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                 FBI HIRES NUCLEAR PHYSICIST TO HEAD CRIME LAB
                                       
     FBI crime lab October 18, 1997
     Web posted at: 2:27 p.m. EDT (1827 GMT)
     
     From Correspondent Terry Frieden
     
     WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI hired the former head of a government
     nuclear weapons laboratory to direct its troubled crime lab, even
     though he has no background in forensic science.
     
     The FBI had promised to seek an experienced crime lab scientist from
     outside the government following a stinging Justice Department
     report on the lab last spring.
     
     But the man chosen for the post is Donald M. Kerr Jr., 58, a
     physicist-engineer who from 1979 to 1985 headed the government's Los
     Alamos National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons are designed.
     
     The FBI acknowledged that Kerr's selection after the National
     Whistleblowers Center disclosed his name at a news conference
     Friday.
     
     "It just seems dumbfounding and implausible that they would not hire
     a world-class forensic scientist to take over the crime lab," center
     Director Stephen Kohn said.
     
     The selection also was criticized by the National Association 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.
     
     Federal Bureau of Investigation officials defended the hiring of
     Kerr, saying he is the renowned scientist the agency was looking for
     to beef up its crime lab.
     
     "He has vast experience in managing large lab operations and a long
     track-record of successfully revitalizing labs," an FBI source told
     CNN.
     
     A formal announcement of Kerr's hiring is expected Tuesday.
     
  'This is not somebody from the outside'
  
     FBI building
     
     Kris Kolesnik, senior counselor to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa,
     one of the harshest critics of the FBI, said Kerr's work at Los
     Alamos and more recently for a major defense contractor make him a
     "real government insider."
     
     "This is not somebody from the outside who's going to bring a fresh
     breath of air," Kolesnik said.
     
     Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich blasted the
     world-renowned crime lab in April for flawed scientific work and
     inaccurate testimony in major cases, including the Oklahoma City
     bombing. Bromwich called for a new lab director with a scientific
     background "preferably in forensic science."
     
     Meanwhile, another flap over the crime lab erupted Friday when chief
     lab whistleblower Frederic Whitehurst said that in examining FBI lab
     reports recently released under the Freedom of Information Act, he
     found that five more FBI examiners had altered lab reports.
     
     "In the last week, I have found five more people that have been
     altering cases -- five more that the inspector general didn't find,"
     Whitehurst said.
     
    
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  Related stories:
     * Official: FBI lab criticism will prompt case challenges - April
       16, 1997
     * Judge may force agency to uncloak FBI lab report - March 7, 1997
     * Top official admits 'serious' problems at FBI lab - January 30,
       1997
       
  Related sites:
  
     Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
     * Federal Bureau of Investigation
          + FBI Lab
     * Los Alamos National Laboratory
     * US Dept. of Justice - Office of Inspector General Report on FBI
       Labs - April 1997
       
     
     
     External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
     
   
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