linked - Investigating the Terror

nitric acid and were noted underneath the chemical equation. A 60 to 63
ratio by weight is theoretically the correct ratio for the reaction, but only if
both substances are in the same concentration. Here, the manual
prescribes that the nitric acid be diluted to 34%, which would require a
ratio of 60 parts urea to about 189 parts nitric acid (63 divided by .34) if
the urea was 100% pure, or some other ratio if the urea was less pure.
The second formula (G.Ex.2783T) is closer to, but is not exactly, what the
FBI followed. This formula indicates that 200 grams of urea should be
dissolved in water, and then 200 grams of diluted nitric acid should be
put in. No mention is made of reagent or technical grade products or
distilled water. The manual's translated discussion of how to dilute nitric
acid is difficult to understand. In a 1997 interview Burmeister told us he
construes the discussion to mean that the nitric acid should be diluted to
35% purity. Thus, the weights and concentrations of G.Ex.2783 differed
from those in the formulas used by the FBI, and, as explained in note 41,
infra, it is unclear whether G.Ex. 2783 could effectively produce urea
nitrate. In any event, prior to the Salameh trial no one in the FBI
attempted to decipher the dilution procedure and actually dilute nitric
acid pursuant to it; nor did anyone in the FBI otherwise attempt to make
urea nitrate pursuant to this formula.
In his OIG interview Williams did not say that he or anyone else in the FBI
actually manufactured urea nitrate by literally following the formulas in
the manuals. Despite Williams' trial testimony that the early (pre-Eglin)
batches were made using the formulas in the manuals, he testified in the
OIG interview that he did not know what formulas were used in the only
two pre-Eglin batches he was aware of.
As for Eglin, Williams testified at the interview as follows: He did not see
the written formula Whitehurst and the other members of the team were
following and did not know whether it was the formula from the manuals.
However, based on Whitehurst's verbal instruction to the team, Williams
thought that the formula from the manuals appeared to be the formula
that we were also using. Williams further testified that on the first day of
mixing at Eglin he received a fax of one of the translated Arabic formulas;
he showed it to Whitehurst and the Eglin chemists and asked how it
compared to what they were doing; and they said it was the same.
Whitehurst, Burmeister, and the Eglin chemist at the scene of the mixing
(Paul Bolduc) told the OIG that they could not recall telling Williams that a