Center officials said the chemical has caused death in rare cases. It is sometimes used by law enforcement to incapacitate subjects. At one point during the siege, FBI agents suspected that some reporters at the scene might be monitoring law enforcement cellular phone conversations, according to the documents. Justice Department officials proposed infiltrating reporters' ranks with undercover officers to check that report. The records include no indication that the plan was carried out.
Records show the bureau's tactics at the siege drew complaints from compound neighbors.
One FBI log notes that a farmer near the compound wanted the FBI to stop blasting sounds of screaming and dying rabbits because it was disturbing his pregnant cattle. Even after the standoff ended in mass death, the newly disclosed FBI documents indicate, FBI agents who led the bureau's efforts in Waco and Washington proposed rewarding members of the hostage rescue team with FBI medals. The FBI Waco commanders also proposed cash awards for the hostage rescue team, its intelligence analysts and its clerical staff. The proposed awards were ultimately rejected as inappropriate, an FBI spokesman said. A former agency official says no rewards were ever given.