From: Ian Goddard (Ian@goddard.net)
Date: Sat Mar 11 2000 - 02:16:11 MST
Judge Walter Smith claimed that tests to determine if
FLIR video taken over Waco shows gunshots directed at
Mt. Carmel must be top secret to protect the "national
security concerns" of the British government, which
loaned the FBI the FLIR camera used (see the St. Louis
Post-Dispatch, 2/14/00). However, four days later the
Dallas Morning News (2/18/00) reported that the British
government said they had no national security concerns
regarding their FLIR technology. The fact that the
reason judge Smith had cited for keeping the tests top
secret was terminated did not thwart his determination
to keep those tests secret. Now his excuse seems to be
that the public has no constitutional right to know:
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000310/aponline184319_000.htm
Public Access at Waco Test Nixed
By Michelle Mittelstadt
Associated Press Writer
Friday, March 10, 2000; 6:43 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A court-ordered field test that
will re-enact aspects of the 1993 Waco siege to
determine whether federal agents fired any shots
into the Branch Davidians' retreat will be closed
to the media, a federal judge ruled Friday.
U.S. District Judge Walter Smith of Waco rejected
news organizations' argument that the test, due to
be held next weekend at Fort Hood in Texas, should
be open as a matter of public interest.
"The court has determined that the media have
identified no constitutional or common-law right
that would entitle them to access to this procedure,"
Smith wrote. "Pre-trial matters are not public
components of a civil trial."
The judge, who ordered the test and is presiding
over surviving Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit
against the government, said the test "may be
likened to a crime scene, which unquestionably
may be closed to the public and the press in
order to preserve the integrity of the evidence."
In a motion filed earlier this month, The Associated
Press, Dallas Morning News, The New York Times and St.
Louis Post-Dispatch said a private field test "will
only increase the public's skepticism about whether
all the facts surrounding the Branch Davidian raid
have been completely and accurately disclosed." The
Waco Tribune-Herald also pressed for public access.
John Danforth, a former senator appointed special
counsel by Attorney General Janet Reno to investigate
the government's conduct during the Davidians' 1993
standoff with federal agents, argued against media
attendance. "The quickest way to discredit an
investigation is to provide the media with selective
information during its course," the special counsel
wrote in a motion.
The government and Davidians' lawyers did not oppose
public access.
A lawyer representing the news organizations expressed
disappointment with the judge's order.
"I don't believe Judge Smith or the special counsel
have identified any reason that justifies shrouding
this field test in secrecy," Dallas attorney John
Gerhart said. "This test goes to a critical issue of
whether or not the government fired weapons during
the raid. And continued secrecy on such a critical
point should not be allowed unless compelling
circumstances force that secrecy."
The Davidians' lead counsel said the public interest
would have been served by an open test.
"I just think it's unfortunate for the process because
inevitably there will be some people who will read
into this some sinister purpose, which is really not
there," said Houston lawyer Michael Caddell. "I do
think there would be a tremendous benefit created by
having press access and having someone that people
would view as not having any agenda other than to
report the facts."
The government has long denied that its agents fired
shots on April 19, 1993, during the waning hours of a
51-day siege. Davidian leader David Koresh and some
80 followers died during the inferno that occurred
several hours into an FBI tank-and-tear gas operation
designed to flush the sect members from their retreat.
Lawyers for the Davidian plaintiffs, whose case goes
to trial in mid-May, contend the FBI's aerial infrared
surveillance footage offers definitive proof of gunfire
directed into the building as it burned.
The field test, which will use a British Royal Navy
helicopter equipped with an infrared camera much like
the one used by the FBI in 1993, is designed to determine
whether bursts of light on the Waco infrared footage
represent gunfire.
Weapons similar to those carried by the Davidians and
federal agents will be fired during the test. Military
tanks like those used in 1993 also will be deployed.
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http://www.marketwatch.newsalert.com/bin/story?StoryId=ComIbudicv2fJB0D1BMzP
CMvuzq&FQ
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WACO PROTEST: http://users.erols.com/igoddard/waco-1.htm
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"There are times when you cannot keep your job and
put alternative explanations for data on the table."
Former FBI Special Agent Dr. Frederic Whitehurst
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