His work on chemical and bioweapons was in the past, and it was as a lawyer, manager and policy analyst, not as a scientist. He worked to support U.S. policy rejecting use of such weapons. His most recent interest was in cyberwarfare.
We don't know what he did at Mitre--where he was a part-time consultant. Mitre put out a statement that didn't say very much, and we're free to be skeptical about that, but we don't have a shred of information, at this point, that would support assassination theories.
The best information about Jack Wheeler is from his friend, James Fallows, at The Atlantic, who challenges the partisan characterizations:
div class="excerpt"]
Never Underestimate Fox (Updated)<snip>
Jack Wheeler cared deeply about public issues, his politics were increasingly conservative, and he held jobs with the federal government under various Bush (and Reagan) administrations. But
he was a "Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force" -- not some White House aide -- in the GW Bush era, and, according to his personal CV (pdf here), was briefly part of the "Bush Transition Team to Create Earth Conservation Corps" for George HW Bush. That's his dossier in "politics." (FWIW, he also worked as a young lawyer at the SEC, starting when Jimmy Carter was in office.)
What he actually cared about was civic values and civic virtue; the health of the military; the welfare and self-respect of his fellow veterans; the future direction of great institutions where he had studied (West Point, Yale, Harvard); the long struggle to complete the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; the ongoing effort to restore ROTC programs at Harvard and other elite schools; the level of ethics in public discussion; a number of issues involving disabled children. And more. Recently he paid increasing attention to the nuances of the "cyberwar" threat, and the rise of China.
He was a very complicated man, of many parts. But if you gave me ten hours to come up with a thousand descriptions of him, I still would not have thought of.... "Former Bush Aide."That's the thought that came first to Fox. This tells me more than any number of critiques about the ways Fox differs from a "news" organization.
I am very saddened by Jack Wheeler's loss, but I'm angry that his life would be reduced to a little marker in the neverending partisan wars.More:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/01/never-underestimate-fox-updated/68800/
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