 David Kaczynski had once admired and emulated his older brother , but had later decided to leave the survivalist lifestyle behind . He had received assurances from the FBI that he would remain anonymous and that his brother would not learn who had turned him in , but his identity was leaked to CBS News in early April 1996 . CBS anchorman Dan Rather called FBI director Louis Freeh , who requested 24 hours before CBS broke the story on the evening news . The FBI scrambled to finish the search warrant and have it issued by a federal judge in Montana ; afterwards , an internal leak investigation was conducted by the FBI , but the source of the leak was never identified . In 1996 the Evergreen Park Community High School District No. 231 was also placed on lockdown while FBI agents searched Kaczynski 's school records . At the end of that school day , students were greeted by reporters asking how they felt about going to the same high school the Unabomber had attended . That night the news story was released to public . 
