New FBI Lab Chief’s Training Raises Concerns
Despite promising to seek an experienced crime lab scientist, the FBI has hired the former head of a government nuclear weapons laboratory with no background in forensic science to direct its troubled laboratory.
The new director is Donald M. Kerr Jr., 58, a physicist-engineer who headed the government’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons research is conducted, from 1979 to 1985.
The FBI acknowledged the selection of Kerr after the National Whistleblowers Center disclosed his name at a news conference here Friday.
The selection was criticized by the National Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “Once again, the FBI has dealt with Congress and the public with incredible arrogance,” said the group’s vice president, William Moffitt.
“We conducted a nationwide search,” said FBI spokesman John Collingwood. “Although initially we focused primarily on the forensic community, ultimately we expanded the universe of scientists because we wanted two qualifications: an eminent, nationally recognized scientist, which Dr. Kerr clearly is, and someone with a proven track record of managing a complex scientific laboratory.”
On April 15, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich issued a 500-page report blasting the world-renowned crime lab for flawed scientific work and inaccurate testimony in major cases, including the Oklahoma City bombing.
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