VII. The Attorney General's Decision to End the Stand-off
a. overview of the plan to end the standoff
On April 12, 1993, the FBI presented Attorney General Janet Reno
with a plan to end the standoff with the Branch Davidians. On April 17, 1993, the Attorney General gave her approval for the plan to be implemented on April 19. The stated mission of the plan was to "secure the surrender/arrest of all adult occupants of the residence while providing the maximum possible security for the children within the compound." A key component of the plan was the decision to use CS, a chemical riot control agent, which would be sprayed into the Branch Davidian residence in an attempt to induce the Davidians to leave. The plan was implemented on April 19, but the Davidians did not leave their residence as government officials suggested. Instead, 6 hours after the beginning of the operations, a fire erupted inside the structure, ultimately consuming it and the more than 70 persons inside.
b. the operation plan for april 19, 1993
1. Overview of the written operation plan to end the standoff
As early as March 22, 1993 the FBI began formulating an operation
plan to end the standoff with the Davidians. On April 12, 1993, the
FBI presented its plan to the Attorney General for her approval. According to the Justice Department Report, "Over the next several days the Attorney General and Senior Justice Department and FBI officials discussed, debated and dissected every aspect of the plan."
The operations plan provided that its mission was to "secure the
surrender/arrest of all adult occupants of the residence while providing
the maximum possible security for the children within the compound." The key component of the plan was the delivery of a chemical riot control agent, known as CS, into the Branch Davidian residence in order to induce the Davidians to leave. While the CS agent was being inserted, FBI officials planned to use a loud speaker system and the telephone to advise the Davidians that tear gas was being inserted into the residence to force them to leave, but that an attack was not underway. The plan also provided for a demand that all subjects leave the building and surrender to authorities.
The plan provided for the operation to last up to 48 hours or until
all subjects had exited the residence and surrendered. The plan provided
for the first insertion of CS agent to be made into the front/left
portion of the residence. After a period of time, which was to be
dependent on the Davidians' response to the initial delivery of the CS
agent and any subsequent negotiations that were possible, an additional
tear gas delivery was to be made into the back/right portion of the
residence. After a third delivery of CS, into an area not specified in
the plan, all subsequent deliveries of CS agent were to be made into the
upper and lower windows of the residence.
During the first three insertions, the CS agent was to be delivered
into the residence by two combat engineering vehicles (CEV's), an
armored vehicle similar to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle (Bradley), but
which is unarmed. The CEV's at Waco were mounted with boom-like arms
which were capable of penetrating the walls of the structure. Mounted on
the arms of the CEV's were mechanical devices designed to spray a stream
of CS agent into the holes made by the booms. After the third insertions
of CS agent, the operations plan called for agents located in unarmed
Bradley Fighting Vehicles to maneuver close enough to the residence so
that they could fire Ferret round projectiles through the windows of the
structure. These small non-explosive grenade-like projectiles contained
CS agent which would rise into the air when the projectile broke open
upon impact. The use of Ferret rounds was to be in addition to
continuing insertions of CS by agents in the CEV's.
The plan also provided for specific assignments for the different
HRT and SWAT teams involved in the operation. It specified the maneuvers
to be made by the two CEV's, the nine Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and the
M-88 tank retrieval vehicle, and provided for miscellaneous
administrative and logistical issues such as types of uniforms to be
used and the appropriate manner for handling prisoners.