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Waco Archive - The articles

I am compiling an archive of articles found on the internet - hopefully when enough material is archived a comprehensive view of this disaster can be established.

Waco Video Tests Ruled 'Top Secret' By Judge From Ian Goddard <Ian@Goddard.net> 3-11-00 Judge Walter Smith claimed that tests to determine if FLIR video taken over Waco shows gunshots directed at Mt. Carmel must be top secret to protect the "national security concerns" of the British government, which loaned the FBI the FLIR camera used (see the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/14/00). However, four days later the Dallas Morning News (2/18/00) reported that the British government said they had no national security concerns regarding their FLIR technology. The fact that the reason judge Smith had cited for keeping the tests top secret was terminated did not thwart his determination to keep those tests secret. Now his excuse seems to be that the public has no constitutional right to know: "There are times when you cannot keep your job and put alternative explanations for data on the table." Former FBI Special Agent Dr. Frederic Whitehurst link Public Access at Waco Test Nixed By Michelle Mittelstadt Associated Press Writer Friday, March 10, 2000; 6:43 p.m. EST WASHINGTON (AP) -- A court-ordered field test that will re-enact aspects of the 1993 Waco siege to determine whether federal agents fired any shots into the Branch Davidians' retreat will be closed to the media, a federal judge ruled Friday. U.S. District Judge Walter Smith of Waco rejected news organizations' argument that the test, due to be held next weekend at Fort Hood in Texas, should be open as a matter of public interest. "The court has determined that the media have identified no constitutional or common-law right that would entitle them to access to this procedure," Smith wrote. "Pre-trial matters are not public components of a civil trial." The judge, who ordered the test and is presiding over surviving Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit against the government, said the test "may be likened to a crime scene, which unquestionably may be closed to the public and the press in order to preserve the integrity of the evidence." In a motion filed earlier this month, The Associated Press, Dallas Morning News, The New York Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch said a private field test "will only increase the public's skepticism about whether all the facts surrounding the Branch Davidian raid have been completely and accurately disclosed." The Waco Tribune-Herald also pressed for public access. John Danforth, a former senator appointed special counsel by Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate the government's conduct during the Davidians' 1993 standoff with federal agents, argued against media attendance. "The quickest way to discredit an investigation is to provide the media with selective information during its course," the special counsel wrote in a motion. The government and Davidians' lawyers did not oppose public access. A lawyer representing the news organizations expressed disappointment with the judge's order. "I don't believe Judge Smith or the special counsel have identified any reason that justifies shrouding this field test in secrecy," Dallas attorney John Gerhart said. "This test goes to a critical issue of whether or not the government fired weapons during the raid. And continued secrecy on such a critical point should not be allowed unless compelling circumstances force that secrecy." The Davidians' lead counsel said the public interest would have been served by an open test. "I just think it's unfortunate for the process because inevitably there will be some people who will read into this some sinister purpose, which is really not there," said Houston lawyer Michael Caddell. "I do think there would be a tremendous benefit created by having press access and having someone that people would view as not having any agenda other than to report the facts." The government has long denied that its agents fired shots on April 19, 1993, during the waning hours of a 51-day siege. Davidian leader David Koresh and some 80 followers died during the inferno that occurred several hours into an FBI tank-and-tear gas operation designed to flush the sect members from their retreat. Lawyers for the Davidian plaintiffs, whose case goes to trial in mid-May, contend the FBI's aerial infrared surveillance footage offers definitive proof of gunfire directed into the building as it burned. The field test, which will use a British Royal Navy helicopter equipped with an infrared camera much like the one used by the FBI in 1993, is designed to determine whether bursts of light on the Waco infrared footage represent gunfire. Weapons similar to those carried by the Davidians and federal agents will be fired during the test. Military tanks like those used in 1993 also will be deployed.