OKLAHOMA FBI office missing laptop, several guns

<br>OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The head of the FBI in Oklahoma said Thursday that he believes the agency will eventually recover a laptop computer and several weapons that are missing from the agency's Oklahoma

Friday, July 20th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The head of the FBI in Oklahoma said Thursday that he believes the agency will eventually recover a laptop computer and several weapons that are missing from the agency's Oklahoma City office.

Richard A. Marquise, special agent in charge of the FBI's Oklahoma operations, said a laptop ``and a handful of guns'' are among the 184 computers and 449 side arms and submachine guns that have turned up missing from the agency nationwide.

The FBI has tightened security, but the nation's largest law enforcement agency has come under fire in Congress for losing track of its valuable equipment.

``We have some administrative things that we need to fix,'' Marquise told journalists during a tour of the agency's Oklahoma headquarters.

Each FBI employee has been accountable for the whereabouts of laptop computers assigned to them, according to the agency.

Marquise said he believes equipment that is missing from the Oklahoma City office will eventually be traced to agents that have transferred to offices in other states who did not complete paperwork indicating they still had the equipment.

The FBI has also come under criticism in recent months for withholding thousands of documents from defense attorneys during the bombing trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.