FBI Document Spells Out Delay in Handing Over McVeigh Files

The FBI agent at the center of a foul-up over Oklahoma City bombing documents told lawmakers that he waited for months to alert his superiors because he wanted to ascertain the magnitude of the problem, according to a memo on his meeting with lawmakers.

Danny Defenbaugh, who was in charge of collecting investigative documents in the case, said the FBI had an inkling that something was amiss as early as January, according to the summary of a briefing Defenbaugh gave to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The three-page summary was obtained by Associated Press on Thursday.

Why the FBI disclosed just a week before Timothy J. McVeigh’s scheduled execution that it had failed to turn over more than 3,000 investigative records has been one of the most perplexing questions in the document controversy.

Defenbaugh briefed lawmakers Tuesday. The next day, outgoing FBI Director Louis J. Freeh gave a similar account before Congress of the gap in time between Defenbaugh’s discovering the documents and alerting his superiors.

FBI field offices were asked in late December to send all investigative materials to Oklahoma City to be archived. Defenbaugh told lawmakers that search turned up a single document that had not been turned over to McVeigh’s lawyers, according to the summary.

By early February, more items began to arrive that had not been turned over.

McVeigh’s May 16 execution was delayed by the Justice Department until June 11 after the FBI revealed that investigative records had not been turned over.

McVeigh’s attorneys are examining the documents to determine whether they provide an opportunity to challenge McVeigh’s conviction and death sentence for the 1995 blast that killed 168 people and injured more than 500 others.