# Correspondence to Deputy Attorney General Heymann regarding Waco Report - Addendum

* related portals: Branch Davidians.
* sister projects: Wikidata item.
    TO: Deputy Attorney General Heymann
       and Assistant Secretary Noble
    FROM: Nancy T. Ammerman
    RE: Waco Report - Addendum
    September 10, 1993
Since completing my report, I have received additional information from Steven Zipperstein regarding the experts consulted during the siege in Waco. He was able to supply an expanded list of persons consulted and, for several of them, background on the nature of the consultation. While none of this information causes me to alter my basic assessment of the situation of my recommendations, it does warrant this brief addendum to my report.
1. During March, agents on the scene received communication from several persons who claimed biblical expertise and urged the negotiators to take Koresh's beliefs seriously. In all cases, it appears, the information was taken down, passed along, and ignored. For instance, the logs from March 17 make clear that agents on the scene did not take seriously the possibility that Dr. Philip Arnold's broadcast discussion of biblical prophecy might be useful to their negotiations. They recognize that Arnold is a reputable scholar, but had apparently not talked with him or listened to the broadcast themselves.
Some of the theologians who got through to Waco were of doubtful credentials, but they were uniform in their suggestions that successful negotiations would require meeting Koresh on his own biblical ground. However, in the log of March 15, negotiators report that they will start being "more firm with the group - no more Bible babble...".
2. The interview transcripts document that Mr. Rick Ross was, in fact, closely involved with both the ATF and the FBI. He supplied ATF with "all information he had regarding the Branch Davidian cult," including the name of an ex-member he believed would have important strategic information. He also supplied information to the Waco newspaper and talked with the FBI both in early March and in late March. He clearly had the most extensive access to both agencies of any person on the "cult expert" list, and he was apparently listened to more attentively. The ATF interviewed the persons he directed them to and evidently used information from those interviews in planning their February 28 raid. In late March, Ross recommended that agents attempt to publicly humiliate Koresh, hoping to drive a wedge between him and his followers. While Ross's suggestions may not have been followed to the letter, such embarrassment tactics were indeed tried.
The FBI interview report includes the note that Ross "has a personal hatred for all religious cults" and would willingly aid law enforcement in an attempt to "destroy a cult." The FBI report does not include any mention of the numerous legal challenges to the tactics employed by Mr. Ross in extricating members from the groups he hates.
Both the seriousness with which agents treated Ross and the lack of seriousness with which they treated various theologians demonstrate again the inability of agents on the scene to make informed judgements about the information to which they had access and their inability to seek out better information. It also demonstrates the preference given to anti-cult psychological tactics over strategies that would meet the group on grounds that took faith seriously.
    Prof. David Bromley
    Department of Sociology
    Virginia Commonwealth University
    Richmond, VA 23284
    Prof. James Richardson
    Department of Sociology
    University of Nevada
    Reno, NV 89557
    Prof. Jeffrey Hadden
    Department of Sociology
    University of Virginia
    Charlottesville, VA 22381
    Prof. Larry Greil
    Alfred University
    Box 545
    Alfred, NY 14802
    Dr. Thomas Robbins
    College Apts., 8-A
    427 4th Street, SW
    Richester, MN 55902
    Prof. Gordon Melton
    Institute for the Study of American Religion
    Box 9079
    Santa Barbara, CA 93190-0709
    Prof. Anson Shupe
    Department of Sociology
    Indiana University-Purdue University
    Fort Wayne, IN 46805
    Prof. Stuart Wright
    Dept. of Sociology
    Lamar University
    Beaumont, TX 77710
    Dr. William Sims Bainbridge
    Director, Sociology Program
    National Science Foundation
    1800 G Street, NW, Room 336
    Washington, DC 20550
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse