On March 18 we received the following email–CIA documents (posted
here) have been released in the ongoing case regarding the murder of Kenneth
Trentadue. Email author Jesse Trentadue, Kenneth’s brother, who is an attorney
in Salt Lake City continues to relentlessly pursue justice in his brother’s
death, apparently at the hands of the FBI, in spite of significant governmental
obstacles. A brief article about Trentadue by Andrew W. Griffin was published
December 3, 2008: Brother
of slain inmate speaks out, says DOJ thwarted serious investigation.
Background–Readers will recall that the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma
City was bombed April 19, 1995. Extensive information about the OKC bombing
is available at Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation Committee, and an excellent
review, “Key to the Truth in Oklahoma–4.19.95 and 9.11.01” by Holland
Van den Nieuwenhof was published
here on April 18, 2008.]
Attached are documents just released by CIA. They have been filed with Court
and are, therefore, public record. I believe that this is the first time the
government has claimed exemption (b)(1) for withholding information in the
Oklahoma City Bombing case. Exemption (b)(1) is the national security exemption.Jesse Trentadue
Attorney at Law
Salt Lake City, UT
Today, the following analysis is available from IntelWire.com.
March 19, 2009
By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com
New Oklahoma City bombing documents released by the FBI say a domestic terrorist
group known as “The Order” had been defunct for 10 years, even though the Bureau
was conducting two active investigations on related groups from 1990 to 1993.
One of those two groups, the Texas Reserve Militia, was linked to Andreas Strassmeir,
an associate of Timothy McVeigh.
The new documents were released as part of a FOIA lawsuit by Salt Lake City
attorney Jesse Trentadue (story).
According to one of the new documents (link),
“documents written by Timothy James McVeigh in the past contain references to
‘The Turner Diaries,'” a white supremacist novel that “outlines, in detail,
the establishment of a terrorist group known as ‘The Order.'”
The original Order (external
link) was formed during the mid-1980s and carried out a criminal spree that
included bank robberies, an assassination and counterfeiting.
“The group has not been active in almost a decade,” the document says.
But in reality, the FBI investigated outgrowths of The Order just two years
earlier in two separate locations — Benton, Tennessee, and Austin, Texas.
In 1993, the FBI had an active investigation of The Order of St. John, based
in Tennessee. According to an FBI document obtained by INTELWIRE (link),
the head of that group was also the head of an organization known as the American
Pistol and Rifle Association. APRA members were directly linked to the original
Order, the document says.
“During the mid-1980s, several members of the white supremacist terrorist group
known as ‘The Order’ were current or former members of APRA,” the document states.
Perhaps even more significantly, a group known as the Texas Reserve Militia
— the subject of a domestic terrorism investigation — was also calling itself
“The Second Order.” According to an FBI letterhead memorandum dated 12/26/1991
(link),
“it is known that the ‘first’ Order was involved in murder, armored car and
bank robberies, and counterfeiting. When [name redacted] talks about the group
being the ‘Second Order,’ it is assumed from that that the same kind of criminal
activities may be carried out.”
A January 1993 FBI memorandum further indicated that a leader of the Texas Reserve
Militia had “made statements about The Second Order such as the Government ‘has
no idea what’s in store for them. The Second Order, The Second Front is in place.'”
One member of this “Second Order” was Andreas Strassmeir, a German national
associated with the Elohim City white separatist compound in Vian, Oklahoma.
McVeigh and Terry Nichols apparently visited the compound on at least one occasion,
and McVeigh telephoned Strassmeir shortly before the Oklahoma City bombing took
place.
A great deal of suspicion has revolved around Strassmeir as a possible co-conspirator
in the bombing. Some have also speculated that he acted as a government informant.
Strassmeir was also an associate of the bank robbery gang the Aryan Republican
Army (story
and documents). The ARA, long suspected of playing a role in the Oklahoma
City bombing (story
and documents), robbed banks with the idea of using the proceeds to support
anti-government activity — the same game plan used by the original Order.
Danny Coulson, an FBI agent who worked on both the Oklahoma City bombing and
the Texas Reserve Militia investigation, said he believes Strassmeir may have
been some kind of government informant but was not working for the FBI. He suggested
Strassmeir might have been working for a foreign intelligence service.
“I think there are people who know the answer to that and I think they’re in
the FBI,” Coulson said.
One of the newly released documents is an interagency communication from the
FBI which addresses that question to the CIA (link).
“This inquiry concerns [name redacted, belived to be Strassmeir based on description
provided] and whether he has ever been a CIA confidential source or asset,”
the communication states. No corresponding response was released.
The full collection of new documents obtained by Trentadue can be read by clicking
here. They include previously unknown discussions of phone threats and a
communication, largely redacted, concerning an April 20 interaction between
the FBI and the CIA.
Source URL: http://intelwire.egoplex.com/2009_03_20_exclusives.html