B. Dennis Mahon. Andreas Strassmeir and Carol Howe.

1. Dennis Mahon.

Dennis Mahon is a virulent racist and avowed enemy of the U.S. government. He is the No. 3 person in authority in the White Aryan Resistance movement led by Tom Metzger. D.E. 2191 at 10. There are videotapes featuring Mahon, in full Ku Klux Klan uniform, lighting a cross at a Klan recruiting trip in Germany, and yet another videotape of Mahon firing a semi-automatic rifle during paramilitary training for Klan members. Mahon conducted a "tour" in Germany in order to recruit other right-wing extremists. The costs of the trip were split between Mahon and his "German supporters." Mahon joked that if he was fined the usual 1,000 Deutsche Marks (approximately $600) for every time he gave the Nazi salute, he would owe 10,000,000 Marks, explaining "I gave hundreds while I was there."

Mahon is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and has referred to the Oklahoma City bombing as a "fine thing" and stated further, "I hate the federal government with a perfect hatred . . . I'm surprised that this [the bombing] hasn't happened all over the country." He has further been quoted as saying that "all methods are legitimate to save your nation." D.E. 2191 (Exhibit "M").

The Iraqi government has given Dennis Mahon thousands of dollars over the past six years. Mahon has admitted to receiving money from Iraq approximately once a month and stated that "it's coming from the same zip code where the Iraqi Embassy is, but they don't say it's from the Iraqi Embassy." The money started arriving in 1991 after Mahon started holding rallies protesting the Persian Gulf War. Mahon is a close friend of Andreas Strassmeir, the ex-head of security at Elohim City and Mahon has lived at Elohim City.

During Operation Desert Storm, Mahon produced several videotapes which were distributed to public access television stations suggesting that the United States' policy in Iraq was wrong. A defense attorney has interviewed Mahon, and the defense received, through an intermediary, a tape recording that Mahon had made to be given to our client. The intermediary felt that the delivery of such tape recording was improper and was concerned about its implications and forwarded it to the defense. The defense did not know whether the purpose of this tape recording was to encourage the Defendant to "sacrifice" himself for the eventual "justice" of the cause or was a subtle threat intended to remind the Defendant that members of his family were vulnerable.[10]

When the defense learned that Mahon and his brother had telephoned Germany with orders to kill Strassmeir, the FBI was immediately informed. Mahon's taped message goes on to say that Mr. McVeigh is "innocent by reasons of entrapment," but that notwithstanding being innocent, he should accept the sacrifice in order that justice may prevail. Mahon is a frequent participant in gun shows. Mahon has been banned from the United Kingdom and from Canada and was characterized as an international terrorist. A majority of German terrorists have been trained in Palestinian camps in Jordan, South Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. D.E. 2191 at 11.

Nebraskan Gary Lauck who was arrested by German authorities for smuggling terrorist manuals and Nazi propaganda to neo-Nazis in Germany, wrote a 20-page manifesto entitled, "Strategy, Propaganda and Organization." The paper describes the integration of worldwide extremist groups into a tight network and "military education with terrorist aims." Sources have informed counsel that Lauck had frequent contacts with Islamic terrorist groups. He was also an associate of Dennis Mahon.

In a book written by former German neo-Nazi Ingo Hasselback, which was excerpted in the January 8, 1996, edition of New Yorker, he recalls how Lauck offered connections to American neo-Nazi groups. He wrote, "Through him I later became a pen pal of Tom Metzger, the leader of WAR, the White Aryan Resistance, in southern California, as well as Dennis Mahon of the Ku Klux Klan."

After Lauck's arrest by German authorities, German and American neo-Nazi groups found new ways to smuggle material into Germany using Sweden. Dennis Mahon helped to establish a chapter of his "White Aryan Resistance" group in Stockholm, Sweden. The German BKA has confirmed to German ARD television that this pipeline exists. Before Lauck's arrest, in March 1995, Denmark had been used as the smuggling point.

Mahon confirmed to ARF television that he brought German neo-Nazis to this country for training. The interview was videotaped. In the days immediately preceding April 19, 1995, when Elohim City was preparing for the execution and funeral of Richard Snell, members of that community placed numerous telephone calls to Mr. Snell's family, the Arkansas Bureau of Prisons, the local undertakers, and a series of phone calls were interspersed to Dennis Mahon's residence.

The defense has also acquired information from unimpeachable sources that Dennis Mahon made statements to the effect of, "If a person wanted to know about the bombing, then they should talk with Andy Strassmeir because he knows everything." These same sources inform the defense that Mahon admitted to him that he met James Nichols, the brother of Defendant Terry Nichols, in Michigan. Bob Miles' (a Michigan leader in the White Supremacist movement, now deceased) farm was only 62 miles from James Nichols' farm.

2. Andreas Strassmeir.

Andreas Strassmeir is a German national whose father is a well regarded and successful politician in the Christian Democrat Coalition who recently retired as Secretary of State for West Germany, but whose grandfather was a founding member of the German Nazi party. D.E. 3123 at 14. Strassmeir was in this country illegally on an expired visa on April 19, 1995. Id. (Exhibits "F" and "H"). Subsequently, when Strassmeir became the subject of intense media and defense scrutiny, his attorney, Kirk Lyons, a well-known North Carolina lawyer whose principal clients are members of the most violent and extreme wing of American politics, openly boasted that he had "spirited" Strassmeir out of the country through Texas, Mexico and France, telling his supporters that it would be "easier to defend Strassmeir from Germany than from inside a federal detention facility." Id. at 14 (Exhibit "H").

Strassmeir, who was originally presented to the press as a starry-eyed German interested in American military history has now been identified as the Chief of Security at Elohim City, an active participant in a Klan rally in Texas, and having overstayed his visa in this country, having traveled on false identity papers (he was arrested in Oklahoma by State Highway Patrolman Vernon Phillips using the identity of Peter Ward) and a suspect in multiple investigations concerning weapons violations, including making weapons fully automatic. Id.

When Strassmeir, who is trained in terrorist tactics, was arrested on February 28, 1992, near Elohim City, he was not only carrying false identity papers, but also statements from foreign bank accounts, and a copy of The Terrorist Handbook. D.E. 2191 at 12. The Terrorist Handbook states that its purpose is "to show the many techniques and methods used by those people in this and other countries who employ terror as a means to political and social goals.... [A]ny lunatic or social deviant could obtain this information, and use it against anyone.... [The publisher] feels that it is important that everyone has some idea of just how easy it is for a terrorist to perform acts of terror; that is the reason for the existence of this publication." The table of contents includes chapters on low-order explosives; high-order explosives, including how to build bombs from fertilizer and fuel oil; ignition devices; advanced uses for explosives; delay devices and explosive containers, including plastic containers.

According to a May 19, 1995, newspaper article "witnesses allegedly identified him [Strassmeir] at the end of April [1995] as one of the number of men seen in Junction City, Kansas, when McVeigh was also there during the days leading up to the bombing." D.E. 2191 at 12. One of the witnesses said she contacted the FBI as soon as she was shown a photograph of Strassmeir by a U.S. news organization investigating the Oklahoma affair.

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, the author of this article, and Andrew Gimson, a reporter in the Telegraph's Berlin bureau interviewed Strassmeir a total of five times. Over the course of these interviews, Strassmeir revealed the following:

• A. Strassmeir was a former Lieutenant in Germany's elite Panzer Grenadiers, similar to our Special Forces, and was trained in military intelligence.
• B. He first moved to the United States in 1989 "because he was planning to work on a special assignment for the U.S. Justice Department." According to Strassmeir, "It never worked out."
• C. A retired USAF Colonel, Vince Petruskie was helping Strassmeir at the DEA and Treasury Department, but ultimately nothing came through. Interviews with Petruskie by defense investigators confirm this.
• D. Having failed to find a job in Washington, Strassmeir went to Texas where he found work at a computer company, and where ". . . he seemingly drifted into the subculture of the Klu [sic] Klux Klan, the Aryan Nations, and the extreme fringes of the Christian right.... He established himself as Chief of Security (at Elohim City) in weapon training, he said."
• E. Strassmeir "also claimed that he copper bottomed information about the bombing but seemed torn over how much he felt able to impart" to the Telegraph.
• F. Strassmeir said, "The ATF had an informant inside this operation. They had advanced warning and they bungled it." "What they should have done is made an arrest while the bomb was still being made instead of waiting until the moment for a publicity stunt."

Counsel for Defendant McVeigh personally interviewed Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Washington, D.C., and confirmed each of these points. Mr. Evans-Pritchard represented to counsel that Strassmeir strongly suggested to him that there was an informant at Elohim City and that he was the informant. However, Strassmeir would not expressly admit to it. The government has denied Andreas Strassmeir was an informant employed by the United States. Mr. Evans-Pritchard informed the undersigned counsel that as part of his investigation into Strassmeir's background, Evans-Pritchard interviewed a member of the Texas Light Infantry during the time Strassmeir was in Texas.

Certain members of the Texas Light Infantry began to believe that Strassmeir was an ATF informant. Members of the infantry placed a "tail" on Strassmeir and followed him one night. Strassmeir went into a federal building in which was housed a local ATF office. On the doors of this particular federal building, there were combination locks and in order to gain entrance, the person had to punch in the correct combination. Evans-Pritchard reported to counsel that the members of the Texas Light Infantry reported that they watched while Strassmeir punched in the proper code, unlocked the door and went into the building. D.E. 2191 at 14.

Counsel has been informed by a reliable source that FBI Director Louis Freeh had invited a subject to accompany him on a trip to Italy and Germany in late 1993, shortly after Mr. Freeh became director of the FBI. The subject did in fact accompany Mr. Freeh first to Italy and then to Germany. Counsel was told that Mr. Freeh specifically invited the subject to be present when Freeh met with German internal security officials and that he agreed on the condition that he would not write anything about what he heard.

The subject was present in the meeting in Germany in November 1993 (he thought it could have been October, but was more positive about November), and that the German security officials specifically mentioned Andreas Strassmeir and said that he was "nation hopping" back and forth between the United States and Germany and that he had been associated with neo-Nazis in the United States and that they were very concerned about their activities. Director Freeh replied that the FBI was aware of Strassmeir, and was "monitoring" his activities, but that "because of the First Amendment, there isn't anything we can do."

When Strassmeir's potential link to this case was discovered, a reporter interviewed Dennis Mahon about Mahon's friendship with Strassmeir. When questioned whether or not Strassmeir could be an informant, Mahon became visibly upset. As information was traded, Mahon became more convinced that Strassmeir had been providing intelligence on them. Mahon immediately got in touch with a "A very important man in Germany and requested that he determine if Strassmeir could be an agent for the German government. The reporter heard them state to this individual that if Strassmeir had double-crossed them, "[Matron] wanted Andreas shot in both kneecaps and a confession elicited from him, then hold a 30-minute trial and then execute him." D.E. 2191 at 16. The FBI was immediately informed of the information when defense counsel learned it.

Despite government denials to the Court that Strassmeir has never been the subject of the investigation of this case, defense counsel has obtained documents--generated by the government--which indicate that he most assuredly was. One official document, dated January 11, 1996, from an investigative assistant discussed Strassmeir and stated, "Subject is wanted for questioning by FBI, Oklahoma City. Detain and notify [the FBI]," and then giving the phone number, and "refer to FBI case number," and then giving the Oklahoma City bombing case, and then concluding that "subject is possibly armed and may be dangerous." D.E. 3410 (Pretrial Hearing--Sealed--Not Provided to Defendant Nichols, March 10, 1997 at 18).

This document was generated months after the defense began requesting information concerning Strassmeir and during the very time that the defense was meeting with the District Court concerning Strassmeir. Id. In addition, the defense has now learned, belatedly through discovery and through Howe herself, that ATF informant Carol Howe was sent back to Elohim City after the bombing in an attempt to learn additional information about Strassmeir, Mahon and others. Also, through discovery, the defense has learned of significant official communication between the United States government and its representatives in Germany concerning additional information on Strassmeir and that Strassmeir has been the subject of interest to the Counterterrorism Division of the Diplomatic Protective Service of the Department of State in a document which we can only describe as specifically bearing the Oklahoma City bombing investigation case number and photographs of Strassmeir. See attached Exhibit "A" and "B" (Under Seal).

To say, in light of these documents and others filed under seal and not otherwise identified in this public filing, that Mr. Strassmeir was "never the subject of the investigation" is simply untrue. Strassmeir remained a suspect and subject of the Oklahoma City investigation as demonstrated by the fact that

1. Carol Howe was sent back to Elohim City where Strassmeir lives,
2. cable traffic between an agency of the federal government and its representatives in Germany clearly identify official interest in Strassmeir,
3. his picture and other information was circulated by the Department of State with respect to the Oklahoma City bombing, and
4. in January 1996, he was considered to be "armed and dangerous" and was to be detained for investigation and interview by the FBI.

For the government to represent to the Court, as it did that Strassmeir had never been the subject of the investigation is not consistent with the known facts and misleads both the Court and the Defendant. See (Scheduling and Rule 17.1 Conference--Sealed, January 29, 1997, at 60, 68). Strassmeir not only was a subject of the investigation and a suspect of official interest on two continents, but that interest lasted at least from the middle of April 1995 to January 1996.

[CONTINUED IN PART TEN]

[10] The defense has no information that Mr. McVeigh was ever present at Elohim City or ever met Dennis Mahon.