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The Dallas Morning News
August 24, 1999
Ex-agent says device fired at Waco
compound
Justice Department denies item used
By Lee Hancock
 A former senior FBI official has said
that the agency fired two pyrotechnic tear gas grenades on the last day
of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege, a day on which federal authorities
have long insisted they used nothing capable of starting a fire.
The former official, Danny O. Coulson, said in an interview that two
devices known as M651 CS tear gas grenades were fired from FBI grenade
launchers hours before the compound erupted in flames April 19, 1993.
He said they were used with permission from FBI supervisors.
The federal government has consistently disputed accusations that
the FBI started the fire that consumed the Branch Davidian compound
with David Koresh and more than 80 followers inside. Government officials
have maintained that the FBI used only nonburning devices to insert
tear gas into the compound on April 19 because of fears that pyrotechnic
tear gas might spark a fire in the flimsy wooden structure.
The statement by Mr. Coulson, founding commander of the FBI's hostage
rescue team and a deputy assistant FBI director at the time of the Waco
incident, marks the first time that any government official has publicly
contradicted those claims.
On Monday, a spokesman with the U.S. Justice Department again denied
that any pyrotechnic devices were used.
"We are aware of no evidence to support the notion that any pyrotechnic
devices were used by the federal government on April 19," Justice Department
spokesman Myron Marlin said. "We've said that all along."
Mr. Coulson said the pyrotechnic grenades played no role in starting
the fire.
Even if the devices played no role in the final fire, however, a former
Texas Ranger captain who headed the investigation of the 1993 tragedy
said Mr. Coulson's statement is "mind-boggling.
"The stance has always been that they used no pyrotechnics out there
that day," said David Byrne, who retired from the agency in August 1996.
"There are some serious criminal violations if they did. They have testified.
They have done it before Congress. They've done it in court. They've
caused other people to testify that there were no pyrotechnics used.
"If that turns out not to be right, then somebody will have some serious
problems on a federal level," Capt. Byrne said.
The issue of whether pyrotechnic devices were used by the FBI on April
19 is a major focus of an ongoing inquiry by the Texas Rangers and a
key allegation in a pending federal wrongful-death lawsuit filed against
the government by surviving Davidians and families of those who died.
The issue was also a factor in a decision by the Texas Department
of Public Safety to persuade a federal judge in Waco to take control
of all the evidence in the case. In response to a DPS motion, U.S. District
Judge Walter Smith issued a sweeping order Aug. 8 requiring the federal
government to turn over all physical evidence, documents, recordings
and photographs related to the Davidian tragedy.
James B. Francis, chairman of the commission that oversees DPS, said
Monday that Mr. Coulson's statement heightens his concern that evidence
gathered by Texas Rangers immediately after the 1993 tragedy contradicts
the federal government's account of what happened.
"It goes a long way toward confirming why I say that some of the evidence
that DPS has or had in its possession is problematical and needs to
be evaluated by independent experts," he said.
"A fair-minded person who looks at this evidence would see that there
is a problem with some of the things that the federal government has
said happened that day," Mr. Francis said.
The Texas Rangers have had custody of key evidence from the Davidian
investigation since 1993, when they were assigned to investigate the
Feb. 28, 1993, shootout that began the tragedy.
The standoff
Four federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
died when a shootout erupted as they tried to search the compound and
arrest sect leader Koresh.
The ensuing 51-day standoff ended when FBI agents used tanks to spray
CS tear gas and launch nonburning CS "Ferret' rounds into the compound
to try to force the sect's surrender. Ever since, Justice Department
officials ranging from Attorney General Janet Reno to the FBI's chief
spokesman in Waco repeatedly insisted to the media, Congress and the
courts that all of the CS tear gas used was nonpyrotechnic.
But Mr. Coulson, then a deputy assistant director of the FBI's criminal
investigative division, said two M651 CS cartridges were fired at an
area known as "the pit," an underground structure that led to tunnels
that opened into the compound.
"There were at least two pyrotechnic devices used that day," said
Mr. Coulson, who helped supervise the government's handling of the siege.
He said members of the FBI's hostage rescue team asked to use the
pyrotechnic devices because the "Ferret" rounds they had been issued
did not adequately penetrate the pit.
He said two devices were fired after the request was approved by FBI
supervisors, including rescue unit Commander Richard Rogers. Mr. Rogers,
who has since retired, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Mr. Coulson said that the devices are military ordnance not commonly
used or kept by the hostage unit.
A military manual produced by the U.S. Army describes the M651 as
"pyrotechnic," with a burning time of 20 to 30 seconds. The manual also
warns that while not explosive, malfunctioning M651 canisters have been
known to explode on impact.
A CBS television camera recorded footage of white smoke billowing
from the pit area between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m., and Mr. Coulson said that
smoke probably came from the two pyrotechnic grenades.
"The fire did not start there. That's a lot of nothing," he said,
noting that the fire erupted shortly after noon. Independent arson investigators
concluded it began simultaneously in three separate places inside the
compound.
Fire plans
FBI bugs picked up voices of Davidians discussing spreading fuel and
planning a fire hours before the compound burned. Arson investigators
also found evidence that five different accelerants, including gasoline,
charcoal lighter fluid and camp stove fuel, had been poured inside the
compound.
Arson investigators have said their conclusion that the FBI's tear
gas played no role in the fire was partially based on the agency's assurance
that it used no pyrotechnic devices on April 19.
Mr. Coulson said he had no idea why FBI officials did not acknowledge
the use of the pyrotechnic devices in their statements to Congress and
to investigators who conducted a lengthy Justice Department Review of
FBI actions in Waco.
"The first thing they should've said, if we knew, they should've said
we fired," said Mr. Coulson, who now lives in North Texas. "That's a
problem."
The evidence in custody of the Texas Rangers includes one crime-scene
photograph taken just after the compound fire that shows what arms experts
say is a spent M651 CS canister, a projectile that delivers gas. The
device was found in a pool of water outside the compound.
A small-arms and ammunition expert with Jane's Defense Information
who examined a crime-scene photograph of the device for The Dallas Morning
News said its distinctive design - a two-toned, gray-and-gun-metal canister
ringed with a bright red band - is unique to U.S. military pyrotechnic
tear gas grenades.
"The color coding is indicative of a 40 mm CS grenade," said the expert,
Charles Cutshaw.
Evidence questions
Rangers began trying to find the device in their evidence lockers
after the photograph was brought to their attention by an independent
researcher long critical of the government's action's in Waco.
The researcher, Mike McNulty, was allowed to view evidence in DPS
custody last fall and this spring when a U.S. Justice Department official
reversed the agency's long-standing policy barring all public access.
After Mr. McNulty asked to see the device in the crime-scene photograph,
the Rangers could not find it in their evidence lockers. They also learned
from Mr. McNulty that other evidence in their custody had been mislabeled.
Mr. McNulty's questions about evidence unleashed an uproar in the
Justice Department earlier this summer, federal officials have said.
Lawyers defending the government against the Davidian's wrongful-death
lawsuit did not learn he had been allowed to view the evidence until
his visits were mentioned in pleadings by the Davidians' lawyers.
The matter then came to the attention of Mr. Francis, chairman of
the DPS commission, who asked Judge Smith to take control of the evidence
to safeguard it. Mr. Francis also ordered the Rangers' inquiry. Federal
prosecutor Bill Johnston in Waco acknowledged Monday that he is assisting
in the inquiry, but he declined further comment.
"I wouldn't want to comment on the specifics, but I am confident that
the Rangers will get to the bottom of this," he said.
If the Rangers confirm Mr. Coulson's assertion, former Ranger Capt.
Byrne said, it could "open the floodgates" in what is already among
the most troubling failures for U.S. law enforcement.
"Then we're going to say, 'Wait. Did they fire something more? Some
other kind that was consumed by the fire or was not recognized?' I see
where this is going to be an endless thing," he said.
"This affects the credibility of law enforcement. Not only the FBI,
but it puts all law enforcement in question," he said.
© The Dallas Morning News, Inc.
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