Police develop 'military mind set'

With aid of Pentagon, civilian forces acquiring army-style look, approach

ON FEB. 28, 1993, 76 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) assaulted Mount Carmel, the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, firing MP-5 machine guns continuously and throwing percussion grenades -- just to execute an arrest-and-search warrant.

The agents had been trained in military assault tactics by Green Berets at Fort Hood, Texas. Although the BATF's lengthy search warrant had not mentioned drugs, the agency nevertheless reported a drug connection -- a methamphetamine lab -- so it could receive free advice, training and equipment from the Pentagon. No proof of a drug lab was found after the attack.

Moreover, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which took control of what was to become a 51-day siege at Mount Carmel, received advice, training and equipment from the military. Delta Force advisers played a key role in the FBI's tank and chemical warfare attack on the Davidian residence April 19, 1993, and federal agents acquired military training to drive the M-60 tanks that inserted CS gas into the compound and the Bradley Fighting Vehicles that shot nearly 400 40-mm canisters of CS gas through the walls of the structure. The FBI now admits to firing pyrotechnic devices into portion of the compound.

The military's role in the Waco episode was perfectly legal. A report by the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigative arm, says the standard for justifying the military's role in drug investigations has not been clearly established. Consequently, military officials have "considerable discretion" in deciding to assist civilian police agencies.

Since 1981, when Congress passed the Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Official Act, the military has become increasingly involved in civilian law enforcement, and has been encouraged to share equipment, training, facilities and technology with civilian enforcement agencies.

During the past 20 years, under the direct political sponsorship of elected representatives in Congress and under successive presidents, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 -- a law designed to keep the military out of civilian affairs -- has been diluted by exceptions tied to the war on drugs. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan officially designated drug trafficking as a "national security" threat. A year later, Congress set up an administrative apparatus, with a toll-free number, to encourage local civilian agencies to take advantage of military assistance.