For Immediate Release
August 30, 1999

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office

FBI Director Louis J. Freeh today announced that a team of 62 Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel--including Special Agents, crime scene investigators, scientists, and forensic experts--and four forensic specialist from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) have returned to Kosovo at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The ICTY formally requested the FBI and AFIP specialists return to Kosovo through the Department of State and Department of Justice pursuant to the authority found in Title 28, United States Code, Section 533.

Director Freeh said "The personnel and their equipment were flown in stages from Washington, D.C., to Macedonia aboard U.S. Air Force aircraft. The contingent is scheduled to begin work in Kosovo on more than a dozen sites including multiple common graves and possible crime scenes. These sites are located in the UK sector under the control of British and Canadian peace- keeping group."

Freeh said the total FBI contingent in Kosovo will work on new sites not mentioned in the previous indictment issued by the tribunal from The Hague. These sites will require the team of FBI and AFIP specialists to process crime scenes, undertake exhumations and conduct field autopsies in an effort to identify the victims.

It is noted that the British/Canadian sector was the last area under Serbian control. Information was developed concerning the new sites by ICTY investigators and prosecutors during intervening weeks since the first FBI deployment to Kosovo in June. The FBI advance team reports that many of the sites will present unique challenges. The sites are remote and will require substantial efforts to locate and collect the evidence.

Freeh said that Special Agent-in-Charge(SAC) Roger A. Nisley is in charge of the FBI contingent. SAC Nisley heads the Critical Incident Response Group(CIRG) in Quantico, Virginia. He led the initial FBI team on its first deployment to Kosovo. SAC Nisley stated the current mission encompasses examination of the victims through field autopsies conducted by the AFIP, and crime scene work conducted by FBI Laboratory and Evidence Response Team (ERT) specialists. The results of the FBI team's evidence gathering and forensic examinations will be turned over to the ICTY upon completion of the assignment. It is expected that the examination of all sites will be completed within three weeks.

Additional information on the FBI contingent in Kosovo, may be obtained from SSA Chris Whitcomb, CIRG, (540) 720-4944, or the National Press Office, (202) 324-3691.

Kosovo - Sorting Clues from the Rubble