WITNESS TAMPERING AT TOOELE?

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>]

From: Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@igc.org>

 CHEMICAL WEAPONS WORKING GROUP

 for further information:
 Craig Williams (606) 986-7565
 Bob Schaeffer (617) 489-0461

 for immediate release, Thursday, May 30, 1996
 F.B.I. NOTIFIED OF POSSIBLE WITNESS TAMPERING BY U.S ARMY 
 IN UTAH CHEMICAL WEAPONS WHISTLEBLOWER CASE

 The lawyer for chemical weapons whistleblower Steve Jones has 
notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of a possible 
obstruction of justice by a senior Army manager at the Tooele, 
Utah, nerve agent incinerator and a top civilian Army employee 
working at the Tooele Army Depot. 
 "As an officer of the court, it is my duty to notify the 
proper authorities of possible witness tampering," explained John 
Preston Creer, Jones' Salt Lake City attorney. Jones is also 
represented by Richard Condit and Joanne Royce of the Government 
Accountability Project. 
 The allegations are based on courtroom testimony indicating 
that Dave Jackson, an Army Chemical Stockpile Disposal Program 
official, and Harold Oliver, a civilian executive at the Tooele 
Army Depot, both warned Philip Krippner, a Tooele Army safety 
specialist not to testify on Jones' behalf. Jones claims he was 
fired for refusing to certify that the incinerator, scheduled to 
begin burning deadly nerve agents this spring, was safe.
 According to an affidavit signed by Krippner, he contacted 
Jones offering to speak at the whistleblower protection hearing 
because he believed witnesses for the Army's contractor, EG&G, 
"were not telling the truth." Jones testified that Krippner 
decided not to appear at the hearing after Jackson called and 
"went 'wild' on the telephone, threatening him if he testified at 
my trial." Krippner also told Jones that Oliver warned him in a 
meeting the same day that "the government would 'scrutinize' him 
very carefully" if he testified. Both the phone call from Jackson 
and the meeting with Oliver took place less than 48 hours before 
Krippner was scheduled to testify. 
 Jackson has admitted to local newspaper reporters that he did 
contact Krippner just days before he was scheduled to testify. 
Oliver has not been available for comment.

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 * * * Bob Schaeffer, Public Policy Communications * * *
 phone: (617) 489-0461 fax: (617) 489-6841