Reno Vows to Find Out Truth About Waco Siege

An angry Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, moving to quell a growing credibility crisis, promised Thursday to find out why the FBI has denied for six years that it used flammable munitions in the last hours of the Branch Davidian siege near Waco, Texas.

But even as Reno and other federal law enforcement officials moved to answer new questions about the 1993 disaster, they acknowledged that their reversal of previous statements on the matter undermines their credibility.

In addition, it could give rise to a new round of conspiracy theories and reopen one of the most tragic chapters in the nation’s recent history. The deadly end to a standoff between the government and religious separatists, among other things, inspired Timothy J. McVeigh two years later to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City.

The controversy over the government’s misstatements in the Waco case already has fueled accusations of a cover-up from survivors and relatives of the dead--some of whom are bringing a wrongful death lawsuit that is scheduled to go to trial in October. And it has prompted calls for new congressional hearings on the matter from Republican lawmakers who have long criticized Reno for her handling of the Waco episode and a wide range of unrelated issues.

The disclosure “undermines the public’s confidence in our ability to do the job,” FBI spokesman Tron W. Brekke said in an interview. “It really hurts our ability to perform and it’s very much of an embarrassment.”

Triggering the controversy was the FBI’s acknowledgment earlier this week that its agents may have launched incendiary tear gas canisters--capable of catching fire--toward a bunker near Davidian leader David Koresh’s compound hours before he and dozens of his followers died in the inferno outside Waco on April 19, 1993.

The admission marked a sharp departure from past statements. For years, Reno and other federal officials have insisted that no pyrotechnic or incendiary devices were used by the government that day. Lawmakers grilled Reno and FBI officials about the issue in weeks of high-profile congressional hearings. Just last month, when similar allegations resurfaced in Texas during the filming of a documentary on the disaster, Justice Department officials dismissed the notion as “nonsense.”

But after the issue was raised again this week in the Dallas Morning News, a further review of FBI records--including a 1996 memo that made reference to the use of the military-style canisters--prompted the bureau to reverse its previous statements, officials said.

The new information indicates that about 6 a.m. on the day of the disaster, agents may have fired at least two flammable, military-style gas canisters at a concrete bunker that was well away--about 100 yards--from the main, wooden dwelling where the fire began about six hours later.

Officials said that the agents were seeking to use the tear gas canisters to block an underground escape route between the bunker and the Davidians’ main dwelling. Sect members had been holed up in the building for 51 days following a deadly gun battle with federal agents who had tried to raid the compound in response to reports of stockpiled weapons. Four agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms died in the shootout.

Reno, whose early days in office in 1993 were haunted by the prolonged standoff at Waco and its fiery conclusion, said that she still believes Koresh and his followers set the fire that ripped through the compound, killing 57 adults and 19 children.

“I have no reason whatsoever at this point to believe that the FBI was responsible for the deaths of the people. But I think it is important for the American people to know that we have pursued every question and pursued as far as we humanly can to get to the truth,” she said.

“If there is any information that indicates” the military canisters played a part in the fire, Reno said, “we will pursue it.”

Reno said that, in approving the FBI’s use of tear gas during the course of the standoff, she was concerned about the risk of a fire and received assurances that no incendiary devices would be used. Among the key issues now to be determined, officials said, is why that assurance was violated, who knew about the use of the incendiary munitions and how it was that top officials gave contrary reports in their public statements.

In addition, Brekke said that about 40 FBI investigators assigned to the review are likely to pursue new allegations that members of the Army’s secret Delta Force anti-terrorist unit not only were at the Davidian compound that day but may have played an active role. The unit’s involvement, if confirmed, could conflict with federal regulations restricting the role of military personnel in civilian law-enforcement operations.

Reno and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh conferred Thursday on how the review will be carried out. No decisions were announced. One issue to be decided, a Justice Department source said, is whether Reno will bring in an official from outside the department to oversee the inquiry.

“I will not stop till I get to the bottom of this,” Reno told reporters.

But Republican lawmakers indicated that they would not leave the matter entirely to Reno.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Thursday joined the call for congressional hearings, saying that a new inquiry must determine whether Justice Department officials are guilty of “a cover-up or negligent oversight.”

Hatch added that “the American people are growing tired of this administration’s refusal to come clean with the facts when it is politically inconvenient to do so.”

The FBI already has faced intense criticism this summer over its handling of two high-profile investigations--the Wen Ho Lee-China spy case at Los Alamos National Laboratory and the killings of three tourists at Yosemite National Park. The Waco episode seems certain to intensify such scrutiny.

The revelations also could complicate the government’s defense against a $100-million lawsuit brought by more than 200 relatives of the Davidians. The wrongful-death suit alleges that the FBI trapped the Davidians, helped to spark the deadly blaze and prevented firetrucks from reaching the scene. It also claims that ATF agents used excessive force in the initial raid on the compound.