Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee

Thank you for inviting me to be here today to represent the FBI and to give you a broad overview of the FBI's investigation of the tragedy of TWA Flight 800. As this matter continues to be an active criminal investigation on our part, I know you will appreciate the restrictions that are placed on me and the FBI and will understand the limits this fact may impose on my statements and responses.

When this catastrophic tragedy happened on the night of July 17, 1996, and after initial information indicated that all communications from TWA Flight 800 were normal and that no distress calls were issued, the FBI, as well as I would suspect most of the world, believed that there was a possibility that this tragedy was the work of criminals or terrorists. As you are aware, for the first few hours following this tragedy, over 100 individuals reported seeing events in the sky associated
with the TWA Flight 800 disaster. That is why the FBI and the law enforcement team acted, and acted quickly, to begin a massive, thorough, criminal investigation.  If there was ever a chance that this catastrophe was criminal, it was critical that the proper investigation take place immediately. 

From the beginning, the FBI's investigative purpose has been to reach what I have called in the past - critical mass - to gather sufficient evidence to allow us to state, with a high degree of certainty, whether this tragedy was the result of a criminal act and, if so, determine who was responsible and bring them to justice. Our efforts have been and continue to be focused on two primary criminal theories - that the destruction of Flight 800 was the result of a bomb placed on the aircraft or
a missile fired at it. The FBI's investigation has been one of the most massive, thorough, sophisticated and costly ever conducted by our agency. The FBI has expended tens of thousands of hours of Agent resources participating in body recovery operations, wreckage recovery, storage and scientific examination and analysis by FBI scientists as well as outside experts. Part of this effort has been the largest reconstruction of an aircraft ever undertaken. To date, the FBI has conducted over seven thousand interviews. Our investigation has included interviews of ground crews and mechanics in New York and Athens, passengers and crew who were on the flight from Athens to New York that preceded Flight 800, hundreds of witnesses on Long Island and surrounding areas, witnesses on other aircraft who observed the explosion and military personnel; a review of information available from intelligence assets; tracking of all air and water borne vessels in the area at the time of the explosion followed by appropriate interviews and tracing of all reports of stolen boats, stolen motor vehicles and suspicious incidents during the period of time preceding and after the tragedy. In short, our investigative efforts have been exhaustive.

All of our efforts to date have failed to uncover any credible evidence that the loss of Flight 800 was the result of a criminal act. Let me again reiterate something I told the Committee in the briefing several months ago and what I have also stated publicly - Flight 800 was definitely not brought down by "friendly fire", that is, no missile or any other action by the military and naval forces of the United States caused this tragedy.

We continue to examine the possibility that the aircraft was destroyed by a bomb, a terrorist missile or other criminal act. Each day, we move closer to completing leads and other lines of inquiry seeking to close out theories and resolve the questions of possible criminal activity. We have not reached the end of our investigative process and the theories of a bomb or terrorist missile, along with the possibility of mechanical failure, are still on the board. 

Barring some new disclosure or information, we are now in the final phase of our investigation. We have several lines of inquiry or action items left to complete so that we can ensure we have covered every base and that the families of the victims and the American people will be confident that our ultimate determination is based on the most thorough, exhaustive and finest investigative effort that the FBI can produce. For example, we have identified, catalogued and are conducting a close scientific examination and analysis of almost 200 holes, slits, punctures or penetrations identified in the reconstructed areas of the aircraft. We expect that the metallurgical analysis and our other remaining leads may be completed as early as 60 to 90 days from today. However, as I stated earlier, none of the analysis completed to date has uncovered any evidence of a crime.

In the next 60 days we expect to have the final results of a sophisticated analysis of the statements of witness who reported seeing what has generally been characterized as something ascending into the sky followed by an explosion. This analysis, which includes correlation of what the witnesses saw, what they heard, and their locations with known radar trackings of the aircraft, is extremely detailed and has involved a number of reinterviews. When completed, we believe this analysis will provide a clear understanding of these critical eyewitness observations.

Mr. Chairman, throughout this entire investigation, the cooperation between the FBI, NTSB, the FAA, the ATF, state and local agencies, and the other members of the law enforcement team has been nothing but superb. In my entire career in law enforcement, I have worked many, many major investigations involving multiple agencies and I can tell you, Mr. Chairman, and the other members of this Committee, that I have never seen a case of this significance with this many agencies where the cooperation, professionalism and "can do" attitude was better displayed. The American people can be proud of the dedicated men and women that have labored for almost one year from all the agencies and organizations with one idea in mind, and that is to find the cause of this horrendous tragedy. 

To sum up,Mr. Chairman, we have a number of significant investigative, scientific and analytical initiatives which we hope to complete within the next 60 to 90 days and, to date, the FBI's exhaustive investigative efforts have not uncovered any evidence that the destruction of Flight 800 resulted from a criminal act. I thank you for your time and I would be happy to answer questions from the Committee.