Lanterna Rally

Author: United States. General Accounting Office

Publisher:

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 40

ISBN-13:

In 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) received assistance from the U.S. military, including counterdrug program support, while investigating violations of federal firearms laws by members of an obscure sect, the Branch Davidians, and their leader, Vernon Howell (also known as David Koresh), in Waco, Texas. On February 28, 1993, as the ATF tried to serve warrants on the sect's compound, a gunfight erupted, idling and wounding agents and Davidians. A standoff ensued that soon involved the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The military provided support to the two federal law enforcement agencies (LEA) throughout the 51-day standoff, which ended April 19, 1993, when the compound was destroyed by fire. In August 1996, the House Committees on Government Reform and Oversight and on the Judiciary issued a report, "Investigation into the Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians" (Report 104-749). The report recommended that we review certain aspects of the military assistance provided to the LEAs in this incident. We have reviewed the nature and extent of the assistance, including that from counterdrug programs, provided to these operations, as well as the counterdrug aspects of ATF's plans to serve a search warrant at the Davidian compound. We pursued three specific objectives: Determine whether the ATF's requests for support from military counterdrug programs met requirements for authorizing that support; Identify the measures ATF took to deal with any drug activity it might find during its warrant service, and determine whether those measures were appropriate for such operations where a methamphetamine laboratory might be encountered. Account for the types, costs, and reimbursements of all military support, including that from counterdrug programs, provided to the ATF and the FBI.