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                     NRA-ILA Special Report
                   THE WACO HEARINGS: DAY FOUR

          Roger Altman, Former Deputy Secretary of the Treasury 

          In a memorandum to Secretary Bentsen on April 15, 1993
          regarding the use of an advanced form of tear gas on the
          compound in Waco, Altman stated the following:

          "This is the Attorney General's decision.  You said, on
          Meet The Press, that nothing like this would occur
          without your knowledge.  As I understand it, you will be
          formally notified if Janet Reno OK's it.

          "My rough guess is that she won't.  The risks of a
          tragedy are there.  And if the FBI waits indefinitely,
          Mr. Koresh eventually will concede."

                   "Treasury Report 'Coverup'"

Former BATF Deputy Director for Enforcement Dan Hartnett continued
to assert on day four of the hearings that the Treasury Report on
Waco contained "false statements, distortions and very significant
omissions."  In addition to Hartnett's criticism of the Treasury
Report, he pointed out that his own "shooting review" report was
returned to him with pages "missing."  He stated "secrecy and
safety" were always an element of the plan, but that nobody ever
called and said abort if you lose the element of surprise.  In
fact, he points out that until after the raid he had never heard
the term element of surprise used.

Hartnett's accusations were supported by the testimony of Chuck
Sarabyn, Former BATF Asst. Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) in
Houston and Phillip Chojnacki, former Special Agent in Charge (SAC)
in Houston.  Both Sarabyn and Chojnacki stated that they never
received an explicit order from BATF or Treasury officials to
cancel the raid in the event that the element of surprise was lost.

In fact, this dispute -- whether or not the agents received the
order to abort in case surprise was lost -- is one of the primary
elements that led to the dismissals of Sarabyn and Chojnacki from
the BATF.  Congressman Chabot pursued this issue when he questioned
Daniel Black, of the BATF personnel office, who signed memos
recommending their dismissal and later in October of 1994 signed
voluntary settlement agreements reinstating Sarabyn and Chojnacki
with back pay, benefits and payment of their attorneys' fees. 
Congressman Chabot questioned the motivation for re-hiring the
agents.  Chabot questioned Black, "Either the Treasury report that
lays the blame on Sarabyn and Chojnacki is faulty or someone was
trying to buy their silence by rehiring them.  Mr. Black, which was
it?"  He answered that it was neither.

Representative Zeliff questioned Hartnett on the issue of a cover
up of the truth most directly in the following exchange:

Rep. Zeliff: "Do you believe that these facts demonstrate an intent
to cover up the truth by the Treasury report?"

Hartnett:  "Yes. Yes, Sir."

Rep. Zeliff:  "By Ron Noble specifically?"

Hartnett:  "Yes."

                      Where's the Warrant?

The panel was repeatedly asked why the raid was conducted in the
way it was.  Again and again, Congressmen challenged the wisdom of
such an aggressive plan, why there were few contingency plans, and
why all other methods of executing the warrants were discarded. 
The plan for the raid was so prioritized around dynamic entry that
none of the agents testifying on this fourth day could say who was
in possession of the warrant at the time of the raid.

Even BATF agent John Henry Williams -- who was charged with
approaching the front door of the center -- did not know the
whereabouts of the warrant and only knew that his orders were to
enter and secure the building.

The tactics employed were further called into question, when
Phillip Chojnacki -- in response to a question as to why BATF did
not attempt to secure a "no-knock" warrant -- responded that the
situation did not call for a "no-knock" warrant.  Chojnacki: 
"Normally no-knock search warrants are for those kinds of
situations that relate primarily to narcotics, where the evidence
can be immediately destroyed.  In our situation, it could be
destroyed, but not in an immediate timeframe."

                           "Showtime."

In questioning Sharon Wheeler, BATF agent in charge of media
relations, Congressman Bob Barr raised the issue of staging the
raid as a media event.  While Wheeler denied that the raid was
orchestrated for PR purposes, she did admit that she notified local
news media that BATF might have "something going on" and that a
press conference was planned upon the successful execution of the
warrants.  Congressman Zeliff questioned Wheeler as to the origin
and significance of the raid's nickname "Showtime."  He concluded
that the term was, at least, "a poor choice of words." Nonetheless,
the premeditated staging of the sensational elements of the raid,
advance press notification -- even the raid's nickname ("Showtime")
-- seemed to paint a picture of an operation in which image-
building considerations were weighed as heavily as law enforcement
concerns.

                     What Type of Guns?

Central to the hearings -- and to the very raid itself -- was the
question of illegal firearms in the Branch Davidian center, and
this issue took center stage again on hearing day four.  As
widely reported, the National Rifle Association Institute for
Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) retained Failure Analysis Associates
June 14 to assist in development of data on the Waco tragedy. 
One of the scientific tasks the firm was given was to examine the
Branch Davidian guns to determine type.

On Monday, June 26, Dr. John Moalli, Managing Engineer with FaAA,
arrived in Austin, Texas, to x-ray of fire-damaged guns and other
materials retrieved from the compound.  Said Dr. Moalli:  "It was
our understanding that we would be able to examine guns and other
materials and conduct X-ray and other non-destructive analyses on
which our scientific findings would be based."  Equipped with a
truck load of sophisticated analysis equipment, the engineers
were denied access to the guns and other materials by Mr. Richard
Scruggs, formerly personal assistant to Attorney General Janet
Reno and currently Counsel for Intelligence Policy for the
Department of Justice.

Today, U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter questioned FBI firearms expert
James Cadigan.

Rep. Slaughter: "A lot has been made of the fact that an outside
group wanted to go down to Texas and X-ray those guns to make
sure they'd really been altered.  Now, you're the FBI gun expert. 
What do you know abut X-raying guns?

Cadigan: "Well, in my particular opinion, that would -- X-raying
the guns can certainly be done [but] it would be a waste of
time."

Rep. Slaughter: "Is that a normal procedure, X-ray guns?"

Cadigan:  "No, Ma'am."

Rep. Slaughter: "How did you determine that guns had been
altered?"

Cadigan: "I examined each one of the firearms that was submitted
to the laboratory.  And as I mentioned this morning, it was 297
firearms in various states or various conditions.  And of those
that I determined were fully automatic, I looked at each one of
the firearms and noted by observation under the microscope the
parts that were necessary to make those firearms fire in the full
automatic mode."

Rep. Slaughter: "How many did you locate that had been
converted?"
Cadigan: "There were 48 that had been modified out of the 297."

     Media Blame Game Blacks Out Waco Civil Liberties Issues
        News Stresses Politics Over Substance of Hearings

Media accounts of the Waco hearings ignored key civil liberties
issues that arose repeatedly during the last week's hearings,
according to a new study by the Center for Media and Public
Affairs (CMPA).  The study found that child abuse charges and
political infighting dominated news of the first week of hearings
(July 19-21), while PBS's MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour gave Waco more
airtime than the "big three" network evening newscasts combined.

Robert Lichter, the director of CMPA stated, "The problem with
not covering the hearings live is the evening news is as
superficial as ever.  If we only get the soundbite version,
nobody's going to learn anything.  We're not going to have the
debate that we need to clear the air."  Lichter blamed the lack
of live coverage on over-concern with advertising revenue.

In the latest findings from CMPA, child abuse charges and
political infighting dominated Waco news breaking today.  In the
wake of Kiri Jewell's and social worker Joyce Spark's testimony,
charges of child abuse by David Koresh appeared in 21 stories,
followed closely by charges that the hearings were politically
motivated (20 stories).  By contrast, the BATF's decision to
stage its ill-fated raid appeared in only 6 stories, and
questions of whether BATF established probable cause for its
warrants came up 8 times.  In short, none of the issues being
investigated by the U.S. Congress have attracted nothing more
than light coverage.

           EVEN LOWER MEMBER DISCOUNT ON TRANSCRIPTS!!

Complete transcripts of the hearings are available to NRA members
for an even LOWER DISCOUNT RATE of $9.95 a day!!  Call Jack
Graeme at the Federal News Service at 1-800-969-3677 to receive a
daily transcript.  Be sure to mention that you're an NRA member
to secure the incredible discount rate. Hearing quotes excerpted
from Federal News Service transcripts. 

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