Alternative theories have been proposed regarding the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. These theories reject all, or part of, the official government report. Some of these theories focus on the possibility of additional co-conspirators alongside Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols that were never indicted or additional explosives planted inside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Other theories allege that employees, including US president Bill Clinton, knew of the impending bombing and intentionally failed to act on that knowledge. Further theories allege that the bombing was perpetrated by government forces to frame and stigmatize the militia movement, which had grown following the controversial federal handlings of the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents, and regain public support. Government investigations have been opened at various times to look into the theories.

Overview

At 9:02 a.m. CST, on April 19, 1995, a Ryder rental truck containing more than of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane, and diesel fuel mixture was detonated in front of the north side of the nine-story Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The attack claimed 168 lives and left over 600 people injured.

Shortly after the explosion, Oklahoma State Trooper Charlie Hanger stopped 26-year-old Timothy McVeigh for driving a 1977 Mercury sedan without a license plate and arrested him for that offense and for unlawfully carrying a weapon. Within days, McVeigh's old army friend Terry Nichols was arrested and both men were charged with committing the bombing. Investigators determined that they were sympathizers of a militia movement and that their motive was to retaliate against the government's handling of the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents (the bombing occurred on the second anniversary of the Waco incident). McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001 while Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.

Although the indictment against McVeigh and Nichols alleged that they conspired with "others unknown to the grand jury", prosecutors, and later McVeigh himself, said the bombing was solely the work of McVeigh and Nichols. In this scenario, the two obtained fertilizer and other explosive materials over a period of months and then assembled the bomb in Kansas the day prior to its detonation. After assembly, McVeigh allegedly drove the truck alone to Oklahoma City, lit the fuse, and fled in a getaway car he had parked in the area days prior.

Speculations related to John Doe #2 Several witnesses reported seeing a second person with McVeigh around the time of the bombing, whom investigators later called "John Doe 2". is the draft of a 1997 article submitted to The New Yorker about John Doe 2, and it weighs the evidence for and against another conspirator. In 1997, the FBI arrested Michael Brescia, a member of Aryan Republican Army, who resembled an artist's rendering of John Doe 2 based on the eyewitness accounts. However, they later released him, reporting that their investigation had indicated he was not involved with the bombing. One reporter for The Washington Post reflected on the fact that a John Doe 2 has never been found: "Maybe he'll (John Doe 2) be captured and convicted someday. If not, he'll remain eternally at large, the one who got away, the mystery man at the center of countless conspiracy theories. It's possible that he never lived. It's likely that he'll never die."

There has also been speculation that an unmatched leg found at the bombing site may have belonged to the alleged unidentified, additional bomber. It was claimed that this bomber was either in the building when the bombing occurred, or had previously been murdered, and McVeigh had left his body in the back of the Ryder truck to hide it in the explosion.

Nichols specifically alluded to other conspirators in 2006 declaration: "There are others who assisted McVeigh whose identifies are unknown to me," but Nichols also identified two "co-conspirators". In addition to unknown persons, Nichols believed Andreas Strassmeir was an agent provocateur, and FBI agent Larry A. Potts was involved in the bombing plot. Nichols went on to deny any connection to terrorist groups in the Philippines. The FBI did not reply to media requests for comment on Nichols' allegation.

Additional explosives One theory contends there was a cover-up of the existence of additional explosives planted within the Murrah building. The theory focuses on the local news channels reporting the existence of a second and third bomb within the first few hours of the explosion. Theorists point to nearby seismographs that recorded two tremors from the bombing, believing it to indicate two bombs had been used. Experts dispute this, stating that the first tremor was a result of the bomb, while the second tremor was due to the collapse of the building.

Conspiracy theorists say that there are several discrepancies, such as a proposed inconsistency between the observed destruction and the bomb used by McVeigh. Physicist Samuel T. Cohen, known as the primary inventor of the neutron bomb, stated in a letter to an Oklahoma politician that he did not believe a fertilizer bomb was capable of causing the destruction at the Murrah building."It would have been absolutely impossible and against the laws of nature for a truck full of fertilizer and fuel oil ... no how much was used ... to bring the building down." As quoted by Gore Vidal (2002) Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: How We Got to Be So Hated, PublicAffairs, p. 120; ellipses as in original text. Similarly, Air Force Brigadier General Benton K. Partin expressed an opinion that there must have been additional explosive charges inside the Murrah building."When I first saw the pictures of the truck-bomb's asymmetrical damage to the Federal building, my immediate reaction was the pattern of damage would have been technically impossible without supplementing demolition charges at some of the reinforcing concrete column bases....For a simplistic blast truck-bomb, of the size and composition reported, to be able to reach out in the order of 60 feet and collapse a reinforced column base the size of column A-7 is beyond credulity." Vidal (2002), pp. 119-120; ellipses as in original text

Allegations of support Far-right Carol Howe, an informant for the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms who had infiltrated the white supremacist enclave Elohim City, Oklahoma, filed a report in January 1995 stating that Andreas Strassmeir, Elohim City's security chief, had spoken about destroying a Federal building and had visited the Murrah building with another man.Mark S. Hamm Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups: Theory, Research, and Prevention. DIANE Publishing, p. 207. Two days after the bombing, Howe reminded the ATF of the earlier report and urged investigation into a possible connection to Elohim City. McVeigh is known to have telephoned Elohim City two weeks before the bombing. Jane Graham, a Housing and Urban Development employee at the Murrah building who survived the bombing, later stated that in the days before the bombing she had observed multiple suspicious persons who she suspected may have been involved (such as unfamiliar persons in maintenance or military uniforms), but that her observations were ignored by authorities.Donald Jeffries (2016). Hidden History: An Exposé of Modern Crimes, Conspiracies, and Cover-Ups in American Politics. Skyhorse Publishing; Chapter 6: "The Clinton Years" Graham later identified one of these men as Andreas Strassmeir of Elohim City.David Hoffman (1998). The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror. Feral House.

US federal government

Another theory alleged that President Bill Clinton had either known about the bombing in advance or had approved the bombing. It is also believed that the bombing was done by the government to frame the militia movement or enact antiterrorism legislation while using McVeigh as a scapegoat. Still other theories claim that McVeigh conspired with the CIA in plotting the bombing.

In a 1993 letter to his sister, published by The New York Times in 1998, McVeigh claimed that during his time at Fort Bragg he and nine others were recruited into a secret black ops team that smuggled drugs into the United States to fund covert activities and "were to work hand-in-hand with civilian police agencies to quiet anyone whom was deemed a security risk. (We would be gov't-paid assassins!)"Jo Thomas (July 1, 1998) McVeigh Letters Before Blast Show the Depth of His Anger, The New York Times, accessed 21 April 2018 In a 2001 declarationDeclaration of Terry Lynn Nichols , Filed Feb 21, 2001 with the US District Court Terry Nichols, McVeigh's convicted co-conspirator, also alleged that McVeigh reported in December 1992 how he "had been recruited to carry out undercover missions"Paragraph 10 which initially involved visiting gun shows and making contact with a loose network of anti-government and far-right sympathizers. This undercover activity allegedly escalated to armed robberies and a planned bombing under the direction of FBI agent Larry A. Potts.Paragraph 33 David Paul Hammer, a convicted murderer in the same facility as McVeigh for about two years, reported that McVeigh stated similar allegations to him: that McVeigh was an "undercover operative" for the Department of Defense, and that Andreas Strassmeir was a similar operative but with "a different handler" and they had worked together in planning the bombing.

Middle Eastern There are several theories that McVeigh and Nichols had a possible foreign connection or co-conspirators. This was because Terry Nichols traveled through the Philippines while Ramzi Yousef, who committed the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was planning his Bojinka plot in Manila. Ramzi Yousef placed the bomb used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing inside a rented Ryder van, the same rental company used by McVeigh, indicating a possible foreign link to Al-Qaeda. Other theories link McVeigh with Islamic terrorists, the Japanese government, and German neo-Nazis.

The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing by journalist Jayna Davis about evidence of Oklahoma City bombing was published in April 2004 by Nelson Current Publishers, and became a New York Times best-seller. The Justice Department initially sought, but then abandoned its search for, a Middle East suspect. In contrast to conspiracy theories that the bombing was a false flag attack perpetrated by elements of the US government or white supremacists in Elohim City, the book presents a theory that links the Oklahoma City bombers to agents of Iraq and Al-Qaeda, operating under Iranian state sponsorship.

Investigations