| Why Did Bill Clinton's National Security Council Fund ATF "Experiments" in Building Home Made ANFO Truck Bombs in 1994? Media Bypass Magazine November 1996 (B)ureau of (A)nfo (T)ruck-Bomb (F)abrication By Lawrence Myers According to the federal government, an Ammonia Nitrate-Fuel Oil (ANFO) truck bomb allegedly destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah building in downtown Oklahoma City on the morning of Wednesday, April 19, 1995. Also, according to recently released government documents, an individual experienced in loading large amounts of ammonia nitrate fertilizer into a vehicle for use as a terrorist truck bomb was present at the OKC scene and actually witnessed the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. Records indicate that this ANFO explosives expert and his associates had constructed and destroyed at least eight vehicles in "test bombing experiments" out at a secret range in the New Mexico desert in the twelve months prior to the OKC bombing. He and his fellow explosives experts even photographed and videotaped these truck bombs as they detonated. This individual is, however, not a known associate of suspects Terry Lynn Nichols and Timothy James McVeigh or any so-called "anti government militia" in the United States. The "vehicle bomb expert," Special Agent Harry Everhart, is an employee of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. And, according to federal government records obtained by Media Bypass, Everhart, an accomplished ATF expert in ANFO truck bombs, was actually one of the first federal law officers to report the details of the bombing to his superiors from the scene in front of the Murrah Building, within minutes of the blast. The Department of Treasury confirms that Everhart called the ATF office in Dallas on his cellular phone and reported that the Murrah Building had just been attacked by an ANFO truck bomb at around 9:20 a.m. that morning. Records reveal that this particular ATF agent would clearly be qualified to make such an instant observation. Everhart, based out of the BATF's Oklahoma City Resident Agency, serves on the National Response Team (NRT), a group of experienced bomb and arson investigators who respond to major bombing crime scenes throughout the United States. He also served on a secret government project in 1994 that conducted tests using ANFO and C-4 to blow up cars and vans in a classified U.S. government experiment known as "Project Dipole Might." According to files, reports and photographs obtained by Media Bypass from the Department of the Treasury through a Freedom of Information Act request, the United States government initiated a "comprehensive ANFO and C4 vehicle bomb testing program" about a year before the OKC bombing. Records show the project was supervised and administered by ATF, but was actually funded through a National Security Council directive. The Department of Treasury confirms the project was initiated under President Bill Clinton's NSC White House staff shortly after he took office in 1993. The "Road" to Oklahoma City? The documents reveal that ATF not only built and detonated these home-made vehicle bombs, they actually set up test surfaces to replicate "four of the most common roadbed types in the United States," to cause the bombs to function in an environment where the crime scene teams evidently expected to encounter such a device somewhere in America. Furthermore, video footage obtained through these secret experiments is expected to be presented as evidence in the government's case against suspects Timothy James McVeigh and Terry Lynn Nichols. The stated intent of the Dipole Might experiments in 1994 includes making videos and computer models to "be displayed in a courtroom to aid in the prosecution of defendants" in vehicle bomb cases, according to government documents concerning the purpose of the project. The exact precedent and purpose of this activity is unclear. ATF agents started blowing up vans and cars in Spring, 1994 at the White Sands Missile Range in order to supposedly collect test data for post-blast forensics computer software packages to be issued out to National Response Team personnel when they respond to truck bombings. Why the National Security Council would fund such an ATF project, despite the absolute rarity of the crime, has not been explained. The NSC is part of the Executive Branch and evidently mandated the ATF's funding for Dipole Might in early 1993, shortly after Bill Clinton was sworn in as President. Nor has it been explained as to what specific threat assessment information the government had when it decided to engage in such a project, just a few months before a Ryder Truck laden with ammonium nitrate fertilizer exploded in front of the Murrah Building. Indeed the only major ANFO vehicle bombing in U.S. history, prior to OKC, occurred in August, 1970 at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, Wis. One of the key suspects in that bombing, Leo Frederick Burt, is, incidently, still at large. (Contrary to media reports, the World Trade Center Bomb of February 1993 was composed of Urea Nitrate, not ANFO, according to the FBI.) Despite only one known case in almost 25 years, did Clinton's National Security Council actually anticipate a need for detailed information regarding ANFO vehicle bomb attacks a few months prior to the Oklahoma City blast? Evidently, such a bombing was exactly what they were expecting. Treasury's own official documents reveal the intensity of this interest. In fact, a brief summary of "Project Dipole Might" is featured in ATF's 1994 Annual Report to Congress. It reads: "Dipole Might is the name given to a research project ATF is working on in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Defense Nuclear Agency. The objective of this three year project, funded by the National Security Council in 1993, is to create a computerized data base and investigative protocol for the investigation of large scale vehicle bombs. The basic computer software is intended to be in a format useable by law enforcement agencies around the world in crime scene management and analysis. The data will be integrated into this retrievable system so that it can be displayed in a courtroom to aid in the prosecution of defendants, aid in the security design of buildings, improve security response procedures, assist law enforcement agencies in their investigations of bombing incidents, and contribute to further development of analytical models. Data acquired will include blast over-pressure, fragment distribution, fragment mass, and sample fragment trajectory. The tests for this project were conceived using four of the most common roadbed types in the United States and explosive charges that varied in size from 50 pounds to 1,000 pounds and type from C4 to ANFO (C-4 to represent the effect of plastic explosives and ANFO for its common availability and use in terrorist devices). By repeating several sufaces with different explosive weights and types, more data is able to be gathered with fewer events. The tests began in 1994 at DNA's White Sands Missile Range high explosives test site in New Mexico. ATF personnel with extensive postblast experience were used to collect all data. The execution of the tests required careful measurement of ground zero for centering the explosive charge in the instrumental area, calibration of numerous monitoring devices, timing of the photographic and video recording devices, and placement of the explosive charge. For the first eight tests, all vehicle fragments measuring larger than 2 by 3 inches were marked identified and each fragment location surveyed. These tests used only two types of vehicles, a Chevrolet Caprice 4-door sedan, and a Dodge B-300 series passenger van. These vehicles were chosen to simulate two commonly available vehicles and If their load carrying capacity. During the course of each event, data acquisition was accomplished through the Test Control Center at White Sands Missile Range. The recorded data was then analyzed by a team of engineers for accuracy. Documentation of each event began with high speed photography and video. After each test, a complete crate profile was done by contract surveyors, and documented further with still photography. Additional still photographs were taken of significant and identifiable fragments. To date only one verification test has been completed. Although the computer software is incomplete, it has become clear that there are significant repeatable trends in large scale vehicle bombs. Conclusion Although the government does not claim that the OKC bombing suspects conducted any experiments with ANFO truck bombs prior to the most powerful terrorist bombing in U.S. history, the ATF now admits they conducted such testing in the months before the April 19, 1995 blast. Regardless of the outcome of the case against Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the White House National Security Council under President Clinton evidently had information in 1993 that an ANFO truck bomb was a serious potential terrorist threat in the United States. The NSC further concluded that federal law enforcement needed tools to deal with the post blast investigation if such a bombing would occur on U.S. soil. Their assessment was correct. What ever that still classified NSC intelligence information was, it was compelling enough to get everyone ready for the blast, even to the point of funding an ATF exercise in blowing up vehicles full of ammonia nitrate and looking at the level of damage such a bomb would cause. Within months, the outcome of these experiments and the resultant procedures were actually put to use. The first appointed trial judge in the OKC case, Judge Wayne Alley, was removed after it was learned that he was warned to stay away from the Murrah Federal Building in the days before the bombing. Not only were some government employees evidently warned of a specific threat in advance, other government agents were apparently preparing to investigate such a bombing in advance as well. Regardless of the unusual coincidences involved in Operation Dipole Might, and despite other disturbing issues of so-called "government prior knowledge" in the OKC cases it is clear that at least 168 men, women and children had absolutely no idea what was going to happen at 9:09 a.m. on Wednesday April 19, 1995. The government is not talking. It is left to the families of the victims and other survivors to understand why. Count The Coincidences 1.) Although no ANFO truck bomb attacks havc occurred on U.S. soil in more than two decades, just a few months before the OKC bombing, the federal government evidently felt a need for "investigative tools and computer data" on such attacks and actually test fired a few truck loads of ANFO to learn how the crime scenc looks afterwards. 2.) According to the indictment against McVelgh and Nichols, the conspiracy to build, transport and function the Ryder Truck bomb of April 19, 1995 took more than a year to hatch. Much of this conspiracy took place in Arizona, according to the U.S. Attorney. As McVeigh and Nichols were allegedly conspiring to create such a bomb, the government now admits it was actually building, blowing up and photographing ANFO truck bombs, just one state over, in New Mexico, during this same period of time. The purpose of the activity was to insure a smooth Investigation of a crime that had not occurred in more than 23 years, but would amazingly happen within 12 months of the project's inception. 3.) Of the handful of federal ATF agents who worked on Project Dipole Might, one just happened to be outside the Alfred P. Murrah building on the morning of April 19, 1995, and not only survived the lethal blast, but actually called in the bombing to his superiors, correctly identifying it as an ANFO Lomb. (Before you consider this particular coincidence, also explain whv virtually no other OKC BATF employees were anywhere near their place of employment that morning, and in fact, none were killed or seriously injured in a terrorist bombing the government claims was directed towards them. |
