosed to the defense on January
23, 1996, but candidly admitted that the government did not list this Insert
in its prior submissions to the district court because the government could
not find it through a computer search. Id. at 66. The Defendant does not
credit this explanation, coming as it does after so many false, misleading
representations from a former intelligence officer now on the prosecution
team. The defense was unable to locate this "non-pertinent" Insert using a
computer because all major search terms contained in the Insert were
misspelled. Elohim City was misspelled or misidentified, as was Mahon,
Strassmeir, the Rev. Robert Millar, and, in addition, Carol Howe was not
identified in the Insert at all. Agent Finley's source was identified as a
"confidential source" named "Carol"--no last name given. Thus, it is not
even clear from the Insert that "Carol" was the confidential source's real
name.[l2] Elohim City was spelled "Elohm [sic] City," Dennis Mahon was
spelled "Dennis Mehaun," Reverend Robert Millar was spelled "Bob Lamar'" and
Andy Strassmeir was spelled "Andy Strasmeyer."

--------------------------------------

FOOTNOTES:
[12] Defense counsel is very suspicious of the multiple misspellings in this
FBI Insert. The Insert was generated as a result of an interview of Carol
Howe in Oklahoma City on April 21, 1995 conducted by Special Agent of the
FBI, James R. Blanchard, II, and Agent of the ATF, Angela Finley. It is
difficult to conceive how Agent Finley could participate in an interview
which would lead to the drafting of a memorandum in which every material
name (Matron, Strassmeir, Millar, and Elohim City) would be misspelled
because, according to Ms. Howe, Agent Finley was her "case handler" and
specifically knew that Howe's assignment was to infiltrate Elohim City and
become acquainted with Strassmeir, Mahon, Millar and others. If the Insert
was prepared without it being reviewed by the person who also participated
in the interview, another law enforcement officer, the process was
incredibly sloppy and unprofessional. If she did review the Insert, the more
likely scenario, she would instantly have known that all of the names were
misspelled. Defense counsel believes they purposefully were misspelled. It
is difficult to imagine how a Special Agent of the FBI can misspell "Matron"
and "Miller." 

The fact that prosecutors themselves could not find the insert is not
surprising. There may have been a deliberate effort to deceive them and keep
from them information, which, in their professional responsibilities, they
would know had been turned over to the defense. This was the danger of the
so-called "open file" discovery. Everything was given to the defense, the
government argued, so thus if anything turned up which embarrassed the
government's case, it could always claim it had been "furnished" to the
defense (as indeed government counsel often did), but if it is furnished
amidst thousands and tens of thousands of sheets of paper so that it cannot
even be pulled up on a computer search, then the production is meaningless.
The names of Strassmeir and Mahon are hardly strangers to the discovery
disputes or to the government. Moreover, it emphasizes the need for court
intervention because not even the prosecution can protect itself against
efforts of either the FBI or the ATF to obscure and hide information by
misidentification.

--------------------------------------

According to government counsel and interviews with other parties, Carol
Howe contacted Agent Finley, her ATF "handler" (see Tr. at 67) and informed
the ATF that she had been at the Elohim City compound and may have seen
"Unsub 1" and "Unsub 2". D.E. 3123 (Exhibit "A" at 1). Carol Howe informed
Agent Finley on April 21, 1995, that she learned about Elohim City when she
called a racist hotline in May, 1994 and met the hotline operator/owner
Dennis Mahon who would visit Elohim City to engage in paramilitary training.
She also told Agent Finley that the security officer at Elohim City was Andy
Strassmeir, whom she described as an illegal alien from Germany and a former
West German infantry officer. Id. 

Although Strassmeir has a German accent, he speaks English fluently, and
according to Ms. Howe, Strassmeir talked frequently about direct action
against the U.S. government, he trained in weaponry, and he discussed
assassinations, bombings and mass shootings. She also described the
residents at Elohim City as ultra-militant white separatists where required
reading includes Mien Kampf and The Turner Diaries.

Mahon discussed with Carol Howe "targeting federal installations for
destruction through bombings, such as the IRS Building, the Tulsa Federal
Building, and the Oklahoma City Federal Building." Id. (Exhibit "A" at 2).
In fact, Mahon not only discussed the destruction of the federal building in
Oklahoma City by bombing, according to Ms. Howe, Mahon and Strassmeir took
at least three trips to Oklahoma City in November and December 1994 and
again in February, 1995--and Carol Howe accompanied them during the December
1994 trip. She has repeated these facts to several reporters.

Ms. Howe reported all of this information to the FBI[13] the day after the
bombing, and yet government counsel still insists that Andy Strassmeir was
"never a subject of the investigation" (see Tr. at 68), but curiously does
not make the same statement concerning Dennis Mahon. 

--------------------------------------

FOOTNOTES:
[13] The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms was aware of this
information prior to April 19, 1995. Carol Howe has flatly stated the
information was provided to the ATF by her and she is satisfied she gave
them enough information to alert them to a possible threat. After her FBI
interview on April 21, 1995, Howe was reemployed as an ATF informant and
sent back to Elohim City.
--------------------------------------

But the one thing that is clear is that Carol Howe was an ATF informant
feeding the ATF information concerning Elohim City, Dennis Mahon and Andreas
Strassmeir both before and after the bombing of the Murrah Building. 

Ms. Howe was the one-time girlfriend of a person named James Viefhaus.
Viefhaus has been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Tulsa, Oklahoma for
threatening to destroy buildings by means of an explosive in 15 cities
across the United States, as well as knowingly possessing an unregistered
destructive device. D.E. 3123 (Exhibit "B"). The Viefhaus case has received
considerable media coverage in the Tulsa area. Id. (Exhibit "C").

Viefhaus was arrested December 13, 1996, after federal authorities connected
him to a recorded message, traced to his residence in Tulsa, which
reportedly stated that the bombing of 15 U.S. cities would begin December
15, 1996, unless action was taken against the federal government by "white
warriors" before that date. U.S. Magistrate Frank H. McCarthy "expressed
concern" about investigative reports that Viefhaus has compiled lists of
buildings to be bombed and that Viefhaus possessed pictures of at least two
buildings in Tulsa that house federal employees. Id.

FBI agents claimed that they found ammonium nitrate and other chemicals that
could be used in bombing-making in Viefhaus' home and that the search of
Viefhaus' home including written instructions for bomb-making and references
to the lengths of pipes, caps, screws and fuses, as well as black powder,
accellerants, and various loaded firearms. Id. (Exhibit "C" at 3). In
addition to this information, the search of his house also uncovered a
how-to book about constructing homemade weapons as well as a photograph of
Viefhaus and his "housemate" holding weapons and wearing swastikas on their
clothing. The message that the federal agents have connected to Viefhaus is
believed to be affiliated with the National Socialist Alliance of Oklahoma,
and the speaker on the tape had reportedly endorsed the bombing of the
Murrah building in Oklahoma City. 

Carol Howe is the person described as Viefhaus' "housemate" and is the
person in the picture with Viefhaus where the both of them are wearing
swastikas on their clothing. For his part, Mahon has stated to the press
that he does not believe that Howe and Viefhaus are guilty of anything, that
he knows these two persons, and "they gave me their word that they were
above ground and totally legal. They stand up for White Aryan beliefs." Id.
(Exhibit "C" at 9).

Mahon does indeed know both of these persons. Carol Howe had actually filed
a petition in open court in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a protective order against
Dennis Mahon on August 23, 1994.[14] Id. (Exhibit "D"). 

-----------------------------------

FOOTNOTES:
[14] The petition makes reference to the "White Aryan Resistance of which
Dennis is the head in Oklahoma." See D.E. 3313 (Exhibit "B").
-----------------------------------

The basis for the protective order was threatening phone calls in which
Mahon told Howe that he would "take steps to neutralize" her because he
perceived that she had turned on the movement, meaning the agenda of the
White Aryan Resistance of which Mahon is in charge in Oklahoma. 

Counsel for Mr. McVeigh has contacted counsel for Mr. Viefhaus, Craig
Bryant, Assistant Federal Public Defender for the Northern and Eastern
Districts of Oklahoma, and Mr. Bryant has in turn spoken with Ms. Howe at
the federal courthouse in Tulsa. According to Mr. Bryant, Ms. Howe is the
girlfriend of James Viefhaus, and asked to speak with Mr. Bryant because of
his concern over the fact that she had not been indicted by the grand jury,
but James Viefhaus, her boyfriend, had been indicted. Mr. Bryant stated that
the prosecutor in the case, Ken Snoke, stated in open court that shortly
after James Viefhaus' arrest, the government felt Ms. Howe was equally
culpable--yet she was not indicted. Id. (Exhibit "E").

Ms. Howe told Mr. Bryant that the reason she was not indicted because she
served as a confidential informant for the ATF for several months in 1995,
and that the information she provided to the ATF concerned an investigation
of Dennis Mahon. Ms. Howe believes that the reason she was not indicted
along with her boyfriend was that the government does not want her prior
work as a confidential informant for the ATF to become public knowledge.

Carol Howe was subsequently indicted on March 11, 1997, in a superseding
Indictment in the United States District Court for the Northern District of
Oklahoma, No. 97-CR-05-C. The defense believes that an Indictment was
obtained against Carol Howe for the purposes of "leverage" against her in
order to keep her mouth shut about what she knows about the activities of
Mahon and Strassmeir. The information she possesses suggests strongly that
the ATF, the most hapless and beleaguered of the federal law enforcement
agencies, may have had notice that militant right wing radicals had targeted
the Alfred P. Murrah building for destruction and botched the interception
of the plan in their finest Waco tradition. The institutional repercussions
for ATF if Carol Howe is telling the truth could be the death knell of that
organization. Information corroborative of Carol Howe will be provided, if
at all, only through the most coercive judicial means.

When counsel filed a Motion to Compel Production of a variety of tangible
objects relating to statements made by Carol Howe, an ATF informant,
concerning the possibility of a prior warning being given to the government
of a possible terrorist attack on federal buildings in Oklahoma, including
the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building (D.E. 3123), government counsel asked
defense counsel to hold the matter in abeyance pending review of documents
that would be submitted to defense counsel concerning Carol Howe, and the
district court then asked that counsel advise the court whether production
was sufficient or the motion was moot. Counsel thereafter advised the
district court that the issue was not moot and that the order to produce
should issue. D.E. 3313 at 2.

Information furnished to counsel by the government on Thursday, February 6,
1997, concerning the Carol Howe matter raises grave questions concerning the
credibility of representations made to the District Court, repeatedly, and
made to the public and survivors and next of kin of the victims of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building explosion as to whether the government had
prior knowledge that the Murrah Building might be attacked.[15] 

---------------------------------

FOOTNOTES:
[15] The government's denials are carefully circumscribed. In a November 7,
1996, filing (D.E. 2475), the government stated, "Stated simply, neither the
BATF nor any other federal agency had any advance knowledge of the deadly
bomb that McVeigh delivered to the Murrah Building .... Claims on this
point, which he (McVeigh) highlights among 'the most important of all his
claims (citation omitted) are unfounded because the prosecution is not
withholding anything that even remotely would support such an outrageous
charge'." (Emphasis supplied). Notice how carefully this statement is
worded. The government's denial is limited to advance knowledge of "the bomb
that McVeigh delivered." The government does not disclaim knowledge of a
prior warning from Carol Howe that the Murrah Building was one of three
targets that a group of Aryan Nation White Supremacists, members of a
terrorist organization at Elohim City, were planning to use in a first
strike against the government because Elohim City feared that it would be
the next "Waco" and should, in the words of Carol Howe, "strike first."
Moreover, the Court's attention is respectfully called to the fact that
after stating the "government's" denial, the proper noun is then shifted so
that it is "the prosecution" which is not withholding anything .... Whether
the prosecution is withholding it or not is immaterial. What is clear is
that the government is withholding it.
---------------------------------

Although it might appear at first glance that this issue would not directly
be related to the issue of Mr. McVeigh's guilt, in fact, it is very much an
issue for the Court to consider.

To begin with, it has consistently been the government's belief and argument
that two, and only two, individuals were the "masterminds" (to use the
prosecution's statement of April 9, 1996, (D.E. 3313 at 6) at page 56) for
the Oklahoma City bombing. Carol Howe's statement indicates that there are
other "masterminds" including at a minimum Andreas Strassmeir, or Dennis
Mahon, and quite possibly Reverend Robert Millar. In addition, aside from
impacting upon Mr. McVeigh's guilt as a "lesser participant" in Count One,
it might be a direct defense for Counts Two through Eleven, especially when
the government does not have a single eyewitness to place Mr. McVeigh in
Oklahoma City that it is willing to sponsor at trial. Finally, the issue of
government prior knowledge is directly related to the appropriateness of
punishment and is a strong mitigating factor should Mr. McVeigh be convicted
of one or more of the substantive counts.

Repeatedly, the government has denied that it had any prior knowledge of a
suspected bombing attack on the Murrah Building on April 19, 1995. The
government has not qualified these denials by saying it had no credible
information. In this connection, the government's representations to the
district court are not dissimilar from the ones government counsel made
which have subsequently been amended. Government counsel advised the
district court at the April 9, 1996, session that the government had "no
information" of any possible foreign involvement when in fact the government
did have precisely such "information." Subsequently, this statement was
amended to mean "no credible information." D.E. 2330 at 6. The government
has simply denied, through the prosecution, the existence of any such
information of a prior warning.

In a public pleading filed on November 7, 1996 (D.E. 2475), the prosecution,
acting on behalf of the government, referred to the Defendant's request for
such information of a prior warning as "outrageous." (D.E. 2475 at 6).
Indeed, in the same pleading, the government went so far as to claim that
ATF agents had been injured in the explosion and that one of them had
actually suffered a free fall in an elevator in the Murrah  Building. These
statements were made on the public record and highlighted considerably in
the press. In fact, the representation was false and untrue. Information
furnished to the defense by the prosecution from the government long before
November 7, 1996, indicates that the government's own investigation and
interviews with the elevator engineer show that the elevator simply did not
fall.

>From information furnished to the defense from its own investigation, from
national reporters for ABC and NBC television news, from Time magazine, and
from certain material furnished by the government, it is clear that the ATF
had an informant, Carol Howe, the daughter of a very prominent and
successful Tulsa, Oklahoma, couple who for a period of time possessed
beliefs in racial superiority of Caucasians. This belief was apparently
initially formed as a result of a confrontation Ms. Howe had as a young
woman with several young black males which required her, for her safety, to
jump off the roof of a building and resulted in fractures or bone breaks in
her ankles or legs. D.E. 3313 at 5.

After this incident Ms. Howe gravitated toward the Aryan Nation movement and
became a close personal associate of Dennis Mahon, the former Imperial
Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, an individual who has received money since 1990
from Iraq, who has traveled to Germany to recruit for the Ku Klux Klan, who
has been barred from the United Kingdom and Canada as an "international
terrorist" (according to Mr. Mahon's own statement), and who has made a
number of statements of the most extreme political nature about the
necessity and desirability of overthrowing the government of the United
States "by any means." D.E. 3313 at 5. In addition, Mr. Mahon is a former
leader in the White Aryan Resistance, sometimes identified as No. 3 in its
leadership, and apparently was a member of the Order.

Although it was not quite clear to counsel when Ms. Howe became an informant
for the ATF, she has indicated that her relationship with Mr. Mahon became
troublesome, she sought a protective order against him (D.E. 3313 (Exhibit
"B"), and may have at the same time been recruited as an informant by the
ATF and paid approximately $120 a week.

The government has since verified that Ms. Howe became a registered
informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) in August,
1994, and continued her work on a regular basis until she was, according to
the government, terminated on March 27, 1995. D.E. 3360 at 34. At that time,
the ATF agent requested she be terminated as an informant because it was
concerned about her state of emotional distress and her "loyalty" to the
ATF. But even this representation by government counsel was simply not true.
Government counsel admitted on March 10, 1997--after stating on January 9,
1997, that Carol Howe had ceased being an informant in March 1995--that Ms.
Howe, although removed as an ATF informant on March 27, contacted the ATF on
April 20, 1995, concerning her knowledge of the Oklahoma City bombing, ATF
requested permission to reactivate her as an informant, and she was sent
back to Elohim City to follow up the information she provided. D.E. 3410
(Pretrial Hearing--Sealed--Not Provided to Defendant Nichols at 32).
(Information here only summarized--please see full sealed transcript).

On the morning of February 13, 1997, defense counsel was informed that the
FBI would deliver to his office, shortly after 1:30 that day, reports on Ms.
Howe's activities prepared by Agent Angela Finley. At approximately 1:30
p.m., two agents arrived and appeared with what were represented to be
summary reports of Ms. Howe's activities for the ATF prepared by Agent
Finley, her case handler. Accompanying the file was a letter from government
counsel with one attachment which counsel was permitted to keep. A copy of
the letter from government counsel and the attachment are found at D.E. 3313
(Exhibit "C").

This delivery to counsel's office followed a 7:30 a.m. telephone call to
counsel that morning by one of the prosecutors who advised counsel that the
government had learned that Carol Howe was going to conduct a press
conference in Denver that afternoon. Counsel for Mr. McVeigh had no such
information and expressed to the prosecutor that he did not believe that
such a press conference was in the works because Ms. Howe was in Austin,
Texas, and her attorney, Mr. Smallwood, was in a first degree murder trial
in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

The undersigned counsel read the reports which were prepared and signed by
Angela Finley, and on some occasions by others in the ATF Office in Tulsa.
Incidently [sic], counsel noted that Ms. Finley had absolutely no difficulty
spelling correctly the proper nouns which constitute the names Dennis Mahon,
Andreas Strassmeir, Elohim City or Reverend Robert Millar, all of which,
were misspelled in the report provided to counsel. D.E. 3313 (Exhibit "D").
This report reflects the interview that Ms. Finley and FBI Special Agent
James R. Blanchard, II, had with Carol Howe on April 21, 1995.

While it may be claimed that Mr. Blanchard was "inexperienced" and Ms.
Finley did not actually see the finished memorandum, such statement or
claim, if made, credulity lacks. Ms. Finley was one of the two interviewing
agents, and undoubtedly was furnished a draft of the memorandum of interview
and could easily have corrected it. We believe that this information was
deliberately misspelled in order to disguise or hide it from a computer
search by the defense counsel. In fact, according to the representations of
government counsel to the district court on January 29, 1997 (Tr. at 66),
the prosecutors themselves could not find the information because of the
misspelling.

We do not credit these explanations. We note that when the district court
directed the government to respond to our request for information on Mr.
Strassmeir and Mr. Mahon, the government filed numerous 302's and other
material, but the Insert prepared by Blanchard-Finley (which arguably
constitutes the most significant information concerning Strassmeir and
Mahon) was not included in the material filed under seal with the district
court on October 18, 1996. See D.E. 2332. Considering the fact that the
identity of Strassmeir and Mahon and the Defendant's suspicions of them have
been the subject of numerous filings in this case, the failure of every
government prosecutor and every case agent who worked on this file to
remember the April 21 interview simply is not credible, but if it is
credible, it once again suggests that the Defendant is being penalized
either because of the government's willful or negligent withholding of
information. If government prosecutors knew of the April 21 memo and failed
to disclose it, after being directed to by the district court, the
withholding of it was willful. If, after the district court specifically
ordered a full response, and the government could not find it, then it was
negligent in not knowing its own material which concerns a subject not of a
casual interest, but of direct relationship to the case and the defense
Brady request.

The reports which counsel read are not the reports of Carol Howe, but
purport to represent monthly summaries prepared by Agent Finley of some of
the work of Carol Howe and some of the things that she reported. The last
report is February 1995, but there is no December 1994 report.

Although these limited number of documents do not specifically reflect the
precise information that Carol Howe furnished on April 21, they come very
dose to suggesting it. In her April 21, 1995, memorandum, Ms. Howe discussed
Andreas Strassmeir, Dennis Mahon and Elohim City at some length and
specifically mentioned that Dennis Mahon had talked to her about bombing
either an IRS building, the Federal Building in Tulsa, or the "Federal
Building" in Oklahoma City, presumably a reference to the Alfred P. Murrah
Building, although it could arguably have included the old Post Office
building and the United States Courthouse, both of which are in the "Federal
Complex" in downtown Oklahoma City. All of the allegations she has repeated
in subsequent interviews. 

On the other hand, the Insert does not state that Ms. Howe did not furnish
this information prior to April 19. The Insert purports to reflect what Ms.
Howe was telling the FBI was her knowledge on April 21. Whether she told the
FBI about her previous contacts with the ATF is not immediately clear from
official documents, but presumably she did because she is identified as a
"confidential informant" for the ATF. Of course, at that moment in the
investigation, and with Ms. Finley present in the room, the FBI agent could
have failed to ask the question about prior notice by Ms. Howe, or if he
asked the question, simply not put down her answer on the self-justified
ground that he was not investigating whether the ATF was negligent, but
whether Strassmeir and Mahon had a role in the bombing.

However, in the reports which counsel read, Ms. Howe did tell the ATF,
according to Finley's summary, that she had been in and out of Elohim City
on a number of occasions, that Elohim City residents, including Mahon and
Strassmeir, were apparently engaged in serious violations of federal weapons
law, that there was a plan to place a bomb on the front door of a Tulsa
business by Mahon, and that Mahon himself, together with Strassmeir, had
talked about making bombs and the necessity to take action against the
federal government. According to these summary reports, Strassmeir
specifically told Howe that he was interested in bombing or blowing up
federal buildings, installations or property. Again we stress this
information was given to the government prior to April 19, 1995, because it
is in reports dated prior to that day. The accuracy of the information has
been confirmed in whole or part from three media sources.

In addition, Howe has described the Reverend Millar as preaching continually
the necessity of a "Holy War" against the federal government and Howe
described that the residents at Elohim City were very familiar with what had
happened at Waco, they admired David Koresh, and that copies of the Turner
Diaries[16] were readily available. Summarized at D.E. 3313 at 10, but
repeated in other interviews.

---------------------------------

FOOTNOTES:
[16] The government has repeatedly alleged that the Turner Diaries contained
the blue print for the bombing of the Murrah Building. 
--------------------------------


In addition, Ms. Finley has described an underground bunker at Elohim City,
a weapons storage unit and other places. She advised the ATF that Strassmeir
was in the country illegally, that he thought it was time to take action,
and that she and her ATF agent had purchased various inert grenades in an
attempt to see if Dennis Mahon, Strassmeir, and although counsel does not
remember specifically, it appears also that she referenced Peter Ward, Mike
Brescia and others as people who would make the grenades "live." She
described Strassmeir as chief of security and military training, and said
that night-time military training exercises were held. She also described
that there was an influx of people in and out of Elohim City from what might
be described as other Fundamentalist Protestant denominations who mix a
Fundamentalist belief of religion with hatred of the government. D.E. 3313
at 10-11.

All of the above Carol Howe stated before April 19, 1995. What she told the
ATF concerning Andreas Strassmeir is consistent with Oklahoma State Highway
Trooper Vern Phillips' arrest of Strassmeir carrying the false identity of
Peter Ward with information on how to build terrorist explosives found in
his automobile. This information was subsequently furnished to the defense
in discovery, see D.E. 3313 at 11, but is also in Phillips' arrest report
and confirmed in substantial part by the wrecker driver.

Counsel has had a number of telephone conversations with Ms. Howe's
attorney, Allen Smallwood, a well regarded member of the Tulsa bar. Counsel
had previously furnished Mr. Smallwood a copy of the Insert concerning his
client while advising him of the existence of the protective order and
asking him to comment on it. D.E. 3313 at 11.

Subsequently, counsel learned that before 20/20 ran its first program on
January 17, 1997, concerning possible prior knowledge by the government,
that members of the prosecution had telephoned ABC the Monday before the
program was to air on Friday and had two conversations with him, one of
which lasted an hour and the other which lasted approximately 47 minutes,
and that a prosecution member thereafter called ABC on several occasions
during the week in an attempt to persuade ABC not to air the program.

Later, another government counsel also contacted ABC. A representative of
ABC considered these efforts by the government to be news management and an
attempt to censor a legitimate news story. ABC claimed that on the day the
second program was to run on ABC Evening News to discuss Carol Howe, that
the prosecutors again telephoned ABC in an attempt to persuade ABC not to
run the program and that a senior public information officer from the ATF
also telephoned ABC. D.E. 3313 at 12.

ABC representatives had a conversation with a government press spokesman
("press spokesman") of the Department of Justice, and the press spokesman
confirmed for ABC that its information "is accurate." She stated to ABC that
she did not believe the November/December confidential informant reports
talked specifically about people blowing up buildings and she did indicate
to ABC that there was a limit to what she could say because of discovery and
ABC said that the press spokesman then said, "We have to admit now
Strassmeir has been investigated." ABC stated that the representative said
words to her to this effect: But you have denied over and over and over that
he was ever the subject of an investigation. ABC said the press spokesman
then said, words to this effect: "Well, we're undenying that now. He has
been investigated, but we could not involve him specifically in the bombing
of the building."

ABC then said the press spokesman said that in regard to Carol Howe, that
she had heard other people, while an informant, talking about threats and
those people "were investigated, but it was after the bombing" and she said,
the government "could not find anyone who bought fertilizer, could not find
anyone who rented a truck, so therefore we could not charge them with
anything." Then, according to ABC, the press spokesman said, "We're not sure
that information was credible." ABC then said, but did you or did you not
send her back out? The press spokesman said that information was correct,
she was an informant sent back. ABC then said: "Well, what in the hell does
that mean?" And the press spokesman said: She did go back out, but she was
unable to develop any evidence that these people had participated. ABC said
that the press spokesman then said, "Essentially your information is
correct." But the press spokesman said there wasn't anything that
specifically connected them to the bombing of the Murrah Building. D.E. 3313
at 13.

ABC also said that the press spokesman attempted to belittle the credibility
of Carol Howe by stating that the government hears these types of statements
all the time from "White Supremacist compounds." ABC then said to her: Yeah,
but there's one difference here. The press spokesman asked what that was and
the producer said, "The God damn building blew up, that's what." The press
spokesman then said, "All right, but even if that's accurate, what's it all
add up to?" The producer said, "168 dead people, that's what." The press
spokesman then sought to terminate the conversation by saying she would give
an "official response" the next day.

After the 20/20 piece on prior warning aired on January 17, 1997, a
confidential source for the defense asked Ms. Howe, "Do you think you told
them [federal law enforcement, ATF and FBI] enough before the bombing to
have alerted them to have the bomb squads out and to have taken
precautions?" She replied, "Yes." She also told ABC News that she had
provided to the ATF a written report concerning her visit to Elohim City in
May, 1995. The defense has not received a copy of this report. 

The defense has also received information from unimpeachable sources that
Ms. Howe made statements on December 24, 1996, which were tape recorded,
concerning Strassmeir. When Ms. Howe was asked about Strassmeir she
responded, he said he didn't want to settle down [and get married] with
anyone because he wanted to go blow up federal buildings. That's exactly
what he said." Ms. Howe also told the defense source that she had retrieved
the notes she had used to brief her ATF handler, Angela Finley, about the
detonator that Andy Strassmeir received from Sinn Fein, the Irish terrorist
group.

The defense has also received information that ATF Agent Angela Finley may
have instructed Ms. Howe to violate ATF regulations concerning agent
dealings with confidential informants (CIs). According to defense sources
who have interviewed Ms. Howe, Agent Finley told Ms. Howe not to report
payments. This is a most serious violation of the absolute requirement that
CIs be emphatically told that they must report all payments as income.
Second, Agent Finley led Ms. Howe to believe that her debriefings were never
recorded. ATF regulations require that all CI debriefings must be recorded
and are very precise concerning the handling of the audio tapes of the
debriefings. The defense believes that the more likely scenario is that
Agent Finley was recording the debriefings and did not want Ms. Howe to know
this.

In addition, counsel has also spoken with NBC News, which also interviewed
Ms. Howe and who confirms that she told NBC and one other person the same
information, that is, that she had informed the ATF prior to April 19, 1995,
of the activities of Mr. Mahon and Mr. Strassmeir and Elohim City residents
in (1) believing a Holy War was imminent, (2) that  Elohim City should
strike first, (3) that Elohim City was the next Waco, (4) that Strassmeir
and Mahon wanted to bomb and blow up buildings, including Federal Buildings
and installations, and (5) among these buildings was the Federal Building in
Oklahoma City.

A report from Time magazine (D.E. 3313, Exhibit "A") indicates that Ms. Howe
gave a tape-recorded statement to an individual in which she indicated that
she had made a prior warning to the government concerning Mahon and
Strassmeir and that Mahon had indicated he was considering three (3)
targets, an IRS building, the Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the
Federal Building in Tulsa.

Time magazine then states:

     Sources in the federal government admit that Howe was 
     a paid ATF informant in Elohim City from August 1994 
     until March 1995, but they say her 38 surreptitious
     tapes contain no evidence of a bombing conspiracy in 
     the works. Only when she was debriefed two days after 
     the bombing, government sources say, did she claim that
     Mahon and Strassmeir had discussed bombing government 
     buildings. Agents familiar with the interview considered 
     her answers speculative; in any case, she offered no
     additional details.

D.E. 3313 at 14. Among the persons assisting with the report in this article
was Elaine Shannon, who is Time magazine's Department of Justice reporter.

Counsel has long ago complained to the district court that the government's
statements on material exculpatory information of other suspects and other
leads is highly qualified. The government has told the district court that
it had "no information" of a possible foreign involvement when it did. The
government has told the district court that "Andreas Strassmeir was never
the subject of the investigation," when he was. There is no other way to
describe the material found at D.E. 3313 (Exhibit "E") which consists of
State Department papers and other material from the State Department, other
than Andreas Strassmeir was a subject-suspect in the Oklahoma City bombing.

What government prosecutors have done is used the narrow definition of
"subject" contained in the Department of Justice Manual to mean that the
Grand Jury took no action or no interest in Mr. Strassmeir. That is not the
test of Brady. The district court undoubtedly understood her comments to
mean that Strassmeir was never the subject of official interest by the
government when he most assuredly was. Likewise, the government press
spokesman's statements that they couldn't find that anybody at Elohim City
had purchased fertilizer or that there wasn't any "specific" mention of the
Alfred P. Murrah Building is unavailing. The government is hiding behind
semantics such as "subject," "investigation," and "specifically." The truth
is that Mahon and Strassmeir and others are part of what is described as a
terrorist organization at Elohim City which believed that it would be the
next Waco, and should engage in a Holy War and strike the government of the
United States first.

A pristine example of government double-speak occurred very recently in a
newspaper article published in the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City. See
attached Exhibit "C." The Oklahoman quoted Weldon Kennedy, the FBI's chief
investigator on this case, as saying that he "doesn't believe" that there
was a prior warning. He "doesn't believe" it happened. This is from the
government's chief investigator. See attached Exhibit "C." The pattern is
clear. The more the evidence slips through the cracks that the government
may have had an indication that a tragedy like Oklahoma City might occur,
the more the government relies upon specificity in defining the word "warning." 

Soon the government's position will revert to the ridiculous and it will
only deny any knowledge that the Murrah building was specifically targeted
at 9:02 a.m. on April, 1995, to be destroyed by a bomb delviered [sic] in a
Ryder rental truck by Timothy McVeigh. That is not the standard for
discovery in federal courts; that is the federal government playing word
games in order to avoid what is potentially the single most embarrassing and
humiliating situation since the public found out that the FBI had an
informant inside the terrorist group that bombed the World Trade Center in
New York--an informant that actually helped make the bomb--but they bungled
the entire situation and did not prevent that tragedy. 

Carol Howe told the ATF that they certainly understood the significance of
the date April 19 at Elohim City (if not for Waco, then the execution of
Richard Snell). The government has been hiding behind verbal gymnastics and
linguistic word games and failed to produce the information. The Time
magazine article is an outstanding example. Again, it states, Abut they
(sources in the federal government) say her 38 surreptitious tapes contain
no evidence of a bombing conspiracy in the works." Of course, her 38 tapes
may not, but counsel wants to read the raw reports, review the tapes
himself, and the videos, and asks this court to order material that the ATF
or FBI have concerning Elohim City, Andreas Strassmeir and Dennis Mahon to
be produced forthwith. 

The defense has made a sufficient showing that there is a high probability,
certainly at least a high possibility, that Mahon and Strassmeir are part of
a conspiracy that planned to bomb Federal Buildings, and may have in fact
been part of the conspiracy to bomb the Murrah Building. We are not talking
about proof beyond a reasonable doubt, or sufficient proof to indict. We are
talking about the duty of the government to furnish information to the
defense to support what is clearly its stated defense, i.e. that Mr. McVeigh
is not guilty and that he is not a part of the conspiracy. 

Andreas Strassmeir's roommate, Mike Brescia, and two other residents of
Elohim City have now been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury for 22 midwestern
bank robberies in which false FBI identification and threats of bombs were
involved. These robberies, according to the Indictment, were to finance the
Aryan Republican Army (which included as one of its members Dennis Mahon).
This Grand Jury Indictment certainly indicates, for purposes of Brady
discovery, that individuals residing at Elohim City at the same time as
Mahon and Strassmeir were fully capable of carrying out terrorist acts. 

They are members of a terrorist organization; they associate with known
terrorists; at least one of them has been prohibited from entering a foreign
country because he is a terrorist; they have told an ATF informant that they
wish to blow up Federal Buildings; they had made no secret for the dislike
of the government of the United States; they are members of a violent,
right-wing, neo-Nazi, White Supremacist, Aryan Nation organization; and one
of them is in the pay of Iraq. Evidence now exists that Mahon and Strassmeir
may have engaged in federal weapons violations; may have planned a bombing
attempt on the IRS building, the Federal Building in Tulsa, or the Federal
Building in Oklahoma City prior to April 19, 1995; that Strassmeir and Mahon
traveled together to Oklahoma City on several occasions prior to April 19;
that they and other residents at Elohim City felt that Elohim City must
strike first and wage a Holy War.

Our patience is exhausted. The time for wrangling is past. We are no longer
convinced the documents drafted and furnished to us, after the fact, by
bureaucracies whose very existence and credibility is challenged, can be
relied upon. We ask for an order compelling production of all the raw notes
and all the reports and materials requested, not some sanitized version that
is presented to us in an attempt to persuade us to join with the government
in disputing a story which increasingly appears to be absolutely truthful.
Not only this court, but especially the defense, are interested in candor
from the prosecution. The defense cannot be required to accept a definition
of words as interpreted by the prosecution when apparently it has the only
copy of the dictionary. 

This is a solemn criminal case, not Alice in Wonderland where definitions
mean only what "the Queen thinks" and what she thinks is not known to anyone
else. When the district court is told that an individual was not the
"subject of the investigation," the normal and widely understood meaning of
that word is that he was not of investigative interest, there is nothing
which connects him. It does not mean "nothing credible" or that no Grand
Jury subpoena was served.

A report by an informant, even after the bombing, that Strassmeir and Mahon
were considering bombing Federal Buildings, had discussed the subject, and
that one of them had clearly mentioned the Alfred P. Murrah Building, that
the two of them had made trips to Oklahoma City, that one of them was an
alien who had overstayed his visa, that this informant regularly passed
polygraph examinations, and was used by law enforcement to record telephone
conversations after the bombing, that she was sent back to Elohim City after
the bombing, coupled with a flurry of cables to our Embassy in Bonn
concerning Andreas Strassmeir, certainly makes him a "subject of the
investigation" and any reasonable person, congressional committee or
appellate court would so understand.

Common sense dictates no other conclusion. The repeated practice of the
government and prosecution in this case when the shoe gets binding is to
make a partial disclosure, assure the district court it understands its
Brady obligations, and hold its breath, hoping the court does not order
further disclosure, or will rely on the prosecution's "good faith." We think
on the eve of trial, that the district court has expressed its view of the
prosecutors' duty clearly enough and that they have told the court that they
understand it, but partial compliance, delayed disclosures, and discovery
information which cannot reasonably be found because of egregious
misspellings are inconsistent with that duty. The order to produce 
should issue and this foolishness should end. 

Statements to the court by the prosecution that it cannot connect Strassmeir
and Mahon to the bombing are hardly surprising. They did not try very hard
to connect them because had they been connected, and Carol Howe's previous
warning  disclosed, the resulting furor would have been unimaginable.

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PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS OF PETITIONER-DEFENDANT, TIMOTHY JAMES McVEIGH AND BRIEF IN SUPPORT MARCH 25, 1997