FBI chief acknowledges 'cultural defect'

Freeh promises new management training will ensure better handling of FBI investigative records

By Paul Courson
CNN Washington

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- FBI Director Louis Freeh on Thursday said a "cultural defect" contributed to his agency's failure to promptly hand over documents whose late discovery has delayed the execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

A top Senate Democrat said some "heads ought to roll" for the blunder.

Answering questions from lawmakers for a second day on Capitol Hill, Freeh at first repeated his belief that simple human error was to blame for the papers not coming to light in time to be considered during trials for McVeigh and his convicted accomplice, Terry Nichols.

But Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings, D-South Carolina, the ranking Democrat on a Senate appropriations subcommittee holding the hearing, insisted that Freeh address what he called a long-standing "cultural problem" at the FBI.

MESSAGE BOARD FBI: a troubled agency?   RESOURCES • Timeline: FBI under Louis Freeh • Previous FBI controversies   ALSO • The FBI and the McVeigh case: What they're saying • Attorneys say McVeigh is considering all options • Ashcroft: No more delays for McVeigh • Keating: 'How can there be anything wrong?' • Newly revealed FBI documents prompt Nichols' appeal • More on the McVeigh execution

Freeh acknowledged that instructions went out 11 times to FBI personnel to compile and forward all papers related to the case. "I think there is a cultural problem here in not taking seriously the very clear and explicit commands that were given in a very important case," he said.

He said additional management training is being instituted to ensure better handling of records.

"That's a cultural defect which I will attempt to address by the stand-down that we're going to do," he added.

Freeh, 51, who plans to retire from the FBI next month, also told lawmakers he plans to recruit and hire someone for a high-level position to oversee documents management and try to prevent such errors in the future.

Hollings was not appeased. "Don't hire anybody. Fire some people," he said. "Make them accountable. They'll know. They'll understand. And until you do that, they'll play the game."

His voice rising, Hollings continued. "Get rid of some -- some heads ought to roll where they didn't respond to these communications appropriately," he said.

During Wednesday's hearing before House budget lawmakers, Freeh told them he accepted responsibility for the mistake.

WHAT THE FBI WITHHELD: • About 3,100 pages of documents and pieces of evidence including "Form 302" documents that give the essence of interviews that FBI agents conducted following the Oklahoma City bombing. Many of the documents deal with the search for "John Doe No. 2." THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSIBILITY: • The Justice Department says it does not believe the documents have "material bearing" on the case, but McVeigh attorney Nathan Chambers called the discovery "a cause for great concern." POSSIBLE REMEDIES: • The evidence could be grounds for an appeal, but McVeigh's attorneys cannot file one without his consent because he has not been proven to be mentally incompetent. MORE DETAILS

But even as he explained what happened, Freeh said at the House hearing that more documents had been found following what he described as a "complete shake-down" that he ordered Friday evening.

"This latest scrubbing has produced additional documents which are currently being reviewed to determine whether they were covered by the discovery agreement and, if so, whether they have been produced," he said Wednesday. "I understand these documents are of the same character as the others."

A Justice Department official told CNN those additional documents are expected to be in the hands of the U.S. attorney in Denver by week's end. He will determine what, if anything, needs to be turned over to McVeigh's attorneys.

FBI officials have stressed their belief that none of the 3,100 pages of documents -- primarily notes, transcripts and investigative files dealing with a purported accomplice to McVeigh -- had any information that would exonerate McVeigh.

McVeigh, a decorated Gulf War veteran, was scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday morning for the April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in April 1995. The bombing killed 168 people and wounded more than 500 others, making it the worst act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

Attorney General John Ashcroft postponed McVeigh's execution until June 11 to allow his lawyers to review the recently discovered material.