Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 30, 1993 TAG: 9309300168
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The two Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms supervisors, site commander Phillip Chojnacki and tactical coordinator Charles Sarabyn, set in motion what became a pattern of deception by some senior agency officials in the aftermath of the bungled operation, according to the report to be released today.
Four ATF agents were killed and 15 others wounded in a raid that began one of the worst episodes in U.S. law enforcement history. After a long standoff with federal agents, nearly 80 religious cult members died in a fire after FBI agents shot tear gas into the compound in a final assault in April.
The failed raid has put ATF, a small, relatively obscure agency, in an unflattering spotlight and has set the stage for a shake-up in the bureau's leadership. On Monday, ATF Director Stephen Higgins announced plans to retire next month, citing differences with officials at the Treasury Department - which oversees ATF - over the unreleased report and a proposal to merge the bureau's enforcement reponsibilities into the FBI.
At least five senior ATF officials have been under intense scrutiny - including Chojnacki and Sarabyn - and could face disciplinary action. Top officials Daniel M. Hartnett and Edward D. Conroy have told colleagues that they will retire by year's end. Chojnacki and Sarabyn, who are based in Houston, were called to Washington Wednesday to meet with Ronald K. Noble, the assistant treasury secretary for law enforcement, who has overseen the independent review.
The report criticizes ATF leadership for numerous misleading statements about the operation. A key finding of the report faults officials for suggesting that they had been ambushed and did not know that ATF agents had lost the element of surprise in the Feb. 28 raid.
In fact, the report says, ATF had strong evidence that cult leader David Koresh learned about the mission just before it was launched and had time to prepare a counterattack.
The report also says that a written plan for the raid did not exist until less than a week before the mission. ATF guidelines call for a written raid plan to be completed before execution of large-scale operations.
ATF agents wrote a plan that was largely incomplete and devoid of the detail expected in such documents, said a source who asked not to be identified.
After the raid ended tragically, the Texas Rangers began an investigation of the incident and the ATF supervisors decided to rewrite the plan to include additional details. For example, they inserted statements that the raid was necessary because Koresh would not leave the compound, making it impossible to arrest him away from the complex. Treasury Department officials since have learned that Koresh did leave the cult compound, known as "Ranch Apocalypse."
Updating the plan would have opened the supervisors to criticism because Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen, in calling for the independent review, specifically asked that investigators examine whether departmental guidelines were followed, sources knowledgeable of the review said.
by CNB