John Ashcroft documents related to the investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing. Ashcroft granted a 30-day stay of execution for Timothy McVeigh, the man convicted and sentenced to death for the bombing. After the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, Ashcroft was a key administration supporter of passage of the USA Patriot Act. One of its provisions, Section 215, allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to apply for an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to require production of "any tangible thing" for an investigation. This provision was criticized by citizen and professional groups concerned about violations of
Timothy McVeigh child who withdrew as an adolescent. McVeigh is said to have had only one girlfriend during his adolescence; he later stated to journalists that he did not have any idea how to impress girls. While in high school, McVeigh became interested in computers and hacked into government computer systems on his Commodore 64 under the handle "The Wanderer", borrowed from the song by Dion DiMucci. In his senior year, McVeigh was named Starpoint Central High School's "most promising computer programmer," but he maintained relatively poor grades until his 1986 graduation. McVeigh was introduced to firearms by his grandfather. He told