FBI, David Kaczynski

David Kaczynski's Second FBI Interview

Feb. 18, 1996

Date of Transcription: February 21, 1996

On 2/18/96, DAVID KACZYNKSI (PROTECT IDENTITY) was interviewed in the presence of his wife, LINDA KACZYNSKI and his attorney, ANTHONY P. BISCEGLIE. He provided the following information:

He is the brother of THEODORE ("TED") KACZYNSKI, who to the best of his knowledge currently resides in Montana and who he believes to be the UNABOM subject. TED was born in 1942 in Chicago; DAVID ("DAVE") was born in 1949, also in Chicago. DAVE is currently employed as a social worker in Schenectady, New York. He and LINDA were married in 1990; they have no children.

The reasons for DAVE's belief that TED is the UNABOM subject are several, but he noted that his belief was confirmed when he read the UNABOM "Manifesto" after it was published in the media in September, 1995. LINDA, who is a Professor of Philosophy, spent the month of August, 1995 in Paris, France on vacation, where she was joined by DAVE for the last two weeks of that month. She had read numerous reports about the UNABOM manifesto and details of the case in the Herald Tribune, which is distributed in Paris. She and DAVE had previously discussed the similarities of TED's life to the trail which has been left by the UNABOM subject: specifically, that the UNABOM subject has origins in Chicago, has been in Salt Lake City and in Northern California, is believed to be a "loner," unmarried and in midlife. When extracts of the text of the UNABOM Manifesto were published in August, and were reprinted in the Paris Herald Tribune, the anti-technology views expressed seemed to LINDA to be identical to the descriptions of TED's ideology which DAVE had discussed with her. Upon DAVE's arrival in Paris they discussed the similiarities further, and LINDA extracted a promise from DAVE that he would read the UNABOM Manifesto in its entirety when and if it was published in its entirety. They returned to the U.S. at the end of August, 1995.

During the last part of September, 1995, DAVE's mother, WANDA KACZYNKSI, had been briefly hospitalized due to illness, and DAVE and LINDA had traveled to Chicago to care for her upon her release and see to her comfort upon her return home. On October 3, 1995, they were exiting a restaurant in Chicago with WANDA when DAVE felt compelled to make what he called a "casual remark" to his mother which was, "Mom, did you ever think that TED might be the UNABOMER?" WANDA paused and then said quietly, "It's crossed my mind." LINDA was highly alarmed at the apparently casual nature of this conversation, and when she was alone with TED again pressed him to read the UNABOM Manifesto when it was published, which occurred almost contemporaneously with the above exchange between DAVE and WANDA. DAVE noted that his mother later said she had read about the "violent militia groups" in Montana, and hoped that TED had not joined one of them. She thought it might be likely, however, given that TED is "so angry." She then said that she would never communicate her suspicion of such a thing on TED's part, however, and she hoped that DAVE would refrain from telling anyone of any worries he might have regarding TED's associations with such groups because it "would be so unfair to him."

DAVE found it difficult to obtain a copy of the UNABOM Manifesto initially, since there were limited numbers of the Washington Post, where the Manifesto was first published, available in Schenectady, New York. When DAVE finally obtained one and read it, he was powerfully reminded of not only his brother's general philosophy, but was struck by a singular phrase in the Manifesto which seemed to be a direct quote from a letter TED had written him sometime in the past. The phrase was "coolheaded logician," and its appearance in the Manifesto, along with the arguments and the way they were presented in general, convinced DAVE that the UNABOM Manifesto was written by TED.

DAVE noted that his mother, WANDA, had begun the process of selling her home in Chicago about this time, in accordance with a plan to relocate to an upstate New York town near DAVE and LINDA in mid-March, 1996. DAVE has been helping his mother go through her possessions in preparation for this move, and has traveled by train from Schenectady to Chicago to accomplish this. On one of these visits, and after reading the UNABOM Manifesto, DAVE found a 23-page essay, which he recognized as having been written in 1971 or 1972 by TED, in an unlocked foot locker in what had formerly been TED's bedroom in WANDA's house. He recognized the document as one which TED had shown him in approximately 1972, and noted the handwritten corrections on the typed carbon copy were in TED's handwriting. (pages 2-3 omitted)