Ex-agent says device fired at Waco compound

Justice Department denies item used

08/24/99

By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News

©1999, The Dallas Morning News

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 that they were used with permission from FBI supervisors but that they played no role in starting the fire.

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 incident near Waco, marks the first time that any government official has publicly contradicted those assertions.

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.