7/17/00 5:15 p.m.
FBI Hits Back at Trulock
Clinton administration whistleblower's computer seized by FBI.

By NR Staff

on't cross the FBI: At least that's what former Clinton-administration whistleblower Notra Trulock has concluded after two agents showed up at his house late Friday afternoon to confiscate his computer hard drive. The action was in response to an article Trulock wrote in the latest National Review that included criticisms of the administration's — and the FBI's — handling of various spy scandals in the nation's nuclear laboratories.

The FBI apparently believes the article may have contained classified information. "Outrageous, just outrageous," says Trulock, who maintains he was careful to avoid any reference to classified material. He passed a counterintelligence polygraph — meant to pick up any inappropriate disclosures — in March after he wrote the article.

According to Trulock, the FBI agents told his landlady — a Department of Energy employee — that they would break down the door if she didn't cooperate. In the article, Trulock says the FBI's handling of the espionage problem at the labs was "dilatory at best." He also complains about harassment of whistleblowers by the Clinton administration.

Trulock was just dismissed by the defense contractor TRW. According to Trulock, he was told by a senior TRW official that the firm was pressured by DOE to fire him. Now, the FBI has his hard drive — with all his financial information — and he's looking for a lawyer. That Trulock would be the target of such an FBI seizure is ironic, considering he spent years begging the administration to take espionage at the labs seriously. At least, the FBI might be taking criticism seriously.