REPORT JOLTS FBI LAB INTO REFORM: Whistle-blower's charges, partly upheld by Justice's inspector general, spur the fabled crime lab to alter practices

At 9:02 AM on April 19, 1995, a 2-ton ammonium nitrate fertilizer fuel bomb stuffed into a rental truck detonates in front of the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, partially leveling the nine-story federal building and killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more. A decorated Persian Gulf War veteran with anarchist beliefs is swiftly arrested and charged with this terrorist act. On June 2—a little more than two years after the bombing—a jury finds Timothy J. McVeigh guilty on all 11 counts of conspiracy, bombing, and first-degree murder. (At C&EN press time, McVeigh is awaiting sentencing.) The case unwittingly showcased the Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory. The defense team, probing for prosecution soft spots, tried to introduce a Justice Department report on the lab that was released in April. This scathing report, by the department's inspector general (IG), reveals a wealth of shoddy policies and practices, which the FBI is now in the throes of correcting. Judge Richard P. Matsch, ...