Ex-CIA Officer Says Secret Army Unit 'Present,
Up Front and Close' During Assault

Military Role At Waco Justified,
Government Report Says

DRUDGE REPORT
Thursday, August 26, 1999 19:45:01 ET

A former CIA officer tells Friday's DALLAS MORNING NEWS that he learned from Delta Force commandos that members of the secret Army unit were "present, up front and close" in helping the FBI in the final tear-gas assault on the Branch Davidian compound.

The former officer, Gene Cullen, tells the paper that heard detailed accounts of the military's active involvement from "three or four" anti-terrorist Delta commandos as he worked with them on an overseas assignment in 1993. The paper reports evidence in the hands of Texas law enforcement personnel may support the account given to Cullen.

"I'm advised there is some evidence that may corroborate" the allegation that Delta Force participated in the assault, said James B. Francis Jr., chair of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

A Pentagon spokesman who spoke on condition of anonymity denied Thursday that any U.S. military units were involved in the assault, "as far as I know." [Pentagon policy barred him from any public discussion of Delta Force, even the possibility of its existence.] Meanwhile, any U.S. military assistance at the April 1993 Waco siege was jusified, according to the General Accounting Office.

The ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION is reporting on Friday:

The GAO, which acts as Congress' investigative arm, states in a new report that the military's direct involvement in Waco--which included the use of Army, Air Force, Texas and Alabama National personnel and equipment -- was lawful due to federal antidrug laws. Early reports from local law enforcement claimed that the Davidians were running a methamphetamine laboratory from their Mt. Carmel compound.

AJC's Julia Malone quotes GAO's Carol Schuster, who was in charge of the report: "The drug connection legitimizes providing military assistance without reimbursement."

Writes Malone: "The report said no formal standard exists for justifying a military role in drug investigations, giving military officials 'considerable discretion' in deciding whether to assist law enforcement agencies."

The report concludes that $982,400 of military dollars were spent on helicopters, tanks, a grenade launcher, as well as "Army Special Operations observers".

No evidence of drug manufacturing was ever found at the Davidian compound.

MORE...

Military memos obtained by the WASHINGTON POST show the military provided training to FBI agents in the use of the 40mm grenade launchers during Waco, along with 200 training rounds and 50 illumination rounds [flares]. The military also lent "sophisticated technological support, including experimental surveillance robots and a television satellite signal jammer."