GERMAN AT OKLAHOMA COMPOUND PROBED IN BOMBING INVESTIGATION

State Department documents reveal interest in Andreas Strassmeir soon
after blast

by RYAN ROSS

April 7, 1997 / DENVER � A German in the U.S. illegally and living at the
Oklahoma compound of a religious sect in the months before the Oklahoma
City blast was being investigated by U.S. officials in connection with the
bombing within eight days of the blast, newly-obtained government
documents show.

The documents from the Diplomatic Security Division of the State
Department indicate that a federal agent working the bombing investigation
called State Department officials on April 27 and asked for help
collecting information on Andreas Strassmeir, who at the time was the
security chief at Elohim City in eastern Oklahoma.

State Department officials asked U.S. embassy personnel in Bonn to
research Strassmeir. The documents indicate that preliminary research
didn�t turn up anything remarkable in Strassmeir�s background, but State
Department officials in the counterterrorism division issued an undated
"protective intelligence bulletin" on Strassmeir in an apparent attempt to
alert diplomats to him.

At the time Strassmeir was virtually unknown publicly. He has since
emerged as a mysterious player in the Oklahoma bombing. As Digital City
Denver reported March 26 ("Federal Agent Knew of Bomb Figure"), a
government informant says Strassmeir was a white supremacist who urged
others to blow up federal buildings, and who cased federal buildings in
Oklahoma City in late 1994 and early 1995.

Strassmeir is also connected to accused Oklahoma City bomber Timothy
McVeigh. McVeigh stayed at a motel near Elohim City in late 1994 or early
1995. On April 8, 1995, Strassmeir and McVeigh were seen by strippers at a
Tulsa dance club. Four days later someone using a phone card issued to
McVeigh and co-defendant Terry Nichols called Elohim City and left a
message that sect members say was for Strassmeir.

Through his attorney, Strassmeir has denied any involvement in the
bombing, and he's said he had only one brief, inconsequential meeting with
McVeigh.

Lawyers in the bombing case are prohibited from discussing matters likely
to come up at trial, but in a motion filed March 26 with a federal appeals
court, McVeigh's lawyer Stephen Jones characterized Strassmeir as key to
Jones' assertion that government agents knew from an informant about
threats Strassmeir was making and failed to properly investigate them. The
filing suggests one part of the defense strategy will be to blame the
bombing on Strassmeir.

Deputy prosecutor Beth Wilkinson said during a pre-trial hearing in the
bomb case that Strassmeir has never been the "subject" of an investigation
in connection with the bombing. But the new State Department documents
recently obtained by Digital City Denver indicate Strassmeir was at least
of interest to federal agents investigating the bomb soon after the blast.

The cable from the U.S. embassy in Bonn indicates that it was a federal
agent whose last name is Hudspeth who had contacted the State Department
for help gathering information on Strassmeir. The cable doesn't indicate
what prompted Hudspeth's interest.

The "protective intelligence bulletin" cites the same case number, and
includes four photographs of Strassmeir that look like they could be
passport or visa photos.

Other documents indicate that someone accessed an Immigration and
Naturalization Service database and retrieved records of Strassmeir's
visits to the U.S. The database records indicate Strassmeir first came
here in 1988, and returned for visits in 1989, 1990 and 1991.

The documents don't indicate whether any information relevant to the
bombing probe was obtained, but they raise intriguing questions about the
FBI probe of the bombing. Strassmeir remained in the U.S. for about eight
months after the bombing and could easily have been arrested, interrogated
and deported, because his most recent visa had expired in 1991 and he was
in the U.S. illegally.

But he left the U.S. in January, 1996, without, according to his attorney,
having been interviewed by the FBI.

Other documents show the FBI had a continuing interest in Strassmeir in
connection with the bomb probe. An INS "lookout" or warning dated Jan. 11,
1996 � nine months after the blast -- indicates that Strassmeir "is wanted
for questioning by the FBI, Oklahoma City," and cites the FBI case number
of the bombing investigation. Strassmeier is described as "possibly armed
and maybe dangerous."

INS Supervisory Special Agent Stephen Merrill indicated in a Feb. 8, 1996
memo in that Strassmeir had left the U.S. by that time. Merrill said it
was therefore unlikely the INS would have any interest in him.

The FBI was apparently aware by that time that Strassmeir was no longer in
the U.S. Merrill writes in his Feb. 8 memo that FBI agent Louann Sandstrom
in Oklahoma City told the INS as much that day. Sandstrom suggested to the
INS that the "lookout" for Strassmeir be canceled. The documents don't
indicate whether it was.

It's not clear from the document how the FBI would have known Strassmeir
had left the U.S. Strassmeir attorney Kirk Lyons has said Strassmeir
hadn't been interviewed when he left. He's since been interviewed over the
phone, Lyons says, but there has been no face-to-face interview.

Original articles and artwork Copyright 1997 Digital City Denver.
 All photographic images Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997 Wide World Photos, Inc.