Evaluation of the Handling of the Branch Davidian Stand-off in Waco, Texas/Communications Between The Negotiating And Tactical Elements

The negotiators and tactical team had regular access to the SACs on scene and frequently spoke to them on a one to one basis. However, some negotiators believe that joint strategy meetings of tactical, negotiating, and command elements were held too infrequently. According to negotiators the first joint strategy meeting was held on March 22. The negotiators were miles away from the forward command post and rarely came into direct contact with the tactical commanders.

One of the Technically Trained Agents ("TTA's") charged with providing technical support reported that there were communications problems in the command post and that it seemed one component did not know what the other was doing. He reported feeling as the service contingent for the other components the TTA's were often "in the middle," receiving conflicting instructions or inquiries.

The negotiators reported that they were not satisfied with the quality of the information flowing from the tactical components to the negotiators. The negotiators complained that the tactical representative in the command center did not use the RAPID START system, but generally reported information orally and the negotiators rarely received any written intelligence information generated by the tactical teams unless they actively sought it out.

Likewise, the tactical units in the forward positions complained about the lack of information about the negotiations, although they believed that the quality of information they were sending up from the field was very good. Some of the negotiators realized during the stand-off that their information was not getting out of the command post and making it to the tactical troops, even though the negotiators all agreed that the information flow out of the negotiation cell was excellent. HRT members complained of being "starved for information".