Department of Defense: Military Assistance During the Branch Davidian
Incident (Correspondence, 08/21/2000, GAO/NSIAD-00-240R).
Congress asked the Department of Defense (DOD) to respond to a GAO
report on the Army's delivery of high explosive ammunition to FBI agents
during their standoff with the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas, in 1993.
Members of Congress also asked GAO whether it would change any of its
findings on the basis of DOD's response. GAO found that its August 1999
report remains accurate and does not need to be modified. GAO had found
in its earlier report that the Army should be reimbursed for the
ammunition and equipment it provided to the FBI. DOD's response did not
refute any information in GAO's report.
--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------
REPORTNUM: NSIAD-00-240R
TITLE: Department of Defense: Military Assistance During the
Branch Davidian Incident
DATE: 08/21/2000
SUBJECT: Law enforcement agencies
Military operations
Ammunition
Interagency relations
Reimbursements to government
Civic action
IDENTIFIER: Waco (TX)
******************************************************************
** This file contains an ASCII representation of the text of a **
** GAO Testimony. **
** **
** No attempt has been made to display graphic images, although **
** figure captions are reproduced. Tables are included, but **
** may not resemble those in the printed version. **
** **
** Please see the PDF (Portable Document Format) file, when **
** available, for a complete electronic file of the printed **
** document's contents. **
** **
******************************************************************
GAO/NSIAD-00-240R
Branch Davidian Incident
United States General Accounting Office Washington, DC 20548
National Security and International Affairs Division
B- 286114 August 21, 2000 The Honorable Dan Burton Chairman, Committee on
Government Reform House of Representatives
Subject: Department of Defense: Military Assistance During the Branch
Davidian Incident
Dear Chairman Burton: As you requested, we have reviewed the July 26, 2000,
Department of Defense (DOD) response to your inquiry regarding the Army's
delivery of 250 rounds of high explosive ammunition to agents of the FBI
during their standoff with the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas, in 1993. As
you know, we issued a report on the military assistance provided to law
enforcement agencies at Waco 1 . That report dealt with the requirements for
authorizing military support to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as well as the type, costs,
and reimbursements of the military support that was provided. One of the
items we identified in our report as being provided to the FBI was 250
rounds of high explosive, 40mm grenade launcher ammunition.
Specifically, you asked DOD to explain the purported delivery of these high
explosive rounds. In your letter to us, you asked whether we would change
any of the findings or opinions expressed in our August 1999 report based on
DOD's response. To respond to your inquiry, we reviewed DOD's response in
relation to relevant documents gathered during the course of our earlier
review.
RESULTS OF OUR ANALYSIS
From our review of DOD's response to your inquiry and related documents, we
concluded that our August 26, 1999 report remains an accurate reflection of
our findings and does not need to be modified. The relevant findings in our
August report were that (1) the ammunition in question qualified as military
support for a civilian
1 Department of Defense: Military Assistance Provided at the Branch Davidian
Incident (GAO/ NSIAD/ OSI- 99- 133, Aug. 26, 1999).
B- 286114 GAO/ NSIAD- 00- 240R Branch Davidian Incident Page 2 agency and
the Army should be reimbursed as required by the Economy Act and (2)
the Army was not reimbursed by the FBI for the 40mm grenade launcher
ammunition (200 practice rounds, 50 illumination rounds, and 250 high
explosive rounds). Nothing in DOD's response to you indicated that DOD had
any information to refute our report. In addition to this overall
conclusion, we would like to offer the following clarifying comments on two
aspects of DOD's response to your inquiry: (1) whether the high explosive
ammunition was, in fact, provided to the FBI and (2) whether it was fired at
the ranges at Fort Hood, Texas, when the FBI was present.
On the first point, DOD said that it had not been able to definitively
determine whether the high explosive rounds were provided to the FBI. This
finding was based on individuals' recollections of what occurred rather than
on official records or personal notes. While we cannot conclusively prove
that the Army provided high explosive ammunition to the FBI, the Army's
official documentation indicates that it may have been provided. For
example:
� Although DOD referred to the July 30, 1993 Memorandum of Understanding
between the Army and the FBI as “a preliminary effort to create a
master list of items provided to the FBI”, it nonetheless used the
list as the basis for establishing the cost of items to be reimbursed,
including the cost of ammunition. Also, the accompanying July 23, 1993, Army
memorandum transmitting this document for approval stated that among other
costs to be reimbursed was “ammunition ($ 5K).” 2 This cost was
also referenced in the attachment to the agreement. The Commanding General,
Garrison Commander, and Chief of Staff at Fort Hood and several other Army
officials concurred with the Memorandum of Understanding, as noted in the
transmittal memo.
� On January 23, 1996, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special
Operations and Low Intensity Conflict provided the Chairman of the
Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs and Criminal
Justice, House Committee on Government Reform, with “more detailed
information about DOD support to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms and the FBI.” This documentation noted that ammunition
costing $5,066 was provided to the FBI. While the Assistant Secretary listed
only the practice and illumination rounds as being provided by the Army, the
$5,066 cost provided in the documentation agreed with the total amount in
the Memorandum of Agreement for all three types of ammunition to include the
high explosive rounds.
On the second point, DOD said that the Department had no record that any
high explosive ammunition was fired at any of the ranges at Fort Hood during
the period the FBI was present. What physically happened to the military
items provided to the FBI was not the focus of our earlier report. However,
we were told that the term consumed, noted next to the ammunition items in
documentation provided to us during our review, was used to indicate that
the materials that the Army provided to the FBI were no longer in its
inventory. The notation did not necessarily mean that
2 The actual amount for the 40mm ammunition was $5,066, which the Army
accounted for as follows: 50 illumination rounds, $1,242; 200 target
practice rounds, $346; and 250 high explosive rounds, $3,478.
B- 286114 GAO/ NSIAD- 00- 240R Branch Davidian Incident Page 3 the
ammunition was fired at the Fort Hood ranges. Also, a notation on another
document shows that the FBI was granted permission to take away any unused
ammunition from the firing range. In commenting on our draft report, DOD
officials said that it is unlikely that the FBI would have fired the high
explosive rounds at the Fort Hood range since doing so would have damaged
the range.
In closing, we see no need to change any of the information in our report on
the military assistance provided during the Branch Davidian incident. As
noted in our 1999 report, DOD officials indicated that they accepted our
findings on the matters as presented. Moreover, the Department of Justice
and the FBI indicated that they agreed with the substance of our report.
DOD officials reviewed a draft of this report and concurred with its
contents. We have incorporated their comments where appropriate. We
conducted our work in August 2000 in accordance with generally accepted
government auditing standards.
--- As arranged with your office, unless you publicly release its contents
earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 30 days after
the date of this letter. At that time, we will send a copy of this report to
the Honorable Henry Waxman, Ranking Member, House Committee on Government
Reform. If you have any questions, please call me on 202- 512- 5140. Key
contributors to this report were Bill Solis, Leo Jessup, and Melissa
McDowell.
Sincerely yours, Carol R. Schuster Associate Director, National Security
Preparedness Issues
B- 286114 GAO/ NSIAD- 00- 240R Branch Davidian Incident Page 4 (702093)
*** End of document ***