FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CIV

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 1998

U.S. REACHES AGREEMENT WITH FORMER FBI LAB SUPERVISOR

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The federal government agreed today to

pay Frederic Whitehurst, a former supervisor in the FBI's crime
laboratory, $300,000 for attorney's fees and damages in exchange
for Whitehurst dropping all pled and unpled claims against the
government based on any events through today's date, the
Department of Justice announced. The agreement states that the
government does not admit liability on any of Whitehurst's
claims.

The agreement also expedites the processing of some of the

material Whitehurst sought under the Freedom of Information Act,
the Department said. Whitehurst will drop his request for other
material and will not make any FOIA requests of the FBI for three
years.

The agreement would dismiss a complaint Whitehurst filed in

March 1996 in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., and
provides for the parties to move for the court to vacate a
February 5, 1997, order in Whitehurst's lawsuit.

The United States also agreed to post Whitehurst's future

response to a report by the Office of Inspector General of his
allegations on the Internet as long as the OIG report is posted.
Whitehurst's response is subject to the FBI's prepublication
process to protect national security interests and confidential
law enforcement material.

The Department praised the work of the mediators who worked

on a pro bono basis to achieve the settlement. The mediators
were appointed under the district court's mediation program.

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